Formed in Ballarat in 1987, The Mavis’s carved a solid following in the Aussie rock scene. Led by Becky Thomas (a.k.a. Beki Thomas, Beki Colada) on vocals and keyboards and her brother Matt Thomas on guitar and vocals, they originally called it quits back in 2001, after launching hits including “Cry” and “Naughty Boy”. They’ve since reformed, and have joined TISM, Machine Gun Fellatio, Eskimo Joe and Ben Lee for three iconic shows. We caught up with Matt, a little hoarse after their first night on the TISM Death to Art tour.
How was the show?
It was really quite magical, actually, just a vibe in the air, each band bonded to each other sets, and, yeah, TISM were incredible. Great pop songs. They had demented, kind of great, clever stuff, but hearing it through that sound system. Woah.
You also had a warm up show just before the main gig?
That was a great show, too. Intimate, up and close and sweaty kind of thing. Really enjoying it. We’re really enjoying the band that’s together at the moment, and the sounds are making sort of feels fresh like 1997. People’s pop.
So, the song “Heaven”. When did you write that?
It was written in a few parts. Actually, my sister and Byron St John, (who I’ve collaborated with in two other bands since then), Matthew Sigley and Byron, and he’s kind of worked with us. He’s played keys with us. He’s a good songwriter and a friend. So, it’s his little idea. I said, Send that to Becky. And then I added this whole other bit, rearranged the whole thing and but that was that took, like 2016 to 2024. We were doing it for Kylie Minogue.
Does this mean that The Mavis’s are about to start a second phase of their career?
We did a quick tour, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Ballarat in 2018 with our original members; there’s actually original members dating back before we’ve been together. We’ve been together for a long time. I’m going to document that history as well. But I think it’s about timing. I think, just kind of felt like we wanted to do a tour, but just kind of felt like a gift with TISM offering us this. There was no pressure for us so really taking the attitude of enjoying it and getting a sonic sort of original selves that seems just got lost along the way.
I mean, for me, the songs really hold up. I was going back through your back catalogue and listening to “Cry “and “Naughty Boy”. They’re just classic songs. They stand the test of time.
Thank you, you can’t force it and things are really aligned this time. Obviously, everything seems to just be feeling a lot of energy around it, and music’s just getting done with the right guitarist.
Getting back to the show, how was it?
Man, I was just running on adrenaline. It was great bonding with Eskimo Joe, particularly, having a lot of stuff in common, but our sounds and our tastes and guitars and chords and just magical things like Olivia Newton John and Belinda Carlisle caught in summer rain.
Yeah, it’s a fantastic lineup, with classic bands, and then TISM brought them together. It’s an incredible concept to bring these bands together.
Seeing the other bands and I realised that they’ve thought about this. Yeah, that’s a gift for all of us, really. And me and the guys messy major, were just loving it. Everything was great just sounds wise, and this whole thing was such a positive energy, and was wild and demented as.
So, are you’re sitting down in the studio at the moment, with some studio time, or are you just collecting?
I’m whittling down songs for the new album and there’s potentially 40 songs there. That’s four albums. There are other people in the band’s songwriting skills as well. I feel inspired right now. I’ve got demos, there’s one song from 20 years ago, I think Becky’s friend, which I played last night because I’ve changed the key. We play the songs that we’ve played when we love. Some of them take 20 years to make key change and darker treatment. There’s pretty cool stuff in there. A lot more Becky as well, which I think has been uneven at times because of the way things are mixed, I don’t know why.
She moved to the States for a little while. Was that right?
She still lives there and going back tonight. She’s gonna be back for the Melbourne gig. That’s always been the thing, she’ll help pick the good ones, and I’ve got an ear for the good ones that she’s written. We both have that open thing. I don’t know, we didn’t back in the day, because we were young, and the band kind of divided off into little factions.
You’re talking about being adults now, has is it changed in your mind, the way you’re approaching music creation?
I’m really enjoying it, for me, it has to just feel natural. I think the main thing for me was connecting with Glenn (Lewis), obviously guitar wise, because I haven’t had that since Nick, having two guitarists. It’s quite makeshift. It’s quite an intimate kind of sonic thing; a trust and you have to meet each other on that level of trust. Glenn’s been playing bass with Nick Harvey, so he’s got a variety of stuff. It’s about having the right combination of people also making my sister feel comfortable.
What are you getting inspired by at the moment?
I know I’ve got all these songs, and now I’m the right group of people, particularly having Glenn. It was really great working on “Heaven” with me, because I it was mixed in LA, we were pushing finer detail. Things, tiny humming up there, he was coming with other things I hadn’t thought of. We decided it’s about having artistic flow with people.
Now, “Heaven” itself is a light song. It’s what you expect from a song title like Heaven; It’s quite uplifting,
Middle eight section, the last bit, has a couple of couple of things. A positive chorus comes back in. Happy sad. Euphoric kind of. Yeah, a love song. At the moment, it hasn’t been released yet. I’m talking to Jane, and we’re having meetings to get it played with via video clip. It sounds like us, it’s poppy.
What else have you been working on?
I was going to do a solo album, won’t be like when we sing together, and Becky does the solo things. We realize that it’s good, but it’s not magical, like when the certain two people sing together, like the girls in B52s or Crowded House. Abba. The Breeders. We have a better relationship now; we didn’t commit very properly at the time. But we are doing a documentary. Every person is interesting. So it doesn’t have to be a mockumentary like the Rolling Stones, a worldwide famous band. It could be a family story about healing. Carla gave me five years of VHS wandering around in the background. I’m not sure what will unfold. I put little snippets on Instagram. There’s tapes and tapes, and we took with Kylie, Green Day, and I think, Tea Party on there. All that’ll be on there.
My favourite thing was us playing in Ballarat in ’95, so it was packed, and they were fully formed humans. There didn’t seem to be like, sexist stuff going on, just like the boys are jumping on it, if there was an issue, on the spot. All these people, they tell their strange little, cute opinions. It’s more adorable watching them, whereas everyone now is an influencer. They’ve all got their lines rehearsed.
Australia’s favourite anonymous mask-cladded band TISM are getting back on the tools for the first time in 20 years. Touring their cult status anthems and showcasing their new album Death to Art, TISM will play three massive shows. With special guests Eskimo Joe, Machine Gun Fellatio, Ben Lee and The Mavis’s.
There’s still tickets available for the remaining two shows:
Saturday 9th November The Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne
Friday 29th November The Hordern Pavillion, Sydney
Header image: The Mavis’s at George Lane, St. Kilda, 2022 (Facebook)
