Let there be drums! Let there be guitar! And, um, let there be piano?
While the piano is probably not an instrument most of us would affiliate with AC/DC, Eddie Perfect insists he’s received one thing fairly cool up his sleeve when he performs his interpretations of Bon Scott-era Acca Dacca hits as a part of tomorrow’s free all-ages tribute live performance occasion, High Voltage.
The charismatic cabaret star didn’t hesitate when he was approached to be a part of the occasion, which takes inspiration from Perth Festival’s well-liked 2020 hit, Highway to Hell.
“I said yes immediately,” the Melbourne-based Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts graduate says. “It’s a chance to take the early songs of AC/DC and sort of find my own musical way through them. I wanted to find a way to convey them in a way that hasn’t been done before, so it’s me on piano.
“Obviously there’s going to be some amazing rock musicians performing but I think the (creative producer) Kate Ben-Tovim asked me to be involved because I’m someone who might rearrange things and hear things in a different way. She wanted it to be a well-rounded tribute.”
As with Highway to Hell, acts will carry out on flat-bed vehicles, however this time Canning Highway will likely be spared because the vehicles carry out on a 5km circuit round Fremantle. There will even be three leisure zones for households to relax and benefit from the music.
While AC/DC are greatest generally known as a hard-rock band with guitars and drums on the coronary heart and soul of their music, Perfect says acting on piano provides a degree of distinction and showcases how adaptable Acca Dacca’s music may be.
“I think the best covers are the ones where you hear the song in a different way, where you can find a new arrangement of the song without destroying the integrity of it,” he says. “That’s an exciting challenge and the best way I can celebrate great songs and great artists.
“And when I was reading about AC/DC and how they worked, especially when they were in the studio working out arrangements of songs, a lot of the time they would do it on the piano. You can hear it in the way of the harmonies kind of structured in a lot of their songs, they’re quite cheerful. And there’s obviously a huge blues influence there, which lends itself well to piano.”
While there is perhaps no scarcity of double denim, satan horns, and head-banging on the day — more than likely from Premier Mark McGowan, who has been an enthusiastic proponent of the undertaking — Perfect plans to embrace extra the spirit of Bon Scott than his fashion, per se.
“I have been a fan of AC/DC for a really long time and I have a special affinity for the Bon Scott years,” he says. “There’s something about his style of performance. And there is the cheekiness and storytelling on stage, that actually has a lot . . . in common with what I do as a solo performer.”
WA final noticed Perfect carry out, sporting a mullet no much less, when he toured his present about one other Aussie icon, Shane Warne: the Musical, greater than a decade in the past.
“I haven’t been to Perth for the longest time,” he says. “I lived there, obviously, while I was studying at WAAPA but I haven’t been back since I toured in 2009 or 2010. I am super-curious to see how it has changed.”
At current Perfect is busy engaged on Gold Diggers, the ABC’s rollicking eight-part comedy collection set in Victoria’s gold rush period of the 1850s.
“I think Gold Diggers is going to be amazing,” he says. “Arriving on set was like getting out of a time machine. There are, like, 100 extras in costume and horses going up and down the street. I think the fact that it’s so authentic look makes it even funnier.”
But what everybody actually desires to know is when will Perfect’s Beetlejuice: The Musical make its technique to Australia?
“Well, that’s a really big question,” he says. “I know there’s talk of bringing it here but I’m not exactly sure when that’s going to happen.
“There’s certainly motivation to bring it here and I think Australian audiences would really love it.
“At the moment it’s touring North America and there’s a Japanese-language version, and it’s going to Brazil — it’s slowly rolling out all over the place. Hopefully Australia’s next.”
While there are many triple threats within the business, as an actor, comic, musician, composer, and a author for stage and display, Perfect is nearly an unquantifiable risk.
“Well, all those things all under the one roof, I would be more impressed if I was also an architect or something,” he says. “When you are in the performing arts in Australia, it’s really useful to be able to do a bunch of different things. Generally, it’s just been a matter of ‘well, I’m in Australia, and I can’t find anyone else to do this stuff with me. So I guess I just got to learn how to do it all myself’.”
So what’s left for Eddie Perfect to succeed at?
“I want to write a movie musical so that it’s not constrained by having to have it happen on a stage,” he says. “And then the other thing I really want to do is to write songs for a Disney movie. I’m working away on that.
“It’s a tough one to crack. But that’s definitely really high on my list of wishes.”
But for now, he’s able to rock.
High Voltage takes place tomorrow in and round Fremantle. To try the route and see the line-up and instances, go to highvoltage.com.au.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
