LOUIS BURKE | Culture | Contact
Acoustic singer/songwriter and occasional freestyle rapper, Gene Forester (19) states he has thoroughly enjoyed his time as the frontman of a university band while privately wondering if he’ll get to finish his degree before being offered a record deal.
“Mum would be so upset if I didn’t finish, but it would be the chance of a lifetime! If someone offered me a deal that is.”
Forester describes his six piece student band ‘Paleo Poptart’ as music that doesn’t really fit into a conventional genre, but has enough appeal to receive a large monetary investment in the form of a record deal from a major music studio, even if he hasn’t finished his Bachelors of Communications.
“I’m studying advertising because I want to be creative in my job. But in a way music is kind of more creative because you’re not working to a brief unless you count to emotional and cultural needs of your listeners.”
Boasting 320 Likes on the Facebook page Paleo Poptart (Band), Forester thinks their growing audience will help spread their reputation for performing acoustic mashups of ‘90s hip hop songs and eventually allow them to remove the word ‘band’ from their Facebook page name.
Looking forward to travelling the world and playing to sold out stadiums of people desperate to hear music made by a group of six Ray Ban wearing, average looking, young white men, Forester says it wouldn’t feel like he’d made the right decision unless he had completed his degree that might help him eventually land an unpaid internship.
“I guess I could always finish it by distance. I’m sure I could manage to fit it in between gigs, plane trips, press conferences, TV appearances and dinner with Bono.”
