Perth’s funkiest ex-pats launched their new EP Lie In My Bed to their home crowd on Australia Day Eve in a seriously rocking show at the Rosemount Hotel.

Armed with said EP and remarkably fresh from a 35-date tour of the east coast Bordello arrived in Western Australia in early January to play a set of regional gigs and a metro show to satisfy their fans and no doubt pick up many new ones along the way.

The foursome is made up of brothers Ben and Josh Johnstone, drummer Rany Benjamin and keyboardist Lucy Hocking. Their first gig was with The Sleepy Jackson and Autopilot in front of around 80 people at the Grosvenor in Sydney in the very late ‘90s, and by 2002 when they made the decision to permanently move to Melbourne they were virtually a household name in Perth. Around that time pop and rock were popular in the west and Josh says they didn’t feel there was a lot of room for them to be successful there because they wanted to move away from their heavier rock sound, influenced by such acts as Grinspoon and Helmet, and onto smoother, funky beats. That’s the sound that has made them so popular on the east coast and is sure to wow their fans in the west too.

FasterLouder spoke to guitarist Josh Johnstone about the tour and how it feels to be home.

So how was the east coast tour? “Well obviously organising yourself and playing four or five nights a week can be a hardship in itself, but when you consider that we are getting paid to visit places like Byron Bay, Coffs Harbour, Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane, Noosa it does cushion the blow a little,” Josh laughs.

“I guess the highlights on the tour was playing schoolies week on the Gold Coast, headlining the infamous Beach Hotel in Byron Bay and headlining our own shows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.”

Along the east coast Lie In My Bed has received rave reviews, one Melbourne publication described it as “As much as Bordello are a hip-shakin’, head-boppin’ live spectacle at the best of times, Lie In My Bed aims, and manages to keep those bodies in full swing.”

According to Josh audiences are embracing it just as much. “Well we sell most of our CDs at gigs based on our high energy live show. I haven’t ever had anyone ask for their money back and I’m yet to see a copy of any of our CDs in Cash Converters $2 bin so that’s a positive thing I suppose.”

The title track from the EP was added to Nova FM and Coast FM play lists in the third week of January and by the time they got to Perth all copies of the EP were sold out.

With 12 shows in regional Western Australia including Nannup, Donnybrook, Albany and Busselton the question had to be asked – why only one show in Perth? “Well some of our country shows are bigger than our city shows,” Josh says. At the time of this interview they were about to play in Carnarvon, 10 hours drive north of Perth where Josh was expecting around 400 people at the show.

Bordello resume their tour of the east coast this month and intent on spreading themselves around, it left only a month to cover the whole state of Western Australia.

On that note – how long has it been since you’ve been in Perth? “Last time we were here was about 6 or 7 months ago. We love coming home, we still call it home – Mum and Dad are still here you know. We love touring the country towns and we love seeing our friends. We are very excited about doing this show at the Rosemount because we have a heap of new songs and a really original new sound which one reviewer referred to as “explosive disco rock”, couldn’t have put it better myself.” Josh says.

What’s in store for Bordello in 2006? The group has a one month residency in the far north of Western Australia mid 2006, naturally they are looking forward to that after the hectic touring schedule that began in November last year and saw them play 35 dates along the east coast, 13 shows in Western Australia and then back to New South Wales and Queensland where they will play shows until April this year.

When Bordello are not touring they play around Melbourne, where they are based, they write and record and perhaps fit in a little time for some sleep.

Catch them if you can – there are too many shows to mention here so check out their website and get yourself to a gig quick smart.