Five Things with Matt Kelly from Mayfair Kytes

My first musical memory is of a friend of our parents’ who used to play guitar. It was the beginning of my musical infatuation. I grew up in a household where Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Elton John, Dire Straits, Santana, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson and Miles Davis all got a decent run; my father was the one who liked all the rock’n’roll stuff and my mother liked funkier music or jazz. We had a great record collection.

2. Inspirations

The thriving music community in Melbourne is all the inspiration I need to draw from.

3. Your Band

Our band consists of a core four members and two extra musicians. Our drummer’s name is Jack Nicholson FYI, and that’s about as good as it gets. When we made our record we had the privilege of Paul Bender and Simon Mavin (Hiatus Kaiyote) working on it with us, doing the final cherries on top.

4.The Music You Make

We have been going under the banner ‘folk art pop’. Collectively our biggest music crush is on The Dirty Projectors. Our debut record Animus is available now online via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and Bandcamp.

5. Music, Right Here, Right Now

As far as obstacles musicians have to overcome, it’s purely keeping up morale across the board. Hopefully Baird can pull his head out of his own arse and assist Sydney getting its night culture back in full swing; history will not look favourably upon him and his whims. Regardless, all local music scenes should be nurtured and respected.