Notepad and recorder in hand, Katherine MacAlister tries to unravel a talented Aussie trio who have already wowed 20 million people globally thanks to the YouTube phenomenon

It’s hard to describe The Axis of Awesome, a kind of Australian rock band made up of comedians who sing silly songs on stage, a variation on Priscilla Queen Of The Desert.

But thanks to YouTube, it won’t be long before you’ve seen them for yourself, over 20 million people globally having watched their videos online already.

Guitarist Lee Naimo is here to explain the beast that is The Axis Of Awesome, currently touring its new show Viva La Vida Loca Las Vegas, fresh from a week in Edinburgh, where predictably they went down a storm.

“It’s like a play about a band, where we sing lots of songs and make fun of everybody,” he explains. “So while it’s a bit different, the genres go hand-in-hand. And while we give away the music on YouTube, it means that people want to come and see us performing live so we can tour off the back of it.”

With their eye on the arenas, The Axis of Awesome is building up a loyal fanbase and currently touring the provincial theatres which Lee says he almost prefers.

“The biggest reaction we ever had was in a small town in Queensland where they nearly blew the roof off,” he remembers.

Alongside the tour, the comic threesome are currently wrapping up a 30-part web series for YouTube and with regular appearances on Radio1, Lee says a lot of what they have achieved is by design, and the rest down to dumb luck. “We are the masters of destiny, but as long as we make our audience laugh, our job is done.”

Touring Europe does mean that the threesome, (lead singer Jordan Raskopoulos and Benny “The Human Jukebox” Davis, make up the rest of the band) spend “an extraordinarily unhealthy amount of time together on the tour bus” but allows them time to jam and write new material, never running out of things to perform.

However when the UK leg ends, the trio will return to Sydney and hit the ground running. “We’ve neglected Oz a bit recently so the day after we get back we will be performing, recording, writing and filming music videos, we don’t get a rest,” he says.

As for Lee, he’s just looking forward to a good wash, “You get smelly quite quickly on stage and it’s hard to wash on the road, so it will be good to clean my clothes and things.”

Until then, you can catch The Axis Of Awesome in Banbury, where they will be staying and catching up with friends.

“After the show we will be playing board games deep into the night,” Lee laughs.

Now that’s rock ‘n roll.

SEE IT
The Axis of Awesome: Viva La Vida Loca Las Vegas comes to Banbury’s Mill Theatre on Sunday. 
Call the box office on 01295 279002.

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