Charging Stallion’s members are Cam Reid, Tim Davis, James Gallagher, Johnny Badlove and Mikey Selen. The five-piece started as a straight-up comedy act whose debut performance, Curse of the Voodoo Man, played to a packed-out Old Bar. At the show, Reid and Davis realised the various musical interludes throughout the performance were the best parts of the show. With this seed planted, it took two experiences playing at The Prince of Wales Public Bar to bring Charging Stallion ‘the band’ to fruition.
“Cam and I had in our heads that we could hold our own in a stand-up routine. We were booked to do a show at The Prince so we opened with a song and then did a stand-up routine,” explains Davis.
“After the show, separately, both Tim and I had complete strangers come up to us and say, ‘You should never do stand-up again’,” says Reid.
Despite this fairly galling experience, Davis and Reid didn’t cancel their second Prince show, instead focusing on the one positive, which was that the two songs they had performed were well received. They then decided to put a band together and write new songs. The only problem was they’d left only 24 hours to do so before their next gig at St Kilda Festival.
“We wrote everything the day of the festival. We finished the jam – our first jam as a band where we had written four songs – and headed down to The Prince,” says Reid.
“It had been Dean’s [Whitby from Drunk Mums] birthday the night before so I rocked up having not slept. I was really nervous that everyone would be pissed at me for not sleeping but when I walked in, I realised that no one else had slept either,” he adds.
Only one of the songs written that day remain in the band’s current set – the other three had to be dropped due to their inappropriateness. Davis explains when you write songs in an altered state of consciousness, the lyrical themes can be a little extreme.
“The first song we ever played as a band was a song called Bindi and it was about Bindi Irwin becoming a druggo when she turned 20 and giving out wristies to get her next hit,” Davis laughs.
The only song that’s remained in the band’s set is called Goodbye Virginity and as Reid explains, it’s a literal retelling of the former New Zealander and former devout Christian accidentally losing his V-plates at 23.
“Very Christian me and my very Christian girlfriend would get naked and she would form like a fist between her legs in which I would put my penis and simulate sex. One morning after we had done that, she said to me, “How are you feeling about not being a virgin anymore?” When this was greeted with a blank and shocked look, she then explained that she had taken the fist away for a few pumps. From that point it was a fast downward spiral during which I broke up with my girlfriend, and Jesus.”
BY DENVER MAXX
