Their name is Spin.fx and last September they released their debut album Uluparru, which is the name given to the main watering hole outside Papunya, located in the ranges that run all the way to Alice Springs.
“All the songs on the album are originals and the lyrics describe life in the bush outside Alice Springs and living in a remote area. Most of them are sung in Warlpiri and Luritja language”, says band leader, Amos Egan.
Spin.fx was formed by Amos (vocals/lead guitar) and Stanley Roberts (vocals/guitar), both from the Tanami Desert region and Walpiri nation lands. The band also includes Jason Butcher on drums and Abraham Phillipus on bass.
Amos and Stanley first met in 1987 while at Yirara College boarding school and discovered they had compatible musical interests. “We played in the school band and at local schools and town halls for about two or three years and also at the Alice Springs Festival in 1987 and 1988,” says Amos.
The pair continued playing together on the local scene for nine years, and jammed regularly. Anyone who wanted to sit in was welcome to do so. One night in 1997, two 14-year-old boys who were attending Papunya school at the time, Jason and Abraham, fronted up and immediately hit it off with the pair. And so the seed to form a band was planted.
All that was needed now was a name. Amos explains: “We were all in the bush one day cooking a kangaroo we had caught after a hunting trip and were sitting around wondering about a name for the band. Abraham mentioned Spin.fx and we all agreed this would be the band’s name.”