Ballet Imperial

So introduce yourselves guys!
Will: I’m Will
Jamie: I’m Jamie
Angus: And I’m Angus
Jamie: And we’re Ballet Imperial! Although Jeff isn’t here…but he’s here in spirit!

So how did you guys meet?
Jamie: Angus, Jeff and I met while we were working together on the Gold Coast. I was playing a bit of bass but then we decided to get an actual bassist. We went through a couple before landing on Will. Angus grew up with Will in Victoria and they had played in a band together. Will is a guitarist originally but Angus called him and asked him if he wanted to play bass in our band and Will felt like a change and decided to move from Melbourne to Sydney to play with us!

Ballet Imperial is a very original name. How did you pick it?
Angus: At the time that we came up with the name, we’d had a lot of trouble. We had found a couple of names we wanted but they had already been taken so we thought we had to be as original as possible!
Jamie: We were searching through Russian and French terms and we came across a whole list of international ballets and we found a Russian ballet called Ballet Imperial!

So technically you took the name from a ballet…
Angus: Yeah pretty much!

What type of music would you classify yourselves as?
Angus: That’s funny you should ask! We were discussing that exact question in band practice yesterday! And we came up with…
Jamie: Well actually we’re having trouble classifying our music! We’re not alternative enough to be alternative, we’re not poppy enough to be pop, and we’re not just generic rock…Probably power pop/rock…

Who plays what?
Jamie: I play voice box and sing, Will plays bass, Angus plays drums and Jeff plays guitar…

Why should people listen to your music?
Jamie: We feel that our music has an edge of some sort…we try to be fresh.
Angus: We’re not trying to re-invent music…we’re just trying to put our own flair and style to our music! So everyone should listen to our music!

Do you think people can relate to your music?
Jamie: Ultimately, yes. I mean you can’t capture everyone because not everyone follows the same way of thought but I think the lyrics to our songs aren’t that wacky and weird…most people would be able to take a little bit out of all of our songs, even if it’s for a different reason than we intended.

Who are your musical influences?
Angus: Radiohead, Muse, Kashmir, Placebo, Coldplay, Killers…just to name a few
Jamie: I would say mainly Radiohead
Angus: But certainly more European than American.

Jamie and Gus, people know you from the TV show, H20. Do you think people are encouraged to listen to your music because of that?
Jamie: Yeah!

Have you ever used it to your advantage?
Jamie: No! We don’t go around adding H20 fans…they find us! Not that we’re complaining…

What was your first gig like?
Angus: Our first gig was on the Gold Coast. We were only a 3-piece back then; Will wasn’t part of the band back then. At that time, Jamie was playing some bass…We played a gig supporting Jamie’s little brother’s band (Black Market Rhythm Co.). We had all the H20 cast and crew there, so it wasn’t actually bad! Looking back, I’d hate to see it but you have to start somewhere! Oh and a very memorable moment from that show was when we were about to play Imperia, a member of the audience kindly went to up to Jamie and informed him that his bass wasn’t plugged in!
Jamie: It was the worst moment ever!!!! I pulled out the bass and started playing the bass line to Imperia but I couldn’t hear anything and then someone runs up to me and says, “Your bass is unplugged!!” I look down and there are about a million wires on the ground…

Have you ever messed up on stage?
Angus: Yes! Every single gig, something always goes wrong!
Will: Have we ever not?
Jamie: We don’t make big mistakes…just small ones…

Do you have any pre-gig rituals?
Will: Chill out.
Angus: We never practice on the day of the gig.
Jamie: You just can’t jinx yourself!
Angus: And the moment before we go on stage, we have a group hug and a few words of encouragement!

Where do you yourselves in 3 years?
Angus: I would like to think that Ballet Imperial will have recorded an album and after having toured and promoted Australia, we’d go to Europe and do a tour over there!
Will: We love Europe.
Jamie: But before trying smash Europe, we’d like to be playing good festivals in Australia, having an album, playing on radio…just building up our fanbase really so people know who we are!

Why music? Why choose music as a career? What does music have that other things don’t?
Angus: Groupies!!!
Jamie: it’s just something we love doing and its fun! There’s no better feeling than coming off stage after playing an amazing gig… And of course the groupies aren’t bad either!

Do you guys have any back ups, in case your music doesn’t work out?
Jamie: Acting is a big part of our life (myself and Angus)
Will: I’m studying a bachelor of Commerce

You currently have an album. Do you think you’ll put it up on iTunes soon?
Jamie: We have distribution through MGM Green here in Australia and if all goes to plan we’ll be on iTunes very soon.

What’s the best and worst thing about the business you’re in?
Jamie: We haven’t had a lot of experience with the industry…it’s quite pretentious. It gets frustrating when you’re putting a lot of work and time and not seeing immediate results. You need to be patient and wait for things to happen, make people watch you…the best part is that it’s so exciting!

And now…some random questions for fans to get to know you better!

Describe the other guys in 3 words.
Angus: Okay so…Will is calm. Jamie is energetic. Jeff is calculated. Jamie: Angus is excitable. Will is chilled. Jeff is eloquent. Will: Jamie is precise. Jeff is delightful. Angus is charismatic.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
Jamie: I was studying acting at university and I went to the university night club and got horrifically drunk. I came back to the dorm at night time and went into this girl’s room at 4:30am and I pulled down my pants and peed all over her carpet. I went to her fridge, grabbed a meat pie and a chocolate muffin, and fell asleep hugging them…
Angus: the craziest thing I’ve ever done didn’t happen that long ago actually…it was after a gig and we normally have an after party at our house. Like Jamie, I was probably under the influence of alcohol and I’m told I have an alter ego when I’m drunk, called El Gusto. We have a bit of a court yard by our fence and we had a wooden table. I thought it would be a good idea, for whatever reason, to climb the fence and jump onto the table the way you jump into a pool or a wrestling ring. I jumped horizontally on the table and went straight through the table…it was extremely painful and I managed to freak myself out! I couldn’t believe I could do something so stupid!
Will: the only thing that comes to mind is when at a friend’s party back in school. For some reason I decided it would be a good idea to seek out of a pair of my friend’s mother’s shoes and throw them as far as I could… I had no malicious intentions, just felt like it needed to be done at the time. Consequently, the next day was probably my greatest hangover of all time. Angus: And what makes that crazy is that it’s so not like Will! Will is the chilled one!

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Jamie: I’d go to Aberdeen, Scotland because that’s where I was born.
Angus: I’m going to Berlin in June! My brother is living over there. He’s in a band (Long Walk Home) and they moved over there.
Will: I’d probably go to Denmark! I’ve heard it’s meant to be one of the happiest places to live

If you were stuck on a desert island with only three things, what would they be?
Jamie: A scorpion, a syringe and Mischa Barton.
Angus: I would take an African drum, a tub of risotto and a groupie!
Will: A pillow, an iPod full of every CD available in the world and a whole lot of coffee.

Let’s see how well you know each other. Tell me random facts about each other.
Jamie: Will always drinks a glass of red wine on stage.
Angus: Jeff played a young Hugo Weaving.
Will: Angus used to live on a dairy farm.
Jamie: Will is originally a guitarist, not a bassist.
Angus: Jamie’s cousin plays Maggie on the TV show “Extras.”

Would you rather jump into a pool with a bike from the second floor or eat 20 cockroaches?
Angus: Cockroaches.
Jamie: Jump into the pool.
Will: Cockroaches.
Angus: And Jeff would jump into the pool.

And finally, where can people listen to your music?
Jamie: Check out our myspace www.myspace.com/balletimperial