To say the Little Birdy reunion has been long-awaited is an understatement - the indie rockers return is monstrous!
Just last year Katy Steele and I caught up to discuss her solo album Big Star; an album that was full of glitz and sparkle as Steele flowed through a pop vein. It’s an album that Steele very much holds in her cabinet of pride just over twelve months later.
“I’m super proud of that record and I really loved what we achieved sonically with that album because it was a joint effort with me and my husband in the studio.”
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During that discussion I questioned her about an impending anniversary in her career, with her starting band Little Birdy’s debut album BigBigLove approaching a 20 year milestone, achieved in January. The hope was for an album rerelease or special anniversary merch. Nothing was yet in the pipeline, but the question triggered an alarm in Steele’s brain sending her straight to her phone.
“I reached out to everyone and said “it’s been 20 years – I’d love to talk about this” and I think it’s just the timing was right for this period of time. We have spoken about a few things but it just wasn’t the right time, and there was just something about this time where everyone agreed that it was that it felt right,” explains Steele.
With Steele the only member still actively in music and distance keeping the band apart, the idea of a reunion was not in the thought stratosphere for fans. But the text chain resulted in something far beyond anything Little Birdy fans could have hoped for – a reunion at music festival Hotter Than Hell, where they will be playing the debut album in full.
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15 years after their last stage appearance at Sydney Cricket Ground for benefit bushfire concert, Sound Relief, the band are back – (almost – unfortunately Little Birdy original drummer Matt Chequer will not be reprising his role as he now resides in Canada), joining the likes of fellow stage hoppers of their pivotal period Regurgiator, Jebediah Less Than Jake, Unwritten Law, Adalita, along with The Bennies and The Kickons for five shows.
“This works so well for us because we were after a gentle way to reenter the market, like a gentle hug,” Steele laughs.
“We start rehearsal soon and are basically relearning everything from that long time ago trying to replicate it as closely as we can to the record. There’s a couple of big, big guitar sounds in there so we’ve got to get everything sounding hot! We’re all in three different states now as well so that’s making things a little bit more challenging but I’m sure we’re going to be running hot – hotter than hell!”
Little Birdy were a vital part of the Australian early 2000’s music scene, with BigBigLove opening the doors for another two explosive albums from the band in Hollywood, arriving in 2006, bringing with it ‘Come On Come On’, ‘Bodies’ and ‘After Dark’, and Confetti, landing in 2009, and kickstarting Steele’s double decade career.
“When we made be BigBigLove I was just straight out of school and I was just going with it. I just tried to give it everything I could really.”
“I’m really proud of where they sit and what they have achieved because it gave me my starting point and it gave me my career, that album and the band. To think those songs were the first songs I ever wrote – ‘Relapse’ was literally my first ever song and Little Birdy were my first ever band. My first Little Birdy show I was sitting down playing guitar because I pretty much learnt how to play it about two months before,” she explains.
“I wrote it on piano in this tiny bedroom with clothes all over the floor and had this piano like shoved in the corner because I had like the smallest bedroom out of all the siblings and I love clothes and I just literally left high school. So much has happened since then.”
From the powerful opening of ‘Excited’ which is bound to evoke the same emotion when slammed out live, through to ‘Come On Little Heartbreaker’, love ballad ‘Beautiful To Me’, ‘Relapse’ and, of course, rock ‘n’ roll hipshaker ‘Tonight’s The Night’, the Hotter Than Hell set is bound to reawaken the band and fans, leading into what is hopefully the start of more from Little Birdy. As Steele sits in her studio writing more solo material, the idea of new Little Birdy bodies of work is ever so enticing.
“We’ll have a conversation about that, but yeah we’re hoping to keep the wheels in motion but we’re just gently easing back into it. We’re not really trying to assign too much for ourselves because we want these shows to be great first and foremost, so that’s the priority right now and we’ll try and just see what happens. I guess keep the feelers out there and see where we end up.”
Catch the massive Little Birdy reunion moment on Saturday 19 October at Hotter Than Hell in Mt Evelyn. Tickets are on sale here.
