With so much new music floating around the interwebs, sometimes it’s hard to dig a little deeper and find out more about a promising artist.
That’s why The Profile is breaking it down for you. The Pitch takes care of the nitty gritty factual bits, The Plot serves as a Q & A with the artist, and The Plug is where you can go for more.
The Pitch
Soop is three guys from Melbourne who like to get together, watch movies and have a good time. The band evolved organically over the course of 2013 between friends and musicians Michael Burke (lasers, synths, sounds and beats), Stacy Gougoulis (vocals), and Mitch Secrett (guitars, beats and mixes). Snippets of songs and ideas sent back and forth, quiet jams in apartments and many tacos/burritos became a number of intricate and carefully crafted tunes.
Earlier this year they released their debut EP Buffalo Buffalo, named after the sentence: “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.” This grammatically correct sentence describes how bison from the New York city of Buffalo bully (or buffalo) other bison and are in turn themselves, buffaloed.
The Plot
Hometown: “Stace and Michael are from Perth and Mitch is from Busselton in Wa Wa Land,” says Secrett.
“WA is sick! It has no pretence; you can really just do what you want and everyone fully supports that. Really cool stuff comes out of it.”
Love Rage Against The Machine?
Get the latest Rage Against The Machine news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
It’s like, ‘cool, you are the face of Half Price Shutters, now what?’ (Stacy is the face of Half Price Shutters). Just do something else, have a good time, let’s eat cake in South Freo and chuck a ball around.
We all lived pretty wonderful suburban lives in Perth. We are just a coupla’ guys who just want to watch action movies on Xtreme screen, and after sit in a backyard with a burrito.
P.S. Dockers are the best. Go Dockos – Michael.
P.P.S Jetty’s remind us that life is finite and that music is forever, and that it’s really fun to jump off jetty’s and you can also catch a fish – Mitch.
P.P.P.S. I have a girls name, but I am a boy – Stacy.
Influences: Lasers, Netflix, hanging out, having a good time, cockatoos, Animaniacs, lasers, bigish rocks, lasers, hashtags, friends.
First song you ever wrote: ‘Follow The Leader’, it was pretty fun. We changed it about 50,000 times trying to find our stride. It’s pretty cool because Michael does some synth and drum stuff, then Stace transforms it heaps with vocals, then Mitch comes in and adds all these synths and drums and guitar. It means we end in a place way that is quite far away from where we started.
Favourite local venue: Rod Laver arena, mate. The Workers Club, The Corner, East Brunswick Club (RIP).
Favourite local act: Teeth and Tongue is hella babin. Alta is mental, someone give them a big hunk of gold. But most of all, The Underground Lovers for being one of the best bands of all time.
Dream collaboration: Mike Patton + Jim Jarmusch + Larry David + Coles + JT (on bongos) + Pharrell sobbing + Beck breaking a banjo with a rock + 3 Lyrebirds imitating Katy Perry.
Dream rider: A box of Moose yoyos, red creaming soda, Mount Gay rum and Jerry O’Connell from Sliders.
Best gig you’ve ever been to: “Crowded House at the Supreme Court gardens in Perth. Or Rufus Wainwright at the Concert Hall, Rage against the Machine BDO. Coolio in Greece.” – Stace.
“Zorn marathon in NYC Orchestra 2010, Hangedup/ Keiji Haino at Godspeed ATP, Spiritualized. SXSW 2011. Merzbow.” – Michael.
“Meredith 2013. Or Phoenix at Belvoir amphitheatre.” – Mitch.
Venue Or Festival you’d love to play: On a roller coaster and all of the audience are also on the roller coaster.
Also, Meredith (#thesecret)… and Primavera… and SXSW… and a fancy arts festival like PIAF or Melbourne Arts Fest where everyone drinks Pinot Grigos and talks about Manet. Or a casual gig in an iceberg lagoon or an active volcano in Iceland. Sort that out, please (double points if it is a Volcano themed rollercoaster featuring Tommy Lee Jones).
The Plug
Debut EP Buffalo Buffalo released 11 January 2014 on CD and digital download, you can pick up a copy at www.soop1.bandcamp.com.
The guys are also playing a show on Friday the 27th June at The Penny Black, Brunswick alongside DevilMnkey and Spares (Jill Chrisp from Goodnight Tiger). Check out the Facebook event for more info.
