News 10, Wet Leg

Credit Hollie Fernando

WET LEG

Words by Andrew Handley

Rhian Teasdale joins the video chat from her London home grasping her morning coffee, as birds chirp in the background.

The nine-hour time delay means it’s becoming cold and dark in Melbourne. “So you’re at the end of your day?” she asks waiting for her bandmate to join. Hester Chambers (who Teasdale affectionately calls ‘HC’) is only a minute late but apologises in her delicately soft voice. “I’ve done that thing where I haven’t downloaded Zoom on my phone yet.” The two are the core members of the band Wet Leg, which formed in their hometown on the Isle of Wight in 2019. It was the release of their first single, the wonderfully fun and catchy ‘Chaise Longue’, in 2021 which began their stratospheric rise (the film clip has over five million views on YouTube.) They’ve since appeared on many of the late-night talk shows in the US and were the buzziest band at South by Southwest. Teasdale and Chambers would be the last two to tell you this though, humble as they are.

The two met in college and had known each other for a decade by the time they decided to start a band. They were riding a ferris wheel at End of the Road festival, having just seen IDLES perform. “When we started this band, it was literally just so we could go to festivals in the summer and get booked for

a few shows,” explains Teasdale. “So we could go to the actual festival and roll around in fields for the weekend.”

Coming full-circle, like a drunken fairground ride, Wet Leg opened for IDLES earlier this year at their massive Brixton Academy show in London. “It was quite a surreal moment because we’d only ever joked about things like that,” says Chambers. and they’re playing Splendour In The Grass from July 22 - 24. “I’m like, ‘Did we really do that?’ But we did, there’s a picture of it.”

The release of singles like ‘Wet Dream’, another provocative, playful earworm, and ‘Too Late Now’, an atmospheric post-punk track, proved the band weren’t just a viral sensation. Teasdale says waiting for their debut album to come out wasn’t the nerve-wracking part. “I didn’t feel pressure before it was coming out, and then when it went to number one in the UK, that was really weird,” she says. “That stressed me out a little

Credit Hollie Fernando

bit… you hold yourself to a higher standard, I suppose.” Since their self-titled album came out in April it has reached number one in Australia too, but Teasdale couldn’t say why. “I dunno, man,” she says sheepishly. “It’s very nice.”

Wet Leg’s success is all the more impressive as Teasdale only learnt how to play the guitar for the band. “I’d been playing and writing on piano for a bit, and then I got really sick of that, and in a bit of a rut,” she recalls. “I tried when I was 14 to play “I’m like, ‘did we guitar, but then it made my hand hurt, and everyone made really do that?’ it look so easy, and I just gave up.” It was But we did, the encouragement from her bandmate that kept her going. there’s a “If I was like, ‘I can’t do it, I’m shit, this hurts, I don’t think picture of it” I can get it,’ Hester would always be like ‘no, you can do it, you’ve got this,’” Teasdale says. “Something as simple as that, just having Hester to encourage me, and just a little gentle push back of my own self-doubt really helped.” The success of the band’s breakout track ‘Chaise Longue’ is no doubt in part thanks to the wonderfully silly lyrics (“I went to school and I got the big D”). “I tried not to spend too much time on the lyrics,” says Teasdale. “Before this band, I was playing more folky stuff, so I wanted the lyrics to feel like poetry, I suppose, and it was very self-serious and introspective.” As the band was originally formed to gain entry to festivals, it made sense to write the songs for a festival environment. “We wanted to

“I didn’t feel pressure before it was coming out, and then when it went to number one in the UK, that was really weird”

get the set made really quickly, so we didn’t spend too long fine-tuning a lot of the lyrics,” she added.

Being signed to Domino was another shock to the band. “We invited them to the Isle of Wight to go to our favourite pub, and then got them plastered, and they were like, ‘Yes, you’re signed!’ jokes Chambers. “Everyone [is] so lovely and passionate, and they work quite closely together. It’s a big label, but it’s still an independent label.” Judging by the label’s roster, which includes Arctic Monkeys, John Hopkins and Alex G to name a few, it’s clear they’re doing something right. “There’s a good energy that comes off [Domino], like when you sit on the beach and the sun is shining on your head,” Chambers adds. It was through Domino that the band met producer Dan Carey, who has produced albums for other post-punks like Fontaines D.C., Squid, Geese and Black Midi. “He’s like way legit, and we are this little baby band,” says Teasdale. “The imposter syndrome hit pretty hard.” Carey’s production style suited the band perfectly, recording the bass and drums together, and the two guitars together. “We didn’t want to go into some dry, sterile studio space, where there’s glass between you [and the producer], and his studio is on the first floor of his house, so it instantly had a really homely feel,” explains Teasdale. The relaxed production style shines through on the album, which was recorded in only two and a half weeks. “He just kept it really fun, but there was a process, and he was very methodical,” says Teasdale.

The band continues to find themselves in outrageous scenarios, including playing a short set at a pre-Oscars party. “All of us, apart from Henry (the band’s drummer), went to college together, [so] it’s just so funny to think of us at like 17 in college, and then finding ourselves at this little, star-studded Hollywood party,” chuckles Teasdale. “Yves Saint Laurent dressed us, so we all looked really funny… we were overly chic, we don’t normally look like that.”

Neither Teasdale nor Chambers have visited Australia before, but are excited to perform at Splendour in the Grass in July, as well as opening for Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and an (already sold out) gig at Howler in Brunswick. Teasdale hopes to catch The Chats at Splendour. “Someone showed me their video for Smoko,” she says. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the best thing I’ve ever seen.’” This is high praise from a band with exceptional video clips themselves, several of which the duo directed. The band already have their second trip to Australia booked, opening for Harry Styles early next year. “I’m still waiting for someone to jump out and be like ‘you’ve been Punk’d,’” laughs Teasdale. Fortunately for us, this is no joke and just the beginning for Wet Leg.

Wet Leg’s eponymous debut album is out now via Domino. They’re supporting Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Margaret Court Arena on July 20 and playing a headline gig at Howler on July 21.

ARTS GUIDE Exhibitions to see in July

Words by Sidonie Bird de la Coeur

Bob and Mary

Head to Vivien Anderson Gallery for Bob and Mary, an exhibit featuring painted works from mother and son duo, Mary Gibson and Bob Gibson. Dedicated to exhibiting contemporary Indigenous art, Vivien Anderson Gallery has been representing extraordinary Indigenous artists for over 30 years. With a dedicated exhibition calendar for represented and guest artists, it’s part of the gallery’s key initiative to present Indigenous artists from remote, rural and urban centres internationally.

It’s on until July 23 at Vivien Anderson Gallery.

Jaedon Shin: Double Moon

In his latest exhibition, Jaedon Shin interrogates his duel identity as a Korean and an Australian through the dream-like worlds represented in his paintings. Vibrating with colour, memory and imagination, his work contemplates inner and transcultural experiences of growing up in the divided nation of Korea as well as his reflections on the migrant experience.

Visit the Heide Museum of Modern Art to catch Jaedon Shin: Double Moon. It runs from June 11 until October 30. Requiem to New York, Photographs by Ashley Gilbertson

An ode to a pre-pandemic New York, Requiem to New York is a visually powerful collection that tells the story of a city in a time of uncertain crisis. Recognised for his photographs of conflict zones, photojournalist Ashley Gilbertson documents a New York in the throes of 2020, capturing the uncertainty that unfolded around him during his regular jogs of the city.

The exhibition runs until August 22 at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia in Fed Square

Light: Works from Tate’s Collection

A collection of over 70 works curated by Tate in the UK, the exhibition focuses on the artistic fascination with light by showcasing art from over 200 years of art history. Works from great Romantic painters such as Turner and Impressionist artists such as Monet, Pissarro and Sisley are juxtaposed against works of modern and contemporary sculptural art in this illuminating exhibition.

You can catch it from June 16 to November 13 at ACMI

The Picasso Century

Charting the extraordinary career of Pablo Picasso, the NGV has collaborated with the Centre Pompidou and the Musée National Picasso-Paris to bring together over 80 works by Picasso. Curated by scholar of 20th century painting, Didier Ottigner, The Picasso Century also features over 100 works by his contemporaries, alongside dialogues of those who inspired his work. A powerful exploration of the artist’s personal, artistic and intellectual engagement with his peers, the exhibition is separated into 12 thematic sections to trace the many distinct periods of the artist’s career.

The Picasso Century runs from June 10 until October 9 at the NGV Like a Wheel That Turns: The 2022 Macfarlane Commissions

The third edition of the The Macfarlane Commissions – a partnership with ACCA that supports ambitious new projects of emerging and mid-career artists – features the works of Nadia Hernández, Lucina Lane, Gian Manik, Betty Muffler, Jahnne Pasco-White, Jason Phu, JD Reforma and Esther Stewart. In turn, they have approached the medium of painting as a vehicle to consider cultural and family histories, as well as our relationship to Country and the environment.

Like a Wheel That Turns takes place from July 2 until September 4 at ACCA. Entry is free

Susan Jacobs: The Ants Are In The Idiom and Still Life

Two exhibitions presented side by side in Buxton Contemporary - The Ants Are In The Idiom is a presentation of newly commissioned work by Susan Jacobs that meditates on the relationship between language and matter through drawing, sculpture and installation. Drawings and models ‘from the beginning’rsity of Melbourne’s Herbarium are presented in Still Life, an exhibition that explores symbiotic relationships, mycelial networks and microorganisms through the natural sciences.

The exhibition runs from June 3 to November 6 at Buxton Contemporary Schoolhouse Gallery: Jodie Kipps and Jess Mitchell

A not-for-profit creative space, Schoolhouse Studios offers residencies to up-and-coming artists in Melbourne. A community space that anyone can apply to, Schoolhouse Studios in Coburg comes with a gallery attached, where they run exhibits. In July, they’re exhibiting works by Jodie Kipps from July 4 until July 18 and Jess Mitchell from July 18 until August 1.

Visit Schoolhouse Studios at 28 Victoria Street, Coburg. Or, if you’ve got a body of work, head to their website and inquire about putting on an exhibit of your own.

“I just try to embody my values and the values that have been handed down to me from my parents and my grandparents and carry that every day of the year.”

BRIGGS

There are songs that are committed to truth-telling, that convey a profound sorrow, and make the listener weep with their healing delivery...

Words by Christine Lan

‘Took The Children Away’ by Archie Roach is one of those songs. Released in 1990, the landmark – which won the Human Rights Achievement Award in 1991 – is resonating with a new generation of artists. With the icon’s blessing, rapper Adam Briggs wrote the compelling sequel, ‘The Children Came Back’, 25 years after the classic song’s release. While ‘Took The Children Away’ pays homage to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were removed from their families (Stolen Generations), ‘The Children Came Back’ celebrates the strength and heroes of Australia’s First Peoples, naming Cathy Freeman, Adam Goodes, Patty Mills, Jimmy Little, Gurrumul and Roach within the song’s lyrics. These two songs embody why NAIDOC Week is so important: it celebrates the resilience, survival, wisdom and champions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples while continuing to acknowledge the issues of ongoing trauma, disadvantage and inequality. In the week beginning July 3, NAIDOC (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee) Week celebrations will be held across Melbourne to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. With its origins in the 1938 Day of Mourning – the first national Aboriginal civil rights gathering and hailed as the start of the modern Aboriginal political movement – NAIDOC Week provides an opportunity for all Australians to gain knowledge about the world’s oldest living cultures and to engage with their local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities through various events organised by local councils, government agencies, schools and workplaces.

“For me, I’m so enthralled and wound up and bound to my work that every week is NAIDOC Week for me,” says Briggs. “I don’t switch and change my positions on anything by calendar month. “I just try to embody my values and the values that have been handed down to me from my parents and my grandparents and carry that every day of the year.” “There’s going to be some great events, cultural activities, and celebrations for blackfellas. For me, NAIDOC Week or not, I show up and do what I do.”

This year’s theme for NAIDOC Week is ‘Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!’, which stands for a commitment to support and secure institutional, structural, collaborative, and cooperative reforms through seeking proper environmental, cultural and heritage protections, constitutional change, comprehensive truth-telling, working towards treaties and calling out racism.

“I was thinking about the slogan they’ve got this year – the theme ‘Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!’ For me, it’s a reminder that we can’t be complacent. Many blackfellas have “It’s like mate, I’m not asking been doing this fight and this work you to go and volunteer or for a lot longer than I’ve been alive, so give up your time, but acI’m not allowed to knowledge – wholeheartedly be tired yet. It’s not about fighting all the and truthfully – what went time, but it’s about support and get up, on and how this manifested stand up and show up for ourselves and and how we’re here and what for each other.” NAIDOC Week that disadvantage is.” encourages all Australians to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, to acknowledge our history and to realise that acknowledgement is a crucial unifier.

“I think a lot of the willingness to not engage with it, that White Australia has, comes from the top-down – it’s that Howard-era of ‘I refuse to look at the past with a black armband’, and so that tells people ‘that’s not my fault, why should I have to do anything?’

“It’s like mate, I’m not asking you to go and volunteer or give up your time, but acknowledge – wholeheartedly and truthfully – what went on and how this manifested and how we’re here and what that disadvantage is.

“For the regular Joe, it might not be your job to close the gap on Indigenous health; these are complex, sophisticated issues, but acknowledgement that it’s an issue and that the people whose job that is, should be doing something about it and fixing it. For the average Karen or Darren on the street, I’m not asking you to fix it – I’m asking you to understand that it’s an issue, wholeheartedly and truthfully.”

Through his music, writing and speeches, Briggs has been a compelling advocate for the need to address history as a whole and acknowledge the truth. “Not acknowledging truth and denying someone’s truth is abuse,” says Briggs. “There’s no healing to come from that. Australia has a history of picking and choosing what we want to celebrate. When you deny how things happened or how things came about, we’re not going to get the full picture. Australia won’t have a true identity until it acknowledges wholeheartedly that the culture that has been here for nearly 100,000 years is the true identity of this place.”

The proud Yorta Yorta artist, who was awarded Artist of the Year at the 2018 NAIDOC Awards, started his own record label in 2015, Bad Apples Music, to support and mentor new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. “It was to create a platform and design something that was going to be able to amplify black stories,” says Briggs. “If I put out five black artists with their albums, then that’s five more that weren’t there, and just trying to change the landscape little bits at a time.”

NAIDOC Week celebrations will be held across Melbourne until July 10.