Princess One Point Five are earning rave reviews for their fourth studio album What Doesn’t Kill You, and are preparing to take the songs to Australia on a national launch tour. Before hitting the road singer-songwriter Sarah-Jane Wentzki chatted to Sounds of Oz about the new release, life on the road, and that quirky band name.
Your band has a really interesting name. Where did that come from?
It’s actually kind of lame; Princess is a vague interpretation of my name (Sarah means princess, or lady in many cultures) and my height (1.5 metres). Over time it’s come to mean something different every time someone asks. A very drunk girl recently gave me the idea that it should mean “modern day princess.” God bless trashbags.
You’ve released four albums now, yet many music fans may not be aware of your music. How would you describe your sound?
Ethereal vocals, lush soundscapes juxtaposed with straight up rock and roll and catchy pop hooks.
You’ve just released album number four, What Doesn’t Kill You. What can you tell me about it?
Where do I start?! What… is like the sister album to The Truth (our second album). Sort of like ten up but it’s actually only 5 years on. It’s a return to heart-on-your-sleeve honest songwriting and musically it’s a really collaborative effort. It’s a sonically mature album; like we stopped caring what other people think and just went ahead and had fun with it, and it really benefits for that ethos. The songs themselves are a collection of conversations (some real some fictional) and stories: about us, about other people, about … stuff. It was a rough year while we were writing, so the title represents coming out the other side of it. It’s a joyous album, though, not at all maudlin like I’m making it out to be. I’m very proud of what we’ve made. If our last album was an awkward teenager, this one is the really decent person she grew into.
You’ve been playing a few warm-up shows ahead of your launch tour. How have the crowds responded to the new material?
The people who get the chance to see us live really love it, actually. We’ve been so chuffed about the response. I even have a brand new stalker. Yay me!
Your live shows are known for being really personal and powerful. How do you keep things fresh after spending so much time on the road?
For me, although the “band” will probably disagree, it’s really important to be just a little bit terrified; it presents so many opportunities to be inventive. We shake up the line-up regularly, rarely practice all together, and often re-write songs the week or sometimes the day before a show, so things are nearly always in a state of controlled chaos. Some of that is born out of necessity (for example, taking three extra people on the road isn’t practical a lot of the time ) and so we’ve had to adapt. Each show is new and different, and challenging in its own way, so there’s little opportunity to get bored.
What’s life like on the Princess 1.5 tour bus?
Erm, frequent course language, some nudity, adult themes … and very silly most of the time.
What do you love most about performing live?
I love the immediacy of it, I love reinterpreting these songs that we know back to front, but a lot of other people would have never heard of, and at the end of the day, when you think about it, it’s a very odd thing to do. I’m not a natural performer, really, so I figure if I can get up in front of a bunch of strangers and do this very intimate thing, then I can pretty much do anything. Except skydiving. I’m afraid of heights.
You often work with guest musicians. Is there anyone in particular that you’d like to collaborate with in future?
I’m slowly wearing down Gotye through psychological warfare. We will work together one day, oh yes, we will.
Your music videos are always a cut above the average. What’s it like for you to work in that visual creative medium?
Aw shucks. That’s an ironic observation really, being that I failed quite spectacularly as an experimental video slash filmmaker when I was a wee spring chicken. I love the challenge of trying things out in a foreign medium. Just for shits and giggles, mostly, and that way if it doesn’t work then no harm no foul. Our main concern with P1.5 is that good storytelling is paramount, and when we work on concepts for video clips, we just try to reflect the story of the song (not to mention have a whole lot of fun). But we can’t take all of the credit for them; Kieran Doolan (camera operator, technical director, editor extraordinaire) has helped us out a lot with the technical side. And he reigns us back in when we become ridiculous (as in “I want a giant elephant with wings to fly in on a skateboard in this next shot”).
Following the launch tour, what’s next on the agenda for Princess 1.5?
World Domination, naturally. Actually, we’re already a couple of songs into a new album, and so the cosmic ballet continues. Plus there will be more shows this year and early into 2011. Personally I’m looking forward to a good solid nap.
What Doesn’t Kill You is in stores now. You can see Princess One Point Five do their thing live at the following shows:
25 July 2010 – Pure Pop Records, St Kilda
8 August 2010 – Vanguard, Sydney (with Shady Lane and The Winter People)
20 August 2010 – Edinburgh Castle, Adelaide (with We Grow Up)
28 August 2010 – The Tote – Melbourne (with Milk Teddy, Geoffrey O’Conner, and Lehmann B. Smith)
11 September 2010 – The Troubadour, Brisbane
Image used with permission from Shiny Entertainment