The most famous supergroup you’ve never heard of and will never hear.
They’ve never released a song – hell, they’ve never written one, but this week they’ll be making a music video and you can be in it.

“This is amazing.” – Fan, Grrlfest.
“Encore, encore, encore!” – Fans, Grrlfest.
“My sister is a huge fan.” – Sister’s fan, Found Festival.
“I’m a really big feminist too.” – Fan, Let Them Eat Cake Festival.
“You need to calm down.” – The police, accusing the band of soliciting sex acts, Let Them Eat Cake Festival.

Beginning through internet connections and mutual and self-admiration Expen$$$ive have done appearances and autograph signings at festivals, openings and shopping malls. Since their conception they have lost a drummer, found religion, and experienced an extreme case of exhaustion. Expen$$$ive are inspired by the likes of Brynne Edelsten, The Bad Girl’s Club, Pinterest, the city of Paris, Paris Hilton, Hotels, Pink Champagne and instagram. The group promote feminine value and raise that much of what is often seen as feminine eg. the personal, the emotional, and the aesthetic are beneficial parts of our every day existence. While some dismiss Expen$$$ive as ironic or spoof, the band has infinite self-belief. The artists have no immediate plans to produce any music and their commitment is to their fans, themselves and their brand.

FROM THE AGE NEWSPAPER
Cameron Woodhead, April 27, 2015

…Perhaps the most glamorous and subversive offering is Get In Loser, We’re Doing Witchcraft, from experimental live art project Expen$$$ive. The outfit is a trio of young women – Emilia Athanasiadis, Casey Jenkins and Kerith Manderson-Galvin – who act in every respect like a famous pop band, with one exception.

“We do everything a band does,” Manderson-Galvin says, “but we don’t play any music.”

Expen$$$ive has done appearances and CD signings and a backstage experience. It even has groupies. Now audiences will have the chance to observe and participate in the production of music videos for their non-existent songs.

“It isn’t meant to be a spoof,” says Manderson-Galvin. “The relationship between fans and pop stars is much more layered than just the music. We aim to take celebrity culture and turn it into something real and immediate.”

Not everyone is a fan. One lowlight in the pseudo-band’s career came at the Let Them Eat Cake festival on New Year’s Day.

“We set up a backstage space in this big igloo, and people came throughout the day to have a meet and greet,” she says. “Then the police and liquor licensing officials wanted to shut us down because they thought we were soliciting! They thought the only reason three women in small outfits could be friendly to strangers would be to sell their bodies. It was really bizarre.”

Such attitudes are anathema to the feminist aims of the project. “We want to make something beautiful. We care about feminine expression. So many music videos are exploitative of women, which is why we’re controlling everything in these ones ourselves.”…