The questions are answered by Lee Williams (Main Vocals and Rhythm Guitar)
After welcoming you to rockandroll.gr we would like you to ask you when and how the band was formed, whom are its members and if any changes have been made in their composition.
The Lincolns formed in late 2010 and our very first gig was on Feb 26th 2011 in Tony’s (Guitarist) back garden to a crowd of around 100 people.
Original members are:
Tony Peters: Guitar
Walter Comacchio: Drums
Darren Alison: Double Bass and Electric Bass.
Lee Williams: Main Vocals and Rhythm Guitar
In late 2014, Darren left the band as he could not commit to our upcoming tours of Australia, nor could he commit to the UK trip where we played a few shows around England and Scotland basically just to get us known there.
Kingsley Stewart joined the band to play electric bass at the start of 2015 and has been with us ever since. Together we have toured the UK 3 times and played in various cities in Europe too.
Which were the artists you listened to as teenagers and how did you get stuck with rock ‘n’ roll?
As teenagers, between us we have listened to a huge range of artists …from the guys and gals that got the ball rolling in the 50’s right through to the 70’s revival bands. There’s too many to list. We still listen to the same bands today that we listened to then, and of course they are a massive influence on how and what we play now.
Tony and I both grew up in the UK before we came to Australia in the eighties. Tony lived in the South and knew lots of the Teds in and around London, and was lucky enough to see lots of big names live on the scene. I lived in the North and being a few years younger wasn’t lucky enough to see any of the bands live, but I was drawn to the look of the Teddy Boy when I met a gang of them at a holiday camp I was at during the 70’s. I learned to bop watching them and knew from that moment there was only one style for me. The music, the look… It just gets in your blood, and once it’s in there, it’s in there for good!
If I had to pick 3 go to artists from my youth (other than Elvis who I loved as a kid) it would be Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, and Bill Haley. We’d all pick something different I’m sure
Would you like to tell as few words about your record work so far?
So far we have recorded 5 albums and each album has around 8 originals on it, plus some covers. Our first album “Two Parts Whiskey” we really recorded in a budget studio, as we didn’t really understand how popular it would be, and as such we didn’t put a lot of time and money into it. We sold a few thousand copies and it kind of blew us away.
We then recorded the album “Teddy Boy Rock n Roll” and we put a lot more effort and money into the production and that received very good world wide sales and got us known overseas, and on the back of that album success we were able to travel to the UK. Also Marko from Jungle records booked us to play in Finland for the first time based on this album.
We have recorded 3 more albums since and we are equally as proud as we are surprised by our popularity on the scene… especially overseas. Sales have been absolutely amazing on all our releases. We are currently working on another release, but the pandemic has slowed down our momentum and availability to rehearse with each other, plus gigs have been scarce and it’s hard to get motivated when everything you do gets cancelled through COVID. We hope to get the album done this year (2022) though.
What were your impressions from the European tour in 2019?
We couldn’t be happier than we were with our last tour. Everywhere we played we were treated so well and we met and made so many fantastic friends. It’s been the highlight of our musical lives so far. We played some great shows with great bands and we still talk excitedly about it between us now. Sometimes you have to pinch yourself so you know you’re not dreaming, and our last trip was very much like that. We are so lucky that we managed to do it all just before the pandemic set in.
What is the impact of Teddy boy Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Australian audience?
Funnily enough, there are not many Teddy Boys in Australia… but there are more now than maybe there was a few years back. Australia mainly has a Rock n Roll jive scene and a Rockabilly scene, and we have been fortunate enough to be accepted by both scenes here as I guess we sit somewhere in the middle that both crowds can enjoy what we do. We don’t appeal to everyone, but that’s music and life in general. To some we are too fast, to others, not heavy or fast enough.
Our overseas success since 2015 has probably elevated our Australian profile a bit, and more people are taking note of our style. We certainly see more drapes at a gig now than we did when we started, but we are not the first to wear drapes in Australia and hopefully not the last. It can be hard work performing in a drape when the temperature is over 40 degrees centigrade though, and sometimes we have to be a bit more casual at a show because of it.
What are consider to be the most important moments in your course so far?
Without a doubt the most important early moments that set us on our way was making contact with Howard at Raucous Records, Marko at Jungle Records, and Stuart Hardy who runs the Ted Do in the UK. They all supported us and gave us a chance to prove ourselves and make a name for ourselves in the early days, and we will be forever in their debt.
Since then there are too many names to mention and if I tried I would forget someone and upset them, but we have so many people that have made massive impacts on our music careers over the years, and we cannot thank any of them enough. We owe them all so much.
Important and memorable shows for us:
Helsinki with Crazy Cavan in 2017, Wildest Cats in Town 2019, Eindhoven 2019 when it rained so hard, but we played on and the crowd were absolutely amazing dancing in the rain, Headlining at “Cooly Rocks” in Coolangatta, Queensland 2019… which was the last show before our European trip. In fact 2019 was an amazing year!
After overcoming the pandemic, are you making any plans for the future?
We are hoping to get back to the UK and Europe in 2023 and we hope to have a new album to promote at the same time. It’s difficult for us to make any commitments as we are so far away and it costs us a lot of money to be there. We need to be certain that things will happen without interruption so we will have to wait until everything settles down. Our Fingers are well and truly crossed.
We hope to see you soon in Greece!
We would like nothing more than to come to Greece and play our brand of Rock n Roll for you all. We hope we can make it happen.
Thank you very much for your interview
Thank you for taking an interest in The Lincolns. We truly appreciate your support and all of your friendships.
https://www.facebook.com/TheLincolnsAdelaide
Costas Tzanidakis
