Keep On Rollin’

These are exciting times for Sal Kimber & The Rollin’ Wheel.

The Melbourne five-piece have just released their self-titled second album and embarked on a long and winding tour across Australia between now and Christmas.

Towns the length and breadth of the country are in for a treat as The Rollin’ Wheel wends its way across the nation, airing out an album full of singable, danceable, listenable and distinctly Australian alt-country tunes.

But don’t expect your bog-standard tour van to pull up at a live venue near you – that’s not the way this quirky, charismatic singer-songwriter and her multitalented band rolls.

Instead, Sal, her crew and their boat load of instruments are likely to pitch up in a station wagon that used to belong to a funeral director.

It’s not a hearse, though, Sal was certain about that.

“It’s perfect for touring,” she said from a comfy spot in her Coburg backyard. “The windows are heavily tinted, so I don’t actually know if it’s legal. It didn’t carry coffins, but it did have curtain rails when we got it and it’s so tinted it’s a little odd.”

Another quirk in The Rollin’ Wheel story is that Sal shares her digs with bandmates Jacob Cole and Beth ‘Buffy’ Kimber, Sal’s big sister and keyboard player.

The trio are great mates and as well as loving each other’s company, it has also proved a big bonus living in close quarters ahead of the 24-date national tour.

“Last night we had band practice and when it ended, Jake and I kept singing in the garage for another couple of hours and if we didn’t live together we wouldn’t have figured out that harmony, so it works for that reason,” Sal said.

“We kind of struggle to find time to practice but we sit down with our diaries months and months in advance and book in practices. We’re doing more practices than we’ve ever done just because we’re trying to nail some really interesting and exciting kind of arrangements.”

While the album sports a distinctly country vibe, there’s really no putting your finger on any one particular genre to pigeonhole it by.

Sal’s songwriting, a skill nurtured from a young age by her father, reflects a youth spent in country Victoria and a worldly character intent on staying true to the story behind each song.

“He (Sal’s dad) is a beautiful man and he’s got a great sense of humour, but he’s also really passionate about people writing about where they come from,” she said. “The landscapes and the people they’re surrounded by."

“A lot of singer-songwriters around me tend to pick up things that are overseas or international. Something about the road, you can see a Motor Inn and a Chevy, but it’s in the States."

“My Dad’s passionate about making sure you’re talking about where you’re from, sense of place, sense of connection and when someone’s listening to your song they can connect really easily because it’s coming from a really genuine place."

“It doesn’t mean every song on the album is totally sense of place, but I definitely tried to make it so.”

Sal was also sure to take advantage of the collective talent of The Rollin’ Wheel in making the album, sharing writing duties with Cole and incorporating influences from every band member.

This has lead to the album being tagged ‘alt-country’, but doing so might just as easily be considered a cop-out when all things are considered.

“I think it’s got a lot to do with everything, we all listen to lots of different music,” Sal said. “Our bass player loves old country music and on the double bass that’s what he plays at home. Our drummer, she’s actually a funk musician. She studied jazz, but she was in a funk band for ages. Our guitarist studied jazz, too, but he loves blues and really out-there jazz… and to be honest, I actually love trance dance music. It’s not my favourite, but when we bring it all together it’s a kind of mish-mash."

“It’s a funny one, ‘alt-country’ is an odd term. It’s been thrown around a lot in Melbourne because there’s this new wave of ‘alt-county’ coming through but actually it’s been around for so long."

“Our live shows, I guess are a little bit soul influenced. I like to call it country soul. I listen to a lot of country music, like Lucinda Williams, but almost that classic, cheesy country I don’t really like."

“If people say ‘you’re a country musician’ I tend to cringe a little bit, so that’s why you put the ‘alt’ at the front."

“I guess soul country, that’s quite an elusive term… Our sound is changing, too.”

While nailing down their sound has been a focus since the band came together three years ago, just as much focus has gone into honing the live act – the facet Sal says is her band’s real pride and joy.

“Festivals are most definitely the thing we love doing,” she said. “I kind of started playing lots of folk festivals as a solo player and then I got a band and now with the five-piece we play with now, the set-up has been the same the last three years."

“We still play lots of folk festivals but we’re edgier now. We still go down well at folk and country festivals, we’re just becoming edgier and rockier now and we get into more indie festivals which is fun."

“At the end of the day we just love playing at any festivals. It’s just a different vibe. At festivals things just happen, people dance a bit crazier."

“When we’re playing a folk festival we have to tailor our set to an older crowd, then different at an indie festival, but we’re trying to get to the point where we don’t have to do that, we can deliver a set and that is our sound and people can connect to it."

“Our strength is probably our live show. We kind of got together out of being friends and playing live together so at the end of the day our favourite thing is to play live and to play at festivals on sunny afternoons.”

The live show is sure to be as tight as a drum by the time the tour starts and with their excellent album now out in the open, it must feel to Sal Kimber & The Rollin’ Wheel like Christmas has come nice and early in 2011.

“It’s been a fun and really interesting process,” Sal said. “We’ve just been playing together for three years and every time we play a show we say ‘We’ve got an album coming soon and we’ll be able to share this sound’".

“Now we do (have an album) and that feels really… even the cover looks cool and the posters look cool. Usually we look a bit daggy but somehow we’ve got it together and we feel a little bit more professional than we ever have."

“It already feels like we’ve just stepped up and we’ve done what we always said we’d do as a band – put out an album, put in a lot of energy and we’re really proud of it. The next stage is just playing live shows and, I guess, playing each show, it sounds cheesy, but playing each show like it’s our last."

“We’re all actually really looking forward to it. We’re excited about playing the new set and it feels successful already.”

 

This article was first published at www.TheDwarf.com.au