Poco la Pax
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Poco la Pax

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | SELF

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | SELF
Band EDM Pop

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Fresh Sounds Festival"

...Bagatelle will get to kick-start a bunch of local shows following Fresh Sounds in the lead-up to their EP launch. Reminiscent of electro kings Groove Armada and Basement Jaxx, trombone player Louise Cuming describes Bagatelle as a form of rebellion against the band's jazz and classical background.
"We had our first only a few days ago, so this is a very new project," she says. "We're a bunch of musicians that went to the VCA so this is basically us branching out to a more pop/dance thing. We just wanted to make party music that appeals to our friends. We played jazz for many years but nobody we knew really came out to those gigs so this is a totally different experience."
"Having the VCA background though,"she adds, "helps skip over a lot of the initial hurdles that bands face when they get together. We actually studied to perform, so it's been a huge advantage but it can also make things difficult because when you study music you're so tuned into the specific and how things are supposed to go. Ít's been really liberating to break free of that."
Recorded at the start of the year, Bagatelle's self titled EP combines the spontaneity of a live band with the intensity of the club scene, ranging from trance to house, from pop to Latin, and from dub to rock.
"Even though we were kind of 'jazz Nazis' there for a long time, we've always been into pop-based music," says Cuming. "We've listened to heaps of Daft Punk and Groove Armada because they're really interesting bands when you think about it. They have so many different influences, which we relate to, and within the dance genre they're the guys that have really experimented quite a lot, which is very inspiring to a band like us."
Originally the brainchild of Melbourne guitarist Will Cuming who started the project in 2009, Bagatelle have now blossemed into a six-piece also featuring vocalists Nkechi Anele and Eitan Kornfeld as well as saxophonist/guitarist Ross Beaton and trumpeter Liam McGorry. For Louise Cuming, playing alongside her brother Will is nothing new to the pair.
"We've actually been in bands together since we were 14 and 15"...... - Beat Magazine


"The Little Things with Nkechi from Bagatelle"

Tacey Rychter catches up with Nkechi Anele from fresh six-piece dance outfit Bagatelle.

Nkechi Anele
What you would be doing if not singing: I would be dead…or possibly in science of some sort. I have no idea why, but I really love random facts about the human body and I like to know how things work.

Childhood relic you still have: a doll from Nigeria which was given to me by my grandma and we called her Kuku (like a koo-koo clock) and when she passed away when I was 7 I started calling the doll that too so it’s my Kuku doll.

Worst T.V. show on when you lose the remote: I hate The View.

Obscure subject you have a weirdly comprehensive knowledge of: I know a lot about musical theatre and the background of some of the stars of Broadway.

Relationship dealbreaker: a drug addict who has no job, mooches off other people, sees themselves as bigger and better than life and smells.

First song you wrote: was loosely based off the character Phuong in The Quiet American, and her relationship to the men in the book.

Instruments missing in pop music: The flute and the baritone bassoon.

Describe music to a deaf person: the pulse and vibration you feel with in yourself that reminds you you’re alive.

Tell us about Bagatelle: it’s the brain child of Will Cuming and has been influenced heavily by dance music, but really Bagatelle is the resulting combination of the eclectic people and sounds that make up the band. What makes Bagatelle different to most dance bands is that it incorporates live music influenced by jazz as well as the usual DJ desk. By live music I mean a horn section, guitars and live vocals as well as live effects produced from effect pedals. It started off as experiments that Will wanted to further develop and each member was brought in as the ideas and direction of the band built developed and changed.

Negotiating the Melbourne music scene: Interestingly it depends on which suburb you are playing in that affects audience response. We have found closer to the city is more appreciative to Bagatelle that the outer suburbs.

What’s in a name: the name Bagatelle came from the family boat owned by the Cuming family, meaning ‘a waste of money’. Ironically the boat sank.

The EP ‘Find You’ will be launched 6th of August at Red Bennies bar in Melbourne.
- indigo4music.com


Discography

Poco la Pax self-titled EP (2010)

Photos

Bio

Poco la Pax is a Melbourne electro-pop dance outfit that combines the best of live instrumentation and electronic sampling through dynamic live performances. The irony in the name Poco la Pax, Latin for ‘a little peace’, is that there is nothing tranquil about this band. A hot burst of blood through metropolitan veins, Poco la Pax distils elements of electronic and house to produce an eclectic concoction of sound laced with pop melodies and undertones of latin, dub, jazz and rock.

The band has hit the ground running, having packed out their first live show to the door and recorded an EP with Tony Salter who has worked with Calvin Harris. The gospel of Poco la Pax is dance, music, life, enthralling their audiences with overwhelming, driving beats, catchy pop melodies and high-energy live shows. Lead singer Nkechi Anele describes music as, “the pulse and vibration you feel within yourself that reminds you that you’re alive.” Feel something with Poco la Pax.

Poco la Pax began to take shape in 2009 when 19 year-old guitarist Will Cuming started hankering for something different. Itching for a change from jazz bands and uninspired by his Music course at VCA, he began tinkering on his laptop with electronics beats, driven by his love of discovering new sounds. The voices of Poco la Pax were found in fellow VCA Music student Nkechi Anele, who was snapped up after Will told her he wanted to start a band just to hear her sing; and in schoolmate Eitan Kornfeld, who while dreadlocked and directionless after a year in Israel started casually contributing vocals to the tracks. The next instinctive addition was trombonist Louise Cuming, Will’s older sister and natural creative partner, having shared a childhood within an artistic and music-centric family. Completing the Poco la Pax lineup is Ross Beaton, guitarist and saxophonist, but also known as the guy with the haircut.