The Australian band Wet Kiss plays a brand of glam rock that is both tough and theatrical, cranked-up and camp. The band’s second record, Thus Spoke the Broken Chanteuse, is in part a reflection on frontwoman Brenna O’s time in Berlin, where she moved almost directly after the release of her band’s first album. It’s a city that is no doubt brimming with damaged cabaret lore, and the music on the record both reflects and builds on Berlin's musical history. Though it might include lyrics about Berghain, do not get it twisted, the album is a pure rock and roll blast. We sent some questions over to the singer about all of this and more. Give the piece a read and listen to Thus Spoke the Broken Chanteuse below.
Why did some of you choose to move to Berlin after your first album? Why did you move back?
Brenna O: I wanted to walk in Sally Bowles' footsteps. In Australia there is no big city to chase your dreams in, and I can’t afford New York or London. Berlin was a new frontier where Bowie and Iggy Pop once lived to shake off their cocaine addiction. Someone at a party once told me you can do anything you want there so I took that to heart. Do you mean move back to Australia? I moved back after two years to record and promote my album. But some of us are plotting our next move now.
Is there a main thematic thread running through your new record?
It's about a girl starting from scratch in a mythologic city built in the shadow of lost dreams.
“Pink Shadow” references Berghain. Could you tell any Berghain stories?
Berghain terrorises me. It's impossible for me to be rejected even when I want to be. Whenever I'm there I become lost, I become conservative—I've never been able to loosen up in Berghain. I much prefer Fricken3000 in Nuekoln!
You’ve played a decent amount of support slots. Do you like the challenge of trying to win over a crowd of sometimes ambivalent punters?
The crowd at someone else's show are a pack of pigs with crossed arms and it’s your job to unthirl them. I adore the challenge of giving a headlining performance at a matinee timeslot. The most important thing for performers to remember is that you're working for the audience, you're an entertainer, they want to love you, they just don’t know it yet. I’m not afraid to volley with the audience which is a skill you develop, if one tries, over many difficult performances.
The album title references Nietzsche. Do you read philosophy?
I spend a bit of time with philosophers and academics, they love me for whatever reason. I listen in at the bar and gleam certain notions here and there and turn them into poetry. I prefer to read biographies about rock and roll stars.
Who is an underrated glam rock band and why?
One glam artist I treasure is the Queen of Hearts himself Brett Smiley, who had glam thrust upon him quite disingenuously by his producer, Andrew Oldham. At 16 years old Brett wanted to be a model so he moved from New York to London in the late 60s to make it in fashion. There he met Oldham, producer of Marrianne Faithful hits, Oldham turned him into a 70s glam rocker and produced him a record, Breathless Brett. But after a terrible live TV appearance where Brett absolutely quite truly breathlessly choked, the record was canned and he lived in obscurity, dying of HIV in 2016. I suppose I love glam rock figures as they generally met tragic ends, crashing cars and crashing out never ascending past this era marked as a trend. I also love Alestair Riddel, a 70s glam rocker from New Zealand, listen to his song “Sea Bird.”
I love your Angelfire website. Very simple. Why did you choose to build on such an old-school platform?
I am repulsed by the user-friendly web building options available today, everything looks like a Shien store now. I love underworlds of all kinds and I just wanted to be a part of an expired segment of the internet. In your search engine type in a subject you're interested in followed by “Angelfire,” and you're bound to discover many incredible websites from the late 90s/00s, some are even still active and continue posting today. Sadly, Angelfire blocked my payments, so I've abandoned that site. It's lost at sea with the rest of them, which I think is a groove. I host my site on Neocities now.
If you had an unlimited budget, what would your live show look like? What kind of production would you use?
I would have my own spotlight rig with my own operator who knew exactly how to make us look beautiful and vaudevillian. I'd have my own stylist off stage assisting me with costume changes, someone to refill my champagne, a personal singing coach and platform for me to descend from. I'd probably have some wonderful new amplifiers and I'd get the mic of my dreams, the Electro Voice 676, favourite of Jim Morrison. I was disheartened to see online that Smerz are using Christmas tinsel as a backdrop for their tour as that was something I dreamed of using too, but will have to wait for the glitter to settle on that.
Photo Credit: Mia Pedler
