PRAWNS WITH HORNS at the Spiegeltent
If you were lucky enough to catch seven-piece Perth band Prawns With Horns at this year's Fringe (festival) you would have seen one of the most exuberant bands on the Australian music scene. For that reason the 10-year-old group were the ideal choice for a Sunday morning ClubSpiegel performance. Mixing salsa with ska, rock with Frank Zappa-inspired tunes, the Prawns went off. And while the focus on fun detracted from their potential for brilliant music making, it was their unorthodox approach which kept these Prawns fresh.
Jon Hart, Adelaide Advertiser, March 2002

PRAWNS WITH HORNS (The Esplanade Hotel)
Sunday night saw Perth's mighty Prawns With Horns launch the front room of the Espy Hotel into orbit. Once described as Frank Zappa with a surfboard, modern mariachis on a generous helping of peyote may well serve as an equal account. The strong guitar and rhythm overlayed with an absolutely voluptuous horn section provided the format for intelligent lyrics and social commentary on everything from freeing the weed to drinking too much. Marty Hellman, vocalist and preacher extraordinaire, evangelising with voice righteous and true, shot the band well into the 21st Century kneeling before the cosmic sound waves of his theremin like some crazed worshipper of old. The Prawns have rocked Melbourne before and come from a very strong support base back home in the west, but this journey has been predominantly a showcase for their latest release Ampersand. The recording captures all the vitality and good humour that has rewarded these guys with a return invite to our fair town, but in my mind, there is nothing like seeing them on stage in the flesh. For wild funk and murderous Latin grooves, Prawns With Horns are real damn hard to go past.
Tyler Greer, InPress, 2001

PRAWNS WITH HORNS CD LAUNCH
Wow the Prawns With Horns CD launch on Friday night was, well something else. It was great. It's rare to see such a talented group of musicians and all of them could pull it off in a band situation as well. All three bands were very, very good at what they did. There were balloons tied up around the place... giving the feel of a birthday party more than a gig.
.... Just before the Prawns With Horns came onto the stage the 'Monkey Magic' theme song was playing over the PA which got everyone into the mood to have some fun and boy did they have fun. By the fourth song, 'Dicko's Finger' the room was alive, even though the guy the song was written about, Dicko, was apparently not there. Even when guitarist Dan Jarvis requested to be taken back to his childhood and the song broke into 'Chopsticks', one of the most annoying songs there is, it was still very enjoyable. The brass section were all dressed in black and even had choreographed dance moves! The most impressive of which was when they all played a sort of air guitar using their trombone, trumpet or sax as a guitar. Half way through the set a beach ball was thrown into the crowd and was bounced around for the rest of the night, which made lead vocalist, Hellmann's sparkly sunglasses suddenly seem right. The night took on more of a party/carnival feel as the brass section walked through the audience as though on parade. Their set finished up with 'Free the Weed' from Ampersand, and the title track from their new album 'Beetroot Cheroot'. With catchy as hell songs and a stage presence that any band would find hard to match, it is no wonder that Prawns With Horns have had such a long career, and given some of their newer songs, hopefully it will continue."
Matt Knight, Xpress magazine, 2001

HORNY SEAFOOD
The last time I had dinner in a fancy restaurant there was a very cute girl in a red dress who kept smiling at me over a plate of seafood. I can only guess how those prawns would have felt, sitting so close to such a divine creature. Well... they were dead and marinated in some kind of sauce, but had they been a little more living they would surely have been Prawns With Horns. Coincidentally enough, here's an interview with a Perth outfit by the same name.
The musical Prawns may not be a name you really recognise, but this is immaterial as they have been playing together for no less than ten years, with three releases, numerous jaunts around the country and even a quick sojourn over to Central America and the UK. These prawns are obviously not content to swum within the nets.
'We're fairly underground, but fairly popular', philosophises cheerful frontman Marty Hellman after I tell him a few other Perth bands I've interviewed have thrown much kudos the Prawns' way. 'In ten years the amount of times you'll say to yourself "that's it, fuck I've had enough. I'm stopping!" And then you hear a story like that and think "I can't stop!" With this upcoming visit making trip number four or five by Marty's count, and considering the band is up to a seven piece now (playing a very infectious mix of disco, funk and that kind of party vibe that always goes down extremely well after a few bottles of something normally locked away in a cupboard) would it make sense relocating from the distant Perth to a more congenial gigging atmosphere?
"There was a time at one stage where we thought maybe, but it seems bands from here that move away split up, so we're a little bit scared of that!" Marty reasons. "We've got such a good lifestyle here, it's hard to give that up. With aeroplanes and travel these days, we can just come there and tour and come home."
A listen to the new Prawns' release, Beetroot Cheroot, will go a long way to explaining why they've got such huge crowds back home and indeed why their overseas following is growing constantly.
"Thanks to Molly Meldrum, Australia has been weaned on Van Halen and The Angels." Marty ventures. "These are good bands, but we didn't get exposed much to James Brown, Fishbone, Santana, that kind of thing, which is more of the vein we're in. Because of that we get more accepted overseas, it seems to work a lot better because they've grown up on that sort of thing."
Craig New, Revolver Magazine, 2001

PRAWNS WITH HORNS 'Beetroot Cheroot'
It's been something like 10 years, more drummers than Spinal Tap and in recent years, the long overdue addition of some real horns, but at long last Prawns With Horns have gone from being a good time band to the best party band Perth has seen in recent years.
Now that their shit is well and truly together, the eastern states are lapping them up as enthusiastically as Spain did on their ambitious but ill-fated world tour a few years ago.
Like many bands who work heavily on vibe, getting that sound and energy down on record is an obstacle, but while Beetroot Cheroot is flawed in places, it is their best attempt yet and is going to help them work their mojo on a national level. Producer and engineer Shaun O'Callaghan, who has a longstanding friendship with the core members of the band, certainly understands what kind of release the band was looking for and has produced a very crisp, evenly mixed sound that emphasizes the strengths of their big band format.
As always, the songs avoid serious topics, played for fun, laughs and good times, but as those who've met them can testify, that's all they care about, so it has a certain integrity. The title track serves as an opener and is a cruisy midtempo ode to cheerful indulgence, with an eye ot potential airplay. Time 2002 sees the band getting experimental, employing a sampled intro including the sound of the Tardis, before getting very funky with Strauss' Thus Spake Zarathustra, while Vamois A La Playa is a homage to Bob Marley.
Don't think that the PWH are a joke band though, with musicians like Dan Jarvis and Marty Pervan on board, this music is totally out of its class. Lightweight, good fun played by heavyweights. And incidentally 'beetroot cheroot' is an expression of joy.
Sabian Wilde, Xpress Magazine, 2001
P.S. Beetroot Cheroot is actually a small cigar made from beetroot.

PRAWNS WITH HORNS 'Beetroot Cheroot'
This seven-piece Western Australian band is as wackity-go-lucky as they come. Hark, is that the tinkle of cowbells? Most assuredly. With instruments including the guitar, flute, percussion, theremin, bass, trombone, tuba, trumpet, alto/tenor sax, bass clarinet, drums and timbales to their name, this band has a virtual orchestra to work with. And work with it they do.
Infectious. Uplifting. Energized. Catchy. If you're after a lengthy comparative description, you'll be hard pressed. Because Prawns With Horns are kinda, sorta, a little like, similar to, could be compared with...no one at all. Marrying a plethora of seeming conflicting genres, theirs is a musical experience you have to hear for yourself, but one definitely worth hearing.
Prawns With Horns can be teasing and oft times witty as they laugh at everybody, including themselves. But their lyrics are kept refreshingly simple, clean and unambiguous. Verses like "Working on my attitude/And my suntan/Got my Bob Marley/And I'm cruising in my van" are not there to be deeply analysed in a meaningful manner, but should rather be taken at face bopping value.
Prawns With Horns funk-and-fun big band antics no doubt come across better live, but their bizarre brand of lunacy is still accurately captured on this release. Ya just gotta git wig it and dig it.
Dinah Arndt, InPress Magazine, 2001

LOCAL 'LECTRO LIVE
.....Prawns With Horns took to the stage.... Funking up the room with the sheer craziness that the crowd craved (or was it that the punters were stunned by the reflection coming from the lead singer's dazzling glasses and couldn't look away?) Prawns With Horns captivated their audience. One couldn't be blamed for thinking the band had morphed into Ricky Martin on acid as the Latino rhythms and pelvic thrusting took over. But it was soon back to their entertaining James Brown beat trashiness and some amazing musicianship from the brass section - sheet music and all....
Lani Marcus, Xpress magazine, 2001

PRAWNS WITH HORNS: SHELLING THEIR SKINS
I'm speaking with Dan Jarvis about Spain. He likes north west Galicia. I like Madrid. He was there for a successful tour with his fellow crustaceans. I was there to drink beer and meet girls. Hard to say which one of us did better, but it's a fair bet which one of us will get a return invite. In fact, a European tour is precisely what's awaiting the mighty Prawns With Horns. "We've got a plan that involves the Summer festivals next year."
A plan indeed, and why not? Coast to coast, the boys from Albany, WA have been knocking our socks off for some years. Eloquently described as 'Frank Zappa with a surfboard', the Prawns return to Melbourne over Easter on an invite from the Espy, scene of their last successful visit.
"We love the Espy", Dan tell me (and I know that other times in other interviews I've heard precisely this before). "All the gigs in Melbourne went really well, but we love the Espy. It's the focus of this tour."
Prawns With Horns thunderous funk rock has kept them well received and busy for the bet part of a decade and riding a wave of accolades for most of it. In 1998 they were runners up in WA's Next Big Thing original band contest, won Best Video and Best Performance in Artrage Soundtrax last year and WA's reigning Best Original Funk Band. Not bad stuff. In addition to this, their most recent album Ampersand received rave reviews across the board.
The Prawns booming horn section and on-stage energy has made them a staple in the live scene over in the west, but the voluptuous sound and production of Ampersand demonstrates how capable these guys are of outstanding studio work as well. I tell Dan how impressed I am with the album and that I'm surprised given the Prawns' reputation as a live band first and foremost.
"We love making albums. It takes up a lot of time and money, but we love it. We always approach it as a long term process. Playing gigs is simply a way to make money to make albums." Due to head back into the studio in May, the recording process is made easier for the band by virtue of having their own studio to work in. Like many bands sorting out a career for themselves, Dan tells me that early o he wanted the freedom to lay down tracks his own way.
"At this point, I call us a 'cottage industry'. We're a self-supporting band. I set up Studio Couch in my home a while back and since then we've had quite a few bands record there. We recorded our last album there. I always wanted to keep my finger in that pie; we don't want to have to rely on anyone else." No need to rely on anyone else. The lads took the east coast by the scruff of the neck last time they were here.
I love Dan's enthusiasm. It's a wonderful thing to find a band that kicks arse in live performances as well as recordings and having a great time doing it. Overseas touring is another fringe benefit of making great music and as well gigging in Spain, the Prawns spent Christmas '95 playing the tropical locale of Costa Rica.
"Our drummer was from Costa Rica, and when he went home he organised gigs for us over there. We played New Year's Eve and it was pretty wild. We were approached by some guys who wanted to manage us; drug dealing, gun-totin' gangsters, but that's another story."
Underworld management or not, the Costa Rica experience gave the Prawns a taste for international venues and the trip to Europe followed shortly afterwards. The next trip is already in the planning with the band's manager flying over to PopKomm conference in Germany to try and stitch up a tour. Meanwhile, the band is also trying to establish management in Brazil in the hope a tour will follow.
Wherever the touring takes them the sound professionalism and energy of Prawns With Horns is certain to ensure their success for some time to come. Don't miss the band that Revue magazine believed as "so funky they should be black".
Tyler Greer, Inpress magazine, 2000