Playful from their name down to their sound, Sydney band Don’t Hit Ron entertain us in a pre-show interview before they go on stage for round one of Emergenza Festival Australia. They let us in on how they came up with their unique name and what’s been happening in the debut-EP department. Be at The Lair next Wednesday, April 9th to see them play, and for now, listen to what they have to say.

WHO'S RON AND WHY SHOULDN'T WE HIT HIM?
The story about our name is a long one involving a car, an old man mowing his lawn, and a quest to find a band name occurring simultaneously within a 30 second time frame. Basically we shouldn't hit Ron in fear of being jailed for obstruction of property and vehicular assault charge on senior citizens...

WHO PLAYS WHAT IN THE BAND?
Ryan plays guitar and sings; Brendan hits stuff; Sam dances bodaciously as well as plays trombone, keyboard, additional percussion and vocals; Froggatt plays trumpet and backing vocals; and Daniel Lamb plays the saxamaphone. We don't currently have a permanent bass player.

IF YOU COULD DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND IN THREE WORDS WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
Purple monkey dishwasher. (Our sound has deviated so far from the original source influences that hopefully it seems original and Don't Hit Ron sounding).

HOW DID YOU COME ABOUT SUCH AN ECLECTIC RANGE OF MUSICAL INFLUENCES?
Okay, all silliness aside, our influences are basically stemming from all our own musical interests, Brendan is a pretty big rock, metal and funk fan, I (Ryan) like a lot of Afrobeat, blues, etc., Froggatt is a huge ska and latin guy, Sam loves key changes and divas and Daniel is a pretty big jazz, swing guy. So basically we used Ska and rock as a basis and then began adding in all these other influences threaded through the music. We were all in Cuba at the beginning of 2013 and this also probably served as a massive influence to our sound and elements of our composition.

WHAT’S IT BEEN LIKE WORKING ON THE DEBUT EP? WHEN'S IT DUE OUT?
Pretty much we're looking at going into the studio to record the EP in June/July. We've been working towards this for the last 6 months or so, we've been writing, gigging heaps, trialling songs live and seeing what the reception is like from the audience. We've just been trying to really figure out which songs will be on the EP, then we'll be all good. Once the mixing, artwork, etc., is down the EP should be out sometime in September probably.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR UPCOMING GIG AT THE LAIR?
We're hoping to make the audience go wild and dance to some tunes and styles they wouldn't usually. Looking forward to the exposure and hoping there will be something for everyone!

WITH OTHER BATTLE OF THE BANDS COMPETITIONS AROUND, WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE EMERGENZA?
Emergenza has a pretty legendary history associated with it, it’s always guaranteed exposure and we know lots of other groups who have played Emergenza and gotten some cool new fans out of it, as well as heaps of new mates and like minded musicians and bands trying to make it in the Sydney scene looking for more shows!

For more details on the show at The Lair @ The Metro Theatre in Sydney on April 9th, click here.