If you’ve not heard Sydney trio Middle Kids yet then chances are you’ve had your fingers in your ears under whatever rock you’ve been hiding under. No less than Sir Elton frigging John made himself known as a fan after debut single Edge Of Town was released and the band have skyrocketed in popularity ever since off the back of follow-up singles Your Love and Never Start and a debut EP that only solidified the considerable hype surrounding them.
2017 is here and Middle Kids are only picking up steam, with a national headline tour in April as well as coveted support slots with Ryan Adams and Cold War Kids as well as a debut album in the works. We hit them with ten questions to see where they’re at.
The band has seen a sharp rise in popularity lately following Edge Of Town and Your Love. Was it frustrating not releasing anything for so long before Never Start arrived?
It wasn’t too frustrating as it didn’t feel that long because we were busy playing and writing. We were enjoying the process of getting tighter as a band and solidifying our hopes for the band.
Did the success of Edge Of Town cause you to re-think which songs would come next to really kick off the next phase for the band?
Once we had made Edge of Town we had a good flow of creativity so the next songs that came did so quite naturally.
The band was around for a while as Hannah Joy. Why was it now that you chose to go out under the new moniker and what has it changed about how things are done?
We have all been huge fans of bands and wanted the ability to create music and a culture that comes out of the unity of a band. There is a more collaborative process in terms of the vision and making decisions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUC7OFUbn6A
You’ve just played on Conan, could you describe that experience?! Are there any Aussie shows you’d love to perform on too?
We loved playing on Conan, the whole experience was really cool AND we got to chat to Conan for a bit – he seems to be a few seconds ahead of everyone. There aren’t really any Aussie shows like Conan so to be able to play on a show like that was special.
There’s a huge few months ahead for you overseas. Are you planning for this tour in a new or different way to how you’d approach a national tour?
Yeah we are anticipating that this tour will be a great learning experience for us. We are thinking it through a little more in terms of how to rest and prepare but the main focus is just how to have a good time together and play some kickass shows.
You mentioned that the upcoming run with Cold War Kids is especially special. What memories do members have attached to that band?
The first two albums of Cold War Kids were very inspiring and influential for Tim so that’s a big reason as to why we are especially excited for this. They are a great band who have carved out an impressive, steady path so to be around them is a great opportunity.
It’s amazing to see that the momentum is picking up in the States almost in tandem to in Australia – whereas it usually tends to happen here much earlier. Having to appeal to both audiences at the same time, how does this affect your output, and does it place any additional stress or strain on the band?
I think we definitely feel a strong urge to play shows frequently in both USA and Australia so I think that probably requires a lot of energy in terms of investing in both markets but we absolutely feel it to be such a good use of our resources as we love America and it’s musical sphere so to have a little bit of momentum there is really exciting.
The band speaks a lot about having a sense of “place” in what you’re doing both musically and personally. What place does this EP represent for the band?
The EP is a good representation of where we have gotten to in discovering our sound and some of our musings and beliefs we hold to be true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d5IIgGucaw
Most of the recording was done in your house for this EP. I saw that you’re demoing for a full LP at the moment. Will you be taking those songs into a studio environment, or will you keep that sense of homeliness?
I think that we will be using a similar recording process for the album but potentially working with a producer to help us grow sonically. We really love the homeliness feel to the EP and want to maintain a sense of that but we also feel excited to go bigger for the album.
Finally, you released a bunch of polaroids of you doing normal stuff including playing table tennis. Who is the best at table tennis and who is the biggest sore loser?
Harry is definitely the best but Hannah is working on her backspin chop and hopes to rule one day. Tim finds it hard to lose, probably because losing is foreign to him, so yeah we love to play table tennis so he can get more acquainted with that experience.
Middle Kids National Tour Dates
Fri April 14 || Melbourne – Northcote Social Club SOLD OUT
Sat April 15 || Brisbane – The Foundry
Wed April 19 || Melbourne – Northcote Social Club
Fri April 21 || Sydney – Oxford Art Factory SOLD OUT
Mon April 24 || Sydney – Oxford Art Factory
Tues May 23 || Brisbane – The Tivoli (all ages) *
Fri May 26 || Melbourne – Margaret Court Arena (all ages) *
Sat May 27 || Sydney – Hordern Pavilion (all ages) *
* with Ryan Adams
Image: Rolling Stone