|
|
 |
|
|
A FAMILY WELCOME
Susan Jarvis
Back in 1994, STEVE LEE made a spur-of-the-moment decision that would change his life and that of his family.
Sitting at a DEAD RINGER BAND concert in his home town of Broken Hill, Steve turned to his wife, TRACEY, and said “That looks like a good way to make a living - want to give it a try?”
The Lees - who until that point had never even played an instrument between them - set to work forming a family band. Their first gig was in 1995, as STRICT-LEE-US, and they’ve been travelling the country singing and playing ever since.
Daughter RACHAEL, who is now 22, remembers those early days well.
“Dad brought home a bunch of instruments and we all learnt how to play. I was eight, Jarod was seven, Faith was five, and our youngest sister, Savannah was just a baby so obviously she wasn’t performing back then,” she said.
“It’s been an amazing life. We were home schooled, and our parents have always encouraged us to be open to lots of different experiences - in music and in life. We’re pretty close, and I don’t think any of us went through that teenage rebellion stage.”
Under the circumstances, it’s not really surprising that THE LEES are currently negotiating to film a reality TV show based on their lives. Now the kids are all grown up, it’s set to be a fascinating television experience.
While all four children (and of course Steve and Tracey) are diehard country fans, they all have personal preferences, including a love of punk music and a range of other styles.
Members of the Chambers family have remained close friends ever since the Dead Ringer days, and have been mentors to The Lees, who’ve evolved and developed their own distinctive style of music over the years.
That’s very much in evidence on their latest album, Welcome Road. Produced by ROGER CORBETT, it’s an organic, raw and incredibly appealing collection of songs written by various members of The Lees.
The first single is actually a cover version of the Bob Dylan classic, It Ain’t Me Babe, which The Lees perform in their own inimitable style.
Most of the lead vocals on the album are provided by Raechel and Faith. Their voices have traces of KASEY CHAMBERS’ hillbilly-flavoured vocal style, but they are distinctively their own, and the harmonies are an absolute delight.
The Lees’ wandering life is captured beautifully on Life On The Road, which contains some hilarious lines.
At the same time, their home base of Parkes in western NSW is also brought to life on Welcome Road, the tale of a close and supportive community.
“Believe it or not, our road is actually called Bogan Road, but we decided to name the song after another road nearby for obvious reasons,” Raechel said.
Each of the Lee siblings has had a chance to convey his or her individual personality on Welcome Road. Jarod does a wonderful job on the delicate Little Bird, Faith sings about her position in the family on Next In Line, and Raechel pays tribute to her parents on All I Wanna Be. She also reflects on her life on Remember To Breathe, written with Roger Corbett.
She Don’t Like Guns was supposed to be a love song from Steve to Tracey, but according to Raechel it wasn’t quite what Tracey expected (and it wasn’t received especially well).
The song refers to Steve’s lifelong passion for firearms that’s now been expressed in a completely separate Steve Lee album, I Like Guns — a project that not surprisingly is getting a lot of attention from certain groups in the United States at the moment, thanks to a video clip posted on YouTube.
At this stage, none of the Lee children plans to launch a solo career, though Rachael reached the Top 12 Female Artists in the 2006 season of Australian Idol, attracting a lot of attention in the process.
“We are having such a good time doing what we do, travelling around the country in our band bus, and we couldn’t be happier with the new album. We’ve very excited about the next stage of our adventure,” Raechel said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
