Pacific Avenue

Welcome to the UK!

Harry: Thank you for having us.

What do you think of the festival so far? Have you got to check anything out yet?

Harry: It’s been lovely. We pretty much just rolled in and then straight to the Sounds Australia stage. And then we played at 1:00 PM which we expected to be pretty slim, but it was packed and it was really busy.

That is so good for you. I’m so proud of you. It made me happy to see such a big audience for you guys.

Harry: UK audiences are really cool. They’re just so around music.

Jack: It was also the first venue that opened for the festival, so I think everyone just went straight there, which is perfect for us.

Is there anyone you’re keen to see?

Harry: Um, Dust are playing this afternoon. We’ve heard they’ve got an incredible live show.

Jack: The Rubens are playing, I think they’re Saturday. Mia Ray was incredible. She was great, she played just after us and her voice is insane.

Are there any international acts that you’re keen to see?

Jack: Arlo Parks definitely, she’s really cool.

Harry: I honestly haven’t even had a good chance to look at the lineup.

I mean there are over 500 artists which is crazy!

Ben: Yeah, we were just going to wander around and just see what we find and what sticks.

Harry: Oh and also shoutout to C.O.F.F.I.N, the guys that played before us. They’re from Sydney as well.

Jack: That was so rock.

Harry: They’ve got a big sound, kind of even like Motorhead. But yeah, we were on after them we’re like, oh my God, <laugh>. We’ve really got to turn our amps up a bit to kind of get this, get this rolling.

Your music has a real retro vibe to it. What are some of the artists that influenced you and your sound?

Harry: I mean, there’s definitely a lot. We all are from pretty different kinds of musical backgrounds. Jet and Powderfinger, like those Australian acts are something we’ve lent into a lot. I had to stop listening to Powderfinger for a while because I was just ripping them off. (laughs) Then like the Beatles and the Stones of course. Ben’s a diehard Silverchair fan.

Jack: There are also a couple of tracks that we went a little more percussive on, inspired by bands like Primal Scream and stuff like that.

You are all kind of from the central coast of New South Wales, how do you think growing up there has impacted or influenced how you write music?

Harry: It’s a very sleepy town kind of vibe. A lot of the songs are like classic coming-of-age songs, like wanting to get out and get into a city and get things moving because like, we live in such a beautiful place, but it’s so nice you almost just want to settle in and not worry about seeing the world, but we’re like, “we have to get out and do as much as we can.” And yeah, we’ve been trying to play as many shows as we can lately.

Ben: I think it being quiet there, you have a lot of time to think and there’s not a lot of ambient noise going on, so it’s good to break away and then kind of reset, until you’re like, all right let’s go again.

Jack: Yeah. It’s nice to come back to from like a tour or something and come home from the hustle.

I feel like that’s how Kevin Parker feels.

Harry: Yeah, I get him.

On the topic of wanting to get out, the song “Leaving for London”, is that about a person or is that more you projecting that you as a band wanted to get out?

Harry: It’s kind of a bit of both. Like, it’s the idea of wanting to get out, but also being in a relationship and then kind of seeing what someone wants to do and their potential. Like supporting someone even through them going out and doing their own thing, even if that means not being able to be in a relationship with the person. So even if you can’t be together, it’s still about supporting them to go and follow what they want to be doing, yeah and not holding them back in a relationship.

This is perhaps a really broad question, where do you want to go with music? What’s your dream?

Jack: I think for me personally, the aim is to be like one of the biggest bands in the world. Not for the sake of being famous or anything, just for the sake of the number of people that will hear your music. I think the end goal is to create the music that you love and you wanna be playing the stuff that you love.

Harry: And then hopefully people can connect to that.

Jack: I feel like if you can have as many people as possible love your music, that’s a pretty cool end goal to me.

Ben: I think my end goal is just to continue doing what we’re doing and if I can keep the same love that I have now for what we do, yeah, I’d be happy no matter where we end up.

Well, you’ve got a long future ahead of you…

While you’re on tour and you’re on trips and such, who’s in charge of the AUX?

Harry: I’ve been on the AUX so far.

Ben: You’ve been a bit greedy, haven’t you? <laugh>

Harry: Well, I’ve got the best taste. <laugh> Ben will just play Silverchair nonstop. Jack’s not bad every now and again.

<laugh>. So what have you been listening to? What’s the standout music for this trip?

Jack: We’ve actually, funny enough, just been listening to our album. <laugh>

You’ve gotta get up those streams.

Jack: Yeah, hundred percent.

Harry: That was just on the way in. We’re like, all right, what do we need to do for the set? Because there are a few new songs we haven’t really played much before. Our tour manager Neil, he showed us an act, Sylvie, I think they’re out of the States. Really beautiful stuff. I think it’s a guy and a girl and they kind of swap singing between the songs.

Ben: Yeah, and we had a bit of Wolfmother, Muse.

Harry: It’s been very random. Bit of Nick Drake as well. He’s like a very smooth kind of old school.

Thanks so much for this fun little insight into your world, best of luck for all your other gigs here at TGE!