Throughout the history of popular music, overseas interest in Australian music has ebbed and flowed. At present, offshore curiosity is at an all-time high. Seemingly, the international impact made by the likes of Tame Impala, Cut Copy and Sia has demonstrated that Australian music doesn’t begin with Savage Garden and end with Jet.
Melbourne’s Hiatus Kaiyote are another Aussie collective who’ve recently made a big impact elsewhere. Singer and guitarist Nai Palm says their growing profile has helped direct more attention to the Australian music scene.
“It’s pretty awesome to be able to tour to all these different places around the world and [have fans] check out other music in the scenes that we’re involved with because they like what we do. A friend of ours who’s a producer, MFP, came over from Japan because he loved our music and assumed there’d be a dope music scene here.”
The thing that distinguishes the present situation from previous instances of international intrigue is that, thanks to the internet takeover of the music industry, listeners everywhere can now discover more than just the few Aussie acts with overseas record deals.
“[In the past] there’s been a lot of successful Australian musicians that have broken through to the other side, like the Bee Gees and Kylie Minogue and AC/DC,” says Palm. “I feel like that recognition has already been happening, but I think people are more aware that it’s specifically Australian now, because of the internet and because people are finding it in their own way, instead of just having it marketed to them.”
An interesting consequence of the contemporary hunger for Aussie music is that growing numbers of local artists are finding recognition overseas prior to gaining a serious following at home. For instance, the likes of Courtney Barnett and Jagwar Ma were showered in praise from US and UK media before Australian listeners really latched on.
“My manager’s been releasing this Wondercore Island Mixtape, which is all local acts like Remi and Laneous and The Family Yah,” says Palm. “So it kind of gives people a direct link to check out the scene. Just recently I was in Warsaw, and there were massive Sex On Toast fans. It was so funny. The amazing thing about the internet and social networking is that all the information is there, and if you catch people’s ears, they tend to do some digging.”
Hiatus Kaiyote’s recent ascent is a paramount example of social media’s attention-steering capacity. Rather than instituting a comprehensive viral marketing campaign, Hiatus Kaiyote’s major boost came in the form of voluntary – and unexpected – Twitter endorsements from Questlove and Prince.
In both instances, the praise was directed towards ‘Nakamarra’ – the lead single from Hiatus Kaiyote’s debut LP, Tawk Tomahawk.While the record didn’t really take off until last year, it was actually released in mid-2012. The By Fire EP landed last month, bridging the gap to a follow-up album that the four-piece has just finished recording.
“It’s coming together and I’m so excited about it,” says Palm. “I went to Miami to track vocals at Salaam Remi’s house, who’s the label head [of Flying Buddha Records]. He’s a musician first and foremost, so there’s no real solid deadlines. He just wants us to be happy with it. So we’ve been taking our sweet arse time and getting it really intricate and I’m really proud of it … We’ve just come back from a tour, which gave us a fresh perspective, and we’ve been working on the final mixes.”
Considering Tawk Tomahawk was a breakthrough success, contemplating what to do next could be fairly stressful. Of course, it’s impossible to guarantee the rapt public response will be repeated, and attempting to mimic that success is likely to hamper the adventurous spirit that made Tawk Tomahawk stand out in the first place.
“We don’t have to tailor to a demographic, because we’ve already been accepted for how we naturally are,” says Palm. “It’s actually really inspiring and motivating to just keep bringing it. All the artists that I love, the reason that I love them is because their music is timeless. The reason it’s timeless is because they’re sincere in their art. I’ve always been a little bit left-of-centre creatively and I guess we would be that way regardless.”
On top of their preference for defying convention, Hiatus Kaiyote have grown into a far stronger unit since they recorded Tawk Tomahawk. “With Tawk Tomahawk we’d only been together as a band for, like, six months or a year,” Palm explains. “We were still working it out. I’d never been in a band before. Whereas now we have a couple of international tours under our belts, our playing is really cemented, so it gives us more of an opportunity to go deeper with it.
“Tawk was such a rookie record, and it’s cool,” she adds. “To have the response that Tawk Tomahawk had when we were still just working it out, it gives you faith that now that we’re really bringing it, you have the ears already there.”
Even though Palm remains fiercely independent, she says there were a few unnerving moments during the recording process.
“The scariest part was knowing that Stevie Wonder and Prince and all these people would hear it. I was definitely hyperaware of that when tracking vocals. Like, ‘Is this good enough for my idols to hear?’”
By Fire out now through Flying Buddha/Sony. Catch them alongsideRemi, Kirkis, Silent Jay & Jace XL atMetro Theatre onSunday December 14, tickets online.
