Sauce

He’s a man who’s jazz trumpet skills make you wish for a return of the days when you could light up a cigar in a nightclub – and could quite possibly be one of the most naturally cool guys I’ve ever met. You can just call him Monty, and, with percussionist/singer Kylie and DJing maestro Joel, he brings a classy splash of jazz to a musical collective that paint the walls with their vibe whenever they play live. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Cheeky Sound Chaser.

In Cheeky Sound Chaser, you play trumpet, Joel spins records, and Kylie plays percussion and sings. That’s a pretty eclectic assembly of musicians. How did you first start playing together?
Joel and I were introduced one weekend in March ’07; the idea was to have a jam and see what happened. A couple of weeks later we both were digging it, but we agreed we needed a percussion player and or singer. One night I spoke to Kylie to see if she was interested, and thankfully she was. She had what we needed. The rest is history.

You’re very passionate about jazz music. Where did this interest first come from? What were you first exposed to?
My brother introduced me to my first jazz recording. I was at LC and he put on a real early Miles [Davis] album. It grew from there. Miles Ahead was my first jazz record. After that, a new world opens up to you; Coltrane, Monk, Duke, Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown, Mingus, Wayne Shorter … the list goes on and on. My biggest influences are Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins and D’angelo.

Your playing has that loose, improvised air to it – in other words, coming to one of your shows is like walking into the jazz club scene from Collateral. To what extent would you agree with this? What kind of method and structure determines what you play?
We are all structured to a point; we have some very organised ideas, and some looser arrangements. Joel is like the rhythm section; his beats are always fresh, and his mixing is really tight. Kylie puts the feeling into it with her lyrics; she’s devised amazing ways of performing some well known songs with her own spin on them, but her originals are brilliant. I like to try and complement her while she is singing by playing in between her lines. It feels good when it’s working on stage – every gig is a new learning experience for us now.

Kylie, what kind of musical background do you and Joel come from?
Joel used to DJ in a couple of little bars in Sydney. One in particular was Savage; he got the feel for it there, and has been mixing ever since. He is a chef by trade, and only moved to Tassie a couple of years ago.

Kylie: I began collecting a myriad of instruments about five years ago; predominantly percussion. Last year I played in a twelve-piece percussion group in Canada, and dabbled in drumming with an amateur garage metal band. I grew up in the sticks, and always preferred listening to music or being creative than watching TV. Nothing has changed since then, and I’m jamming more than ever, which is great.

What kind of material does Joel play? Is it all originals?
He spins deep funky house. We have talked about trying to do some originals, but it’s not on the cards yet, although Stu Van Riel (The Embers) hooked us up with a track we all liked. It just needed to be polished a bit, so he said … but we dug it.

Kylie, what can you tell me about your singing? What kind of subject matter do you explore in her lyrics?
Kylie: Singing has been something I have always loved doing. It also stemmed my passion for percussion and rhythm. My style is entirely undisciplined and self-taught. I never learnt to read music. Things have just progressed from there.

One thing I’m finding particularly frustrating is trying to put a label on the kind of music you create. I know you’re probably going to say “we hate being pigeonholed”, but come on, Monty – it’s what I do for a living. Help me out.
I’m not sure what you would call it – maybe “Deep House Fusion”. If you can get something better, then I’m down with it. Kylie said “Three World Fusion.” I like that too.

So what does the name of the band say about the music you create, and the attitude of the group as a whole?
We struggled for quite a while to come up with a name. Joel was known as “Cheeky” in Sydney when he used to play there. We all love making sound, and as for “Chaser”, well … we are all chasing something.

What plans do you have for doing some recording?
We will be recording again in about two weeks. We had done one previously, but we want to try new things this time – get the sound right, try some new lyrics, beats, and maybe some other instruments. Looking forward to it.

As am I.

Cheeky Sound Chaser play Launceston’s James Hotel on Saturday the 28th of July, and again on the 18th of August with The Embers and The Zac Lister Band.