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There ain't no party like a summer Tassie festival, and the 2020 edition of Party In The Paddock is set to be a beauty!
Taking place annually in the rolling hills of Northern Tasmania, Party In The Paddock has garnered a rep over the years as a place of fun, diversity and a stellar showing of local and international acts as bands and artists from every corner of the genre spheres gather to deliver three sun-soaked days of sonic bliss to the masses.
With a stacked 2020 lineup recently announced (and the end of the year fast approaching), it's pretty safe to start getting excited about the frivolities that await in early February next year. And whether your tastes lie in indie rock, hip hop or just straight up pop - there's something for everyone, and in the lead-up to the main event The Soundcheck will be featuring some extra special interviews with some of the epic artists fronting up next Feb. And first up, we chat with singer and guitarist Brae Fisher from indie grungsters Dear Seattle about writing, musical crushes and finding their musical sound. Interview below.
TIANA: Hello, what an absolute treat to be chatting to you today, especially with the recent news of Dear Seattle joining the ridiculously awesome lineup for Party In The Paddock next February! Have you ever had the chance to head along to this festival in the past, and what are you most keen on getting up to while you’re there next F
BRAE FISHER: It’s a treat to be here chatting! Yeah we have actually, we played the festival back in 2018 and I can honestly say it was one of the nicest festival experiences we’ve had, we got treated so well and the festival itself is such a buzz. My favourite thing about last time was kicking back with a beer and watching natures television at sunset. Damn keen to do that again!
Tiana: And amongst such a stacked lineup, are there any artists in particular you’re especially keen to catch in action? Any musical crushes you’re hoping to see?
BRAE: Personally, I always love seeing Matt Corby. He’s just that good. I guess you could call that a crush? But besides that, some standouts I’m keen to catch are Lime Cordiale, Sneaky Soundsystem, I Know Leopard, Dunies and Cosmo’s Midnight.
Tiana: It’s been a pretty whirlwind year for you lot, you obviously dropped your full-length ‘Don’t Let Go’, threw down a punked-up cover of Missy Higgins’ ‘The Special Two’ for Like A Version, which was extremely well received…I could go on about your achievements, but we’ll be here all day. From your perspective, what’s been a particular standout moment or moments from this year for yourself and the band?
BRAE: Haha thank you! Yeah it’s been pretty wild this year. Doing Like A Version would have to be up there, it’s one of those things we all grew up watching and imagining what it would be like to do and what song we would do, so to be in the room actually doing it was definitely a bucket list ticker. On that same train, we’d always dreamt of releasing a debut album, so it felt incredible to get that out and get such a warm reception to it.
Tiana: On the topic of your album, I was intrigued to read in your bio that you guys started writing the album with no plan for what it was going to be based on. Can you elaborate on that a bit more for me, was there ever a moment of “shit, we need a concept” or were you all firmly pretty ok with just letting it evolve naturally?
BRAE: Yeah I think that’s just the way we operate. I feel constricted lyrically at the best of times, so whacking a concept I’d have to adhere to on top of that would just make the whole process so difficult. At the end of the day, I always want to write about my own experiences and perspectives on life, and I always want to write for myself, not to appease anyone. So in doing that, I guess the overall concept won’t ever stray from ‘the peaks and troughs of life’ at whatever age I am when writing it, and it’ll always be uniquely true to me.
Tiana: As a band, Dear Seattle tend to attract various “sounds like” labels as you continue to progress as a band. But back in the really early days as a band, was there a particular mission statement you guys were going for from a sonic perspective? Were you pretty sure about the sound of Dear Seattle from the get-go?
BRAE: From the get go, we said that we never wanted to pigeon-hole ourselves to any particular sound, we wanted to look at each release as it’s own body of work much the same as bands like Radiohead, where each album is truly unique. There’s always going to be “sounds like” labels, as that’s the way people make sense of what they like and how they share music with friends, but of our 2 EP’s and 1 LP, predominantly one is melodic hardcore, one is grunge-rock and another is alternative-indie. So honestly, I don’t think there’s really a DS “sound” I think the consistency comes more through the lyricism and emotional temperature of the music than the musicality itself.
Tiana: And given your music sits in the “alternative/grunge/etc.” realm…what bands or artists did you personally grow up listening to? Was there a significant moment where you discovered some of this heavier and/or more underground music?
BRAE: I think that’s definitely where the bulk of our influence lies, but I don't think there’s really a moment we fell into it. The four of us all grew up listening to different music, but there were always common denominators like Title Fight, Citizen, Silverchair, Basement, Metallica, Nirvana etc.
Tiana: Well, it’s definitely still a fair few sleeps until we can all catch you guys in action at Party In The Paddock, but to wrap up our chat today – what’s one unknown secret about Dear Seattle that you’re willing to share?
BRAE: We’re all total dorks who love gaming.
A MODEST MIND (DEAR SEATTLE)
YOU CAN CATCH DEAR SEATTLE IN ACTION NEXT FEBRUARY AT PARTY IN THE PADDOCK, TICKETS ARE ON-SALE RIGHT NOW!
FOR MORE PARTY IN THE PADDOCK INFO HEAD HERE,
AND FOR MORE DEAR SEATTLE INFO, HEAD HERE.
BY TIANA SPETER