Like many of the great acts in rock and roll history, the Mulga Bore School Rock Band is a family affair.
The Anmatyere–Alyawarre teenagers are carrying on a family tradition that started with their parents playing gospel and country songs.
As their name suggests, the band hails from the tiny community of Mulga Bore, 170 kilometres northeast of Alice Springs on Ankerrapw lands.
Mulga is an Australian native timber that is hard and heavy, so the name is befitting of a band that draws its inspiration from glam rock legends KISS.
The teen rockers have also embraced the makeup and onstage antics that made KISS famous.
Front man and lead guitarist, 17-year-old Alvin Manfong, discovered the stadium rock icons on Youtube two years ago, and fell in love with the “music, style make-up and the costumes."
The rockers show off their KISS-inspired glam rock look. Source: Supplied
"They’re like rock and roll monsters!” he said.
A couple of 13-year-olds are the driving heart of the band: Alvin’s brother Aiden is the drummer, his cousin Triel Bird is on bass, with Talvin Bird and Niara Tilmouth rounding out guitar and vocals.
When a dormant music program resumed at their school, the whole community got behind it.
It's no wonder, considering the areas strong musical heritage. Mulga Bore doesn’t just make music: they also make instruments.
Senior men are building guitars out of the region’s native hardwood, so the young rockers will always have a piece of Mulga Bore to take with them.
After the young band was born, like a dust storm out of the central desert they swept into Alice Springs and blew away the competition in a school battle of the band’s competition.
Ampilatwatja Guitars: Senior men Frank Holmes, Leslie Morton, Patrick ross and Donald Thompson. Source: Supplied
The reaction from the crowd that day would’ve made their rock idols proud.
“Felt like rock stars, like KISS," Alvin said.
The Mulga Bore School Rock Band have their sights set on the Territory-wide battle of the bands, where the winner gets to play in front of thousands at the Territory’s biggest music festival Bass in the Grass.
The future of desert rock that produced such legendary acts as the Warumpi Band appears to be in good hands.
