New  sensation
on the Rise
Rock and Roll can be a tough and physically dangerous game for a young band trying to make a name for itself. So it helps to have friends in high places. DAVID STEWART reports.
Local three-piece rock band Go to Bed Jessica has surely won enough band competitions to have earned bragging rights as the best local band.
But frontman and co-founder Cameron Singh, 23, isn't biting.
'No, I wouldn't say that,' he said.
'There are so many good local bands around at the moment, and all of them are completely different, so we can all get along and do good shows together.'
But entering band competitions has opened plenty of doors for the group, including the front doors to the homes of INXS guitarists Tim Farris and Garry Beers.
'We played a show at the State final of the University Band Competion and Tim Farris was a judge,' Singh said.
'Tim really liked what we were doing and invited us to his place to do some recording. That was a huge buzz for me because we're such big fans of INXS,' Singh said.'
Those recordings in Farris' studio at Frenchs Forrest are about to become the band's debut five-track EP, What Goes Around, due for release later this month.
'And then we were doing some shows at Tall Timbers and Joe's Garage and were pulling some decent crowds when Garry Beers saw us and liked what he saw. He said if there was anything we needed not to hesitate to give him a call. So we called, and he too said we could come up to his studio (At Mangrove Mountain) and do some recording.' Singh said.
'I remember one gig at Joe's Garage when Heidi took out the drum kit by accident and completely totalled it. And I've chipped my tooth on the microphone and sprained my ankle really badly, and we're always running into each other.'
- Go to Bed Jessica frontman and co-founder Cameron Singh on the dangers of playing in a band.
Winning the Live and Raw, Newcastle University and Ettalong Beach Hotel band competitions in 2001 has also earned the band plenty of work.
'We now play every weekend almost',Singh said.

But the band wants more.

Lots more.

'We want to start touring, playing to bigger crowds and try to make a living out of the business,' Singh said.

But it wasn'y always that way.
GTBJ formed in 1999 as a fun distraction from other bands that Singh and drummer Richard Beggs were playing in. The band was playing covers of Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick amd INXS for fun, then began dabbling in some tunes of its own. Singh said the original bass player wanted to explore the New York grunge sound in its writing, while Singh and Beggs had other ideas. When the bass player went on holiday, Singh tool the oppurtunity to introduce young bass player Heidi Warren to the mix.
'We just found the chemistry between the three of us was right so when the bass player came back we said, "Sorry, but...".'
Singh says the split was amicable, the bass player remains one of his closest friends and he still comes to the band's shows.
Warren, now 19, had an immediate impact on the band.
'Heidi encouraged us to be a little more poppy. There are some aspects fo being male that you feel uncomfortable singing about. When Heidi joined the band she encouraged that side of me out more,' Singh said. 'There are also a lot less fart jokes now at rehearsal'
Warren also brought energy to the band which at times spirals out of control.
'She and I both go crazy to the point that we've really hurt ourselves,' Singh said.
'I remember one gig at Joe's Garage when Heidi took out the drum kit by accident and completelt totalled it. She woke up the next morning with a bruise from the back of her knee all the way up her back. And I've chipped my tooth on a microphone and sprained my ankle really badly, and we're always running into each other.'

It's a good thing that playing drums prevents Beggs from jumping around and adding to the chaos.
'Richards from the old school, an old-fashioned drummer who hits hard and that's what we love about him.

But don't let their on stage antics distract you. This trio can play. And Singh and Warren know how to write a hook, and understand the value of melody underpinning their intent.
'We're all big fans of pop music, but we're also big fans of heavy music, so we basically try to squish the two together. Without the hook nobody's going to remember the song.'

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