The Belair Lip Bombs

Tasmiya: And where did you play at?

Maisie: We played at an Antidismal event, Happy Feet. Their first ever festival!

Tasmiya: What do you play?

Mike: I play guitar.

Maisie: I also play guitar, and I sing. We both sing!

Iggy: Why did you choose to play guitar? I know you play a Jaguar [gestures over to Mike], and you play a Strat [gestures over to Maisie].

Mike: It was the only guitar I could afford. [amusingly]

Iggy: Does it dictate your tone a bit?

Mike: Yeah, it's very bright and jangly, and it's annoying when I use a Fender amp, if anyone listening cares.

Maisie: Mike hates Fender amps.

Mike: I hate Fender amps.

Maisie: I mean, we love Fender amps. [laughs]

Iggy: Considering you're an indie rock band,

Tasmiya: Oh is that how you would describe yourself?

Iggy: What's your genre?

Maisie: I would say indie rock, yeah. I think that's the broad term to describe it.

Iggy: How do you try to mould your sound? Do you add reverb or which pickups do you use?

Maisie: I just switch between them because I don't really understand how music works.

Mike: I feel like every show is a battle when you don't have a sound check. So that whole show, I was tweaking everything.

Iggy: You were tuning a lot, pressing pedals to try and get it correct.

Mike: Yeah, I've been tuning a lot.

Tasmiya: Okay, so what is the Belair Lip Bombs like? Like, what is the Belair? And what is the Lip Bomb?

Maisie: Well, The Belair Lip Bombs, first and foremost, is a band. It's me, Mike, and two others who are not on screen right now. The name came from a skateboard wheel from the 70s. We kept saying it was from the 80s, but then we got an angry Facebook message from some guy saying it was actually from the 70s. We're a band from Frankston, which is in Melbourne.

[Mike points to 3199 postcode tattoo on his right arm]

Tasmiya: Oh, true. So, did you come up here for the festival? And Bigsound.

Maisie: We came up here for the festival and for Bigsound.

Tasmiya: What's your favourite Brisbane band?

Mike: Violent Soho, for me.

Maisie: In terms of bands that are still together, I would say Platonic Sex and also there's a band called Blue Dino.

Iggy: What would you say is different here compared to in Frankston?

Mike: I feel like everyone's nicer here.

Maisie: Yeah, I think the scene in Brisbane... I, I don't know, it's a lot broader. Melbourne's a bit more sparse? In that sense? Brisbane feels like more tight knit, which is nice.

Iggy: What are your main influences as a band?

Maisie: Good vibes, bro.

Mike: We all listen to very, very different things.

Tasmiya: I think it comes across in the way it sounds too. I love the graphics, during when you played, with the kissing and everything, insert lip bomb. Did anyone make that for you?

Maisie: I didn't even notice that. What was it?

Mike: I think that was Gus.

Maisie: True. Our friend Gus.

Mike: Gus Fiedler. He's also from Frankston. Check him out.

Maisie: He's a videographer and a graphic designer.

Mike: He did our music videos. Check him out. Gus Fiedler.

Tasmiya: So, the Belair is the skateboard part, and the Lip Bombs is what you added?

Maisie: Nuh, it's actually the whole thing. So Belair Lip Bombs is like a niche brand of skateboarding. So we might run into some copyright issues down the line. So far we've been good.

Iggy: So you're really influenced by the skating culture?

Maisie: Well, no, not really. None of us can actually skate.

Tasmiya: So, you pose as skateboarders?

Maisie: We are posers [loud booming voice]. That's literally the definition of it.

Mike: I feel like when we first started, we were into a bit of skating but not anymore.

Tasmiya: Do you guys skate?

Mike: Uh, a little bit.

Tasmiya: The Belair Lip Bombs don't skate.

Mike: Definitely not anymore.

Maisie: I think we need it to be our headlining quote.

Tasmiya: I didn't even know that that was the reference. I love asking bands. What's the future for you guys?

Mike: World domination.

Maisie: World domination.

Mike: We could get up to Europe, probably. New Zealand sometime.

Tasmiya: So you're a Frankston-based local band, who toured and now you're going to Bigsound and everything. That's awesome.

Maisie: Yeah, yeah. We're really lucky.

Iggy: What would you say gave you all your fame and influence?

Maisie: I don't know if we've reached fame yet.

Mike: Probably when we put the album out. Yeah because albums are pretty... Very official. And we've worked very hard.

Iggy: Looking at your music videos and songs, they sound very well produced and high quality compared to a general local band which usually sounds very lo-fi and don't really have an image.

Maisie: I think we just like, with our debut album, last year, it's more tight, more production. We just wanted it to sound like, you know, more high quality than our previous stuff.

Mike: And now the album's out.

Maisie: Now we're gonna go to Bigsound. But yeah, I think when the album came out is when we started to get off.

Tasmiya: I love your artistic expression as a band. Because it's just like a bunch of guys and then a little girl. [band chuckles] And then you're called the Belair Lip Bombs. Do you, like, recognize the femme fatales of that?

Maisie: Yeah, I think about that sometimes.

Tasmiya: What do you think about?

Maisie: I don't know. Like, we always joke about this to great angles.

Tasmiya: Yeah, that would be awesome.

Mike: Every time people ask us... Every time someone asks us our band name, it's like a tongue twist of it repeated three times. Like Belair Lip Bombs or Belair Lip Bombs.

Tasmiya: Lip bombs. [gestures throwing a bomb]

Maisie: It's a stronger name. We're too lucky. I think our Instagram is just lipbombs.

Tasmiya: Say something about being a little girl in a band called Lip Bombs with a bunch of guys. Artistic expression.

Maisie: Lip bombs. It's nice being the... It's nice being the... odd one out because it actually means I have a hierarchy over some of the guys.

Tasmiya: True. Do you wear lipstick?

Maisie: Well, I seldom, I sometimes do. But I'm yet to find the right shade.

Tasmiya: That's important.

Maisie: That is important. Like lip liner and lipstick is super important. I'm an avid lip gloss enthusiast, cause I feel like you can wear it and the little shades of red make you look good.

Iggy: Any bands or any songs that you must listen to, like you implore your audience to listen to you?

Maisie: At the moment, it would be this band called Geese. They're a band from New York that I've just been listening to like non-stop. I feel like they're gonna be a big influence on our next.

Tasmiya: When's your next album coming out?

Maisie: Well, we're writing it at the moment. We're actually going to be doing some demos at Bigsound.

Tasmiya: Ooh!

Maisie: Tomorrow and the coming Tuesday. And hopefully before tomorrow.

Tasmiya: Is this like your first all-ages gig? Or do you usually do venues?

Maisie: Usually. There's actually... There's a big all-ages scene in Frankston where we're from. So there's a place called Singing Bird Studios, there's like still like... I think they actually... Dude, I found out a statistic yesterday, I mean two days ago. They ran the most all-ages gigs in Victoria. What? And that's like our home base.

Tasmiya: Shout out to Frankston! That's awesome.

Iggy: So you really come from like a hot spot of all ages music?

Maisie: I would, yeah.

Tasmiya: So you come from the capital of all ages music and then you come to an all ages festival in Brisbane. That's awesome.

Iggy: I'd say you're gonna be a huge influence. You've have changed our lives forever. And now the scene is never going to be the same because you guys have enlightened it.

Maisie: Wow, that's... Oh shit, that's very flattering.

Tasmiya: Do you have anything else that you'd like to say? We kinda rapid fired you.

Maisie: Shout out to the all ages scene. It's super important.

Tasmiya: What do you think like these types of DIY gigs and this festival here...

Maisie: Literally when we rocked up here today we were like 'this is fucking great!' like I literally said to Jimmy and Mike I was like 'imagine if every gig was like this'. It's awesome.

Tasmiya: What's the difference between this and traditional gigs?

Maisie: I dunno, I feel that a lot of traditional gigs are at the sort of venues, gross venues and it's dark.

Tasmiya: This is like happy venues in the sun with children! [excitingly]

Maisie: Yeah it's nice.

Mike: They always bring in the good vibes. Um, all ages, yeah.

Iggy: Do you have any wise words for the youth, for the subscene, for those who want to make music and start a band?

Mike: Go out, go as much as you can, make friends with people, get into the scene, you form connections, that's the process of getting out there, go as much as you can, just keep doing it.

Maisie: That's a great one.

Tasmiya: You guys have anything else?

Kai: I looked at your shirt that's obviously Elden Ring. Is there any parallels between gaming culture and band culture? I definitely grew up playing games and then pivoted towards bands.

Mike: I reckon. Cause we and Jimmy, we all grew up playing classic games like Halo and on the drive up we had like numetal songs and Halo and it was so nostalgic, I feel like there's some crossover between gaming and music. Especially because you revisit the whole game and it brings back so much nostalgia.

Iggy: How did your band form in the first place? Because it's not everyday that a good band forms.

Maisie: I guess we just...

Mike: We were pretty poo poo for a while.

Maisie: A bit poo poo for a while.

Mike: Anyways we went to school together and...

Maisie: Well just through sort of, well I mean we all came from Frankston.

Iggy: Did you all go to school together?

Mike: I mean me and Jimmy did.

Maisie: None of us have really studied... What's the word for it?

Tasmiya: Tertiary studies.

Maisie: None of us have ever done that.

Tasmiya: I think I'm gonna end the recording here.