Electric and dynamic duo Vika and Linda Bull return to Brisbane for one night at the Tivoli on Friday before playing Red Hot Summer Festival on Saturday at Toowoomba’s Queens Park.

After the 2021 release of their first album of original music in almost twenty years and their book “No Bull” late last year, Australian music icons Vika and Linda are returning to Brisbane for one show on Friday night.

Vika and Linda are utterly unique and very different to each other. This is true both in personality and voice. But when they come together, the result is devastatingly beautiful. They have recorded and performed with Australia’s biggest names and produced eight studio albums.

“We did a lot of our training growing up in pubs, the Australian pub rock scene, and having to sing hard,” said Vika.

Decades of experience touring Australia and recording with names like the Black Sorrows, Paul Kelly, and Archie Roach have contributed to voices of unsurpassed skill and finesse, but the true soul of their talent is their connection to the music of their mother and their Tongan community.

“I think having those two cultures, even though they clashed sometimes, it was a really great thing to have experienced,” said Vika, “because we ended up becoming musicians ourselves, to have that harmony in our ear all the time.”

The performances of their mother in the church choir were instrumental in building their distinct voices. “We’d have to sit next to her in church and listen to that! It was like ‘Oh my God, she’s the loudest person in this room.’ Linda and I ducked under the church pew a lot of the time because she had such a powerful voice. That was something we inherited from her.”

Aptly named, their 2021 album “The Wait” marked their first new album of original music since 2002.

“With RocKwiz and Paul [Kelly] we met a lot of people and we sang with a lot of people, and honed in that kind of ‘what do we want to sound like’, you know?” said Linda

“That was the question: who are we as people, what do we want to say?”

The album is emblematic of their journey in two ways – the clear perfection of vocals has never sounded better, and the friendships shown in the writing credits for most of the songs.

“You foster these long-term relationships, and make friends with great people. Not because you want something, just because they’re good people. And they just happen to write great songs,” said Linda.

“Songwriting’s difficult, and in the end the songs that made it to the record are the ones written by others. But we love them.”

Writing a book about their lives was something they hadn’t really considered before – they joke that they contemplated finding a ghostwriter to do it for them. Once they had found their voice, it was a valuable and instructive process – and led to the release of their book “No Bull” in October 2022. The sisters will appear at West End’s Avid Reader bookshop on Sunday 16 April to promote the book in conversation with Queensland University of Technology’s Kiley Gaffney.

“It’s good to see how a couple of girls who had such a protected upbringing and grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne ended up being a couple of singers and having a very long career in the Australian music industry… how the hell did that happen? And why did it happen?” said Vika.

“So I think for other people that maybe want to start and become singers… maybe there’s a few things in there for them.”  

Embodying the characteristics of rock, blues, and gospel, Vika and Linda found inspiration in Etta James, Elvis and the church choir. This love for the music of community hasn’t wavered – Linda raves about young Australian artists breaking the mould with their savvy use of social media and sheer talent.

“I love Baker Boy, I think he’s great. Every time I’ve seen him, or Sampa, they’re great. They’re unique, their own culture is represented, they’re proud and they’re very talented songwriters and performers and they go for it,” she said.

“They know what sort of artist they want to be, and they’re working towards that in every way I think – the way they look, the way they present themselves, because social media is such a big thing,” adds Vika.

Vika and Linda will bring a set of old and new songs to the Tivoli on Friday night, showcasing the versatility and soul of their catalogue over the years. On Saturday, the Red Hot Summer Festival visits Toowoomba’s Queen’s Garden, featuring a lineup stacked with long-time collaborative mates, including Mark Seymour, Paul Kelly, and Missy Higgins.

EVENT & TICKETS

Friday, 14 April 2023 at the Tivoli, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.

Tickets on sale from Ticketmaster.

All images supplied

RELATED STORIES

“Vulnerability and honesty” – Missy Higgins on music, mental health and Nine’s Telethon Concert