Joab Eastley is a meme. Sure, he’s also a singer, a songwriter, a guitarist, a proud Novocastrian and the figurehead of one of Australia’s most exciting up-and-coming bands, Raave Tapes, as well as, y’know, a human being and all that. But perhaps more than anything, he’s a consistent online presence amongst his friends due to various aspects of his life having been turned into running in-jokes.
For instance, you’ll be quick to find out that before his music took off, Eastley was a keen rugby league player. He even won an NRL premiership with his team – that’s Newcastle Rugby League, thank you very much. “Isn’t it brilliant?” he says of the piss-take name. “They even go as far as to call themselves ‘The Real NRL.’ The medal that I’ve got has ‘REAL NRL’ written all over it. My cousin was the coach of our team, and my dad was the waterboy. It even got a write-up in the local paper because my dad won the exact same premiership 30 years prior.”
I ended up with so many pedals that I decided to make a giant pedal board to have all of them on there at the same time.
Since quote-unquote “retiring” in 2015, Eastley has gone on to focus more on his band, Raave Tapes. The band’s blend of dance-punk, pop, disco and rock requires a lot of different textures and tones from his guitar – which is where our next running Joab gag comes into play in the form of the man’s expansive pedal board. “Myself and my old bass player, Joel, used to work at Domino’s together,” Eastley explains.
“It was my first job – I was 14, he was 15. Across the road from the Domino’s was our local post office. We’d work, save up, order pedals, get them sent to the post office, go across the street from work and pick them up. We obsessed over them. I ended up with so many that I decided to make a giant pedal board to have all of them on there at the same time. It was literally the size of a beach towel – that’s the scale I used to pattern it out before I moved onto the real thing.”
Naturally, it didn’t last long. “I had to do a chop,” he laughs. “For the last tour that we did, I had to scale it down – it just wasn’t possible to take the board with me everywhere anymore. I think it’s made me appreciate the ones I’ve kept a lot more, though – it’s a fun challenge to work with what I’ve got. I’ve never been the best guitarist, but I’m pretty good at making noise.”
That noisemaking has brought us to ‘k bye’, the latest single from the band, which is a sugar rush of fist-pumping beats and wonderfully nonsensical shouting. Although recorded with their previous line-up, the band is touring with an all-new rhythm section; leaving Eastley as the only original member. “The Wolfmother jokes have already started,” he says, laughing.
“I mean, the other two guys… they’re busy being adults now. Jake [Wyborn], our old drummer, got a new job and he moved to Melbourne. Joel [Burgess] had a mortgage, and it was getting clear that he wasn’t going to be able to keep taking time off work in order to go on tour. They were both so good about it, it wasn’t acrimonious at all. They both even came to band practices to show the new members the parts!”
I want to put out another single and then probably do an EP.
Filling out the reshuffled Raave Tapes line-up is bassist Lindsay O’Connell and drummer Lewis Horne. Eastley, being the radiantly positive human being that he is, is quick to gush at length about both of his new bandmates. “I like to think I’m a nice person, but Lewis makes me look like an arsehole in comparison,” he says. “He’s just the nicest, loveliest guy. I’m so lucky to be in a band with Lindsay now, too. Joel was a really full-on bass player with his sound and his technique, so it was always going to be a big ask to get someone to fill that place. Lindsay has just been incredible. She learned everything in two weeks and then played her first show with us.”
With ‘k bye’ out in the world and some memorable launch shows behind it, Raave Tapes are now set to undertake a national tour that will see them blast through most capital cities during October and into November. Beyond that, Eastley is interested in seeing what Raave Tapes 2.0 is capable of when it comes to making music together. “We’ve done a bunch of shows now, but the three of us haven’t actually recorded anything yet,” he says. “With the last two singles we did – this one and ‘2 U XOXO’ – Joel played on them but Jake had left by that point. Both recordings have two different drummers on them – my friend Jack, who plays in Scumdrops, and my friend Fraser. I think what we’re gonna do is go into the studio at some point either during or after this tour and lay down three songs.
“I really want to see how it all works for us – I want to put out another single and then probably do an EP. I’m sure it’ll be great – it’ll be really wholesome.” Eastley laughs as he realises he’s dropped one of his most-used words in ‘wholesome.’ “I think we just hit bingo,” he says. A brainwave hits both interviewer and interviewee at the same time: “JOABINGO!”
Raave Tapes play Frankie’s Pizza on Saturday October 14.
