The Sidetracked Fiasco Interview

The Sidetracked Fiasco Interview

So you're an independent band & you just completed a 17 show tour that saw you playing shows in QLD, VIC, SA, ACT, & NSW. What do you do next? Why, you do it all again of course.

That is exactly what Sydney based Funkcore band 'The SideTracked Fiasco" are doing. With the announcement of their upcoming tour 'Indecision & The Exploding Head Chi" A 13 show tour that will see the band hitting metro & regional centres up and down the east coast promoting the band's latest single 'Indecision" from their EP 'Enter the Motivational Sasquatch".

'Indecision" shows a more introspective & personal side of 'STF'. The vocals are delivered with a laid back hip-hop flow and deal with the dynamics within a relationship where one person wants more than the other can give & the hurt & frustration that arises from this situation. The melodic bass and motown influenced drums in the verse leave space for the delicate guitar lines that build to a funky groove in the bridge before opening up to the driving chorus.

-The SideTracked Fiasco's sound has been compared to the likes of The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, Faith No More, System of a Down and Mammal to name a few. The music contains the rhythm and feel found in funk and early hip-hop, the urgency and speed of punk, and the structuring and experimentation of progressive rock and has been described as having 'enough bass to melt your face off".

Interview with Jonny O'Donnell

Question: How would you describe your music?

Jonny O'Donnell: Heavy funk with a little bit of punk rock and reggae thrown in.


Question: What should Australians expect from the upcoming tour?

Jonny O'Donnell: A whole lot of fun and a whole lot of funk! We get up on stage and go as crazy as the venue will allow us (laughs) or sometimes won't allow us…


Question: Do you write your own songs? What's your inspiration?

Jonny O'Donnell: Yes; we can get inspiration from different bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine and Faith No More which are all good starting off points.

Question: What's next? Tour/Album/Single?

Jonny O'Donnell: After the tour we will take a little bit of a break over Christmas then we will try to start writing some new material and record another single or EP. We'll be playing it by ear…


Question: Was there a moment you contemplated throwing in the towel?

Jonny O'Donnell: For me that is not really an option, whichever way I'll always keep doing music (laughs) it's not like I have a choice; if I'm not playing music there is a little voice in my head that continually asks 'what are you doing?"


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Jonny O'Donnell: This band is definitely a live band, we love performing live. They're two completely different things, performing live and recording really; it's great to be able to record and take your time creating something in the studio but you do let it all hang out when you get up there and do it, live!


Question: What/who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?

Jonny O'Donnell: Individually for me it was my father, he was my biggest inspiration because he was a musician when he was younger. To think that music was on the cards was inspired from him, in the first place.


Question: What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your musical success?

Jonny O'Donnell: Every aspect is a challenge (laughs) there is always a new challenge; at the moment touring is a massive challenge and we do everything ourselves from booking the tour to creating our own art and producing our videos; we are very hands on! Australia is such a big place with such a small population and to actually try and make a tour make sense logistically is a challenge. It's all worth it!

Question: What has been your favourite part of becoming a music artist?

Jonny O'Donnell: The exact same thing – getting on the road and performing and also seeing all the hard work start to pay off when we're on the road touring and playing in all these places we haven't played before. Another favourite is going into a studio and recording music which had previously just been stuck inside your head or you'd only heard at live venues and now it is produced on a CD. Every time you achieve that next goal that is what makes it worthwhile.


Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?

Jonny O'Donnell: That's a tough one! I haven't given this much thought, actually. Personally I'd love to be able to collaborate with a band like Rancid or the Red Hot Chili Peppers.


Question: What is the story behind the band's name?

Jonny O'Donnell: I met Ryan six years ago and he had been kicking it around Sydney as MC Sidetracked and he wanted to start a band called Sidetracked and I wasn't having that, I couldn't stand the name or the fact that there was 20 other bands in Sydney called Sidetracked. I wanted something that stood out a bit more so we tagged on -Fiasco' because that sums up what we are when we play with the genres that we merge together; Sidetracked Fiasco sounds like what we are!