Acoustic trio Sweet K, fronted by Kelly Moran, have been playing their original songs around the traps for a while now. Kelly first hit the Cairns original music scene back in the 90s with her band “Raven Mad” and played the old Johnos among other venues. I caught up with Kelly for a quick Q/A ahead of their Resonate gig at the Grand Hotel on Thursday night.

TM:- What kind of material did Raven Mad play and do you have any memories of the old Johnos worth sharing?

KM:- Raven Mad played all original music that I wrote. My songwriting varies from heartfelt ballads to pumping rock and I am influenced by many things, mostly my vivid imagination!
Johnos was always an amazing atmosphere. A venue regularly filled with outstanding musos who all supported and encouraged each other. We came to Cairns in ’99’ for a holiday and upon arriving were asked if we would like a few weeks worth of gigs at Johnos and a couple of other venues, so we promptly flew up our bass player, hooked up with a local drummer and had the best 8 weeks of playing and partying all over Cairns.

TM:- What brought about the idea to have an acoustic trio rather than an electric band?

KM:- The main reason for performing as a Trio instead of a band is just the difficulty now in finding dedicated players who can put in the time and effort to try and make it work. We like the vibe of the Trio, but really miss the hard hitting punch of a full rock band.

TM:- Who are your influences as a writer?

KM:- I am influenced by many different styles of music and performers. I enjoy poetry and words, so the music I gravitate to are songs that have meanings or stories. Songs that can make you feel something or connect with you in some way. I particularly enjoy any sort of Motown music, Adele, Ani Di Franco, Suzanne Vega, Dolly Parton, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, any sort of love song….the list could go on all day!

TM:- What is your favourite self penned song and why is it special to you?

KM:- It is so difficult to choose just one of my songs as a favourite as they are all very different and dependent on my mood as to which may be my song of choice from day to day….having said that, ‘Pushin me around’ is a lot of fun and is such a strange beat and really enjoyable to perform. The song is about a boss I had who was a real witch and just horrible to work with, so this song is my eclectic view of working with her.

TM:- Do you have any recordings in the works?

KM:- Another of my favourite originals is ‘The way I feel’ which has been getting a lot of feedback from people at our live performances saying they really like that tune. For that reason, I am going to be recording that song in the next few weeks. I have decided to record it with a full band which should be a lot of fun and I’m really excited to hear the final result.

In the meantime, we are just trying to get out there and perform our songs live and have also been applying for local festivals/concerts etc….

Sweet K play Resonate at the Grand Hotel on Thursday night, Sweet K start at 7pm, entry is free.

Todd Macalpine

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