"Moisturizer is more rock and roll than people think."

Operator Please wreck any indie credi­tials gushing over Britney and Spice Girls… 

Like a noisier Alphabeat with more guitars and a fiddle, Operator Please are not going to be to every Popjustice reader's taste. Indeed, even the folk at PJ HQ are a little divided.

We spoke to the Amandah Wilkinson, ring leader of the Australian teenage five piece. She was sat the side of a motorway…

Questions: Peter Robinson
Answers: Amandah from Operator Please (obviously)

Hello Amandah, where are you right now?
We are pulled over at the side of the road at a stop, I've got abso­lutely no idea where we are. Somewhere in Britain, I know that much.

What would you be doing if you were back home in Australia instead of in a layby 'somewhere' in the UK?
Probably getting drunk with my sister, but it's so fucking hot there at this time of year that I'm really not missing home. I'm missing my friends but when I go back it's hot like a bitch on heat and I do not do summer. We went back last week and I was wearing leggings, pinafore dresses and shirts and I couldn't cope.

Were you built for Britain?
I'm so COLD here! My dad is English — although my mum is Indonesian but I think I'm more suited to the English side of the family.

Would you ever consider settling here?
I think we all would. It's good when you uproot and put yourself in a new place, in unfa­mil­iar territory, it makes you wiser and widens your eyes to things going on around you. Everyone has got a love/hate conflict with where they come from and that's why they strive to get out but then when you even­tu­ally return you realize that you did really love it there.

Do you think readers of Popjustice are going to like your band?
Yes! We're a guitar band but don't over-think genre too much. We're just putting our heads down, playing the best shows we can and if we're lucky enough to get support from both crowds then that's great. Maybe it's because we all listen to heaps of different music and have no prejudice towards any types music. Last week my most played album was the new Britney Spears album.

What do you think of it?
I fucking love it — it's nasty and so good. All we ever get it the tabloid coverage of Britney because of the shit that is happening with her, nobody knows what is really going on.

Do you have someone working with you to make sure you don't go off the rails like Britney?
No. All we have is a tour manager and a sound guy, that's it. We've got a label in the UK but they don't come to the shows. We're all alright, we can take care of ourselves. It's good that we've got each other at this point of our lives. What we're doing now is probably the most exciting time of our lives. We're just taking it in our stride and still learning things along the way. It's been an adventure.

Whose reunion excites you more – Led Zeppelin or Spice Girls?
Spice Girls. I know I'll get slammed for saying that and no dis­respect to Led Zeppelin but when I was eight years old Spice girls were my life. I'm pretty sure that goes for the rest of the band too. Scary Spice was the greatest, she was a chico baby momma.

Beg pardon?
You don't know what a chico baby is? They're a chocolate flavoured jelly baby.

Moving swiftly on…
Well, they're on the same label as us in Australia and we were begging to meet them, but we just had to register for the tickets like everyone else.

Are you too young for drink, drugs, rock and roll?
No. We're not full-on rockstars because it's hardcore when you're on tour. You have to sleep and eat, but if you drink all night you're gonna fuck yourself up. But that's not to say we haven't done that sort of shit.

Do you have any hilarious tales about your indie friends?
Satin Peaches are pretty hardcore. They put a couch on the roof of our van and covered our door handles with Vaseline but we got them back by squirting mois­tur­izer all over their bus windows so it looked like someone had had a horrible accident and relieved them­selves all over it. Moisturizer is more rock and roll than people think, it fucked up their wind­screen hardcore, it took them three drive-thru washes to get it off.

Why beef jerky and what's with the after­taste in the above pop song?
Imagine a dude judging a ping-pong match but he's favour­it­ising a team that he wants to win and he's got a real grimace on his face. The sort of look you would have after you've eaten beef jerky and decided you don't like it. It's that scrunched up look on his face.

Any other meat snacks worthy of a future mention?
No I don't think so, it's just a one off – for now anyway. Most people think that beef jerky means something else, they think the song is about sex but it really isn't.

And what do people think the beef jerky mention is referring to?
Sucking cock — I imagine.

And on that note, thank you very much Amandah from Operator Please.