Time: 8pm
The Lucky Wonders are set to launch their first single ‘Happy Pills’, taking their loved live show on the road to wrap up 2009. Renowned for their intensely honest lyrics and mature songwriting, the duo of Emma Royle and Jessie Vintila create tunes that touch on personal themes, but where you’re welcomely invited to share in “the real bits. ” A theme runs through The Lucky Wonders’ songs reflecting the good fortune of those able to face their demons and live their dreams. Their home of Byron Bay is a place where lucky people flock to do both.
In previous incarnations WAMI Award winning songwriter Jessie Vintila supported John Butler, Eskimo Joe, Jebediah, The Cruel Sea and Jenny Morris, and was a finalist in the 2007 MusicOz Awards. In early 2009 Jessie found her songwriting soulmate, Emma Royle, when they came together to create live music for a puppet show at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and The Lucky Wonders were born. They set about writing music that was true to their heart, guided by their influences that include The Waifs, PJ Harvey, Dusty Springfield and Tom Waits. With the addition of Brent Calcutt (double bass) and Anastassijah Scales (drums) they now play and work as a four piece, and in just a year have set about revealing their well-crafted songs to the rest of the country.
‘Happy Pill’
A comment on society’s dependency on quick fixes, ‘Happy Pill’ is the debut single from the band. Featuring the light yet focused vocals of Royle and Vintila, the track basks in a bitter-sweet melancholy that washes over you. Happy Pills is the first track to be released off their as-yet untitled debut album, recorded with ARIA nominee Anthony Lycenko (Pete Murray, Xavier Rudd) and Ben Franz (The Waifs). The album is slated for release in early 2010.
Says Emma on ‘Happy Pill’: “You could say it continues a conversation started 40 years earlier by the Rolling Stones with Mother’s Little Helper. It’s a song about taking drugs, illicit or prescribed, as a way of coping with emotional trauma. It’s a song about confronting and releasing your pain. “Your heart is not the box of Pandora” refers to the fear some of us have of experiencing our feelings, rather than squashing them down.
We live in a culture where symptoms are treated more than underlying causes, and people rely on band-aid solutions. Any discomfort or unhappiness is seen as a bad or wrong thing, when sometimes hurting is the most normal, healthy reaction we can have to a given situation or past event.
I’ve been that broken person. I’ve experienced being recklessly medicated. I’ve been the drug-addicted kid who never wants to feel again. And I’ve journeyed the long haul back to a point where I feel alive again. It’s not a judgement of people’s choices, or saying there are clear-cut answers. Indeed, there’s a time and place for everything. Drugs can save people’s lives, keep them going, but they don’t usually cure the cause of people’s unhappiness. Shots of adrenalin, shock treatment, and antibiotics also save lives. It doesn’t mean they should be dished out willy-nilly or prescribed for life. The truth is you can’t run away from yourself. ”
