How Helping Women Find Their Voice Has Refuelled The Desire To Smash Stages

Dallas Frasca and co have been extremely hard at it, in the recording studio and on the road, virtually nonstop for over a decade now. So the members decided to pull back on the reins slightly and take it easy for a brief moment, just to allow themselves to catch a breath before going again.  

"There hasn't really been a break in all that time," the band's frontwoman and namesake Dallas Frasca explains. "We did two enormous European tours, plus two Australian tours last year, and we got to the end of it and just said, 'Let's just chill for a little bit'. So it's been awesome. You tend to get a bit robotic when you tour so much and this has just been a really great chance to go and find out who we are again." 

All that said, the individual members have been far from idle during this fleeting moment of downtime and Frasca herself has been doing something rather special of late. "I've been out in the desert for almost nine weeks," she says. "I'm back in Darwin for a few days, but then I'm heading back down to the desert. I've had some really profound and crazy experiences up here, and it just makes me feel I'm super-ready to get back on the stage." 

More specifically, she has been working on a program called Desert Divas and she happily talks us through what that's all about. "There's been a couple of different programs that I've been really privileged to be involved in," she states proudly. "There's a real gap between Indigenous women and having a path, particularly with female Indigenous performers. These programs are designed to help facilitate the women and younger girls finding their voice. Even if it's just a guitar lesson, or something as simple as that. 

"There's a hell of a lot of talent out here, and this is about helping women find their power and their voice." 

Guitarist Jeff Curran hasn't exactly been sitting on his hands during this time, either. "Jeff's been in Indonesia, and making records with Whitfield Crane from Ugly Kid Joe and Ross Wilson from Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock," she says.

This highly productive and fulfilling downtime is about to come to an end however as the band are set to head off on an east coast headlining tour, which includes their yearly trip to the Victorian snowfields and a major appearance at Brisbane's incredible Dead Of Winter Festival of heavy music.

"Oh my god, the line-up's sick!" she enthuses of the festival. "There's a heap of bands I really want to see, as well as playing ourselves. Obviously there's The Meanies, and The Porkers, and The Bennies — they're all so rad! But there's also a heap of more underground bands who you know about, but when you're touring yourself it's hard to get to their show. So we're going to be down there early to check it all out."