Far North Queensland has long had a love affair with groove orientated bands. With acts like Hot Rubber Glove, Souvenir City and Pachooka all having left behind a legacy of packed & sweaty NQ dance floors, The Dialers appear to be carrying that tradition into the future. After hearing numerous rave reports of the Dialer’s Wallaby Creek festival gig last weekend, I thought it was time for a quick catch with the Dialer’s keyboard wiz Jane Sharp.
TM:- So what’s new in Dialer land since we last spoke?
Jane Sharp:- The Dialers have been busy jamming, writing and playing gigs around the Cairns region. Highlights have been playing the Cairns Festival on the Esplanade to our home town fans and at our latest gig we had a blast playing at the Wallaby Creek Festival on two nights. Plus, we have two awesome upcoming shows to wrap up our brilliant first year gigging: Island Vibe Festival in SE Queensland and support for Finley Quaye at The Tanks !
TM:- I heard a lot of good things about the Wallaby Creek gig, do tell..
Jane Sharp:- The Wallaby Creek Festival gigs were absolutely fantastic ! On the Friday night we played on the main Atlantis Stage and had a crowd of around 300 people bumping, jumping and even singing our songs with us. They loved it and we loved them. Being the first big band of the night, we pushed the good vibes up a notch and the whole festival seemed to just go off from that moment. The second night we played on the Brackets and Jams stage. It was much more intimate but we drew peeps who’d seen us from the night before, and the joint was totally packed. We played even better that night as we were loosened up and in full party mode. People were dancing and jumping around so much we thought the whole marquee was going to collapse!
TM:- Can we expect some recorded output from the Dialers soon?
Jane Sharp:- Our fans are pushing us to put out an EP or album, and it is our goal to get on with it ASAP, as soon as time and money constraints can be overcome. The plan is to come up with the recording goods of an EP or album early next year.
TM:- Can you tell our readers a bit about your musical background?
Jane Sharp:- My pre-Dialers music history is a bit of a mixed bag. All through secondary school I was a passionate vocalist taking part in school music theatre and choir. I started playing acoustic guitar at 15 and joined a band as lead singer. In my early twenties I took up playing the Djembe, an African drum, and jammed with others at bush doofs such as Earthcore, and there, I was fortunate enough to meet Aphex Twin & Cylob from Rephlex Records. We got on well & I was invited to live with Aphex in London. During this time I recorded a track called “Living In The 1980s” with Cylob, and Aphex engineered my vocals under the pseudonym Ricardo Jamiro. I also made a couple of vocal appearances with Replex’s Global Goon, on his album “Cradle Of History.” Aphex taught me a bit about making electronic music & so I started writing my own electronic music under the name Janeway. I eventually did some solo shows at a couple of dance parties in Melbourne. Later I moved to Cairns and joined the band Souvenir City, & studied music at TAFE & University. Souvenir City moved to Brisbane but after several shows we disbanded. I played some solo acoustic guitar gigs in Brisbane & also did a guest vocal for the band Butterfingers – saying “Not the Kingswood!” in their track “Hook Up”. Finally I moved back to Cairns and starting making music with The Dialers. And I’m loving it!
TM:- I know Dal Smart has been your drummer from the Start, but I see in the Wallaby Creek pics that Mitchell Steele is on the skins. Is Mitch the new drummer?
Jane Sharp:- Our original, talented drummer Dal Smart, reluctantly farewelled his spot with The Dialers due to relocating. Since then we’ve been blessed to play with two awesome drummers: Ollie Van Ballegooyen from the band Violet Shift, & Mitchell Steele from Music Hub / Drum Hub, who has performed for many bands and artists including Kurdaz Country Band, The Mice, The Taste, Phil Emmanuel & Leanne Tennant. Mitch is locking in with The Dialers brilliantly and we have two more gigs to play this year: Island Vibe & support for Finley Quaye at The Tanks, and Mitch will be there !
Todd Macalpine
Pic by Marcus Faber
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