Interview Operator Please

, lead singer of Aussie five piece Operator Please, is pretty excited ahead of their mammoth UK tour that starts at next weekend’s Camden Crawl. Actually, that’s an understatement.

‘It’s going to be full on! We’re in the UK for two months and then he head to Europe for two more months.

‘Everywhere is so different to the next town, like, when you do regional shows in Australia you sort of know what to expect. I didn’t expect anyone to turn up to our show in Coventry but was quite a lot of people there, it was cool.

‘It is such a big place and there are SO many bands its just 10 times more difficult to crack.’

That may be the case compared for most, but the band is currently riding the wave of success created after the release of their debut album ‘Yes Yes Vindictive’.

With this in mind, it is unsurprising that Operator Please are excited at the prospect of returning to the UK for the fifth time in just a year, and especially about supporting Lightspeed Champion.

‘We’ve played him before at a Barfly gig with The Cribs. He’s the nicest person on Earth and I can’t believe how amazing his album is,’ says Amandah.

‘Test Icicles were full on and then he goes to this really soft and orchestral way and I don’t think there is a lot of people that can write like that.’

Amandah gushes about so many other bands during the interview it would be impossible to note them down but they range from Foals to The Vines and Bjork to New Young Pony Club.

The band’s respect and admiration for others means you can understand why she is so fierce in her defence of Operator Please’s schoolyard to success story.

‘It just isn’t fair when people say we haven’t worked because we really have. If people took one look at our touring schedule, or anything we do, we’re always 100% with it.

‘I mean this is still humble beginnings, if you’re able to go to a different countries and do your own shows and you go to a new place and start to build it again you don’t take anything for granted at all. It means you’re learning all the time but we’ve worked really hard.

‘I think a common misconception about us is that we apparently have parents in the music industry, which is total bullshit. People think that they forked out to get us together but we’ve all worked for our stuff, we’ve all had part time jobs.’

Jealousy may explain why a lot of their peers look on disdainfully, but as Amandah points out, Operator Please are of the internet generation, so why not use them?

‘Technology has worked to our advantage,’ Amandah points out.

‘Other bands had to slog out for years and years to get anywhere and because we haven’t, people have been quite vicious. It didn’t come at the snap of a finger,’ she concludes, unfortunately not in combination with an ironic snap of her fingers.

‘We’ve copped so much shit from everybody, I’m over it now.’

And she’s got a point.

As a live band, Operator Please are a frantic blur of dancing, haircuts, guitars, keyboards and punchy vocals.

Playing a few dates back in Australia before they fly to England, the band are in great spirits and this transmits onto the stage. They cover Devo’s ‘Whip It’ with such class and conviction it sounds like it is their own
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As well as dipping into their back catalogue to perform tracks alongside those from ‘Yes Yes Vindictive’, the band are looking to the future and have already started writing a new album.

‘It is sounding very ‘jungle’. Not like hip hop, but just… ‘thick’.

‘Not stupid,’ she laughs, ‘just texture wise.

‘It’s very hard not be to clinical in the studio so I hope on the next album we can be live. We’re thinking of different ways to record it but I just want to really make sure that there’s still an atmosphere and vibe there.’