Who make up The Woodenelves and what are their backgrounds?

Travis Caudle - singer / songwriter / guitarist.

Travis has worked as a professional musician around Perth for about 10 years playing in a number of venues across the city. He has a degree in Physical Education that he's never used!

Jonathon Tiedtke - lead guitarist

Jonathon teaches guitar and works in a music shop and has played in various Perth bands for many years. He is a trained jazz guitarist who completed a Bachelor of Music at the WA Conservatorium of Music.

Paul Hardy - drummer

Paul teaches drums and works for John Hughes during the day. He has played in a number of bands and lived for many years in Victoria.

There is a distinct sound of U2 and The Church in your debut album, is there any influence with these bands and The Woodenelves?

Travis and Paul are U2 fans and Travis has always admired the work of The Church which is why the album was produced by Tim Powles (Spacejunk Production House) who is the drummer for The Church.

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Although early days, what response have you had from "trips between worlds'

The response has been pretty encouraging so far. We've managed to secure a publishing deal and a licensing deal, so that's been really important for us. We've scored a few support slots, won a couple of awards and got a bit of airplay both in Australia and Canada so we're really grateful for the opportunities we've had so far and are looking forward to building on these.

How has winning the 2006 Songwriter of the Year assisted The Woodenelves?

Winning two songwriting awards for tracks off the album has played a part I'd say in helping us secure our publishing and licensing deals, and gave us an opportunity to network with some industry players in Sydney when we attended the awards ceremony, so that was crucial.

Having the "house band" slot on Rove, how was that as an experience?

Being on Rove was an amazing experience - pretty surreal, but a lot of fun.It's quite a high pressure experience as the show has to be timed to the second, so there was a LOT of rehearsing that afternoon to make sure we got it right!

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We hear that WAMi has been of assistance to The Woodenelves in obtaining a signing from "Undercover Tracks, tell us about it.

As part of the 2007 Australia Post WAMi Music Business Conference, WAM organised a Live Pitch session where a number of bands and artists got a chance to showcase a short piece of one track to three film and TV music supervisors - 2 from the US and one from Australia. We got picked to be part of this and one of the panelists - Isabel Pappani from Undercover Tracks - approached us to sign a licensing deal, which means our songs will be put forward to be used in TV and film in the US.

What advice would you give to WA bands that are trying to make it in the industry?

Be persistent be prepared to work hard and remember why you're doing it.

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© 2007 - The Woodenelves