1.Growing Up
All of the horn players in Lyre Byrdland studied together at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in the jazz program there while most of the other guys studied at AIM doing the popular music course. Liam (bass), Kieran (guitar), Yani (percussion) and myself grew up in Wollongong while the other guys are from Sydney, save for Nando (drums) who’s originally from Brazil – probably why he’s so goddamn groovy!
2. Inspirations
I’d say we’re mostly influenced by guys like Fela Kuti, The Daktaris and Tony Allen as well as contemporary bands such as Tame Impala and Fat Freddy’s Drop. Those big funk horn bands from the ’70s like Parliament, Tower Of Power and The J.B.’s are definitely inspirations as well. A pretty eclectic mix!
3. Your Band
Our band is pretty huge (currently nine members). The current lineup is tenor sax, bari sax/flute, trumpet, trombone, two guitars, bass, drums and percussion. We used to have a keys player but he buggered off to the States! Liam, Will (trumpet) and I used to be in a band called Beaten Bodies and after that broke up a couple of years ago, Liam formed Lyre Byrdland. As I mentioned, we all kind of know each other from studying together and we all love groove music so it was pretty easy to get together and start jamming.
4. The Music You Make
Lyre Byrdland is a mix of everything groovy – Afrobeat, funk, reggae-dub, rock. We’ve just released our latest single ‘Bowser’ on SoundCloud with our second album to follow soon. I think it encapsulates the fun, carbo-loaded energy of the music we play and the shows we put on.
5. Music, Right Here, Right Now
In terms of musical talent, I think Sydney is right up there with the best scenes in the world, particularly the jazz/soul/hip hop kind of scene that our band inhabits with acts like The Venusians, Sam Dobson, Midnight Tea Party and Sampa The Great. The much publicised lockout laws in Sydney have made it harder to get people out to gigs and unfortunately forced the closure of lots of great venues, but if it were to ever turn around, I feel the scene is ready to put on a show!
Lyre Byrdland perform at Mansion Lane at The World Bar, Thursday March 24 and Thursday March 31.
