Taking No Prisoners

There's no hesitation when you ask Jonny Sonic of The Potbelleez what's going through his head when performing: “Fucking come on, have it!”

“We take no prisoners,” Jonny says. “If you like it, let’s go. If you don't, fuck off. We'll bloody give it a good shot.” The band is known for really connecting with audiences and for their antics on stage. Jonny recalls one show where he made the mistake of standing on two DJ tables only to find the wheels hadn't been locked off. “My left foot was on the left table, my right foot was on the right table, I tried to grab my laptop and these tables started falling apart. I did the splits, did a somersault head over heels, landed on my arse with my laptop in my lap and everyone started cheering.”

By the luck of the Irish he managed to pull it off with the audience thinking it was part of the set. “These days there's a lot less drinking going on but for the bigger gigs we have a bit of a hoopla now and again. We've definitely refocussed our energy into health and keeping strong and solid for the stage shows.”

They'll need their health, too, with more than 40 dates set between now and Christmas, including 600 Sounds. “I never could have imagined being this big and being in Australia. It's the most beautiful country I've ever been to and I've got an amazing lifestyle so we just work as hard as we can to keep that going now, but it's been an unbelievable journey up to this point.”

The journey is set to keep going, with shows around Australia, France, the UK, and Ireland coming up and the new single 'Feed Off Me' coming out. “It's a big rock / electro Potbelleez style track and we have a couple of the guys from The Vines playing the drums and bass on it.”

The new album has received glowing reviews that Jonny puts down to the time spent on it, compared to the rush of their first album. “For the second album Universal basically said, ‘take as long as you want, lock yourselves away, stop the gigs and hit us when you're ready’.”
The result? A better album, a hectic show schedule and just as much passion for what they do as ever.

The Potbelleez play 600 Sounds at Broadwater Parklands on Friday October 21.