1.Growing Up
Music was always around growing up, my dad was in a rock’n’roll band once upon a time (there are a few classic photos around – I look forward to and fear my children finding band pictures of me in 20 years’ time…) and my mum has always sung in church bands. We weren’t a rock’n’roll household or anything like that, but it was definitely always present. It took me till I was 17 to decide I was interested, but it’s been a good few years since!
2.Inspirations
I don’t wanna buy into the whole ‘nostalgia’ fad but it is still true for me that the bands I was into when I was around 18-20 are some of the biggest influences still – like Linkin Park, Thrice, Circa Survive, Chiodos and Underoath.
3.Your Band
I met most of the guys during that ‘formative stage’ where we were all in local bands playing shows together at a crappy local venue. But having that space created a community and everyone was friends, no competing for spots, no bullshit. Just people making music and enjoying it. Most Australian bands making it big overseas have come from that kind of environment. Would love to see it continue.
4.The Music You Make
We’re a modern rock band; we try not to pigeonhole beyond that. We’ve just put out our Reimagine EP with alternative versions of our favourites from our second album, Unimagine. A lot more relaxed than our usual gig – loud but memorable, intense but emotional. We hope.
5.Music, Right Here, Right Now
The music scene is challenging but still pretty rewarding right now. It’s great that value is being placed back onto music as art and not just entertainment, and while the festival world works itself out, people are trickling back to live gigs in local venues. Lame thing is, a lot of those have shut because they’re not valued or protected enough, especially for under-18s. Playing music across the world, we’ve seen how powerful it is as a cultural and developmental expression, and should always have pathways and opportunities at all stages of ‘success’. I hope to see that come back around. It got us started.
Catch Hands Like Houses withForever Ends Here attheSmall Ballroom, Newcastle Saturday September 20 and The Bald Faced Stag, LeichhardtSunday September 21.
