1. What Do You Look For in a Band?

Depth is something that is really important. It’s important to find a band that you can have an evolving relationship with. There are so many bands out there that will give you one song, then leave you feeling high and dry. That might be okay for a wild night out, but we find longer relationships are more rewarding. There are exquisite pleasures that come from watching a band develop, or letting a band teach you new things about yourself. When the band and listener are both open to exploring new experiences together, the relationship is more rewarding to both parties.

2. Keeping Busy

We’ve been keeping busy trying to get our live show together. When we were in the studio we went wild with overdubs, but we were kind of writing checks our instruments couldn’t cash, because we’ve brought so many new sounds into our songs. We’ve been trying to figure out how to get the studio sound on stage, which has been a challenge.After our launch, we’re hoping to be in the studio straight way to begin recording our next thing. We’ve been really amazed with the response to this record, and we’re really itching to start recording again.

3. Best Gig Ever

I’m not sure about our best gig, but the strangest gig we’ve ever had was supporting The Darkness on their last tour. We played in front of about 3,000 people at the Forum in Melbourne, and only about 20 of them had seen our band before. Most of the crowd was just waiting for Justin Hawkins to do his thing, and had no idea what to make of us. Mostly we were hated, but we managed to win a few.

4. Current Playlist

Instead of making this section flattering, I will tell the horrifying truth. Our singer is loving the new Daft Punk album, and is trying to figure out how to play guitar like Nile Rodgers. Our drummer is listening to Fleetwood Mac and Toto. I’ve been listening to Bach because I’ve been studying, but I also got obsessed with this song ‘Suburbs Mystery’ by Milk Teddy and listen to that a few times each day.

5. Your Ultimate Rider

Ever since I heard about AC/DC having oxygen cylinders backstage, I’ve lusted after that possibility. Also, when we saw Black Sabbath, Tony Iommi had a pretty girl sitting behind his stack the whole show. After each song she’d hand him his drink and give smiles and encouragement. It seemed like a pretty good system.

Stray Currents EP Launch at Brighton Up Bar on Friday June 28.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine