Broken legs and babies have made life a bit tricky for rock act Born Lion.
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The band, which is playing at Port Kembla’s Servo Food Truck Bar on Saturday, is starting to look a little different.
“The band’s in a slightly weird phase in terms of who is in the band,” said singer and guitarist John Bowker.
“We’ve just changed drummers and the bass player’s about to leave to have a baby. We’re in a bit of a limbo.”
The drummer swap was always on the cards as Andres Hyde had planned to leave for some time.
But then he went and broke his leg in three places and the band had to scramble to find someone else to sit on the drum stool.
“We were able to find someone else and he’s now an official member, so we’ve started to make plans beyond these gigs,” Bowker said.
In case you’re wondering, bassplayer Nathan Mulholland has lined up his own replacement.
The band’s in a slightly weird phase in terms of who is in the band.
- Born Lion's John Bowker
The Servo gig is being dubbed a “mini-festival” because Born Lion is dragging along five other acts to the venue.
Bowker said setting up their own festival is an idea that has been kicking around for a while – and the timing was right.
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“The amount of time that we had available to do shows was limited so I felt that let’s just maximise the amount of gigs we can do by turning it into something a bit more substantial and booking a whole bunch of different bands,” he said.
As well as local legends Dropping Honey, the bill also includes Sydney acts Fait Accompli and Whispering Jackie.
Bowker said he was happy to be able to get Dropping Honey on what is tagged the Bigger Than Jesus mini-fest.
“Dropping Honey, I’ve grown up loving those guys a lot,” he said.
“We’re friends, and I grew up with them. They dropped off the scene for a fair while and since they’ve been playing gigs again we’ve been meaning to do a gig together but it hasn’t worked out for different reasons.
“This time things aligned well, so that was awesome.”
And the name of the festival? Well, it’s not a reference to the status of the bands, but the name of Born Lion’s new single.
“It’s pretty much about drug taking,” Bowker said of the song, “and the feeling of supreme confidence whilst on the substance.
“It’s pretty straightforward in that regard.”