ROBBIE Curtis has a lot on his plate at the moment.
He is a Year 12 student at St Edmund’s College, Ipswich and also lead singer of the band, Kromatose.
Just days after he finishes school forever, 17 year-old Robbie and four of his fellow band mates are jetting off to Sydney to record at the Sony Studios.
Young Aussie bands being “discovered” by huge recording labels seems to be a daily occurrence these days. Kromatose are no exception.
The five-member band from the Ipswich area won the High School Rock Battle of the Bands competition at Festival Hall in Brisbane on October 14.
A chance for high school bands to showcase their talent, the Battle of the Bands offered a recording session in Sydney as its first prize this year.
The boys will record from December 4-6, spending an additional few days in Sydney to soak up the post-Olympic Games atmosphere.
Robbie said he hoped something would come of the recording session.
“We’re just going to see what happens,” he said. “Sony likes young bands so we have a chance.”
He said the band had overcome its first hurdle in the quest to be recognised.
“It’s everything we wanted to do and to win the award is such a great boost,” said Robbie. “I thought we might get third place if we were lucky but you don’t think yourself as coming first.”
He describes the sound of the band as funk-fusion-punk (with scratching of course) without any really heavy metal influence.
“It’s not full thrashing guitars or anything,” Josh said. “We’re a lot like the Deftones with the sound we produce.”
Kromatose formed about eight months ago. Before that time, Robbie experimented with other band names and different line-ups.
“I just did a lot of jamming. We just mucked around trying to find the right sound,” he said.
Well, it looks like they have found it. Impressing the judges, the audience and their fan base, the boys beat 22 other high school bands from Corpus Christi, Nundah; Nudgee College; Churchie and Craigslea State High to take out first place at Festival Hall.
The lads already have the marketing side of their gig worked out.
“We threw out T-shirts and stickers into the crowd,” said Robbie, “and they really loved that.”
Kromatose comprises Ben Dalton on lead guitar, Keiran Taituma on bass guitar, drummer Ryan Strathie and Joshua Leary on turntables.
Ben, Keiran and Robbie are all from St Edmund’s and Ryan is from Bremer State High, Bundamba. Josh works permanent part-time at Brothers Leagues Club, Ipswich.
The boys rehearse about three times a week for several hours each time.
They have also won a number of local competitions including Avalanche 2000, held at West Moreton Anglican College in late October.
Originally Robbie said he was a drummer but he also knew he could sing.
“My old man was a singer and I wanted to do the same,” he said.
Like any young band, Kromatose’s goal is to play at the Big Day Out on the Gold Coast or the Livid Festival in Brisbane.
“We’re practising heaps and trying to be the best we can,” said Robbie. “We sort of idolise the band Sunk Loto because they’ve done everything we want to do.”
Sunk Loto have recently returned from New York where they mixed their album Big Picture Lies with Michael Babierrio, famous for his work with Guns ‘n’ Roses,
Tears for Fears and Metallica. Sunk Loto also recorded their album at the Sony Studios in Sydney with Paul McKercher.
Keep an eye out for Kromatose, they could be Brisbane’s next big thing.
