Page 47 - Port Douglas Magazine 27

STACEY BROWN & SEAMUS LUNT
MUSICIANS
THE KROOVS

hat do you get when you mix a Stacey is hypnotising to watch as she moves
wild banjo-playing rockabilly gal through the stringed-instrument family in
Wwith a penchant for Trad Irish, a any given set, with a little flute thrown in
rock and roll gee-tar and a man who sounds for good measure. “Yeah, the mandolin was
a lot like Johnny Cash? If you’ve ever heard an interesting choice, but it has the same
The Kroovs playing from their spiritual tuning as a violin so I thought it would be
home in North Queensland, you’ll know easy. Turns out it’s not,” she laughs. Her
this high energy duo with their on-stage partner in life, crime and music, Seamus
banter, floor shaking tunes and blisteringly – also self taught – rounds out the sound
energetic songs are sure to entertain. with piano, guitar and drums in his kit, as
well as a chocolate-coated voice that defies
Drawing influences from traditional folk,
any common and natural lower range. The
rock, blues and punk and featuring fiddle,
two joined forces with the award-winning
mandolin, banjo, guitar, flute and drums, The
Hillbilly Goats, touring the country’s
Kroovs play the songs of Zepplin and Cash,
The Pogues and Steve Earle; songs that festivals before eventually deciding to go out
on their own.
cover heartbreak, cowboys, pirates, whiskey,
gypsies, love and murder. Quite simply, “We put together a set list that would see
they are an unstoppable and furious force of us through several hours gigging at any
musical energy. venue and hit the road as The Kroovs. It was THE MUSicians
either that, or back to casual work,” Seamus
It’s a classic musical love story. Girl meets
remembers. “Being musicians has evolved
boy, girl moves to the tropics, boy misses
into something we just did a little on the side
girl so follows her north; the two self-taught
to something we really love. It’s not an easy
musicians get discovered at an open mic
life, but one we couldn’t imagine not doing. “It's not an easy
night by a touring band and discover that a
It’s the best job in the world.”
musos life is the only life for them. “I taught
life, but one
myself to play the violin at 16 years old,“ says The Kroovs are about to hit the road for
Stacey Brown, one half of The Kroovs duo. an extensive East Coast tour in January,
“I hadn’t really played for a long time, and it with new sights and new venues breathing we couldn’t
wasn’t until I moved to Port Douglas that I energy into a long-awaited album. “We
became involved in a musical scene”. have a live album that was recorded a few imagine not
“You played the Irish scene a little in years ago,” says Stacey. “This tour will give us
the opportunity to create something a little
Melbourne”, says Seamus Lunt, the band’s doing. It’s the
more crafted.
other musical half.
“The old adage about the musician and their
“Well, by played, you mean I sat in Irish pubs best job in the
broken down car is certainly true, and now
with a fiddle in one hand and a Guinness in
we’ve got a car worth more than $300 that
the other,” she quips.
can get us further than a jump start into world.”
town, so we’re hitting the highway!”
PORT DOUGLAS MAGAZINE 47