This raging power trio from Sydney Brace For Whiplash are chomping at the bit to get on stage at The Lair and show the other bands how to really rock and roll. You’re not going to want to miss their high-energy stage performance next Thursday, April 10th. While you’re waiting for them to go on, read what the band had to say about their killer sound and what they’re doing to prepare for the show at The Lair.

WHAT’S THE INSPIRATION FOR THE NAME BRACE FOR WHIPLASH?
Basically, we were driving to the pub for a few drinks and a band meeting… as all hard rock bands do... and the hotel is in a difficult place, a really busy road, so when the driver slammed the brakes on because she saw a park right out the front, we all pretty much braced for whiplash, expecting a car to smash up behind us. Lucky there was no one behind us… when we all realised what we were doing, we decided that Brace For Whiplash was appropriate, then whenever anyone hears our music, it's deemed REALLY appropriate!

WHO PLAYS WHAT IN THE BAND AND HOW DID YOU FIRST GET TOGETHER?
Brace For Whiplash are: Suzanne Serelle on bass and lead vox, Joao Bento on guitar and backing vox, and Paul Job on drums. Paul and I are brother and sister, which is perfect with me being bass and him drums, we grew up jamming together. I called up Paul because I was over sitting in my studio writing music and producing other people and I hadn’t put a band together for ages. Paul was free at the time so we got together. We sat down and picked what we thought were our favourite songs from what I had written in the past. We had a few jams, decided it was going really well, so we then advertised on Gumtree for a guitarist and Joao turned up after some interesting failures. He was the only guitarist that could actually play the songs, sing really well and had a cool personality while most others didn't get it together at all.

IF YOU COULD DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND IN THREE WORDS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
Aggressive, melodic, fast.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR MUSICAL AND NON-MUSICAL INSPIRATIONS?
Musical: Led Zeppelin, My Chemical Romance, Heart, Van Halen, Dorje, Satriani, Steel Panther, The Ramones, Bad Religion. Heart especially for me, as I’m a trained opera singer and have been able to use all that vocal power for the rock/punk/metal style we play. I don’t think I’d be able to keep it up without that background. Non-musical: politics, the environment, relationships, human observation.

WHERE HAVE YOU PLAYED BEFORE AND WHAT WOULD YOUR DREAM GIG BE?
I have played in Germany, London, New York, Japan and most of Australia. Joao has played all around England and Paul has been mostly Australia and Bali. Playing any big festival in Europe, UK or Japan.

HOW ARE YOU PREPARING FOR THE SHOW AT THE LAIR?
We are rehearsing heaps but we look at this gig like any other gig, it’s all about the music and the people and putting on a really good show… no shoe gazers in the band... if Joao and I don’t have some kind of injury at the end of a show then we haven’t done our jobs right!!!

WITH OTHER BATTLE OF THE BANDS COMPETITIONS AROUND, WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE EMERGENZA?
We like the way they do things. We like the fact they are highly professional and organised and they choose great venues to play in.

For more details on the show at The Lair @ The Metro Theatre in Sydney on April 10th, click here.