Sometimes it can seem that things drop into place, almost coincidentally. Some call it fate, others call it luck but here at The Rockpit we firmly believe that hard work and being in the right place at the right time contributes to good fortune. This could be said for Perth’s Legs Electric, who three years ago were announced as the support for one of the world’s biggest bands on their worldwide final farewell tour, KISS. Not only that but it was to take place at the fabulous RAC Arena in Perth in front of an expected 15,000 strong audience. So imagine the disappointment that hit the band when they heard of cancelled tour dates due to a global pandemic…dreams were shattered, hopes dashed, and hopes of rearranged dates seemed to fade into the distance.
Roll on to 2022 and that dream has finally come true, as the four-piece all-female rockers count down to September 2 when they get their chance to open to their home crowd for a night of rock n’ roll celebrations. Add to that, the fact that 2022 sees the 10th anniversary of Legs Electric and the release of a brand new single ‘Black Moon’ to boot and you can see just how well the dealer has dealt this winning hand as the stars align to make 2022 a very special year for these talented ladies.
With the countdown well and truly on for their biggest show to date, The Rockpit caught up with drummer Kylie Soanes & lead vocalist Ama Quinsee to discuss the new single, the KISS show and some more in depth questions to find out what makes these women tick…
Sean: Good evening to you both. I hope you’re well?
Ama: Hey Sean. Good thanks.
Kylie: Great thanks Sean. How are you doing?
Sean: Keeping busy but the last couple of night’s I’ve been listening to your fantastic new track, ‘Black Moon’. Congratulations to you all for the new single.
Kylie: Aw, thank you.
Sean: I know its been a while between releases… I think it was 2019’s ‘Tuesday Girl’ if I remember rightly? But once again, with ‘Black Moon’ it’s catchy, hooky with wonderful harmonies… Love it!
Ama: Thank you. We’ve got another one coming soon too so we certainly won’t be leaving it for four more years. [laughs]
Sean: I know we’ve had the dreaded pandemic in between the last single and this one but has there been much going on behind the scenes with Legs Electric during this enforced downtime?
Kylie: To be honest, I think really with us like… Elana (Haynes) and Erin (Gooden) have both been in the band for nearly five years now but when we obviously started the band again after losing Laura and Abby, we had all these tours and shows booked and we had so much going on that we never really had much of a chance to sit down and write together, like properly. We just haven’t really had the time so when covid hit and everything like that it kind of really forced us to quieten down and work on things. Ama and I have always written together and we kind of have a natural connection but but trying to find a connection with Elana and Erin when they hadn’t written much in bands previously… well they might have but not to the extent that we do, so it was all about trying to gel and find that connection with them so we could all start to write and begin to create the new Legs Electric sound. So that’s what we have kind of been doing really and just working on that.
Sean: It’s been great to see you back out and about playing live shows again but I did notice some new material sneaking into the set, which is great. And the new songs are sitting nicely alongside the more familiar material too.
Ama: Yes, they do.
Sean: Is there one called ‘Snakeman’ that I have heard in there some nights?
Ama: Yes, we love playing that song. We love that bluesy sound as well. It’s kind of cool. It’s one we definitely want to record later on, for sure. But for now we are just focusing on the new material that we have got under our belts.
Sean: That’s good to hear because I have my three Legs Electric CDs sat right in front of me and hoping to add a fourth before the year is out [laughs]
Kylie: [laughs]
Ama: [laughs] If you put them all together you’ve got an album really.
Sean: So finally, the big one is in your sights. There must have been times you felt you weren’t destined to play the KISS show but here we are less than a month away to the biggest gig of your lives.
Kylie: Yes, when it was cancelled we literally had two weeks notice and at the time we were totally ready to go, you know. But yeah, what do you do? But we are so ready now and we have had so much time to work on our stage performance and we’ve got this new material. It’s really good timing to be honest.
Ama: We’ve also got our dazzling outfits that will finally make an appearance on stage as well.
Kylie: Yes, we had costumes made specifically for this show. A local designer made us some really cool outfits for this one. We are honestly going all out.
Ama: And why shouldn’t we [laughs].
Sean: It’s at the fantastic RAC Arena too. Its going to be such an experience especially as you would expect to see a near sell-out. Do you know how long playing time you’ve got?
Kylie: We don’t actually know as yet. We haven’t been informed just yet. We’ve had contact with marketing so far but we are hoping and aiming for around thirty minutes and if we get slightly longer then that’s just awesome. But we aren’t 100% sure yet.
Sean: Looking at the supports all around the country, every city is being represented by strong supporting bands; Melbourne has Dallas Crane and Dead City Ruins. I think The Superjesus are in there somewhere as are The Poor, Wolfmother and Tumbleweed, so a real strong contingent of Australian rock n’ roll talent and you women are there flying the flag for Perth.
Kylie: Do you know what’s hilarious about all the supports? We’ve supported all of the supports [laughs]
Ama: Even Tumbleweed… every single one! [laughs]
Sean: [laughs] So, I have to ask… how did this show come about?
Kylie: Well, the funny thing is we never went for it. I was at work at the vets one day I received a call from a good friend and he said, “I’m so sorry to ring you at work but I really need to ask you something.” And I thought to myself it was all a bit weird and why would he be ringing me at work. That’s bizarre. And then he says, “Do you want to support KISS?” And I was like, “Ah, fuck off, you’re pulling my leg aren’t you?” [laughs] “You could have just text me if this is a joke.” And he was like, “No I’m deadly serious! We are putting you forward.” I was like, “Aw, shit. Well yeah, I’m not going to say no am I?” [laughs] So like I say we didn’t even go for the gig, we got offered it randomly by word of mouth type thing. We would never have gone for it because we are such a local band. So, it was super random.
Sean: Something else that has aligned with this very special show is the fact it’s also Legs Electric’s 10th anniversary this year.
Kylie: Yeah, it’s been one hell of a ride. I don’t know many bands who lose half of their members and want to still keep going. It was hard to find niche players that were female and who had the same drive as Ama & I. There were times we wondered if we should keep going and were wondering how or if we were ever going to find that magic again. But we were so lucky to find Elana and Erin almost like finding needles in a haystack, because there weren’t that many people to audition that fit our criteria to be honest. It was so hard to find new members but we were so thankful and lucky that we found such amazing musicians that we could continue on with the journey of the band and make it even better. We are so lucky in that respect, I think.
Ama: I totally agree with Kylie. You know, you’re kind of down when members of the band leave so it can be hard to keep that momentum but we did it. I would say Kylie is the brains behind that… she always has that positive drive… That “we can do it” attitude. She’s like the lips of the band [laughs]. We are very fortunate – super fortunate that we found Elana and Erin.
Sean: I thought the ‘Two Sides’ EP was a great way to bridge that changing of the guard, linking the past with the present line up of the band. I’m just looking at my ‘Maximum Rock n’ Roll’ EP that you all signed for me when you supported one of my all time favourite bands, Thunder at Capitol. That was the first time I got to catch you live.
Ama: Ah yeah!
Kylie: That was the first gig that Erin ever played for us.
Sean: There are five signatures on here from that night.
Ama: How good was Thunder!? Far out. So good.
Sean: I have a red strat that Thunder signed that night hanging on the wall of my office here.
Ama: Lucky duck! I was so thrilled to be supporting them. Such a fuckin’ cool band.
Kylie: I didn’t know much of their stuff until playing with them at that show. But after researching them I found they were epic. Great band.
Sean: So I love to close with a few general questions to find out what makes you both tick. Lets kick off with the restaurant question. You can invite three guests from the music world, dead or alive, to join you for dinner. Who would you have join you? And we’ll start with you Kylie.
Kylie: Ok, well Jim Morrison is No.1. Probably Mick Jagger…ah, this is so hard. It would have to be Keith Moon.
Sean: Ama, you’ve had the advantage of a few seconds to think about this one.
Ama: Hmmmm… Well, I would definitely say David Coverdale. Kylie is so surprised [laughs]. Chrissy Amphlett and I would definitely go Wendy O. Williams – why not!
Kylie: That’s cool.
Ama: Wendy O. Williams would be a hoot [laughs].
Sean: [laughs] We move on – What was the last album you listened to, Ama?
Ama: Probably KISS ‘Alive III’.
Kylie: Oh, I don’t even know. Maybe it was The Rolling Stones ‘Let it Bleed’?
Sean: Two good ones there. Let’s save the easiest till last. If you could be credited with writing any song ever written, what song would you choose?
Kylie: That’s a tough one.
Sean: Ama can go first.
Ama: I would say, and this is a close one between Deep Purple’s ‘Mistreated’ and… you go Kylie while I think… its on the tip of my tongue and it’s not the Diesel song [laughs]
Kylie: I don’t know… this is a really hard question, hey. Maybe The Doors with ‘Five to One’? Or Deep Purple’s ‘Love Child’
Ama: That is a mean question [laughs]… but I’ve thought of the other one. It’s ‘Stargazer’!
Sean: I’ll let you have two each then!
Ama: Aw, your nice! [laughs}
Sean: Thank you both so much for your time. It’s always great to catch up with you. Congratulations for the new single ‘Black Moon’ and we wish you all the best for the KISS show. Hopefully we will be there in the crowd somewhere cheering you on.
Kylie: Thanks so much Sean.
Ama: Thanks Sean.