Class Act

Motown's legacy lingers in music today, from the touches of soul scattered through the charts to the all-conquering Amy Winehouse. The era is a touchstone for so many musicians of today, a resolutely popular genre that inspires burgeoning pop stars as much as normal music fans. For Perth's Stratosfunk the inspiration runs deeper than most, having turned their passion into the nine piece soul extravaganza they are now. With setlists comprised solely of Motown and Stax classics and a choreographed groove of a stage show, Stratosfunk create parties rather than just play shows. As frontwoman Yara Neto describes it though, the band's love of music isn't only confined to the one genre.

“To be honest in my time growing up it wasn't so much Motown specifically,” admits Neto. “It was more like Aretha, Tina, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. I was just obsessed with Michael Jackson, obsessed with Stevie Wonder, and Ray Charles is another one who I really grew up with a strong influence. I guess it's kind of like black music from back when is what I really love. And as I've grown up and become exposed to different styles of that I've just really loved everything. I've gotten into really loving some of the older jazz, I've gotten into some swing type stuff, and it's just such a fantastic opportunity to be surrounded by eight other people, because they all have such diverse music tastes outside of what we play as well. It's a great opportunity to learn about other styles of music and then basically fall in love with them, which is what I generally do. It's just fun!”

Whether for private parties or in venues like this weekend's show at The Regal Theatre, Stratosfunk know exactly how to put on a show. The demand for the group has steadily grown with every outing. Having been playing together in various guises for over five years now, Neto and her bandmates put hours of meticulous preparation into every gig, treating choreography and the band's pitch perfect look as thoroughly as the music itself.

“Jessie [Gordon] is like choreography queen, she's one of our backing singers and an amazing frontwoman in her own right. She has a really solid background with dance, so she comes up with a lot of the stuff that we do as far as dancing. Even for guys in the horn section sometimes too. So there's a lot of time that goes into that. And in fact we've got two dancers that are gonna be dancing for the [Regal] show as well. There's gonna be more dancers than just the dancing you see at a normal Stratosfunk show. But yeah, we put in that effort, but then there's also the effort that's spent getting the clothing that us girls wear… Then there's hair and copious amounts of hairspray and all that sort of stuff. It's quite a process to actually end up onstage looking the way that we do!”

Balancing the band with her psychology major at university, Stratosfunk is a release for Neto from the stresses of her day to day life. With all nine members heavily involved in work and music outside of the band, the chance to play a venue like The Regal is something everyone is looking forward to. “That's the sort of stuff I think that we all live for in this band,” enthuses Neto. “I think that when you feel that good and music is that bumpin' it's just hard to control yourself, which is what we're hoping for! We're hoping that everyone will just be like 'yeah!' and lose it and go a bit mad. And for those people that might feel like the norm is not to do that, then there's always the opportunity to have a boogie with us later on after the show upstairs where there's gonna be a DJ and some dancefloor space.”