In 2020, Private Function mega-fan and Swinburne University student Lauren Hester contacted Melbourne pub-punks Private Function via Instagram, requesting permission to use their track ‘Give War A Chance’from their ARIA top ten album Whose Line Is It Anyway? for her final uni assessment piece.
The band sent her the track and promptly forgot about it. That was until Lauren sent the band over her final clip.
“We were completely blown away when we received Lauren’s video,” says Private Function drummer and video director Aidan McDonald. “I went to the same film school as Lauren 10 years ago, and I never made anything as good as this. I can’t believe she beat me to making a puppet PF clip.”
Throughout pre-production, Hester incessantly hoarded cardboard and spent an extraordinary number of hours in front of YouTube, Play School and Sesame Street, learning how to make puppets from scratch and establishing how best to build the set and props.
The budding filmmaker spent hours handcrafting each puppet and musical instrument, and in collaboration with her production designer, constructed the entire set and props from scratch.
“Private Function are such a fun band and I always have the best time whenever I go to their shows, so I wanted to make something that reflected that specific brand of chaotic fun I experience whenever I see them perform – and puppets were the perfect way to achieve that,” says Hester.
“As a director, I wanted to take myself out of my comfort zone, and I’m glad I did. I’d never worked with puppets or puppeteers before, but it was such an amazing experience to work alongside such a passionate group of puppeteers and learn about this wonderful craft.”
To officially launch their 2020 release Whose Line Is It Anyway? Private Function is heading out on a mammoth headline tour, hitting up festivals, regional cities and capitals along the way.
Kicking off at Yours & Owls Festival in Wollongong in April and crisscrossing through the country before settling at the Corner Hotel in July, ‘Whose Tour Is It Anyway?’ will see the band fire up stages in major capital cities and regional centres, delivering tracks from their widely acclaimed album to fans across Australia.
Tickets to Private Function’s ‘Whose Tour Is It Anyway?’ are available now.
Private Function
Whose Tour Is It Anyway?
Sunday 18 April
Yours & Owls Festival, Woolongong
Tickets
Friday 23 – Sunday 25 April
Meadow Festival, Bambra
Tickets
Saturday 8 May
Pelly Bar, Frankston
Tickets
Saturday 15 May
Barwon Club, Geelong
Tickets
Friday 28 May
The Eastern, Ballarat
Tickets
Saturday 29 May
Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide
Tickets
Thursday 3 June
Sooki Lounge, Belgrave
Tickets
Friday 11 June
La La La’s, Wollongong
Tickets
Saturday 12 June
Crowbar, Sydney
SOLD OUT
Sunday 13 June
Hamilton Station Hotel, Newcastle
Tickets
Thursday 24 June
Miami Marketta, Gold Coast
Tickets
Friday 25 June
Solbar, Sunshine Coast
Tickets
Saturday 26 June
The Zoo, Brisbane (Early show)
Tickets
Friday 2 July
The Corner Hotel, Melbourne
SOLD OUT
Friday 16 July
Prince of Wales Hotel, Bunbury
Free
Saturday 17 July
Amplifier Bar, Perth
Tickets