Belle Roscoe
Glen Iris, Victoria, Australia
Music
Press
Like Fleetwood Mac without the infighting, or Midlake without the indie hype, this Melbourne trio – sisters Julia and Sarah Gurry and brother Matty – know the value of a well-placed harmony and a cantering tune. A bit folky, a bit country, a bit slick pop, this is easy listening without being queasy listening. 4 STARS
- Who Magazine
APRIL 1, 2009
Growing up in the Victorian countryside and long stints in Paris, twin sisters Julia (vocals, guitar) and Sarah (vocals, keyboard) Gurry and brother Matty (vocals, guitar, harmonica) soaked up inspiration from Los Angelas 70s’ soft rock, Celtic folk and French pop. They wrap these around strong songs and gorgeous harmonies: some, like Restless Soldier and Wrong Side they admit came from analysing Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles to see how they coped with three different song writers with distinct styles. Little wonder that Belle Roscoe’s self-titled album is getting spins on mainstream FM radio and on movie soundtracks such as Drop Dead Gorgeous.
Live they kid around with a loudly appreciative crowd, and make good natural sibling barbs at each other. Tonight was a special night: they’d just got the news that they were asked to represent Australia at the Cannes Film Festival and play Le Printemps de Bourges music festival. They throw in a version of Nina Simone’s Sinnerman to celebrate. But it’s their own songs which impress, the atmospheric Shot Gun Love with tough guitar, the jazzy swing Come Back Jimmy, the pop radio assault of Young and Fearless about trying to crack the music industry to the intriguing dark narrative of Strange People which includes snatches of Don’t Pay The Feeyman. But price of admission alone is set closer Dis-Moi (Tell Me) a sweeping epic that is wonderfully theatrical and moving, and which best shows off those Belle Roscoe harmonies.
- Beat Magazine
May 24, 2009
THEY don't need to sing We are Family; one look at a band featuring identical twins says it all. Julia and Sarah Gurry, and younger brother Matty, the nucleus of neo-folk group Belle Roscoe, are sitting on a well-appointed pier in Cannes as the film festival swirls about them. In some ways, the busy beachfront is not so different from their home base in St Kilda.
Nobody on St Kilda Beach, however, is doing seven-minute meetings with a succession of film producers looking to sign up musicians, a commercial version of speed-dating that is a very Cannes way of doing business. "It's amazing here; it's just such an immediate atmosphere," says Julia. "You arrive here and go 'whoa!"'
Belle Roscoe, which also includes bass player Jake Sherry and drummer Mirra SIgerman, is an unusually business-like band. They have yet to release their first album; it comes out in Australia in July. Last night, however, they were due to play at the Cinema de la Plage, the nightly open-air screening that is one of the few Cannes Film Festival events open to the general public. Unquestionably, Belle Roscoe est arrivee.
But Belle Roscoe has always been as much a French band as an Australian one. All three Gurry kids did student exchanges in France when they were at school, and while at university they started spending holidays there together. One night in 2002, when they started an impromptu singalong, they realised that not everyone had grown up learning to sing in harmony.
One of their friends persuaded them to do a gig in Paris. "And they were such a forgiving, wonderful audience," says Julia, "we were convinced we were supposed to be musicians. It never stopped!"
Last year they toured properly, she says. "We had a couple of sell-out shows in Paris. And it happened that at one of the gigs we did, the director of the Cinema de la Plage saw us and said, 'We absolutely want you to play in Cannes.' " Over 10 nights, a band from a different country has played before each film screened outdoors; the deal was that they should play a mix of their own material and music from films.
"We just rearranged everything and made them our own," says Matt. "So we're doing Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which is in the film Australia, of course; we are doing one Australian song by The Church, which is in Donnie Darko."
And they discovered Jacques Demy and Agnes Varda's 1967 classic, Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, which starred Catherine Deneuve and her sister, Francoise Dorleac, as musical twins. The film's theme song, as sung by the fictional twin sisters, has become Belle Roscoe's calling card on French radio. For the first time in their lives, Sarah and Julia are wearing identical outfits. "Doing the glamour thing here in Cannes, it's a nice little gimmick," says Sarah. They know a selling point when they see one.
STEPHANIE BUNBURY - THE AGE
Discography
DEBUT SELF TITLED ALBUM:
"BELLE ROSCOE"
Currently 2 singles have been serviced in Australia. 'Young and Fearless' and 'Shot Gun Love' both are receiving high rotation on radio. The video clip for 'Shot Gun Love' is also being played on music tv shows.
Final stages for the "young and Fearless" video are now in production.
Photos
Bio
Currently whipping up a storm of interest in Australia and Europe are Melbourne-based
harmony folk-pop family band Belle Roscoe.
They were the first Australian band to be invited to play at Cannes Film Festival (May 2009)
and "The only band in the history of the event to have the audience up and dancing on the
beach" (Cinema de la Plage Team). They closed the festival, to a standing ovation, of more
than 5,000 people, at the infamous ‘Cinema de la Plage’ Stage.
Belle Roscoe have performed at, ‘Le Printemps de Bourges’, one of Europes largest
festivals, they also were invited to play at the Rip Curl Music festival in Biarritz in front of more than 25,000 people! They have had a string of media commitments following their European touring. Including a TV feature on TF1 and several of France's biggest radio shows.
Made up of twin sisters Julia and Sarah Gurry and their younger brother Matty, Belle
Roscoe have already toured Europe three times, and plan to return again in January 2010.
Sponsorship deals with Orange Telecommunications is helping market the band
in Europe. Belle Roscoe have also had their songs Strange People, Paris, Restless Soldier, Fly,
Looking Glass and Camp Fire Song, in the 2009 U.S-made movie “Drop Dead Gorgeous” as
well as in the 2009 Aussie short film “Death Doesn’t Wait” and the 2008 ABC-TV
documentary “Beyond The White Lines” (about drug use in sports).
In Australia, their debut single Young & Fearless is picking up across-the-board radio airplay.
Their self-titled debut album was released on July 3, through MGM. Theyhave also appeared in a recent episode of “Neighbours” and their song Fly is featured on Academy Award
winner Lisa Gerrard's 2006 DVD “Sanctuary — A Portrait by Clive Collier”. Fly and
Boneyard Blues are also featured on the Australian TV series “Kath and Kim”.
What stands out most about the Belle Roscoe album are the gorgeous sibling
harmonies, a strong melodic pop sensibility and adventurous arrangements. Created over
two years — with acclaimed Melbourne producer Cameron McKenzie — the record
adeptly builds up the atmosphere of the songs with piano, guitars, mandolins, harmonica as
well as wide array of sounds made by multi-instrumentalist Matty.
The roots of Belle Roscoe music is in the classic ‘70s pop of Fleetwood Mac and the
acoustic folk of Neil Young. “We definitely grew up listening to their music,” says Matty.
“Our extended family was Catholic Irish and family get-togethers ended up in endless singa-
longs and jam sessions. When visitors dropped by, the kids had to get up and perform,
even against our will!”
Adds Julia, “Bands like Fleetwood Mac were a model for us on how to accommodate within
theband three sibling singer songwriters who had different and strong styles.”
While at university in Australia, Julia, Sarah and Matty were drawn to France, its culture, its
people and its food. They spoke the language fluently, and visited continuously during their
summer holidays. In fact the band formed in Paris in 2002 because they wanted to stay
further — “and playing music was the only way we could make money,” laughs Julia.
“Audiences kept getting bigger. On our last tour, we sold out most of our shows.”
The final track, the epic Paris, pays homage to a city that has been very kind to the trio. “We
wanted something operatic,” Matty reveals. “Paris to us represents a fairy tale-like romance
and we’ve all experienced that in Paris! Every time you walk down the street, it’s like being
in a movie or video clip. A few years ago we cut a little CD in France, and we were walking
down the arty Left Bank and heard it blaring out of all these trendy bars and clubs… We
just kept walking up and down the same street strutting, it was such a thrill!”
Another song reflecting their affinity for France Dis-Moi (Tell Me) is about a close friend of
theirs, Dove Chaulet, who had been a strong supporter of their music until his death in
2006. The music on the album, they say, is a tribute to his spirit and zest for life.
Restless Soldier and Young & Fearless document how Julia, Sarah and Matty live their dream of
taking their music to the world.
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