Ou’re (not) terrible, muriel
MILL O’SULLIVAN FROM MELBOURNE BAND PORPOISE SPIT TELLS US HOW THEY GO ABOUT BRINGING THE HOUSE DOWN.
What tactics do you use to crank up the energy at your shows? We fuck up every single show. I always jump into the crowd and do a solo, and nine times out of 10 my lead will come out. I’ll keep soloing, even though no noise is happening, and say, “Well, I fucked that up – let’s keep going.” We’re making mistakes and it’s fine; we’re having heaps of fun.
So you don’t get nervous? We try and immediately quell any nerves by going, “We’re four weirdos having a good time – hope you are, too. Let’s all be weird.”
What’s the wildest your crowd has ever gotten? We had an EP launch recently where people were climbing the walls. For our last song, we did “Karl Stefanovic at the Logies Drunk” and legitimately thought the floor was going to give way. The windows were rattling; everyone was going so nuts.
How did you feel in the moment shit was going wild? I had a serious teary after the show, because I was like, “Woah, that was my wildest dream – and it just happened.” When you’re a musician and you’re assigned female at birth and people tell you you’re never going to be able to really be a rock star and sell out shows, you don’t think it’s going to happen – especially while being very openly daggy, vulnerable and silly.
How do you approach styling? This is a very contentious topic in our band, because I’m of the belief that we should dress in theme every single gig – cowboy theme, astronaut theme, alien theme – and everyone says that’s insane. The band totally indulged me for our EP launch, though. It was Abba-themed, because Porpoise Spit is a Muriel’s Wedding reference, so we wore fluoro-green ABBA costumes.
Why do you think there’s been an enduring association with Dr. Martens and music fans? As a young person, there are so few opportunities to transition into the adult music scene – but you can get a pair of Docs. Not only do you look bad-arse, it’s also a way of saying, “Me too.” Buying my first pair of Docs was one of my first moments of self-love and self-identifying. You say, “I get to choose who I am and this is who I’m choosing.”