UV Race Aren't Famous Enough For Warrigal

Marcus is third from the left in the tank top.

Marcus Rechsteiner is the au natural disrobed singer of the raw Melbourne band The UV Race. But before he was touring the world he was a country boy from rural Warrigal. Well, to be fair he actually still lives there with his mum when he’s not traveling around being successful.

You’d think the small town that produced him would be pretty impressed by everything he’s achieved, too bad his mum thinks music people are rude because they run late and everyone else is waiting for him to get famous before they make a fuss. Don’t worry Marcus, we think you’re a cool guy.

NOISEY: You live with your mum right?
Marcus Rechsteiner: Yeah in Warragul, it’s about an hour and a half from Phillip Island and about an hour and ten minutes to the city on a Sunday without any traffic.

What does your mum think about you being in a rock band?
She doesn’t really like it. She thinks I should focus on work. She came to a show of ours and somebody was late. She hates people not being punctual and found it so rude that they were late. It’s funny living in a country town. People don’t know the Corner Hotel or any of the venues, but when we played the Big Day Out or were on Triple J people recognise that as something good. They just assume you want to be famous.

How did you meet everyone from your band?
Al, Moses and I are all from the same town. Al and I were in the same grade. Our first keyboard player was in the same grade too. We’ve played my work in 2007. Our first gig was in July 2007 in Batman Park that Al put on a show for our friends from Sydney. One of our earlier gigs was at one of the craziest house parties ever. We were like 21, our friends had this house right next to a funeral parlour and we ended up playing on top of this concrete slab tomb thing on top of a bunch of dead bodies apparently. Some dude broke a chair on his mates back because he thought it was funny.

Are you the UV Race? Are you in charge?
We all contribute but I definitely think that you need one or two head honchos to get all the tough decisions made. This is Al, Moses and I

You mentioned fame a couple of times before, do you want to be recognised around the world? You know, be famous in Japan?
Nah, I’ve only ever been to America and South East Asia anyway.

Did you play in South EastAsia?
Nah, just in America. Straightjacket Nation played in South East Asia. They had some crazy shows. They played one show on a train platform or something and the kids were going fucking nuts and then this train just came through.

That doesn’t sound safe. Speaking on trains I liked Pat’s (ex -Twerps drummer) status update on the day you played ATP: Marcus taking the train from Warragul to play ATP is like Jay Z catching the subway to his show at Madison Square Garden.
I didn’t quite get that at the time. I saw an interview with Jay-Z on Warren Buffet, a huge rich guy who made his money on the stock market talking to Jay-Z and being and cool with how rich and capitalist they both are.

I saw Jay-Z supporting U2. It wasn’t bad. Do you like U2? I think everyone has at least one U2 song they like as a guilty pleasure.
I liked The Chaser’s version of a U2 song about Bono: “Yeah I met Mandela, I met the Pope, but I still wear my sunglasses inside or whatever” All to the tune of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. But the guy who usually does The Chaser music refused to do it because he liked U2 too much.

Have you played at Birrarung Marr before? Actually have you played outside in general?
At Boogie fest and Big Day out.

Did you wear sunglasses?
I don’t wear sunglasses, I lose them too much.

I reckon playing outside is your one chance to be a total rock guy wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigarette—if you smoke.
I don’t smoke. One of my band mates smoked at Boogie and was excited about it. I really admire the AC/DC drummer. Smoking, being really busy playing drums and smoking on the side of his mouth. That’s talented. The craziest thing we’ve done on stage was probably when Al put a firework in the head of his guitar and lit it, sparks and shit going everywhere. That was in Cleveland.

I liked you playing with Thee Oh Sees on the roof of the Evelyn in your Australian flag undies. Do you have conscious costume decisions for stage or is it just whatever undies you have on?
Ah depends. Sometimes I bring costumes. I’ve had friends that have made me costumes before. Georgia thinks it’s weird that I have a group of girls that make me costumes. I’ve had a camouflage boiler suit made for me in my bag. When we played the Eddy Current album launch I had "Rich Bitch" Glasses and bondage straps. I’ve worn a Tutu, that’s my favourite.

Have you seen anyone you’re playing with at Noisey Mountain?
I saw Blank Realm in Austin Texas playing with the Bats for Chaos in Texas. It’s a guy in Austin trying to get his dream line-up of bands just so he can see them. They bring bands that hardly ever play. They’ve had some pretty old hard-core bands like Integrity and Infest, quite older bands.

Have you played with any of your old idols?
Probably Roky Ericsson at the Corner Hotel. We were the only Melbourne band. His son’s band were the backup band the main support

The UV Race are playing tonight at the sold out Noisey Mountain as part of Melbourne Music Week. If you didn't get tickets you can find out about upcoming shows here.