LIV MCBRIDE
Songs From The South
Yeah, pretty cool, eh?
Q Personally, I struggle with Garfunkel. As a punishment at primary school, my headmaster made me perform a solo song and dance to Bright Eyes in front of a senior class.
I had a similar thing happen to me. I had some MC Hammer pants with a velcro strap in the front and my teacher warned me if I played with the velcro one more time in class, I would have to get up and sing. But it's like clicking a pen and after one more rip I was standing up having to sing My Favourite Things from The Sound of Music.
Q How did it go?
That was the moment I thought, I quite enjoyed that, I could do that again.
Q Sticking with the Garfunkel theme, what is your favourite sound of silence?
There's a moment about a minute into Settle Down, by Kimbra, where everything builds and then it's just her voice that trails off in a typical swoopy Kimbra way and there's a tiny silence where you kind of gasp before everything pops back in.
Q Have you ever dreamed of being back in high school and nailing a performance of a song from the future, like Marty McFly in Back to the Future?
Yes, I was to shy to perform at school. It was after school that I grew a pair of balls and started performing in public. I would sing something that had a lot of guts to it, I'd like to shake it up and get some of the kids out of their present-day apathy.
If I didn't get booted out the door for profanity, I'd sing Sixteen by Gideon Irving. The hook is ''F*** TV'' but it's sung really beautifully.
Q When you performed in a covers band, what song would attract nobody to the dance floor?
We tried to incorporate Like A Prayer, by Madonna, in our set for three years. If the song is played by a DJ, people go crazy for it but you play the song in a band and the dance floor is empty.
Q Is it OK to put a note in a busker's guitar case and take out change?
No, it's not. It's like you are shaking their hand with one hand and slapping them with your other. If you believe in a busker enough, then go and get your own damn change and give it to them. There is nothing better if you're a busker than getting a note in your case, be it a $5 note, a $20 note or a handwritten note. That's nice.
• Songs from the South is on at Coronation Hall at 8pm tonight.
