It’s every school kid’s dream. Get some mates together for a battle of the bands, blow everyone else away, win the box of doughnuts and tour the world.
Amandah Wilkinson, singer of Operator Please, hailing from the Gold Coast of Australia, admits that her school chums were a bit pissed off that this group of outcasts wiped the floor with their contemporaries.
But hey, who cares, because the indie punk poppers are taking their little patch of sunshine by storm.
With the youngest in the band still only 16 and the oldest a grand old age of 19, Operator Please is making waves with its bubble gum pop, reminiscent of some sort of crazy Hives/B-52s hybrid.
Debut single ‘Just A Song About Ping Pong brings together a guitar riff that stays in the head for weeks (trust me on that one) with Amandah’s youthful vocals bursting with energy and vibrancy. Just the fact it is really a song about ping-pong makes you love it.
The band brings something a little different to the usual teenaged angst school groups, with choppy drums amazingly played for such a young ’un, electro keyboards, just the right amount of bouncy bass and a classically trained violinist.
Amandah says: “Every year at school I was too gutless to start a band and other groups didn’t want a girl, but in the end, I picked a load of random people and asked them to play at the battle of the bands. We weren’t even friends.”
“We blew all the other bands away and, after that, were asked to play shows. It’s been bloody amazing."
“We blew all the other bands away and, after that, were asked to play shows. It’s been bloody amazing. I can’t believe how many people turn up to see us. We’ve only had two singles out here, but have already toured all round Australia.”
The bopping ‘…Ping Pong’ comes with an ice-cream cone full of varied surprises like ‘Get What You Want’ and ‘Crash Tragic’, each giving a hint of what’s to come from the band and a little insight into the daily lives of Oz teens.
“Most of us know shit about love because we’re too young. People diss us if they think we’re trying to sing songs about emotion, so I write a lot about things that have happened to me and people that I have met,” Amandah says.
“None of us listen to the same music. Our drummer loves jazz and I love old music like The Cars and Creedence Clearwater. Our violinist is classically trained and our pianist likes twee pop like Ben Folds. It makes us respect all genres.”
‘Ballard Two For My Seconds’ is a little High School the Musical, but there’s plenty of time for improvement.
Word of Operator Please is spreading fast and they are already taking to the stage supporting northern lads The Kaiser Chiefs and Maximo Park, as well as at the Leeds and Reading Festivals. The gigs come after a successful Brit debut at the Camden Crawl and many a play on BBC 6 Music and Radio 1.
And no doubt there will be many more to come…
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