Flap!
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | INDIE
Music
Press
Flap! are inimitable to the Melbourne (nay, Australian) music scene. Not a pinch of indie-electro or arrogant rock-wank about them; this delightful five piece make joyous, earthy tunes that make you dance and smile. Simple as that! Led by vocalist/uke player Jess Guille and co-vocal/ trumpet man Eamon McNelis, the band played from their debut self-titled record… Think Barons of Tang led by an adorable blonde with a honey-sweet voice. Gypsy jazz. Swing. Big band. Melodramatic Popular Song. Call them what you will, I can’t classify them for the life of me. …. Flap! kept everyone on their feet with their gorgeously sweet and spicy tunes. I can’t say enough about these guys, except: they’re amazing. GET INTO IT - Lisa Dib, The Dwarf Online Music Mag 2009
Flap! were an absolute standout act at the 2009 Apollo Bay Music Festival playing to packed houses throughout the weekend where they practically lifted the roof with their outstanding live performances. Led by the dynamic Jess Guille on vocals and ukulele and co-vocal trumpet man Eamon McNelis, Flap! brought their unique brand of Jazz/Swing/Pop, sprinkled with a great dose of humour to the welcoming and open arms of delighted audiences. - Caroline Moore – Director, Apollo Bay Music Festival.
“Flap! are old school with today’s hipness, classy and contemporary, delightful and dangerous!! In short…. book them, go see them, buy their music… They are my new favourite Australian band.” - David Campbell -Artistic Director , Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Flap! put a smile on your face, a twinkle in your eyes, and a dance in your shoes with their funny exuberant pastiche of originals. Best imbibed in a seedy lounge with something fizzy and a lust for life. A great band for festivals, parties, everything. Give me more of the above, especially Flap! - Jamie McKew – Director, Port Fairy Folk Festival. Oct. 2008
Flap! – innovative, entertaining, intoxicating, musically invigorating, cheeky and shhexy. Most of all I find them utterly original and unique in this huge diaspora of Melbourne music. Publicists and journos are at a loss- you can’t compare them to anyone, in fact give it a couple of years and lesser beings will be compared to them. - John McAuslan – Director, Brunswick Music Festival. Oct. 2011
Discography
FLAP! - self titled debut album, released 2008
Rock in Space - single, released 2011, acheived #1 on AMPRAP AirIt Charts for independant radio.
A Great Day For The Race - 2nd album, released 2012
available at http://www.vitamin.net.au/albumdefault.asp?ai=511 (excluding US)
available on itunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/flap!/id410490346
Photos
Bio
Formed during the course of an enthusiastic and libatious evening in a small cottage in Port Fairy, (while at the 2007 Port Fairy Folk Festival, Victoria, Australia) Flap! was off and running. Back home in Melbourne, they played a 6 month residency at The Fox in Fitzroy while they honed their craft and musical relationships, penned and road tested new songs before heading into the recording studio in 2008 to lay down tracks for their first album. It was a mighty year as they took their music on the road to bars, festivals and new audiences around the country. Flap! was a hit and the CD back for reprinting before the year was out.
They have gone from muscle to might, playing at the Woodstock Cafe in Christiania, Copenhagen, through to most of the major Australian Festivals; Port Fairy Folk Festival, Brunswick Music Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, Falls Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival, Apollo Bay Music Festival, The Melbourne International Jazz Festival, The Melbourne International Comedy Festival, The Rainbow Serpent Festival, Thredbo Jazz Festival, The National Folk Festival, The Tasmanian Circus Festival, The Famous Spiegeltent and heaps of other gigs to happy punters everywhere.
Jess Guille Vocals, lyrics, Banjo-ukulele. Jesss honey sweet voice is a breath of fresh air on the Australian music scene. She sings in Australian tones, with unaffected grace, natural beauty and plenty of spunk. An evocative and insightful songwriter, she writes of the human experience in language that sizzles. Shes a faultless rhythm player and thrashes out high energy, insistent rhythms at astonishing speed. With her stunning voice and gorgeous stage presence she shines brighter than all the shiny things she loves.
Eamon McNelis Vocals, lyrics,Trumpet. Trumpet is his instrument and hes an absolute star. Eamon is master of the solo and wows audiences at every gig with his dazzling talent. Hes also been blessed with a voice that has jazz intonations of a 1940s crooner. He writes lyrics that twist the head and the heart and are full of the crazy drama, laughs, love, loss and tragedy of life. He finds his songs in the bizarre, in places others dont look. In 2010 he was the winner of the coveted National Jazz Award in Brass at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival.
Mark Elton Voice, Double Bass. Mark is an amazing player and Wizard of the low frequencies on his Double Bass. An intelligent and creative player, Mark is Melbourne's premier 'go-to' bassist and regularly tours the globe during the European summer festival season. He is an integral member of both the infamous Hoodangers and Blue Grassy Knoll. Whether hes soloing down and dirty with the bow or pulling sweet and insistent jazz notes from the strings, Mark is one of those fine intuitive and responsive players that other musicians love.
Ben Hendry Drums, Percussive toys. Ben is the rhythm master on drums and toys. He performs all over Australia with some of Melbourne's most well respected musicians, (Eddie Perfect, Renee Geyer, Tim Rogers, Deborah Conway) as well as working extensively in the Melbourne Comedy and Cabaret scenes. He has an ear for the subtle, the sublime, the silly, and is quite simply a stunningly intelligent and perceptive musician of great agility. Ben won the Athenaeum Award for musical excellence two years running while studying at the VCA.
Band Members
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