By JOLENE OGLE
WHEN chatting with local band Soula’s front woman Teila Packman you certainly wouldn’t expect such a rich, soulful voice to come from the petite singer.
But then again, if you saw a photo of the band, you wouldn’t expect a funky blend of soul, pop and a slight touch of heavy rock to come from the group of high school friends.
The ever-surprising Soula found themselves playing together after what they call a series of “coincidences and happy accidents”, and thank goodness they did.
The band of five – Teila with Lewis Elliott, Danny Lowrie, Kane James and Nathan Campbell – create some of the most unique music on the Coast, all laced with an infectious sound and energy that you can’t ignore.
“As soon as we began to play, it felt like we’d been playing together for months,” Teila said.
“We all bring different genres and we are all different musically. It’s interesting to bring that together in one band; we felt we had something special and something with potential.”
The band has been performing since 2011, and already has a swag of impressive gigs under their belts such as sharing the bill with Thirsty Merc at the Mooloolaba New Year’s Eve party, taking out sixth place in the National Emergenza competition in Sydney, playing alongside Donavon Frankenreiter at the Noosa Heads Surf Club, plus two tracks, Better and Over Our Heads, already released to iTunes.
We asked Teila what it was like to be the only girl in the band and she said she’d certainly “heard it all”, but couldn’t ask for a better bunch of guys to perform with.
“It’s interesting being the only girl, but I’m lucky they’re really great guys,” she said.
“It’s kind of like having brothers – they give me a hard time, but it’s also good as it adds another dimension. The guys are forgetful, so I can help them with that. And when I’m being a wuss, they tell me to get over it.”
Like all bands, Teila said she dreamed of being signed to a label, but only if the terms were right.
“It’s always a musician’s dream to be signed, but only if the contract doesn’t interfere with our passion for writing and performing music,” she said.
“I would love to be able to quit my day job and travel to perform.”
But Soula won’t give up on their dreams anytime soon with new tracks due for release on 13 September, the same day the band will play at the Originals Music Festival, Noosa.
“Our current tracks are more on the mellow side. The new ones will be rockier,” Teila said.
Soula will perform their new tunes at Solbar, Maroochydore, tomorrow night, along with a film crew who will capture the performance as part of their next video clip.
