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| Transport
 There are definitely some questions to avoid when interviewing bands. It is not a good idea to go down the path of 'so, how did your band get its name?', for instance, or 'so, how did you guys get together?', both of which rank highly in the top questions not to ask interviewees.
However, Scott Saunders, Transport's bass player, believes the worst he has come across is, 'so, what's your best rock and roll story?'
The only story in our interview which comes close to a 'rock' moment is Saunders' recollection of the last time Transport visited Adelaide during the Cabaret Festival and the World Cup and his quest to obtain a coffee from the casino at 4 am.
As he recalls, "There was a big line out the front, I was just wearing ugg-boots and my pyjamas, I just wanted to get a coffee so I could watch the soccer game. They were ID-ing everyone on the way through and not letting people in if they didn't have the right shoes and the security guard pulled me over and asked for my ID and he's just gone 'you're a Queenslander! Get in here mate!' He was from Noosa or something, so apparently Queenslanders could get in no matter what they were wearing."
Maybe Saunders, along with singer/guitarist Keir Nuttall and drummer Steve Pope, can have some more debauched rock and roll adventures when the Brisbane power-pop three-piece head back our way in support of Stone Hearted, the first single from their forthcoming debut album, 'The Inner Monkey'.
The band has already been on the road for a while in support of the single and Saunders reports that it has been going well so far, "It's been up and down as far crowds go but as far as the show goes, because we've had all these new songs to work with which we've been demo-ing for the album, it's just worked out so well and the shows have felt amazing. All the songs feel really great, we've been having a ball."
Last year the band released their second self-titled EP to much radio support and, to my ears, the new single sounded like somewhat of a departure.
However, Saunders explains that this is just one side of the Transport sound, "We just have so many influences and so much stuff just gets us off in a lot of situations, whether it be the funk stuff or stoner rock. Stone Hearted came together so quickly and it just rocked the way it was, there's not much you can do when you fire stuff out," Saunders explains.
"A lot of other people think you have to sound like one thing. It's a Catch-22, but everyone that we've come across fan-wise has said they can tell if it's a Transport song, that's the main thing, as long as we sound like Transport then the rest of the stuff doesn't really matter."
In between Transport duties the band have been keeping busy as supports for fellow Brisbane singer-songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke.
"With Kate's stuff, it's more cabaret-based and you don't really work up much of a sweat on stage, then you go on tour with Transport and you have to wash your clothes everyday because you're just dripping when you come off stage, or you have to stretch when you wake up because your neck's sore from head-banging," Saunders laughs.
Since Transport will be supporting locals Tony Font Show for their EP launch, I ask Saunders how this ended up coming about, "Last time we were down we had a promoter who manages Tony Font Show and she played us all the stuff they recorded and we just loved it. We just dig their stuff and we were lucky enough to get on their show."
This may also be the last chance to catch Transport in Adelaide for some time as they head down to record their album later this year and possibly go to the UK for some dates.
"The EP comes out in the UK in four days and apparently it's already doing really well, so we're going to try and organise some kind of tour so we can play live because that's what we love to do."
Simon Foster
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Transport play at Jive on Sat 16 September. 'Transport' is out now through Shock. |
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