NGPE Conversations #2: The Jodie Rottle Fight for Fun

Jodie Rottle playing everyday objects.
Image credit: Tangible Media

For the past five years, I’ve casually compiled playlists based around an idea I’ve called Noisy <Gender> Punk Energy. Broadly, it’s about documenting the work of artists of marginalised genders. Last year, I got a blog. Now, in collaboration with Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane, we’re having chats.

For our next chat, I’m talking with Meanjin/Brisbane-based NGPE composer, performer, flautist, and finger puppet aficionado Jodie Rottle.

When I first met Jodie, she was playing a metronome with a bucket alongside Meanjin violinist Flora Wong. The pair were performing Chris Perren’s composition Escapement, from Flora Wong’s Geburtstag project. (Full disclosure: I also composed a piece for the same project.)   

Addressing the audience ahead of the performance, Flora observed - ‘Well, who else do you get to play a metronome with a bucket besides Jodie?’ And, while summing up Jodie Rottle’s work in any specific individual phrase will likely always be a bit of a fool’s errand, it does a better job than most in capturing the spirit of benevolent, giggle-inducing anarchy she brings to projects.  

At any given performance, you may see Jodie play a bowling ball, a finger puppet, or a wind-up set of toy teeth (or many other everyday objects). Her work is typified by a sense of joy, play, and discovery that is as confoundingly funny as it is starkly beautiful. With a resume spanning gigs with both Ministry of Sound and the world’s largest kazoo orchestra, she’s an artist who thrives in the thick of the unexpected.

Coming up, you’ll be able to experience her work as part of Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra and their latest production for the Brisbane Powerhouse.   

Interview edited for length and clarity.

MJ O’Neill (MJ): Now, I’m curious. When you started out as a musician, I presume you didn’t originally plan on things like conducting kazoo orchestras?

Jodie Rottle (JR): The former version of myself who pursued playing the flute wanted to be in an orchestra,I think? Actually, I don't even know if I wanted to be in an orchestra. I think I thought that was my only option. You know, there's these options that other people have done - playing in an orchestra, being a soloist, or being a chamber musician. But, it was all within the classical music realm. Then, when I moved to New York, my horizons broadened a bit and, when I moved to Brisbane, I got exposed to some of the wonderful musicians here, like Vanessa Tomlinson and Erik Griswold, and that’s when I really started to compose.  

As part of Vulcana’s Disappearing Acts.
Image credit: Chloe Callistemon.

MJ: Were there specific things you wanted to do, as a composer?

JR: I really, really, really wanted to laugh. <laughs>
I wanted music to be enjoyable and funny instead of stressful and serious. As a flautist, I’d found that, the more gigs that I engaged in, the more I was just anxious all the time. I had to work with people I didn't know and I didn't like the music and everyone was stressed out. Eventually, I found myself asking, why are we even doing this? Fortunately, I had some really, really fun colleagues. So, we formed a trio called Dead Language. We started playing around with the rules a bit. We'll commission our friends to write us pieces that we feel good about. Then, it was like - what if we improvise or write our own stuff? Then, it was like… finger puppets! <laughs>

MJ: I think there’s an innate silliness to virtuosic musical work that is not acknowledged enough. I often find I’m the only one laughing or being joyous at art music gigs.

JR: I often find myself laughing in performances, mostly at my own work. Sometimes, that's because I'm surprised by what's happening or I’ll be in an improvising situation and something will go wrong with my objects and I just can’t help but laugh. And, I think that's okay because you're creating an environment that is more lighthearted. You’re telling your audience that it’s okay to be a little bit lighter and more human. I think that's a big part of why I do what I do.

I like to take the approach of being seriously silly. You can still be really serious about something that is intended to be comedic, I think. You can still have something to say and still put all of your effort into making it the best that it can be, even when what you’re doing is comedic or silly or absurd.

MJ: Do you have any ambitions in regards to things like comedy or kids music?

JR: Well, I have actually played a lot of children’s gigs with Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra. I actually have really loved playing children's music. Firstly, because they're mostly daytime shows and I get to be in bed at a reasonable hour - but, also, because there's always this sense of pure wonder and curiosity, you know? Like, kids don’t care about social conventions at all. They’re completely and immediately responsive. If you do stage banter, kids will tell you what they think immediately. It’s really refreshing!

Jodie Rottle will be performing with Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra as part of Brisbane Powerhouse’s OHM Festival. You can purchase tickets here. If you think you (or someone you know) could be a Noisy <Gender> Music Energy artist, reach out and get in touch for a chat.