The Thousands

When we tried to say all the bands playing at Flip Out Festival in one breath, we turned a shade of tangerine. It went a little like "Eddy-Current-Suppression-Ring-Royal-Headache-The-UV-Race-Royal-Headache-The-Stabs-The-Ooga-Boogaaaaas", before our cheeks imploded, our eye stalks reddened and we were slapped out of breath. More than just thirteen bands, a record fair, merch market and a vegan BBQ Flip Out Festival greets us in Sydney with a bangin’ inaguration on Saturday week.

We wanted in, so we asked Leon Stackpole (Stacky) from the Ooga Boogas and Marcus Rechsteiner from The UV Race to spill the sauce on ambitions, vans, fans and rollin’ babes.

Leon Stackpole: So what do you have in store for Flip Out in Sydney?  Do you think you might ‘go boontah’?
Marcus Rechsteiner: I am not sure what boontah is. My plans for Flip Out are to have fun. I can’t wait to spend time with my friends Danielle and Selena who are rock and roll babes who I spent time with in Sydney when I was there in July. I also plan to take a camera and take photos of the van trip up and back. Ally Spazzy is also going to be in the van, which will be fun. I want to take photos of us at service stations with random people and say that they are fans. There has been talk about Mess and Noise giving me a camera to do it I hope they do.

LS: This is your first Sydney tour. Why has it taken so long?
MR: We are all busy working and studying. The UV Race is our hobby and we have waited for the right opportunity – Flip Out. Al and Dan have played Sydney quite a bit with Straight Jacket Nation and with Flip Out we can play to a lot more people and we can also play with a heap of sick bands and some yanks as well which is exciting.

LS: Any single band members who might be aiming to get lucky?
MR: I can’t speak for the others but I aim to because I haven’t go lucky in five years so maybe Sydney can break my drought. It would be a nice bonus but I will see what happens. 

LS: What sensitive band issues ought not be raised in the van on the way up, and especially on the way back?
MR: The UV Race are all really good friends so it’s not a chore for us to spend time together. We spend quite a lot of time doing stuff together outside of the band. I can’t think of any touchy issue for that reason because when we spend time with each other it’s fun and we are always joking and telling gags. On the way back in the van everyone might be a bit tired for the whole weekend so I imagine every one will want the van to be a bit quieter than it was on the way up.

LS: The ambitious nature of the UV Race is the stuff of legend. At what point would you decide to actually decline an invitation to an industry function?
MR: Ha ha. The UV Race do things our way. The way that feels best to us. We don’t go round saying f*ck the music industry it’s shit we just do what we want. We are lucky we have been given the opportunities we have. We have played with some amazing bands. Mikey, Rich, yourself and Pere from Aaarght records have been a great support. We are lucky that labels are keen to put our stuff out so they deal with that side of things and we get to focus on making songs and playing gigs, which is what we enjoy. I am not sure if the UV Race would ever decline an invitation to an industry function because those things have free food don’t they? I love finger food like dim sims and mini spring rolls and as my late father would tell me you better eat while you’re out because there might be nothing when you get home.  

LS: Every band has a person who for various reasons holds a somewhat tenuous grip on continuing membership. Who’s that person in the UV Race & why?
MR: The UV Race breaks all the rules and doesn’t have one. As I said before the UV Race is our hobby and sometimes it’s a very time consuming hobby but we all understand when it comes to work and study those things come first. The UV Race is fun coz it’s not serious. We have all said no to doing gigs sometimes for various reasons but you only see the UV Race gigs when the girls can’t play coz Dan Moses and I can play with out them but prefer to play with them. Georgia plays saxophone and Emily is our keyboarder.  

LS: The album’s been in the can for a few months now. What’s the current creative trajectory of the band?
MR: We have some new songs and we need to jam a bit more and get them sorted. We have a couple of labels in North America that want to put out our music on a 7 inch each so hopefully we can record the songs around the end of the year. It’s a good feeling knowing people want to put our stuff out and knowing that they will deal with that side of the operation.

LS: OK fill in the blanks: (MR speaks in "bold")
New is to NSW as vic bitter is to Victoria?
Batman’s ‘treaty’ is to Melbourne as gay mardi gras and lesbian is to Sydney?
Race riots are to Cronulla as footy is to Warragul?

LS: Any more words for the legions of fans and fans to be?
MR: I like to think the UV Race don’t have fans because we know most of the people who are into our music and they are our friends. The UV Race has a blog spot and we are running a drawing competition and three of our new 7-inch records Malaria are up for grabs. Look on our blog spot for details. It’s not a joke so enter it and you might win. The UV Race blog spot has heaps of sick photos of funny things and us on there as well. There is even a photo of me with one of the Hill Top Hoods. We caught the same plane to Brisbane. 

LS: You’ve been great. Thanks for your time.