OPERATOR PLEASE
OCOTBER 23, 2007
MERCURY LOUNGE, NYC
WORDS: CAMERON COOK
PHOTOS: ABBEY BRADEN

"Hi, we've Operator Please, thanks fo- BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT." No, it's not a trendy vintage instrument or a duet with a Tibetan throat-singer, it's the sound of Operator Please's main woman Amanda Wilkinson's guitar amp giving up the ghost. A very loud, very disturbing ghost. "Ermm...," Amanda utters with a nervous glace towards the crowd, "We have to stop, this thing is about to blow!" While frantic phone calls are made to Film School, the band OP are opening for, to see if they can lend their equipment, sound technicians anxiously twiddle knobs and fiddle wires. For a minute it seems like Operator Please’s much-anticipated return to NYC show may not even take place. But finally, after a few agonizing minutes, somehow the wretched amplifier is temporarily fixed, and the band are at full liberty to launch into their opening number of "Get What You Want", a roaring rock song, to a cheering crowd.
Operator Please are an Australian teenage five-piece, who play inventive garage rock with fire in its soul, like the Gossip before they got more boring than watching Iggy Pop’s sweat dry. OP are a charming bunch, what with almost surreally cute violinist Taylor Henderson (so nice she entertains local children at our photoshoot earlier that day) and keyboardist Sarah Gardiner, who manically hops about like a Chihuahua in a Red Bull bottling factory.
The highlights of the lightening-quick set is current single “Leave It Alone” a high-speed car chase of a song that’s as catchy as it is menacing, and of course “Just a Song About Ping Pong”, a gibberish-laden romp that has become a calling card of sorts for OP. What makes OP interesting is the fact that they don’t use their age as a selling point: their not cutesy or even particularly nice, they’re here to play some rock and could give a fuck what you think. And it’s awesome.
So here’s to many more great Operator Please shows for many years. That is, amplifier gods willing.

Video: Operator Please - "Just a Song About Ping Pong (Live at the Mercury Lounge)"