Fresh, groovy & youthful- a Katanak Banana Interview

We’ve heard you don’t like to limit your music by identifying with a specific genre. If you could describe how your music feels with a sentence, what would it be?

My music is a fresh shot of coffee in the morning! Something that wakes you up and makes you feel alive.

You made your big screen debut in Baz Luhrmann’s ELVIS playing Jerry Scheff (bassist from the TBC band). What was the craziest part of that experience?

Well I gotta say those 70’s fashions outfits were pretty cool and I wanted to keep them but had to give them back ☹. Who knew that a redhead would look so good in a white flared jumpsuit! Now you’ll all have to go check out the movie to see if it’s true, haha. 

A couple of things spring to mind for what were the craziest parts of the experience: 

• Getting to play live on set so that our live version made the official soundtrack. Now that was mad! 
• Standing behind Austin Butler was pretty unreal, and yes, he really could sing. 
• Getting to play all the songs in the movie live on set really was an absolute dream come true. I dislike watching on screen musicians’ fake parts and I can tell you that none of us faked a single thing. Each of the TCB band boys spent countless hours listening to old recordings of the Vegas shows on quarter speed trying to work out the parts by ear as nothing was ever put down on paper due to the musicians improvising every single show. Once the movie was over, I had contact with Jerry Scheff and his son and that’s been incredible chatting to a living legend. I was asked by Lauren (his son) how I got hold of the bass parts because no bass parts were ever written down and he was very impressed to hear about my story of how I learnt all 8 of the songs. 

Do you feel like you have more of an affinity with Elvis and his music after the movie?

To tell you the truth I really didn’t appreciate Elvis or his music until after I got the part of Jerry Scheff and really took a deep dive into everything from Elvis and Jerry in that era. I literally adopted Jerry’s style of bass playing and only listened to Elvis for months. It was intense but after the movie I’ve really enjoyed and appreciate everything from Elvis. He truly was one of the best entertainers that ever lived.

Your work is also characterized by really original song titles and highly creative lyrics. How do you come up with these ideas?

Well, gee, I really appreciate that! Every song is its own journey, and that helps me be creative. Some start with a lyric, and some end with one. I write down little ideas every day, with the goal of having one bad idea a day. (The worse the idea, the better.) Because sometimes the worst and most chaotic ideas can lead to the best ones. (Like my band name lol.) I also spend a lot of time on the internet and talking with people. I think finding universal ideas is more about zooming in than zooming out.

What’s next for Katanak?

I feel like 2023 is going to be a big one for me. I’m releasing new music which will culminate in my debut EP. I’m a fan of the indie rock music coming out of the UK and taking a lot of inspiration in the new music I’m writing from them. A lot of what happens next year will be new music and playing a heap of shows around Australia. 

I’m also keen to do more collabs, so anyone reading this, send me a DM.

If you were a…Harry Potter character?

If i was a Harry potter character I would be one of the Weasley twins because I already look like them and it would be cool to have a second me around.

What’s your favorite moment as an artist?

My favorite moment as an artist is when I finish writing and producing a song I’m working on and I stand back and listen to how good it sounds.

Send us a picture of you as a kid!

Worst criticism about you ever received

The biggest smack down I ever recieved personally and musically was when I first started singing in a band I created. I was told by my uncle at our first ever gig that I probably shouldnt be the singer in my own band. Stung a lot but actually was the best critisism I ever recieved because it forced me to look at myself and work harder to be better.