Smartartists Management
Booking enquiries:
Management enquiries:
Michael Lynch
+61 418 543 202
PO Box 2664
Fitzroy, VIC 3065
Frequently asked questions...
Where can I find guitar chords/tabs or lyrics for Tripod songs?
We don’t do chords or lyric sheets for our own stuff – but we’ve got no objections to folks doing their own. There are Tripod TAB sites around – you may wish to ask around on the forum.
Where can I make inquiries or bookings for Tripod?
That can depend a bit on the venue. There usually should be a link on this site.
Why don’t the boys wear coloured outfits anymore?
The brother of a friend of mine was christened Paul McCartney. This sounds like a weird thing to do but when he was born it was the late sixties. At the time Paul’s parents figured that the Beatles from then on would diminish in their famousness. We thought the same of the Wiggles.
Where did you guys meet?
Yon met Gatesy through a mutual friend just after he finished school. Scod met Yon about a year after that in “Man of La Mancha” at Monash Uni. Remarkably, Scod and Gatesy have still never met.
Where do your names come from, i.e., Yon, Scod Gatesy?
Yon used to call another kid at school “Yonny” because the kid’s freckles reminded him of yonnies (a term which describes small stones that you skim on a lake or river). The kid called him Yonny back and it stuck. Scod is another way of saying Scott, which is his real name. Gatesy is what we call an ‘aussification’ of the surname Gates.
Who do you guys draw inspiration from (comedy and otherwise)?
Scod is a They Might Be Giants psycho. Gatesy in his youth was affectionately known as Melbourne’s leading Prince-Stalker. IE Little Red Corvette Prince, not big long royal limousine prince. Yon has a life-size poster of Freddie Mercury (may he rest in peace).
What would you be doing if you weren’t in Tripod?
Gatesy would be doing his band more. Scod would be a graphic designer or children’s book illustrator. Yon would be boy emperor of the fictional kindom of Balshazzar.
What really gives you the shits? (promise that no one will use this against you) and on the other hand, what makes you guys ecstatically happy?
What really gives you the shits? (promise that no one will use this against you) and on the other hand, what makes you guys ecstatically happy?
Do you ever disagree over who gets to deliver a funny line? Or do you have some sort of a system where whoever thought of it gets to say it?
Sometimes. Recently Gatesy wanted to do an Ivan Drago impersonation and so did Yon. Yon let him out of pure grace. The system which is usually in place though is who’s better at it.
What kind of classical music education do you guys have? (The style of some of your songs – notably the Tosswinkle Overture – seems to indicate that you’ve got a lot of talent in that area too)
Yonny was in an opera once. Scod is pretentious enough to kind of pretend he has music training, but he really doesn’t.
Have you ever actually upset an audience member that you’ve picked on?
I think a P.E. teacher got angry once. But she got it all wrong. She thought we were picking on her, but we were in fact saying all P.E. teachers are fucked.
When you’re writing songs (especially the song-in-an-hour ones), do you figure out the three-part harmony, or just sing it and find out what works?
We start figuring it out, and depednding on how much time we have we either finish figuring it out or don’t.
What is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
See above.
What are the proper words to the line of Ikea that Scod apparently stuffed up in Open Slather? (Before “there’s a lot that’s at stake”)
I think it’s “I’ll make them big, make them fake”.
And the predictable questions – what new recordings are coming out soon? Will there be a tape of Lady Robots or a CD of the Christmas shows?
No planned Lady Robots Video. There won’t be a Christmas one soon. We’re working on another live CD; sort of Open Slather II.
Which do you prefer, curtains or ducks?
Yon: ducks. Scod: or.
Who writes most of the lyrics?
All of us.
Are some more written by certain members?
Yes. But not as much lately.
Which songs were written solely by one member?
Scod wrote pretty much all of Rock Eisteddfod.
And something which has puzzled me… Why do you guys sing “chorus” sometimes before a chorus in some songs?
So we all know to go to the chorus. It’s like when a sailors yell out “Coming About” when they’re bringing the boat from one tack to the other when sailing into the wind. It usually is a sign that we haven’t rehearsed enough to quite know the song’s structure yet.
Origins?
Doncaster, Glen Waverley, Notting Hill (not the film).
Who can play the trumpet? (Never ‘ad one lesson)
Yon is the one you hear attempting to play the trumpet.
Who can play the guitar?
Scod and Gatesy
Other musical talents?
Yon has always thought Gatesy would be a really good drummer.
Other weird talents you have?
Gatesy can’t burp. That’s more of an anti-talent though, isn’t it?
Do any of the boys have any projects going on outside of Tripod? I know Gatesy has Kind of Pluto but are there any others?
Scod has a band called Murray Makes Cranes. It’s just got him in it, but he has done gigs. Yon has a planned band called Pudgy Vacuum. There’s also the sketch show on Ten, but more on that some other time.
