Following in the grand Australian music tradition of “Conquer the US charts/return home and settle into politics” set out by the likes of Peter Garrett and… uh… Peter Garrett, Australia’s favourite Wally is circling a new role, trading out Kimbra‘s vocals for repping some locals.
Wally de Backer – aka Gotye – and the rest of his bandmates from The Basics (Kris Schroeder and Tim Heath) are attempting to form their own political party with the aim of getting themselves on the ballot for the upcoming Victorian State Election on November 29th. The Basics Rock’N’Roll Party (which carries the oddly Soviet-feeling acronym BRRP) needs 500 registered members for the party to be officially registered by the Victorian Electoral Commission – as of August 28th, they have 300 or so.
The party’s primary creed is a three pillared political stance of Innovation, Education and Rock N Roll. Whilst that alone is probably enough to get most of you raising your lighters and throwing up some horns, it goes a little deeper than that, as Basics bassist Kris Schroeder explained to the Sydney Morning Herald:
“Politics in this country is treated like it belongs to the elite. We have these career politicians who often come from well-to-do families … and they are groomed in to becoming these life-long politicians that have no other life experience outside of either being in the young Liberals or young Labor, and becoming a Member of Parliament.“
A quick scan of the Basics’ Facebook page reveals a little more about their policies. Unsurprisingly, they lean quite a bit to the left. Key issues of concern for them appear to be Indigenous Affairs, Education, Mental Health Support, Education, and the availability of Music in regional and rural areas.
Should you feel so inclined to take up the cause of the BRRP, all the information you could ever need can be found on the band’s Facebook page.
And after a year in Victorian politics fraught with your Dennis Napthine‘s and your Geoff Shaw‘s and your East/West Link‘s and whathaveyou, having a chart-topping artist with half a clue who gives a legitimate shit about mental health, education and indigenous affairs probably wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to Spring Street.
Go get ’em, Wally.
Photo: Paul Kane via Getty Images.
