1.Growing Up

I grew up in a creative family. My earliest musical memory is improvising on the C blues scale over ‘Hit The Road Jack’, huddled together on a piano stool, with my dad and sister when I was four years old. His mum (my grandma) is also a visual artist, and we would go around to her house and do drawings or sculptures with her, with a fineliner and sketch pad being an integral part of every Christmas gift from her. Creating was something I was strongly encouraged to do.

2.Inspirations

Björk, Radiohead, Miles Davis, The Beatles, Beethoven. That’s probably close to my top five. I have fond memories of listening to my grandparents’ cassette tapes of The Beatles until I had broken every last one of them. The first time I heard Radiohead was when I was staying at my cousin’s place in Sydney and my uncle was playing Amnesiac and I remember being so captivated by it. It remains my favourite Radiohead album, despite there being so many quality records in their library.

3.Your Crew

I live with a bunch of designers and creatives in Melbourne, and all my friends are incredibly inspiring with the work they create and the way their minds work. My girlfriend is a writer/editor and is the most incredibly creative person I’ve ever met; she sees the world in a different way and finds the interesting things in it. My sister Lou manages me, but she also studied music at the Victorian College of the Arts with me, and we have always played music together and through it we pushed each other deeper into the rabbit hole of music. We talk about it a lot, we think about it, we reimagine it, and we challenge each others’ views and opinions. It’s a great way to learn.

4.The Music You Make And Play

I think my music is a melting pot of all my influences. I grew up on The Beatles, learned classical flute, then grunge music got me into guitar, and then I became obsessed with jazz. I studied that at uni and went deeper into 20th century experimental composition, started making electronic music on my laptop, and then started an indie folk rock band à la Arcade Fire. Lanks is what came next. Lately I have listened to a lot of MØ, Radiohead, Mura Masa and #1 Dads, and my newest obsession is creating energy in my songs and recordings and using space more effectively to achieve that. My music is often lush and melodic, and at its core, emotional and honest.

5.Music, Right Here, Right Now

Right now the Australian music scene is so healthy. People are pushing themselves and taking risks and just generally writing great tunes. Some of my fave releases in the past year have been from artists like Life Is Better Blonde, Montaigne, Gordi, Canary and so many more. With more people able to make recordings in their bedroom, I think it is opening up the doors for artists to release work they might not have been able to afford to earlier.

[Lanks Photo by Brooks]

Lanks plays Moonshine Bar, Hotel Steyne on Thursday April 28; then Brighton Up Bar, Friday April 29.

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