For some time now, Burleigh Heads band Gaslight Radio have impressed many with their own brand of indie rock, many coming in ccontact with the band via their e.p. Torchin' Towns Hankerin' Homes, which spawned the classic track Tarmac & Line. The band's latest single is called Is By Bus & again, community radio & Triple J have gotten behind the band & given them some great exposure.

I recently caught up with one of the members of the band by phone where we discussed the band's music & what I had earlier been informed as their move to Melbourne where the music scene is a good bit more actiive than their hometown.

"Well, moving to Melbourne is not strictly accurate as such. We've made the move down here for a couple of months to do some writing & of course be a bit closer to where we get the most gigs & of course that's just not Burleigh Heads."

With the mention of the band's home turf, I had to ask what opportunities living their gave the band.

"Not really a great deal to speak of. It's a great place to live, but basically their's no work to speak of if you're a band with an original sound. It's pretty much cover city up in that area & I guess it extends to quite a lot of the Gold Coast too. So the main reason we're doing okay is the fact that we're known in Melbourne & we've had some great support from community stations like 3RRR here in Melbourne & some stations in Sydney as well."

The airplay subject brought up the subject of Triple J & the natural follow-on to the commercial stations.

"Well, Triple J have been pretty good to us, though not as active as the community stations, which I guess is because they now broadcast nationally & of course that makes it harder to break in. I think some of the larger labels do have some influence over Triple J even though they're commercial free & I guess that gives them a bit of an agenda too but they are supportive of Australian music, so it's okay."

As for the commercial stations, the answer given was this.

"To our knowledge, we've not had any airplay on any commercial stations at all. They all seem to be in the mindset that everyone wants classic hits & that sort of thing, so I guess that may be true to a certain extent. What might happen at some stage though is that the commercials are going to run out of audience & then they'll be way behind in trying to find content, so maybe there'll be a chance for band's like us to get a look-in someday."

Having mentioned labels earlier, I approached the subject from a different angle, asking about working for a smaller label.

"There's all sorts of advantages & disadvantages & I guess that the biggest advantage for us is that we're sort of in control of whatever we do. On the other hand, we're somewhat limited by being on such a small label as we get one ad in all the major street press as part of our deal whenever we have a release, so it's hard in some respects."

With some light discussion of making music the Gaslight Radio way, technology came up & of course the Internet was something we spoke about at length & a good way to finish off a pleasant conversation.

"Noe of us have really had a look at the Internet in any positive way as we don't own a computer. I checked it out at a friend's house & I have to say that I coule easily become addicted to having so much information at your fingertips. I can see how band's could promote themselves, but I think you'd really need to have some definite idea of what you want to do with it before you become involved. I certainly want to get a computer & get into it at some stage though."

Check out Gaslight Radio's back catalogue & their latest single Is By Bus through MDS.