Little Red

Mon 15th Dec, 2008 in Features

LITTLE RED WAS THE 2008 WINNER OF GARAGE 2 V. ENTRIES FOR 2009 ARE NOW OPEN HERE!

He might be in the midst of conversation, but Adrian Beltrame’s voice has the same distinctive relaxation threaded through it that his vocals do on Coca Cola, the standout hit from his band Little Red. With that in mind, it’s hard not to picture the guy slumped in a hammock in his backyard with a phone sandwiched between ear and shoulder “chilling at home, trying to rest.”

It was only about a year ago, before Little Red hit the live circuit, that the vocalist/guitarist was just another punter, meticulously planning which act to flail about to whenever a music festival swaggered into town. Having now played almost every festival in the country, Adrian’s amusingly oblivious about next year’s Big Day Out line-up. “I know Neil Young’s playing,” he laughs. It seems like he views the event a tad differently than before.

“Still I’m actually pretty excited about playing the Big Day Out,” he adds. “I think we’re going to be playing on one of the small stages, which is really good. I couldn’t handle playing on one of the main ones. I much prefer a smaller carnival kind of atmosphere to that.”

“I think it’s a bit harder playing festivals though,” he continues. “Obviously playing on bigger stages is a lot different to playing in small rooms at solo shows. It’s a bit weird because everything is so separated and it’s hard to hear everything. But what’s great is that festival crowds are usually pretty merry and happy to be there. I guess if you pay a hundred bucks or whatever you’re going to try and enjoy yourself.”

Little Red might be a young band, but their bouncing basslines, doo-wap splashes and dance-happy Stratocaster hooks have earned the Melbournians (Adrian along with Dominic Bryne, Quang Dinh, Tom Hartney and Take Honda ) a nice chunk of Triple J airplay. After releasing their debut EP Get Ready in 2007 and their first full-length recording Listen to Little Red this year, they’ve already begun putting together some new tunes and testing them out at live shows. However, their number one priority is to continue to grow as a group and learn from their peers.

“At the very beginning we got a lot of other bands to help us. We supported them; we went on tour with them. And just playing with other bands, even if they don’t necessarily sound like yours you can learn a lot from what they do on stage,” Adrian says.

“Every band we’ve toured with we’ve learnt something from,” he explains. “Two of the big tours we went on were Art of Fighting and The Panics. With both those bands, I think it’s really about being honest about the music and hopefully that same quality rubs off on people when they see a Little Red show. When people see the band playing we’re really trying our hardest all the time – that we’re passionate about the music. No matter where you’re playing and all that, you just have to give it all you’ve got. That’s the whole thing about live performance – it’s there for the moment, so you may as well make it the best you can.”

Little Red hit the festival circuit this summer, including the national Big Day Out tour.