North-Stepper
If you stumble across The Bamboos during one of their super-heavy, hot-pot gigs, you'll have a hard time letting them board their plane back home. Tight, muscular and addictive hooks flow out of these Melburnians like a self-saucing funky pudding.

Thankfully the group is making another journey north next week. This trip comes on the back of a bumper 2008 that saw the release of their most warmly received album yet, ‘Side-Stepper’. With a few months on the clock and a bit of perspective under his belt, guitarist/ producer Lance Ferguson is still happy with the results of the CD. “Yeah, I always like to improve the albums and do something a little bit different each time and I think that with ‘Side-Stepper’ album we did that,” he explains. “I've been writing the next album and I've got my head in that and we're kind of going off in a slightly different direction but I still think those songs really stand up and obviously I'm really over the moon with the reception the album got, so I am really happy about how things turned out.”

Having spent time working on the new album, The Bamboos are very much looking forward to getting out of the studio, heading north and hitting the stage.
“Yeah, it's going to be good to get out and play some songs for the people,” Lance says. “We definitely had an awesome time the last two occasions we've played at the Step Inn - it was really cool. We enjoy playing in that room; it's not too big and the stage is not too big so it's quite intimate. You're right on top of people and you can really see the reactions on people's faces so it's very cool.”

And straight after Brisbane the group will be unleashing their sound on the unsuspecting crowds at the Byron Bay Blues & Roots Festival. It will be The Bamboos' first time at the festival and they couldn't be more excited. “We actually got asked a while ago but we couldn't make it, so this is the first time we're doing it and we're actually headlining our stage on the Sunday night, so that's going to be really cool and I'm kind of thrilled we're in that position. We're going to try and go in firing!”

The Bamboos play the Step Inn April 11 and the Byron Blues & Roots Festival April 12-13.