The little band that could
The Age
Friday April 1, 2011
Big things are happening for the Little Stevies, writes Jo Roberts. LAST July, in a desperate (but ultimately unsuccessful) grab for votes from disgruntled live-music fans, the then-premier John Brumby, arts minister Peter Batchelor and associated suits converged at inner-city live-music cave the Cherry Bar to announce the latest round of funding for Arts Victoria's Victoria Rocks program.To demonstrate the fruits of state largesse, the government had two beneficiaries of Vic Rocks grants play at the announcement. One was the well-known Dan Kelly (who prompted a pollie singalong), the other were the lesser-known but no less engaging Little Stevies.The Melbourne pop-folk four-piece already had one well-received album under their belts, the 2009 debut Love Your Band. Two months later, the band sisters Sibylla and Bethany Stephen and bassist Robin Geradts-Gill left for Los Angeles to record their second album thanks not only to their Arts Victoria grant but, in a telling testament to their talent, also one from the Australia Council."They absolutely made us be able to do what we did," Sibylla says.Attention Shoppers was released last month and has so far scored album of the week on both Radio National and 3PBS. After an extensive run of Australian dates, the Little Stevies will make the first of two trips this year to Canada, where they've secured a distribution deal.While sweet harmonies and melodies are still their strong suit, Attention Shoppers sees the Little Stevies moving the intensity up a notch yet with an overwhelming mood of optimism and self-belief.Sibylla ponders this. "Yeah? Yeah, OK, yeah ... I don't know why, I guess it's just an easy thing to write about ... I hadn't really thought about it like that but now that you mention it, I guess even a song like [first single] Feel It definitely has that vibe about it. Yeah, maybe you're right. Yeah, OK, I'm gonna go with that."Check out the video for Feel It on the band's website. A sweet-humoured marathon of focus and energy, complete with choreographed dance moves, it was shot in a single take. Or rather, the clip was selected from between 15 and 20 takes. Ouch."Now I go to the gym, since filming that film clip. I should have been going before we did it," Sibylla says."That was unbelievably difficult."At the clip's end, the camera pans to a group of applauding adults, sitting in armchairs watching the band. Their parents, perhaps? "Yep. We thought we'd re-create what we used to do when we were eight," she says.It is indeed an endearingly daggy mirror to the band's past. Sibylla and Geradts-Gill, both 27, have literally grown up together. "There's pictures of our mums standing back to back when we were in our mums' tummies and stuff," she says.And their parents were not just friends but bandmates. Her mother and Geradts-Gill's father played in a band called Dove, while her dad was in a band called the Pied Pipers. Growing up in Box Hill, the three began to make music together as a part of everyday life. It's therefore difficult for Sibylla to pinpoint when the Little Stevies began."We didn't just one day become a band, we kind of learnt everything together," she says.The band have been on a steep learning curve in the past two years. From recording their debut album in Geradts-Gill's old bedroom, they went to having conference calls with potential overseas producers as they narrowed their search, ultimately choosing Ethan Allen (Luscious Jackson, Kristin Hersh, Tim Finn). "It was just bizarre," Sibylla says. "The first one was relaxed and easy and lovely; we did it when we could, over weekends, that kind of thing ... I don't know if I could have handled this kind of experience as the first time."This kind of experience? "It felt like work," she says.Having grown up singing together, it's difficult to tell the sisters' voices apart on Attention Shoppers. On Sister, a loving gift of life advice from big-sister Sibylla to Bethany, 23, it's safe to assume that's Sibylla singing? No."I've got a real issue with crying," Sibylla says. "I'm just really emotional. I knew from the moment I wrote that down it sounds so daggy I was like, 'You have to sing this, I can't sing this'. I was gonna be like all sentimental."It may be daggy but it's clearly what resonates with fans. "The two songs ... that I thought clicked with people the most are the two songs that when I've written them, I've thought, 'Oh my god, they're so daggy, I'm so uncool'."Sister is one of them, the other is Grandma, a song from their first album. "People [at shows] go, 'Play the grandma song', then they come up after and go, 'I cried during the grandma song'. It's really nice."The Little Stevies launch Attention Shoppers at the Toff in Town, city, on Saturday and Sunday, with support from Anika Moa.
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