Carne to be a King of Queen at Barwon Heads

HE CAME to national attention as a teenager, and 35 years later, Scott Carne is still working stages around the country.

After fronting his original 80s pop-rock band Kids in the Kitchen at the Wonderland Spiegeltent by the Sea at Barwon Heads, Carne is preparing to return to Barwon Heads on Australia Day, as the lead singer in the Kings of Queen show.

Partnering with Tim Watson and Alex Harding, Carne and the band pay tribute to rock and roll royalty Queen, paying tribute to legendary frontman Freddie Mercury.

“Musically and vocally, it is quite a challenge. We pick our own songs, we perform individually before doing a couple of duets, then at the finale we do the last three or four songs together, sharing the lead,” Carne said.

With a backing band drawn from Australia’s top bands, Carne said the show was about recreating the sound, but not the band itself.

“People say they have never heard the songs like that before. We bring the power and the passion, we have some stories, we use our abilities, it is not something you can do half-heartedly.”

Although he never worked with Queen, Carne said he was always a fan.

“They had some kooky songs, like ‘Bicycle’ and ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, they are great sing-along songs. We will get about 400 people in the tent, people will get the feeling and get involved.”

Carne, like many of his peers, took an enforced break in the 1990s after reaching the top of the Australian music tree just years earlier.

“We were just a group of teenage mates who got together, I discovered music late, we got a bass player, started rehearsing for about a year, got our first gigs, people loved it, we got a manager, a few months later Real Life hit the charts and the A&R people were looking for the next tier of bands, and we got a contract, I was 17 and a half.”

“It was a really exciting time to be in music, you could see live music six nights a week all over town, Countdown was playing local music, plus Sounds, Night Moves… Countdown was tops.”

With changing tastes, Carne said the ’90s were a challenge to work out where he fit in.

“There was a time in the ’90s when you couldn’t even get arrested, there was still a desire to make music, but it was how and where do I fit in?”

With the lucrative reformation market beckoning, Carne said he is happy to be on stage, not just with his own bands, but also doing shows like ‘Totally 80s’ with Brian Mannix and others, as well as the Kings of Queen show.

Part of the summer program at Wonderland Spiegeltent by the Sea – which includes Circus Wonderland performing nightly, family movies every Monday night, a free blues show, and other Australian rock greats including Jo Camilleri and Ross Wilson and the Peaceniks – Kings of Queen plays on January 26 at 8pm.

For more information and tickets, head to wonderlandspiegeltent.com.au/barwon_heads