Read our review of Mountain Sounds Festival here
Green Buzzard
I Know Leopard
Motez
Hockey Dad
Harts
The Delta Riggs
Holy Holy
Slumberjack
Alpine
Albert Hammond Jr
Art Vs Science
Violent Soho
With the festival season now in full swing, punters may be starting to feel a little worse for wear, both in the wallet and the head.
Sometimes the strain of running between stages to catch all your favourite bands, unearthing mountains of cash for camping, parking, food and road tripping across the continent can leave us asking, “Surely there is an easier, cheaper festival experience available?”
It’s for this reason that festivals like Mountain Sounds exist, offering music lovers an alternative to the beer-soaked mayhem of the more prominent Falls and Laneway festivities.
If camping in the lush Mount Penang Parklands on the NSW Central Coast a mere 90 minutes north of Sydney CBD isn’t enough, here are 5 more reasons why attending Mountain Sounds should be near the top of your to-do list for 2016.
1) The Lineup
Art Vs Science. Holy Holy. Violent Soho. Nina Las Vegas. The Delta Riggs. Need we say more? The Mountain Sounds lineup for 2016 is full to the brim of stellar national talent. Just to whet the appetite even further, the lineup includes a very special visit from an American musician by the name of Albert Hammond Jr who plays in a band called The Strokes (read our interview with him here). Interested? You should be! See the full lineup here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt6U8nEmXWU
2) The Price
Despite the first release of tickets selling out, the second release of passes will still only set you back $99. In context, a two-day pass at Falls Festival cost $324, or $162 for one day while Laneway Festival will ask for upwards of $130 of your precious coin. If camping isn’t your style, one night will cost you $49, or $79 for both the Friday and Saturday. Parking is covered too at only $20. The Mountaineer V.I.P packages start at $139 and include such benefits as meet & greet with selected artists, free massages and an exclusive bar. #Bargain
3) The Location
Mount Penang Parklands is located on the central coast. Key word: Coast. That means beach. Thankfully for those of us who will feel a bit worn out after a day of festival chaos, the option of retreating to the calm shores of North Avoca, Terrigal or Wombera beaches will be readily available.
4) Accessibility
Forget 15 hour journeys in the car in order to windup sun burnt with no money. Located just 2 minutes off the F3 freeway Gosford Exit, the festival won’t take more than 2 hours to access if you’re coming from Sydney-town. Even less so if you’re choosing to take public transport. Shuttle buses on the Sunday after the festival also take punters straight back to Gosford Station, meaning you won’t need to run risk of running foul of an RBT on the way home.
5) Violent Soho
After it was announced that The Jezabels would be putting a hold on touring for medical reasons, fans understood that things more important than music were at stake. It came as a more than pleasant surprise then, when Mansfield, Brisbane’s favourite sons Violent Soho were announced as a replacement. Their breakthrough release Hungry Ghost was certified Gold in 2014 and have recently slotted in at number 15 with Like Soda in the Hottest 100 countdown as well as becoming one of the most pulverizing live acts on the Australian circuit – it’s almost worth the price of admission alone. Hell Fuck Yeah!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN9NC4iQcsA
Saturday, 20th February: Mountain Sounds Festival, Central Coast, NSW.
Tickets
IMAGE: Ariel Photography National
They’ve already secured the likes of Albert Hammond Jr, Motez, The Delta Riggs, Alpine and so many more, but it seems the folks at Mountain Sounds weren’t quite done just yet. This week, they have announced a further SEVEN acts, as well as an entirely separate stage!
Topping this second lineup is electronic duo Cut Snake, who will fit in very nicely indeed amongst the already strong electronic front on the lineup (think Slumberjack, Nina Las Vegas, Odd Mob, Set Mo and more). Also jumping on board will be Elaskia, Jake Grigg (from Something With Numbers), Nocturnal Tapes, Ocean Alley, Roof and everyone’s favourite larrikins, Skegss.
It doesn’t stop there though. Tastemaker agency UNDR ctrl will also be in attendance, and will be bringing you the good vibes from their own stage. Adi Toohey, Dreems, Kato, Lancelot and Motorik Vibe Council will all be playing on this bad boy, and holding it down for those who love to dance. If the lineup wasn’t already overwhelming enough, this news is sure to tip you over the edge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmZbXn2ydbc
Tickets for the festival are absolutely flying out the proverbial door, so if you are thinking of going it’s probably in your best interest to not delay any long. You can jump on the last few here, and check out the full lineup below!
Mountain Sounds Festival
Saturday, February 20th 2016 at Mount Penang Parklands, Kariong, NSW
Mountain Sounds Festival has returned for another year, following on from the hugely successful 2015 event! Now in its third year, the festival will be taking place on February 20, 2016 – a fitting end to what’s sure to be a mammoth ’15/’16 festival season. The event boasts a seriously impressive lineup featuring Albert Hammond Jr (of The Strokes), alongside the cream of the Australian crop, including The Delta Riggs, Motez, Slumberjack and Holy Holy.
Situated within the gorgeous surrounds of the Mount Penang Parklands in Kariong (right in between Sydney and Newcastle), sleeping under that fresh starlight is a truly unforgettable experience. Meanwhile, the festival owners – who hail from the area – are going to great lengths to ensure that the event is sustainable, eco-friendly, and with minimal waste. Keep an eye out for locally sources food stalls, markets, live art installations and more, as well as silent discos and campsite parties. Sounds pretty sweet to us!
Early bird tickets are all gone, but you can purchase tickets here for $89 +BF. Head to the official website for more information.
Peep the full lineup here:
Australian electronic music continues to go from strength to strength, with many artists constantly raising the bar higher and higher in the calibre of their music and live shows. However, with more and more artists jumping on the bandwagon, the scene can become a little oversaturated, and it takes something special to stand out from the rest.
This brings me to Kilter, or Ned East. His tropical, upbeat, pumping tracks have made their way into more than a few pairs of ears, and 2014 saw him have his biggest year yet. His Shades EP was a huge success, and saw the Sydneysider conquer 28 dates, as well as hitting the road with RUFUS, The Kite String Tangle and Art Vs Science. He ALSO played at Listen Out, Field Day, Southbound and Big Day Out!
2015 is proving no different, as Kilter brings his percussion-laden live beats to Mountain Sounds alongside Alison Wonderland, Touch Sensitive and DZ Deathrays this March in Kariong, Central Coast, NSW! The camping festival has already sold out of Early Bird tickets, so better jump on dat shit quiiiiick!
We got to ask Ned a few questions ahead of his set, to find out a little bit more about the beatmaker.
Hey Ned, thanks for answering these questions for us! First of all congratulations on such a huge year – can you tell us some of the highlights of 2014?
Thank you! Up until half way through 2014 I hadn’t really released much original music, just a couple of remixes. So a massive highlight was putting out the Shades EP and seeing how amazingly listeners and crowds reacted to my own material.
For those who are unfamiliar with you, can you tell us a bit about your live set up?
Pretty much lots of stuff to hit and gadgets to fiddle with! I come from a performing background having played drums and piano for most of my life so I wanted to incorporate as many “real” instrumentals as I could. While I’m always adding gear my current set up is a Roland 404sx sampler, Roland SPD-s Drum Pad, Microkorg and a set of roto toms and cymbals.
Tell me about Listen Out, there was a buggy shipping Tkay Maidza to make your set in time to play They Say right?
Listen Out was awesome. It was the first time I had done a full festival tour rather than just playing the Sydney stop or something. It was great to hang out with heaps of international artists who I really love as well as the loose times that always come about while on the road with my Aussie mates.
Tkay is the best, she would run straight from her stage as soon as she finished to perform They Say as the finale for my show. I was ready to try sing it myself if she got lost on the way 😉
How did you find the tour you did this year, with so many dates? Any touring tips you can fill us in on how to survive the gruelling schedule?
In between my own tours and touring as support for Rufus, The Kite String Tangle and Art vs Science as well as the festivals, I think i spent more time on the road than in my own bed. My tip is sleep wherever you can- I’ve gotten great at sleeping on flights. It was great through, tour times are definitely one of the best things about writing music.
You played so many different places – how does it compare playing say a Sydney club show, then a regional club show, then Splendour? Do you shake things up for each?
Definitely. Certain things work much better in some environments than others. For example in an intimate Sydney show like the Oxford Art Factory gigs you can afford to take your time and have lulls in the intensity of the set while at a big festival like Splendour it’s great to keep the crowd moving and excited.
You’ve never really been a “DJ”, and have showed off your musical talents – how did you get into your style of electronic music without that DJ aspect that so many others have?
I don’t really think the way you perform your music has a massive effect on what you listen to. For example I love the same sort of music that my friends who might not have had the same musical upbringing as myself. However I feel like when I am writing new tunes I often think of what might work well for the live show and this changes the way I write.
You’ve collaborated with quite a variety of people, but I think the most interesting collaboration is with Citizen Kay – it’s definitely my favourite on your EP – how did that come about?
The instrumental for Alive Again was actually one of the first tracks I wrote for the EP. Originally it had a little vocal sample from an old soul track but I decided to take this out and find a feature artist. I struggled a little to find someone who would suit the track as I definitely wanted it to be a rap track. Around the same time Citizen Kay was getting radio spins on a few things and he jumped to my attention. He is a legend I’ve been lucky enough to have him perform live with me a few times now!
You seem to have quite a strong hip hop influence in your music – is that something you’ve always been a fan of?
I started off listening to hip hop- producers like J Dilla, Q Tip and DJ Premiere. You might be able to dig up some old tunes of mine (circa 2012) that are pretty much sample based hiphop. I still listen to it a fair bit but am very much a dance man now!
Do you think people take to your music differently compared to DJs due to your live
instrumentation?
Sometimes it’s hard when I have to drag a massive live rig around the country and the show might not go as well as I hoped with the crowd not really understanding what I am doing and then a DJ comes on after me and plays a set full of bangers made by other people. Generally though, a more educated crowd will really appreciate the live show.
You were on a panel for EMC as well as performing, how was that experience? What did you discuss there?
That was a pretty cool experience chatting with people like Laidback Luke, Nina Las Vegas and What So Not. The panel was about success which was something I didn’t really feel as qualified in next to these huge international artists. It actually ended up working really well as smaller artists like myself and Basenji were able to talk about the success we have found on a much smaller scale which could have been a lot more relevant and useful to the aspiring artists in the audience.
What can we expect still to come from you?
2015 I am cutting back on the shows and really focusing on writing both for myself and other people. I already have some pretty juicy tracks in the works that I will hopefully be able to show everybody soon. There will definitely still be gigs though, keep an eye out!
DZ Deathrays are one of my favourite bands. The energy they create on stage is not easily done, yet every show seems to turn the could-be peaceful crowd into an all out frenzy. The two piece and their unique brand of Thrash/Punk Pop has spread like wildfire over the years, with the boys gathering a huge following not only in their home country of Australia, but in the US, UK and Europe as well. They’ve also nabbed themselves two ARIAs, so it’s not just me who thinks they’re onto something brilliant here. They have recently returned home after a solid almost year of touring abroad, and were just appointed the replacement slot of Julian Casablancas + The Voidz for Falls Festival (Lorne and Byron Bay only, sorry Tas!). That’s not all – they’re booked into play Mountain Sounds Festival, which they’ll be following up with a national tour, bringing Bass Drum Of Death and Hockey Dad along for the ride.
Their 2014 album Black Rat saw the duo make a notable departure from their sound in 2012’s Bloodstream. They teamed up with noted producer Burke Reid (The Drones) to tie it all together, and to help guide them to this new chapter. Although it’s still as raucous and punch-you-in-the-face as their debut album, Black Rat shows a development in lyricism, and vocals, as well as a few “softer” (or as soft as possible with these guys) tracks. They continue to traipse the world supporting huge acts (most recently Band of Skulls) as well as a strong presence in the European festival circuit. It seems there is just no stopping this powerhouse duo!
We were lucky enough to chat to vocalist/guitarist Shane Parsons who filled us in on all things DZ over the last year.
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You guys have had a huge few months with Black Rat, aside from winning an ARIA what have been some of the other highlights we might not know about?
Well this year we spent most of the year overseas in Europe, and that was really great. I think we did 120 odd shows over there this year! It was really good; we got to see a bunch of places and play in venues we haven’t played in before in places like Italy and Holland and places like that. Our headline tour was really great too – even though we hadn’t played there in a while the response was even better this time! I was a bit worried they might have forgotten about us.
You’ve got some loyal fans over there!
Yeah it is kind of like that in Europe with the loyalty. Another great part was wrapping up with tour with Band of Skulls at the Hammersmith Apollo, which fits about 5000 people in there!
Yeah! I saw Tame Impala there, it was incredible!
Yeah! That was really great, that was a really cool way to wrap up the year there. We were really keen to get home and it’s been really nice. We’ve had a few weeks off now and resting, we’ve only been playing shows over the weekend.
You’re playing Mountain Sounds with Alison Wonderland, Beat the Drum with a number of different artists – is it ever strange to know you’re sharing the stage with such diverse acts, especially with hard rock or punk in the minority? Do you get weird vibes from such a mixed audience?
No, not really. When we first started, our first national tour was with Crystal Castles, so that was kind of like the first time we had played in places like Perth and Melbourne. We were thrown into this world where we didn’t quite “fit in” so we worked a lot harder to win over people. But, at the same time, the guys in Crystal Castles chose us because they wanted a rock band. They didn’t want it to be a completely electronic night. I think that’s cool! I grew up going to festivals with diverse line ups rather than just the same thing all day. But even in the rock world you have all different stuff like garage rock and other stuff and we try to change that up on our tours…
Kind of like having Hockey Dad on your next tour?
Yeah! We had Palms on the one before that too!
Next year you’ve got your tour with Bass Drum of Death and Hockey Dad. You guys will be swapping spots with BDOD this time around though – is that kind of weird?
No not really. They’ve only been over to Australia once. We did a tour with them over in the US two years ago and it was awesome. Since then we’ve been saying, “Let’s get this tour going, let’s get this tour going!” But a lot of the time when you tour with a band overseas, you always talk about like trying to bring them back to Australia. Once you’re on tour and if you’re getting along really well you never want it to end! I think it’s going to be really fun! We’re playing smaller rooms but double shows, so we get to stay in Sydney and Melbourne longer and actually hang out. I imagine the shows are going to be very messy as well *laughs* it’s gonna be a good one!
You have had such an extensive touring schedule, how does that go when you’re trying to make new material? Do you create whilst you’re on the road, or is that the reason you went into the farm house to make Black Rat?
Yeah, pretty much. You have the best intentions to write but for both of us, when we’re on tour we’re pretty exhausted. We’re not on a bus or anything either, we’re in a van! It’s a bit hard to be pulling out guitars or anything to jot down ideas. But, you know, sometimes you’ll come up with an idea in soundcheck or something and you just try and remember them. Simon and I live separately, and have done for the last two years, so that’s why we went to the farmhouse. We were just together and just wrote for two weeks straight. It was good! That really kickstarted the writing thing. The thing for us is it sort of starts out with us in a room pretty much just making noise for a while and then all of a sudden things will start locking in! It was really good on the last record and that’s why we needed to do that. We’ll see how this one goes. I’m spending a lot of time in Sydney over this break, and we are trying to get this done in between tours as well rather than just having six months to just kind of write. I think we’re going to try and write a little bit over email and record parts and get things together and get ideas to take them into the room. It’s going to be a really fun way to do it, we can do it in our own time and we can record late at night. It’ll be interesting. It’s more how electronic producers work than how rock producers work!
With Black Rat, I found it was a lot more dynamic than Bloodstreams. There is a lot more going on with this one – was that a conscious decision to shake things up like that?
Yeah, totally! I mean, we always wanted to make it heavy but this one is a little bit softer. We wanted it to be punchier and a bit tighter, and I think it came down to the way we wrote it. Bloodstreams was written over three years, and with that album we had the songs and we had been playing a lot of them for a long time. When we got to Black Rat, we had only spent six months putting it together and there was one song we had been playing live. Everything else was able to be changed. Because of that thing of not being scared to change songs because we hadn’t played them live yet, and we weren’t too attached to it, it allowed us to “cut the fat” on some of them and try and trim them down to be a bit more succinct in a way. We were working with Burke Reid who produced it, and he really helped us as well. We did a lot of reproduction and he would say like, “You need to get this part right”. We were making changes all the way up until we recorded. There would be parts of songs that we had already recorded that we re-recorded because we weren’t happy with it how it was sounding. It came together! I love those moments, when you’re under pressure and you get these great ideas!
I can’t help but notice a development in your lyricism with Black Rat, as opposed to Bloodstreams – was that also a Burke influence or was that more personal from you, Shane? The lyrics are more involved and there is more singing on this record…
I think just from touring a lot more and seeing different parts of the world, as well as seeing how different bands work and put songs together… I think I am understanding what songs mean to people as well; it’s kind of interesting because you could write something and think, “Ah, that’s cheesy,” but it could be that borderline part where it could really mean something to someone and be a stand out moment for them. I wrote a lot of lyrics for this album – I’ll never call myself a great lyric writer – but I just worked and worked until I sort of came up with ideas that were interesting, suited my voice and had a bit of narrative to it. With the singing side of things, Burke would say like, “Sing this part, don’t scream it!” But we actually went back when it was about 90% done and I just screamed over parts I thought just needed that little bit more of a bite! It was a good balance. There is definitely a lot less screaming on this one.
Is that how you’ll work in the future with other records?
I don’t know, we’ll have to see how the songs pan out. I’m always up for changing ideas, and just trying to hone in on our sound. Once we get some songs together I can start demoing vocals and I’ll get a good idea. The thing that Burke brought to our attention, especially mine, is that the vocal melodies are there but I just wasn’t hitting it properly. If I sung it a bit more, I’d be able to hit the melodies a bit better. I was always just scraping the bottom and top of the melody, rather than hitting the notes. It’s good to try and get a balance between that and the screaming. It was a big learning curve for me.
Okay, so what can we still expect from you? You’re booked up until March and then?
It’s a little bit open ended at the moment. We’ve made ourselves a bit of a deadline to get our next record done, by October next year. I think we’ll just be trying to write as much as possible and tour. There is also plans to get back over to Europe and do the summer over there. We had such a great time doing all the festivals over this summer. It was really awesome and was a great time to be over there!
And just taking it easy for the time being?
Yeah, and just writing! Writing, writing, writing. Staying creative. Sometimes when you stop, it’s really hard to get going again!
Will you still remain based in different cities?
Yeah I think so, I’ve lived in Sydney for two years now and it’s really grown on me. We just float around and go with the flow…
It’s kind of like “recording for the future”!
Well yeah, that’s why I want to get songs together and then get back in the room and actually play them as we’ve demoed them over emails and stuff so we can get a feel of playing them together! It is kind of interesting to think you can do that now, and I guess we’ll just see how it all goes. I’m kind of excited. At first I was traveling up to Brisbane every two weeks and spending a week up there, sleeping on the floor, to do rehearsals. Then I’d fly back to Sydney, and spend two weeks working on vocals and extra melodies and stuff at home. This time it’s going to be cool to work on things at my own pace.
DZ Deathrays Australian Tour Dates:
Mon 29 Dec – Falls Festival, Lorne
SOLD OUT
Wed 31 Dec – The Espy, Melbourne
Tix here
Thurs 1 Jan– Falls Festival, Byron Bay
SOLD OUT
Sat 21 Feb – Mountain Sounds Festival, Kariong NSW
Tix here
Fri 27 Feb – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne w/ Bass Drum of Death & Hockey Dad
Tix here
Sat 28 Feb – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne w/ Bass Drum of Death & Hockey Dad
Tix here
Thur 5 Mar – Fowlers, Adelaide w/ Bass Drum of Death & Hockey Dad
Tix here
Fri 6 Mar – Amplifier, Perth w/ Bass Drum of Death & Hockey Dad
Tix here
Sat 7 Mar – Prince of Wales, Bunbury w/ Bass Drum of Death & Hockey Dad
Tix here
Sun 8 Mar – Newport Hotel, Fremantle w/ Bass Drum of Death & Hockey Dad
Tix here
Wed 11 Mar – Newtown Social Club, Sydney w/ Bass Drum of Death & Hockey Dad
Tix here
Thurs 12 Mar – Newtown Social Club, Sydney w/ Bass Drum of Death & Hockey Dad
Tix here
Fri 13 Mar – The Brightside, Brisbane, w/ Bass Drum of Death & Hockey Dad
Tix here
Sat 14 Mar – Yours & Owls Festival, Wollongong
Tix on sale soon
Hey Danny, how’s it going?
Yeah, good thanks!
Good to hear! You’ve been to a lot of festivals over the past year, and already have quite a few lined up for next year – what is it that draws you to festivals?
I think it’s very different to a club show because club shows are more intimate and the audience is more familiar with your stuff. At festivals you get a totally different experience. There are definitely those aspects as well but there’s also a bunch more people that have heard your name or have heard one song and come and check out the show anyway. So you get generally a bigger and more open crowd, which is usually pretty fun because everyone’s in that pack mentality of ‘I’m at a festival, this is going to be awesome.’
Yeah, that’s very true. So do you think you gain a lot of new fans by doing festivals?
I’d like to think so. I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say that they saw me at Splendour or something and it was really awesome. They’re the moments people seem to remember a lot.
One of the festivals you’re signed up for is Mountain Sounds, which is only in its second year. What would you say makes a really good festival generally?
I think first and foremost the people. I tend to like a lot of the boutique ones such as Mountain Sounds, and there’s one in Queensland called Red Deer Festival, which has a limit of about 1000 people and everyone there is just so cool and consequently the atmosphere is awesome. It’s a type of neighbour relationship that everyone has with each other.
Nice! So did you attend a lot of music festivals before you were playing at them, when you were younger?
Yeah, I pretty much frequented every single one!
Cool! So now that you’re one of the main drawcards at these festivals, do you still get to hang around after you’ve been playing and experience the festival?
Yeah, definitely. Sometimes when it’s a touring festival, you have to play then go and fly to the new place and check into a hotel that night. But for one off festivals, and some travelling ones you get to hang out; you get your own room and some free beer.
Definitely the dream! I’ve always wondered, is there a community aspect to these festivals – do you get the chance to meet with the other Australian artists?
Definitely. The Groovin’ The Moo tour especially, I made really good friends with Peking Duk and Illy especially, and I see them around all the time now. They are definitely friendships that were formed through festivals. You start seeing their faces around and then you start getting chummy with them.
That’s really cool. So do you think that’s where a lot of collaborations form with other artists from those types of interactions?
Yeah. I mean I’ve done collaborations that way and I’ve also done collaborations where someone is reaching out because they like your music. But it is definitely conducive to a collaboration environment. Especially with electronic music, which collaborates a lot more than bands generally.
Does it ever get lonely considering you’re a one man band with Kite String Tangle, especially when you’re on a headlining tour?
It can do. Normally with my tours I have a support team that does either some of it or most of it, and I have crew as well that are awesome so I’m rarely alone. But travelling overseas was something because I didn’t really take many people, so that was a bit lame. I spent a lot of time reflecting (laughing). Soul searching.
Ah well, probably some inspiration for some future songs no doubt! So how does that compare with when you were touring with your former band Pigeon?
Yeah it’s super different. With Pigeon, we could egg each other on and it would be a very fun and party environment whereas this is quite different in that the music is more sombre and I take the project a bit more seriously because it’s my career and I feel very lucky to have gotten that given to me so I’m very careful not to take it for granted. So there are pros and cons of both really.
Did you ever consider making Pigeon your main focus, or was it just luck that Kite String Tangle became so popular?
It totally just happened. Kite String Tangle was just a side project. All the Pigeon dudes and me were away writing an EP when I wrote Given the Chance. I wrote it on the same trip and just released it. I even showed it to the guys and I asked what they thought and told them it was for a side project and they were like ‘that’s cool’ (laughing). Over time it just kept blowing up and it got to the stage where I couldn’t do both. I tried but it almost broke me.
Really? Was it just too much on at the one time?
Yeah I did a Kite String tour and a Pigeons tour in the same month and was 25 days straight of just consecutive touring. It was just way too much.
Sounds rough! Was that hard on the guys in Pigeon – was there any animosity because you had to move away from it or were they just happy you were being successful?
They were really cool about it to be honest, especially because it was quite a gradual thing. We got to talk about it at various different stages so it wasn’t too bad. Some of them have started their own projects, and everyone is figuring out what they want to do outside of Pigeon so in some ways it acted as a catalyst for us all doing different things. But it did stop us from being a band, which is kind of lame, but a necessary evil.
Would you ever consider reforming if it were possible in the future?
We’ve left it open, an indefinite hiatus. We’ll have to see how things go I guess. It would be cool cause I love those guys and we have a lot of fun together.
I guess with the success of Kite String Tangle it could be a while… Musically, do you think you’re able to do a lot more with Kite String Tangle than you were with Pigeon?
It’s definitely more ‘me’. There are no other influences and I can do whatever I want. There’s nothing stopping me from going in any particular direction. It is kind of liberating in that way.
That’s true. Another thing I’ve been looking at recently are your video clips, which I find quite stunning visually – especially the one for Stone Cold. Are you the main brains behind them?
Not really. I could say that I was but I’d be lying (laughing). That one was from a guy called Lachlan Dickie who’s amazing and has done a lot of other stuff that is equally stunning. That’s why we got him on board. We normally get a bunch of directors to pitch for the clip and his was so interesting you couldn’t really say no to it. I also wanted to something to contrast the popiness of the song to alienate the viewer a little bit.
Do you have much input or once you’ve approved it are you out of the picture?
I generally have a little bit of a creative input. I always have a chat with the directors and we go through the ideas and brainstorm a few things. But after that I pretty much hand over. I’m not too much of a visual person anyway so I’d rather leave them to do what they do best. For that one I was on tour for the whole thing anyway.
Oh okay, so it can even happen with you not even being there sometimes?
I mean I’d like to be there but sometimes deadlines get in the way.
I’ve noticed that a lot of your videos follow the perspective of a woman’s journey of some form – is that just a coincidence, or to do more with the subjects of your songs?
That’s a good question, I hadn’t actually picked that up myself. The nature of my songs are generally introspective and relationship based so it always makes sense to have it be evocative in that way and have very raw emotions. So I guess both a coincidence and thematic.
One of the things that got you some early popularity with Kite String Tangle was the cover of Lorde’s Tennis Court. How important do you think covers are in creating traction with fans?
I think it’s important to provide content at an early stage. Doesn’t matter what it is, whether it be covers or remixes or acoustic sessions. At an early stage you need to be putting stuff out that people can see and connect with a lot. It definitely helped me. All the little bits and pieces contributed to further the journey and my story.
That rise was relatively swift; do you feel you owe a lot to Triple J and the Unearthed Program?
It was a quick rise. I definitely owe a lot of it to Triple J, that’s kind of the culture we live in. But at the same time, a lot of hype came from blogs in the beginning. I think it had already racked up half a million views on SoundCloud and on the blog scene for a couple of months before Triple J added it. But when Triple J added it, it went exponential from there. I’ve been on both sides of the stick where you receive airplay and you don’t.
It’s a fine line isn’t it?
It definitely made it a little easier, that’s for sure!
With all the talk of streaming, illegal downloading and Spotify, is it hard to earn money as an upcoming artist?
Yeah it is but it’s also exciting because there’s heaps of ways to earn an income, it’s just small amounts of income spread across many different areas. If you’re business minded you get to think of creative ways of getting money from your art. If you’re not then you can just concentrate on the art, rather than using the art to earn money.
Great! Well that’s all we’ve got time for, but thanks again for agreeing to be interviewed. Good luck with everything!
No worries! See you later.