Interview – Bionics
After their rousing performance here in Perth a few weeks back, Crazy Penis have certainly made their mark amongst their fans over the years. Yet emerging from the CP story are the murmurings of a new sound, as more and more people become aware of the Bionics side project that members Danielle Moore and Tim Davies have joined in recent times.
“Ben Davis is the founder of the group,” explains Danielle, talking about the project. “Myself and Tim joined him. He produced and came up with the majority of ideas for the Bionics, which helps differentiate the sound from CP. We are all very close friends and Ben used to be one of the team that ran Paper Recordings, who CP were first signed to.”
With the differentiation in sound being a key to the project, those who have not as yet heard the Bionics may wonder just how different the elements are, but Danielle clearly nails the distinction between the two. “The Bionics is for fun,” she responds. “It’s for letting us be experimental, not trying to appeal to a particular market and trying out new instruments. Tim’s on guitar and bass, I’m sometimes on percussion and Ben does the rest. There will be similarities as I sing on it!”
With the ability to move within more experimental circles, those similarities are possibly more ethos based than mainly musical, a point with which she agrees. “I think that a quality both projects have, bearing in mind they are both very different, Crazy P is a touring a live band and bionics is a studio/DJ thing, are good personalities that get on well and who also keep a balance,” she explains. “We are very aware that we are lucky with that as a lot of bands suffer from big egos.”
Since inception, the evolution of Crazy P has been a meandering road between the studio and the live aspect, with the Bionics now back to the studio roots, and Danielle seems comfortable with this journey between style and setup. “CP started as very much a studio project with Jim (Baron) and Chris (Todd). They introduced the live element by inviting myself, Matt, Tim and Mav (who has now left the band to become a dad). I think the live element has become the most important thing. We love being on the road and the confidence that we get from performing, and that’s meant we could take that confidence back to the studio and become more experimental. The ideas come from every member now and we always look to further develop our sound”
With the release of the Bionics Solid State Silver album, it seems as if the experimentation has more than paid off, even given the busy balancing act between the two. “It’s been surprisingly good,” she enthuses as to the reception of the album and the project in general. “I mean we loved doing it. Ben was patient with me and Tim as we were busy with CP, so the Bionics took a back seat. People love Love chains and Deaf love and yes, the response has been really good, we’re happy with the reactions.”
With the Crazy penis tour half way through, one would wonder where the time comes from, but within the chaos is a clear agenda of the performances ahead. “Obviously now we are touring in oz,” she remarks. “We’ve done Playground in Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth then over to NZ and back to Sydney for the finale before I start my DJ tour for the Bionics. That’ll involve me also doing a couple of numbers in the middle of the set … its dead exciting as it’s the first time I will have done it on my own.”
“It’s going to be and energised excitable from the heart performances,” she enthuses, more than happy at the prospective tours. “Come with smiles good comfortable dancing shoes and lots of love … you will not be disappointed!”
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Tags: bionics, crazy penis, danielle moore, perth, solid state silver