Blow Up Betty

Delivering high octane, ridiculously catchy punk-infused rock, Adelaide's Blow Up Betty are hugely popular locally and are building an ever increasing profile interstate. Fresh from supporting Budgie, singer/guitarist/founder Kim and bassist Yonna take time out from their very hectic schedule to talk about their involvement in the forthcoming Fringe extravaganza 'Frock n' Roll' and more.

The band have been together now for a number of years, but they almost didn't get off the ground, as Kim explains. "Blow Up Betty really started in 2004 as a viable project, but Linda, the original drummer, and I started the band in 2001. In the period between 2001 and 2004 we were jamming on a weekly basis but we had two vocalists, a bass player, another guitarist and another drummer pass through before we settled on the line-up. At one stage we lost two members in two weeks and it became, 'do we bother keeping going?' But we finally stumbled on a guitarist and then a bass player who worked for us."

"And that was me," pipes up Yonna. "And you were a complete accident as well," Kim adds. "We were auditioning someone else at the time and she said, 'Do you need a bass player?' It was meant to happen."

"We also acquired a new drummer last year. Linda decided that she didn't want to do the band thing any more. We found a young drummer Kristy and, she is absolutely amazing."

'Frock n' Roll' is the brainchild of Kim and Emily from another fine Adelaide band Illicit Eve. "Emily and I sat down and basically decided that we wanted to put on a Fringe show. Then we talked about how we hadn't done a lot of shows together because we find that there's an inherent belief that you shouldn't gig with other girl bands because they're the opposition, whereas, really, we probably have the same audience."

"We played a lot of lead up gigs with Angelik and Ricochet Pete, and then Emily and I sat down and said, 'you know what? We've got to combine forces, and we've got to do it under that girl rock banner.' And basically that's where we came up with 'Frock n' Roll which is basically this show of solidarity. So it's a showcase. Adelaide has the best female rock scene in the country but people don't realise it. So we thought, well why not exploit it!"

Kim elaborates on the theme; "We've worked with councils, we've done a lot of mentoring stuff to encourage females into music. But it's not like a feminist thing, it's always good to hear girls who can rock, who can play their instruments and who can kick it with the best."

Yonna succinctly summarises the common dilemma unfairly still encountered by women. "I remember years ago hearing the quote 'as a women you have to do things twice as well as a man to be thought of as half as good.' And that is so true when you play in a rock band. You'll get people saying things like, 'you're pretty good ... for a chick.' But you get to the point where you accept that it's part of it. I know that I can play and if anyone wants to disagree well that's their problem."

It appears that 'Frock n' Roll' may be our last chance to see Blow Up Betty for a while as Kim explains their plans for 2008. "We're going to try to hook up another round of dates in New South Wales. We'll probably take Illicit Eve up with us as well. We'd like to get to Melbourne a couple of times before the end of the year. We've pretty much decided that our focus this year will be on touring, but not so much in South Australia. We're also going to take some time off to do some writing."

Having released two EPs, I wonder whether this writing will lead to an album. Kim explains that the time and the material need to be right. "I don't know that we've got an album in us yet. Personally, as a writer, I'm not ready. I want it to be good, I want it to conceptually work. It's not out of the question, but I think our next step will be another EP and then maybe an album."

James McKenzie

'Frock n' Roll' takes place at The Cavern Club on Friday 14 March and Saturday 15 March. Featured bands include Illicit Eve, Angelik, Twelve Dollar Monkey, Ricochet Pete, Jetpack Escapee Scene, Taste The Venom (Vic) and Blow Up Betty.