Artist info
Genre
Electronic, Indie, Pop
Sounds like
Odesza, Banks, E^ST, Mansionair, Gorillaz, London Grammar, Jungle Giants
band members
Molly Aaron: Vocals / Jack Meakins: Signer / Laura Bullock: Signer / Andrew Wright: Keys, Synths & Production / Josh Terlick: Bass / Josh Hellis: Drums
Website
Bio
Alter Boy is a Queerlectro Pop band from Perth, WA. Three of its members are Deaf/ Hard-of-Hearing and all songs are performed in Auslan (Australian Sign Language). Expect shiny, dark pop with chaotic performance art and Deaf/trans bodies.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Four people sitting on a sequence of chairs in a gothic warehouse, a great bellowing blue light in the distance. The people wailing and throwing their arms into the air. The shadows of their feet crept across the ground like the branches of trees in a chilling gust.
Get to know this week's triple j Unearthed Feature Artist, Alter Boy!
Tell us about your music. How did you develop your sound?
Our sound has been developed organically by hearing and deaf band members. Naturally we are drawn towards low tones, bass and sub and heavy drums (music we can hear and feel). We combine heavy bass tones with a choiresque little altar boy vocal. We also use a lot of pitch bending in our tracks, which is a testament to our gender bending.
What’s your greatest source of inspiration for making music?
Our inspiration comes from all of the other deaf folks who come before us who have had their own passionate relationships with music, from wanting to challenge the music industry and to denounce traditional ideas of what it means to be in a band, and from our fierce passion for activism in queer deaf spaces.
What can punters expect from a Alter Boy live show?
Audience members can expect to see trans and disabled bodies in celebration, accessible venues, wild costumes, mad performance art, blasphemy, and hot Auslan creations.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given and who was it from?
The best advice we’ve been given comes from one of our Deaf mentors who told us to look after our candle. Operating at the intersection of Deaf and hearing can be taxing and we need to take care of the little space we have created at the centre of it all.
What Australian track would you play to cheer up someone who was crying?
'Feeling Higher' by Priscilla
What Australian track would you play to someone to make them cry?
'Boys Will Be Boys' by Stella Donnelly
You’re the DJ at a party. The dance floor is pumping. What Australian track do you put on next?
'DFTM' by Cry Club
What was the last local gig you went to? How was it?
Ghost Care in Fremantle. Such fun.
Tell us about the bands or people in the local music community that inspire you.
Our Deaf community - our teachers and elders - give us a lot of inspiration and support to keep going, to do better and to grow into ourselves as young deaf people. We connect with a lot of mind blowing Deaf performers and activists. A group called “Deaf Hype” showcases some of our latest and greatest.
Review
Alter Boy sound like art. This one's got this rich balance between mystery, darkness and sweetness. It's intriguing and the atmosphere this song creates lures you in close. Very excited for you all to be next week's feature artist.
Alter Boy sound like art. This one's got this rich balance between mystery, darkness and sweetness. It's intriguing and the atmosphere this song creates lures you in close. Very excited for you all to be next week's feature artist.
Review
This song is such a wonderful fistful of melodies, layered vocals and intricate production choices that cut to the quick for me. Beautiful, moving, magical.
This song is such a wonderful fistful of melodies, layered vocals and intricate production choices that cut to the quick for me. Beautiful, moving, magical.
Review
add this to the already-mounting pile of evidence proving the undeniable fact that Alter Boy is shaping up to be a massive force in Aussie electro-pop music.
add this to the already-mounting pile of evidence proving the undeniable fact that Alter Boy is shaping up to be a massive force in Aussie electro-pop music.