Radio Caroline South A little Q&A with Thalia from Radio Caroline South. Thalia plays all the instruments on her Brunswick Road release, apart from jazz musician Chuck Probert, who supplies trumpet. Leicester Bangs: Tell us a little about yourself. Thalia: Radio Caroline South is a solo project I've been working on since about 2005 when I had the original idea. I've been recording tracks at home on a Pro Tools set up, then taking the ideas to a studio in Melbourne, Australia, working with some cool musicians who run their own studio. The music explores a range of areas stretching from surf guitar through trance and shoe-gaze, to big band jazz. LB: How did you start out making music? Thalia: I can't remember ever not playing music. As a kid there were all these instruments at home, in various states of disrepair, and I just played all of them. Banjos, accordions, recorders, an old Spanish nylon string guitar, the strings of a ruined piano. I've been playing guitar since about age 13, and writing since then. I also messed around with the flute, violin and percussion instruments, and worked as a professional sound engineer briefly before playing bass and singing in an indie cult band called Ziggerants. We played fast punchy music in the vein of Husker Du, Ramones and the Pixies, scored some pretty amazing supports with bands like the Buzzcocks, Bjork’s band Sugar Cubes and They Might Be Giants, and had an indie number one in two Australian cities, although we only ever recorded one single. LB: Who did you grow up listening to and how do they influence what you’re doing now? Thalia: Too many things to list here. My dad DJ'd on Radio Caroline South in the 1960's, hence the band name, so early on I heard groups like the Kinks, Animals, Rolling Stones, the Shadows, Beachboys and of course the Beatles.  Later on my sisters exposed me to a range of things including Bowie, Velvet Underground, early Pink Floyd, T Rex and heavy metal like Led Zep and Deep Purple. Later on, my step dad was a huge classical buff, so I also got a full education in the Canon works and various other composers. When I started Uni we used to play a lot of Talking Heads, Nina Hagen, B-52s, Devo. Later I got into the La's, My Bloody Valentine and the 4AD bands, Pixies, Cocteau Twins, Dif Juz. My collection includes everything from Sparklehorse to Green Day, PJ Harvey, the Strokes, Tricky, Muse, there's even a Tom Jones track in there. It's a pretty comprehensive list, and it just keeps growing. LB: Tell us about your latest release. Thalia: Brunswick Road is my debut CD with Radio Caroline South. I'm exploring a juncture between dance music genres (I love the way the beat makes you move) and guitar music, which is probably my main influence. I love the old surf guitar sound, but I'm using it in a modern context. All kinds of influences sneak in there, people compare me to all kinds of artists, from Ride and My Bloody Valentine to Propellerheads and the Prodigy, and I've also been told I sound like a female version of Beck. The artists that influenced the current recording the most are probably Tricky and John Powell who wrote the soundtracks to the Bourne movies. The whole work has a recognisable sound, but there are still a few surprises in there. It's definitely alternative though, and a little hard to 'box'. LB: Do you get out and play your music live, and if so, what can an audience expect at one of your shows? Thalia: Radio Caroline South is a recording project at this stage, because it's just me. I'm working on a follow up and making some videos for the material at the moment. At some stage I'd like to take the project live, but I'm not really interested in playing to recorded material - I've got a lot of experience playing live from previous bands so I'd much prefer a full band. Obviously this presents some logistic issues as I've pretty much used an orchestra of instruments! LB: What aspects of playing and recording music do you most enjoy? Thalia: What can I say? All of it? My favourite part is probably in the creation, but I also love playing with the arrangements, trying out new ideas, changing the drum tracks after I've written a piece, or throwing in entirely different instrumentation. Sometimes it takes me right up to the actual studio sessions to finally complete a piece - I'm always open to a new approach, or trying something different. LB: Where can people find (and buy) your music? Thalia: Buy the CD at CD Baby or download it from iTunes store. For streaming, go to my MySpace page or Last.FM. Also see my YouTube video page (links below). www.cdbaby.com/Artist/radiocarolinesouth www.myspace.com/radiocarolinesouth www.last.fm/music/radio+caroline+south www.youtube.com/user/radiocarolinesouth