As part of the lead up to the incredible live streaming of the Australian National Band Championships on www.brassbanned.com, Tim managed to catch up with some ‘good guys’ at the transcendent Box Hill City Band
Transcript
Auto-generated from the live stream, expect the occasional robot mishearing.
[Music] [Applause] [Music] ladies and gentlemen loyal viewers we’re here at Box Hill a city band we have just at home I have personally just had the fantastic pleasure of listening to the band’s second last rehearsal before the competition oh we’ve got another one in third last rehearsal joined here by Chris Yuri thank you the very very famous soprano a hornet player
I am playing soprano for it no doubt it sounds fantastic don’t you think I’m enjoying it and what are your musical highlights upcoming musical highlights with the band on stage is there a piece is there a notes are you sweating on anything what should people listen out for them yeah I’m definitely sweating on a few things but the
I think Penley is a really like the piece it’s not too hard but it always helps but it’s really effective really some good chances for musicality and I think the bands playing pretty well Simon Brown’s conducting it sensationally yes and yeah I’m I think we’re gonna go alright with that piece yeah fantastic and speaking of the band box your band’s been on the up and where are they and what are they doing now going strong and
Big Mac having good fun we’re back here we’re having a great time yeah the band putting bit the band back together was good fun and we’ve got a few people here who’ve never played in brass bands before in their lives do you think they’re enjoying it are they gonna stick on yeah we’ve got a couple of cheer players who’ve never never played in the brass band before and the other going with the whole treble clefs basically yeah intelligent is there anything wrong they’re pretty smart guys
I don’t know why they play Cuba but they they’re that they’re definitely overqualified to play the tuba and so playing in treble clefs pretty easy yeah what would you say to the many hundreds of thousands of people watching this right now who who might be wondering why should they join a brass band because they may not have played in a brass band what are the benefits of playing the brass band good to play with good bunch of guys we’ve got a different policy here of having all good guys in the band good guy policy
I’ve heard a lot about that of recent times is sometimes called other things but good guy policies are good one you get to play with good guys and traveling drink together eat together all sorts of things together what fun that can be doing stuff together until the Box Hill City band on the march on the parade of bands the street much world famous for being absolutely spectacular change of direction special points for entertainment personally what’s your role in this entertainment the entertaining part could be watching me try to change direction
John noted John Kelly is always very specific about his marching drills and if you’ve done a lot of marching practice we’ve done some marching practice a lot of pens what you compare it to I think compared to some bands we’ve done a lot on it’s good to hear very good to hear yeah but there’s you know there’s more to be done we’ve got marching this
Sunday he didn’t tell the rest of the band that rehearsal just then but it’s definitely gonna be in there so it could be a ploy I think yeah hopefully it right and what’s coming up for the band after Nationals or anything they should look out for the band any big events some smaller concerts CD releases and no no see these we got we could release the other city we’ve we’ve already done a
CD and we get in the can we could post release it I don’t know what you call that but yeah definitely local community you want to come out and support the box so you band awaken that we can they see you next where we’ll probably be doing the state championships hopefully apart from that we haven’t got anything planned looking for bookings looking for bookings if you’re looking to book a brass band at
Box Hill City Bands yeah cool John absolutely yeah well Chris thanks for being shed thank you look oh good luck on stage hope that all you notes go really hey I’ll take a big breath and blow it’s for the best thanks very much ladies and gentlemen we are here with the most famous of all percussionists here in the
Box Hill city band room hall right at the moment it’s broad and forward Road and how are you I’m very well thanks to him how are you I’m sensational wow that sweat band is really bringing out your eyes how do you how do you feel about looking at that extra a little bit special on stage well I
I just I just feel so much more confident about my abilities to perform and you know I think it’s it’s really going to bring my my performance to the next level and you know it no matter how nervous and how sweaty I get you know it’s all gone and we’re ready to go absolutely because you know as a percussionist you probably work harder than anywhere else in the band like moving around and hitting stuff does that sweat so dripping down your arm make a difference to performance from time to time oh for sure
I mean sticks get pretty slippery I mean it’s like doing a full gym workout at the back full marathon some would say I think absolutely yeah yeah we’re moving around so much our arms were always moving at it does it is sweaty work so I mean this is important apparel for us to be wearing on stage excellent and broaden how many bands you’re playing with this
Nationals I’m playing with four bands can you tell us who they are there are there’s Box Hill city band there’s Daren city brass Preston band there is South Richmond federal band feds for life feds for life and it’s a long West band as well and which of those bands is your favorite how are you finding moving between the different bands there it’s sort of a big culture shift between the different bands
I mean there are a great and B great bands there but is it sort of do you feel like you could transplant a few of the plays into any of the bands and it’s all pretty good yeah all those bands have their standout players and things that the big culture change I suppose is just you know the amount that some of them rehearse you know some of them are pretty chilled out and the others and you know not so much it’s pretty full-on schedules and things but but it’s been a real fun lead-up
I haven’t seen feds yet I’ll be there on Monday so he’s sounding great he’s sounding great he’s getting stuff real well I promise I’m practicing it’s all good but I’ll see you on Monday and yeah and is it tricky when you’re there at the competition if you’re playing with four bands just to know when you have to be on stage when you’re in the warm-up room what percussion gear is where which all you’re in is that a stressful thing for you you just sort of used to used to rolling like that oh it kind of used to it but as actually my schedule works out
Ridiculously well this time around it’s one to the next and then half an hour gap to move from one all to the next then and I’m on again so it’s a it all works really well so no complaints from me well burden best of luck with all of your bands and I do hope their sweat bands assist your performance
Thanks so things yet thanks very much [Music] you ladies and gentlemen here we are with the musical director conductor in chief of the Box Hill City band maestro Simon Brown maestro how are you I’m very well thank you and thank you for that rather amazing introduction team well I’ve done my job now I can go and how’s the van going how are things here in
Box Hill things going well actually him we’ve had basically a complete fresh start at the beginning of this year and that’s Bruno over there who’s whose prime sounding fresh sounding very fresh yeah yeah yeah he’s not playing with the band but it was good to have me it’s not to drink a beer yeah and I think it’s been going really well and probably already spoken to
Chris and he’s filled you in with the fact that he managed to find all these other plays that haven’t necessarily played in a brass band yeah and I find that really really interesting what would you say to people who are watching this now who haven’t ever played in a brass band but maybe they play you know orchestral brass or concert bands or maybe they play saxophone but want to try out a brass band what what would you tell them if they’re thinking about it
I would say give it a go because it really is good fun and look to be honest with you we have one of our our corner players slash percussion players is he’s in fact a saxophone player and is there a stigma attached to that or he’s welcomed with open arms welcomed with open arms because he does play the cornet and he plays the baritone and he plays the tuba he bites bassoon - and the oboe and pretty much anything he’s one of those sort of
James Morrison kind of carry it’s frustrating isn’t it yeah so much talent doesn’t quite make the same money but but no he’s he’s great and he loves being the band and it’s great to have him in helping us out but honestly I think that people should give it a go and you know know until you try it and it’s a it’s a lot of fun and
I think probably the the best part of it apart from the music of course is the the social aspect as well and and have a look at the social the social aspect very social here Fox Bill citty event and tell me a little bit more about do you have any expectations going into the competition are you in it to win it will you walk off stage feeling happy or sad if certain things happen to us were in it to win a
Tim and but pretty much what I’m feeling at the moment is that we can walk away from this competition and we still have a band after the competition then we’ve ticked all their boxes the real winners the real winners there and do you feel like that’s likely at the moment or the personas /i Boaz / saxophone player might have heard that rap and be walking well it just depends on how much filth we can get on him while we’re over in
Launceston I think we might be able to coerce him into staying a little longer but honestly I think that the vibes good and so we’re sort of talking about the states later on in in August so put together a rehearsal schedule for that see what people’s availability you like and you know the fact that we we haven’t drawn a lot of players from a lot of other bands at this point it means that
I think we’ve got a better chance of keeping people and honestly we’ve just tried to make it enjoyable still taking their music seriously of course but but hopefully people will find that a reason to stick around look Simon best of luck to you and the band on stage I hope nothing goes terribly terribly wrong and you end up coming out with a band on the other side
I also hope that you have a good time up there on the stage I’m sure the little people that they’re watching who are very very encouraged to see that box’ll bands being on the up and they’ve been what’s going on but it’s good to know that Box Hill is still there and doing it right we are back and hopefully we’re beyond the the
Nationals - so we’re looking forward to it and thanks for encouraging words - team excellent a transcendence box hill city band here with their musical director mr. Simon Brown ladies gentlemen we are here at Box Hill of the city band just after hustle with one of the most famous people in the room right now mr. John Kelly
John how are you oh very well thank you for asking it’s a pleasure now please explain your role with the band what is it we know people who are in the know with brass bands are in Australia you know that you’re there behind the scenes pushing the band along but exactly what are your roles with the band at the moment with this band it’s and manager so my job is to make sure that all the logistics get taken care of and work with the musical director to put the band together and that’s one role that
I do I’m also the Secretary of the incorporate a body which means that I also look after all the paperwork all the registrations and permits and making sure all the fees are paid yes and you also have a role in the in the marching as well is that right I have a role in the marching in there only two drum major so the most important person in the marching area yes the area perhaps and we put in many many hours of marching practice more than one less than one but we still have seven days to go to put it together and we will do credibly
But the main focus is on the stage and how’s that going how’s that focus going you mentioned as band manager you’ll sort of help him get the band together and it’s spoken with Simon the musical director sort of saying there’s a it’s sort of a new group here how’s it all gelling and getting together at the moment it’s really good we will you had a year off we didn’t compete at all for a year and we regrouped and we then put this band together for the race on mainly because if we don’t compete this year we could be put into
C grade and because we love music and because we love the music because and we love the test bits what is the test piece in being great only how does has its belt p en l double e as it sounds that’s good and what are you playing in the band at the moment I’m playing the lead third corner so the first third corner no
I’ll make sure the second the second okay and what what can the loyal viewers out there watching this right now expect from the band up on stage and both both up on stage and out on the street in the March well I think we there are 14 bands and be great we it’s the biggest crowd it’s very competitive we will be disappointed if we’re not in the top half so 7 or better in the marching we probably would like to be in the top 3 and anything better than that in the socialising stakes where would you like to be sitting in the drinking we would
Cream it we would kill anybody in drinking states where we had that reputation I can remember 20 years ago being a Ballarat and a little child saying ye might have been a teenager saying they’re a drinking band and we felt yes thank you well what is good to know your place sometimes isn’t it how long have you been with the band
I’ve been with the band 30 years and what would have been the highlights during that time there’s anything sort of any one particular thing stand out to you I like at the moment but it were the way we’re going a moment we have voxel city bang we have Whitehorse price intermediate band who will be competing hopefully at
Bendigo will be competing at Bendigo and separately from Box Hill we have Academy brass which is for beginners complete beginners little children of six and seven and eight learning from the bottom and also we aim later this year early next year to start an academy of percussion fantastic about time someone did that board who’s a wonderful percussion player trading ten kids at a time to play percussion and doing that on a continuous basis so producing a lot of percussion players they have it loyal viewers what a great asset to the musical world here in
Victoria and Australia and a great asset to the local community box hill city band John Kelly thanks for being chat pleasure it definitely is thank you [Music]
