with Leigh Stearne,
88 To Yesterday
88 To Yesterday
bassist Leigh Stearne talks to Rrocklobster about the local punk scene, jumping
in the deep end, and his newfound penchant for organising themed punk shows.
Talking with Stearne
on a sunny afternoon outside a pub in Freo, he seems laid back and optimistic.
He’s definitely a glass-half-full kind of guy, and is willing to give anything
a go. Being in a band has thrown him many challenges, and from the outside it
appears he’s conquered them with aplomb.
His first challenges were learning to play
bass, and finding the confidence to play in front of a crowd. “I picked up the
bass four years before the band started and I was just in the bedroom randomly
playing. When the band started I started playing regularly. I just wish I’d
started earlier. Being in a band pushes you. You have to do it; you have to
practice. When we started gigging we smashed about six or seven gigs within two
weeks. It was insane but doing that was awesome. Smashing out so many gigs in
quick succession, I was able to get the jitters out and now it’s fun. It’s not
scary anymore.”
2014 has been tumultuous for the band, but
they’re getting back on track now with a new guitarist and a positive attitude.
“This year’s been crazy, we’ve gone through two guitarists this year and now it’s
like restarting. It’s good; it’s exciting. We’re trying to figure out how to
make music again”
As well as trying to figure out how they
work musically, they needed someone to take the reins of logistics. “Our
original guitarist Phil was our unofficial manager. He was in charge of taking
care of bookings and all the behind the scenes things and now I’ve jumped into
that role in the band. This is my first band as well, so I didn’t know what I
was doing. I was winging it but I’m starting to get a feel for it now”
It’s helpful when the other bands are
friendly, and that’s certainly the case in the Perth punk scene. “You’ve got to
network and get to know other bands and make friends. Everyone I’ve met in the
scene has been awesome. Everyone’s keen for a drink and a laugh. It’s not about
outdoing each other it’s just about having a good time. There’s a lot of
diversity within the one punk genre. Every band’s got their own thing that they bring
to the table so it’s good. You haven’t got two bands that are exactly the same,
competing with each other”
They’re finding out just how diverse the
punk scene is, and where their sugared-coated pop-punk fits into that. Stearne
reflects on the Chaos Club show they played earlier this year where the crowd
and the other entertainers reminded him of GG Allin. “That would definitely be
the most out there night we’ve played. It was really different but good! A
couple of the guys were not really our scene but it was good. I like to see all
sorts of subcultures of different things that that was really eye opening. We
felt so far removed from the punk – we felt like One Direction!”
It wasn’t long after this that Stearne
started to organise shows himself. “I was finding it difficult to book shows because
I didn’t really know how to go about it, so I put a show on myself. I’m a
Breaking Bad fan, so I went with the theme and people liked it. The first one
was really successful we got 50 people through the door, which was sick for a
Tuesday night. That was awesome. If the next one’s successful hopefully I can
do more Breaking Punks, because it’s an excuse to play a sick show and get
people on board. The next one’s on a Friday so I’ve got to try and get 100
people through the door. It’s a pretty solid line up, I think.
Punk isn’t the only thing on Stearne’s
mind. “I love all music. Ska, pop-punk, straight up punk, everything! Even hip
hop. I love Seth Sentry.” He has a soft spot for Australian bands. “Violent
Soho and The Smith Street Band are my two favourite Australian bands. When they
announced that double headliner..! Wil [Wagner, of The Smith Street Band] is so
energetic. Within one song he’s doused in a pool of sweat and you can see they’re
having fun.”
"He’s walked out of the door just as we’re dropping our friends off and I said ‘Oh that’s Phil fuckin’ Jamieson, what the fuck?’ and I’ve called out ‘Phil! Good luck tonight mate!’ full fan boy, and he’s stumbled over. He was blotto!"
Clearly an avid lover and follower of
music, he has a few stories to share, including the one about the time he met
Grinspoon front man Phil Jamieson.“They played Groovin’ The Moo a couple of
years ago and we were dropping off some friends at a hotel. He’s walked out of
the door just as we’re dropping our friends off and I said ‘Oh that’s Phil
fuckin’ Jamieson, what the fuck?’ and I’ve called out ‘Phil! Good luck tonight
mate!’ full fan boy, and he’s stumbled over. He was blotto! I don’t know if he
was on drugs or not but he was stumbling around, it was like ten in the morning,
and he’s walked over to the driver’s door and stood on my cousin’s foot, and he
said ‘Ahh I’m just gonna go and pretend to bloody like people now aye,’ and
then he just staggered off. I tell everybody that story.”
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