Gotye to Form Political Party and Run In Australian Elections

From speaking out publicly to the music they create, musicians have long been known to get involved in politics. Australian singer-songwriter Gotye is taking this idea one step further by making plans to form his own political party.

Along with his Basics band members, Kris Schroeder and Tim Heath, Gotye -- born Wally De Backer -- is forming the Basics Rock'n'Roll party to go up against the Australian career politicians in the Victorian state elections in November.

“Politics in this country is treated like it belongs to the elite,” Schroeder recently told the Guardian. “We have these career politicians who often come from well-to-do families ... and they are groomed into becoming these lifelong politicians that have no other life experience outside of either being in the young Liberals or young Labor, and becoming a member of parliament."

While some people might just look at this move as some crazy stunt by a bunch of musicians, Schroeder explains that there's more to it: anyone should be able to run, not just those of the upper classes.

“Decisions don’t have to be made by these elite, you can just be musicians," he said. "We’ve all got higher education degrees so we’re not just musicians, but we haven’t come up through any political ideology. We just care about certain things like Indigenous affairs and education.”

With innovation, education and, of course, rock and roll as the main ideas of their platform, the Basics Rock'n'Roll party hopes to improve Victorian schools, make first-aid training mandatory in high schools and bring more music eduction to the surrounding rural areas.

While these are great plans, they still need to garner 500 individuals who are registered with the Victorian Electoral Commission to be a viable party for the election. Gotye has been spreading the word and hoping to get to hit number through a Facebook campaign.

If they are successful with this, they hope to take it to the national level. “A lot of the issues we’re discussing are really federal issues, I can see that being an arena for the future,” he said.

For more information on the Basics Rock'n'Roll party, visit the Basics' Facebook page here.