There is just one week to go until the official opening of the 2023 Castlemaine State Festival! This year’s event is once again jam-packed with a myriad of incredible live music, performance and exhibitions and more.
Perth collective Alter Boy fronted by trans/hard-of-hearing vocalist Molly Priest is set to feature as part of this year’s extraordinary CSF line-up.
The band works between sound and silence, voice and Auslan to express music and convey storytelling.
Their live shows are like nothing you’ve ever seen before, combining heartbeat-like rhythms – both pounding and pulsating – with visual storytelling and bespoke lighting in an otherworldly way that is very much of this world.
An Alter Boy performance combines heartbeat-like rhythms both pounding and pulsating with visual storytelling and bespoke lighting. The senses themselves are enlightened, not only by the unexpected feast of sound and vision, but towards the d/Deaf experience as it is presented to us to embrace and (potentially learn to better) understand. Priest leads with vocals that ululate on a lived, dual trans/deaf reality backed with Auslan signing that adds not only an evocative physicality to the music but opens up a world of inclusiveness to an audience who are not able to enjoy (and therefore attend) a traditional gig.
The group is coming to Castlemaine fresh from a performance at Sydney World Pride on March 5 and will also appear at Dylan Alcott’s Ability Fest in Melbourne on Saturday March 25 just prior to their local show which will take place under the CSF ‘Big Top’ at the Western Reserve on Tuesday March 28.
2022 was a stellar year for Alter Boy with captivating performances at Bigsound and Vivid Festival, the release of singles ‘I Repent’ and ‘No One’s Gone Like You’, which garnered praise from NME, Pilerats, Music Feeds, and airplay across triple j, triple junearthed and community radio, plus they were selected to guest host on Rage.
The CSF appearance follows the launch of their first single for 2023 ‘Like Home’.
Discussing the single lead singer Molly says, “Like Home is about breaking toxic family cycles and recovering the authentic self – following narcissistic abuse in childhood. The song ends in a hopeful place with a lyric about love – I’ve been running since I was nine, I leave it behind, yearning for it since I was nine, I don’t need it anymore I’ve got mine.”
Alter Boy keys/synths and producer Andrew ‘Midnight’ Wright took some time to chat to the Mail ahead of their show and said it has been an incredible 12 months for their group.
“I have known Molly for 15 years and we formerly did some writing together. In 2018 she asked me to be part of the band. Covid made things challenging performance wise, but in the last 12 months or so we have played some big events such as Big Sound and Yonder in Queensland and we have built a real following and our singles have taken off!” Andrew said.
Alter Boy’s performances are not just about the music but making it accessible.
“Those who are deaf or hard of hearing no doubt enjoy music, but with interpreter Luke as part of the band audience members can also follow the lyrics and really enjoy the full experience,” Andrew said.
The group aim to secure a record deal in the not too distant future to produce a new album and share their music more broadly.
“Things are really building for us and we’d love to take that next step,” he said.
For tickets to this very special one-off show visit castlemainefestival.com.au