Clairy Browne and the Bangin' Rackettes

Ben Cameron | Bendigo Weekly | 26-Jan-2012 3.50pm

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The charismatic Clairy Browne (centre) is a woman of heartbreak.
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Clairy Browne wears her heart on her sultry sleeve.

“I’m definitely a woman of heartbreak,” Browne admits, the  leading lady of nine piece the Bangin’ Rackettes, whose rich layers of northern soul, jump blues, doo-wop, ska and gospel, are winning a “shit tonne of buzz” according the street press.

“There’s a lot in the pot.”

While the influences abound from yesteryear (Etta James probably being the most obvious when you hear Browne’s pipes) there’s still some modern day R n B (Cee-Lo Green, Salt 'n' Peppa) to be found too.

“We try not to limit it to any particular decade or era,” Browne says, of a style of music that speaks directly to her heart.

“I just feel really alive when I listen to that (genre of) music.

“It’s that crackle, it’s that authentic thing that grabs you.

“A lot of the songs are so free and cathartic, a lot of singers are singing from a place of absolute loss or sorrow, or a wild freedom.

“It’s an assault on your heart, and I’m into music that grabs the heart, sad songs, songs of yearning.

“Writing and singing from that place is the most effective I think.”

Other tunes are a touch more bold, like current single She Plays Up To You, which takes aim at maneating women in bars across the country.

“I don’t put up with that shit,” she laughs.

“I guess a lot of women have experienced this.

“It’s that broad jealousy of your lover... when somebody comes stalking around. Everybody knows that type of person.”

Since forming in 2009, the band have done Golden Plains, Melbourne Festival and thrived in the unique atmosphere that is the Big Day Out’s Lillyworld.

“It’s a wild little party town... I saw so much strange stuff in there,” she laughs.

“It was like on big acid trip.”

Browne is a full time Rackette.

“There are nine of us... so it’s kind of hard, it’s not easy to make money,” she admits.

“But dedication and persistence is the key... we’ve been at it for three years and we’re only now starting to pay ourselves which is cool (laughs).”



Clairy Browne and the Bangin' Rackettes play the Echuca Riverboats Festival on Sunday, February 19.


b.Entertained

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