Gotye (born Wally De Backer) of "Somebody That I Used To Know" fame has formed a political party with his band The Basics to run in November's Victorian State election in Australia, The Guardian reports. De Backer and his bandmates Kris Schroeder and Tim Heath are forming The Basics Roc'n'Roll party to run as the antithesis to what Schoreder described to The Guardian as "lifelong politicians." The platform they are running on is based on three key principles: innovation, education, and rock 'n' roll.
They aim to improve indigenous education in Victorian schools, provide compulsory first-aid training in high schools, and have more access to music in rural areas.
"Politics in this country is treated like it belongs to the elite," Schroeder said. "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."
He added, "Decisions don't have to be made by these elite, you can just be musicians. 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."
In order to be eligible for election, the Basics Rock'n'Roll Party will need 500 registered members. They band is currently trying to meet their target by campaigning on Facebook.
What do you think of their platform and decision to run? Let us know in the comments section below!
