http://www.myspace.com/ewahlady
E-wah Lady has come a long way since her often “hit and Mrs” shows in the early millenium. At that stage a solo act, she was often accompanied by her then “husband” the late Tim Coke on wooden spoon and tin drum, or whatever else was around to hit. These shows were unpredictable things, sometimes crackling with intimacy and directness, other times cracking and tumbling to the floor in front of your eyes. This was back in the days when her only recording to spruik was a 4 track demo on cassette, featuring a grisly picture of her wielding an axe.
Despite setbacks and general disarray, she played shows alongside some of Melbourne’s finest, including the late Rowland S Howard, The Bird Blobs, Aleks & The Ramps, Sister Cities (a side-project of Architecture In Helsinki) and The Morning After Girls.
In 2005 E-wah Lady signed up to independent label Peak Plasma Concentration Records. She got busy recording and in 2006 released two highly acclaimed records, her debut This Is Remorse followed by EP Almost Sold My Axe. In the true spirit of DIY music, the artwork for Almost Sold My Axe was all handmade, featuring individually hand drawn and stitched CD sleeves. This Is Remorse, featuring the Suicide-esque number, Self Self Loathe, was selected in 2007 as a recording of note and is catalogued in perpetuity with the National Library of Australia.
E-wah’s third release, 8 song album Lights and Sirens, broke away from the more prickly and raw sound of its predecessors with gentler “lullabies.” Lights & Sirens received enthusiastic play on independent stations across the country. Reviewer for Mess and Noise, David Nichols wrote, “E-wah Lady makes stuff go, with her excellent command of tunes and what sounds like quite a mature and realistic view of life.”
Recently E-wah Lady hit the stage of The Northcote Social Club to support Oliver Mann on the Melbourne leg of his national tour. This show marked the premier of her new collaborative band The Open Road and a compelling new sound.
Throughout the era of Axe and Sirens audiences would’ve caught her striking solo shows performing on electric guitar with just a bear-shaped lamp for company. Now with a five piece band, the music revels in the drama of the narrative, see-sawing between seething and soaring / traversing blistering rages and languishing in dappled melody.