Getting to Know The Tambourine Girls

Carol Bowditch speaks with The Tambourine Girls’ Simon Relf ahead of the upcoming Australian tour with Dustin Tebbutt.

The name The Tambourine Girls came from two girls who used to take care of me when I was growing up. One was called Sandy and the other Lucy. They used to dance a lot and Sandy had a tambourine.

The Tambourine Girls sound like we should lie down for a while.

I’m not really sure what new track, Blood and Bones is about. When I listen to the first verse it sounds like the ramblings of a lunatic. I wrote it one night when I couldn’t sleep because my best friend had a girl in his room and she was making a lot of noise.

The tour with Dustin Tebbutt will be wonderful! Dustin writes such beautiful songs, and my good friends Carlos Adura and Pat Harris are in his band so it’ll be one long party. Plus I’m really enjoying playing solo at the moment. It’s been a real change.

While on tour I like to find new things in the music that you can only get from playing to audiences night after night. It’s the best thing in the world to go on tour. The highest highs and lows so deep that they burn with their own kind of energy as they bring you to the surface to explode again.

The Tambourine Girls’ three favourite Australian musicians of all-time would be Ross Hannaford, Bernie Mcgann and James “Pug” Waples.

In the next year we will be releasing another record with The Tambourine Girls, and collaborating with Spookyland and Terry Serio on an album which is already sounding really great.

See The Tambourine Girls supporting Dustin Tebbutt on his Australian tour, dates below:

Wednesday May 14 | Northcote Social Club, VIC
Thursday May 15 | Northcote Social Club, VIC
Friday May 16 | Northcote Social Club, VIC
Tuesday May 20 | Newtown Social Club, NSW
Thursday May 22 | Newtown Social Club, NSW
Friday May 23 | Alhambra Lounge, QLD

Interview by Carol Bowditch.