What do you get when you cross open mic karaoke with a 20-piece big band?

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The last thing Maria Pilar Leon thought she would be doing when she headed to a Brunswick pub with friends on a Sunday afternoon was singing in front of a 21-piece band. But when she saw the Melbourne Karaoke Big Band’s song list and eyed Amy Winehouse’s Rehab, she knew she would be taking the mic.

“We were playing pool and discovered this band was playing, and it was just a coincidence,” Maria said. “I really loved it. I haven’t seen so many musicians playing with an open mic before.”

Maria Pilar Leon singing with the Melbourne Karaoke Big Band at the Retreat Hotel in Brunswick. Credit: Penny Stephens

James Coomans was at the same gig with friends, but unlike Maria, he had a plan of attack. “I had seen their set list and from day dot, I sort of went through and thought, ‘What do I want to get up and have a crack at?’,” he said.

“The first song I got up to do, I could barely stand – my knees wanted to give out. I didn’t pick an easy starter, Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars, which is quite the register. But after I got started, the adrenaline got pumping and it just became great fun.”

At a typical Melbourne Big Band Karaoke gig, pub-goers are initially reluctant to sing. The sheer size of the band – five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones, two keyboards, two guitars, bass, drums, two vocalists – is a little daunting. Summoning up the courage to belt out a song with such firepower behind you takes a little cajoling.

This is where Matt Broadbent, the band’s drummer and MC, steps in.

James Coomans singing karaoke supported by Belinda Parsons (2nd from left).Credit: Penny Stephens

“I’ve had a fair bit of experience walking out into a crowd, getting people up on stage and having that back and forwards between the band and the audience,” he said. “We do a warm-up track and then there’s always someone who wants to get up and sing. And as soon as they see one person get up and do it, people are pretty happy to get up. It’s a really sort of supporting environment-everyone’s kind of rooting for each other.”

Broadbent and friend Dave Palmer founded the Melbourne Karaoke Big Band four years ago when Broadbent assembled a big band to celebrate his birthday and invited guests to sing. It was such a success, the pair decided to take it to the pubs of Melbourne.

Pandemic lockdowns got in the way, but also gave Palmer, a professional trombone player and teacher, plenty of time to write the parts and assemble the musicians.

“For his birthday, I’d stacked the band with very good school kids that I was teaching,” he said. “They were super capable kids and it was easy to just fit them in with no rehearsal and just go in and play.”

With the exception of four experienced musicians and one vocalist, the other band members are high school students or recent graduates. It’s a rare real-world band experience for them, said Palmer.

“They are getting a chance to get out and gig in a real venue instead of just in their school rehearsal rooms,” he said. “It’s kind of on-the-job training for them. And what I also like about it is that we’re not playing so much for our egos, as for the opportunity for people to experience that feeling of being up in front of a full big band. It’s way outside your usual daily life.”

The band’s first gig was at the Post Office Hotel in Coburg last November last year followed by two performances at The Retreat Hotel in Brunswick. A fourth gig is scheduled for December 3.

For bass player Damien Reynolds, 17, it’s just about having fun. “That first gig was really exciting, we’d had a couple of rehearsals leading up to it, but I hadn’t really had that gig experience before,” he said.

Bass player Damien Reynolds (second from right) performs at The Retreat.Credit: Penny Stephens

“It’s been really great to develop it in terms of playing with other people and in a setting where sometimes things are a little unpredictable and you’re flying by the seat of your pants.”

What makes things easier for the plucky audience members is the presence of backing vocalists Belinda Parsons, a professional singer and teacher, and her former student Sian Hulland.

“If we get singers who get up and are freaking out, I will sing the lead line with them, but I’ll back off a bit so they hear me enough to feel supported, but not enough so that I take over,” she said.

“We’ve only had about 20 per cent of singers who have not been too crash hot and what happens then is we sing along with them and do some harmonies. As long as they are having fun, that’s the main thing.”

Parsons said she sees the band getting more gigs in the future, particularly in the corporate events space. But the ultimate vision is to play at Federation Square on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

“I’d love to see us there with an open mic when we know there’s a big crowd going through and Matt can get out there and harass people who are walking through, I think that would be a great vibe in the summer months,” she said.

The Melbourne Karaoke Big Band play at The Retreat Hotel, 280 Sydney Rd, Brunswick on Sunday, December 3, 3-5pm.

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