Forming in February, the band were triple j Unearthed feature artist and were quickly picked up by over 100 blogs around the globe simply by posting their first track ‘Mississippi” online.
With Homebake, Big Day Out, Parklife and Peat’s Ridge on their gig list as well as supports with the likes of San Cisco, Last Dinosaurs and Kids of 88, it’s their new single “The Courtship of Summer Preasley” that has cemented their momentum into 2013. Since the calendar ticked over to welcome in their second year, the band have one of the most played tracks of the year on triple j, the iTunes Single of the Week in Europe, and have played support for Django Django.
How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard you or your grandparents?
I’ve never really known how to answer this question. However, when my gran gran asked me about it for the 100th time I showed her off my iPhone.
She said we shouldn’t swear so much. She also said that the swearing was the only lyrics she could understand and that it was too noisy and it didn’t make sense. She also asked me if we are on drugs and prostitutes.
Do you remember the moment you decided you needed to learn an instrument? Who inspired you to start?
I was 8 I think and we were at a school assembly and this kid in my grade got up to play Ode To Joy by Beethoven. It blew my mind, it was so beautiful. He got all the girls because of it and that’s when it clicked. Music = Babes.
What and where was the first live gig you went to?
I had this girl I was crushing on, we were just babies in primary school. She invited me to a concert with her dad. God I was sooooo young, It was a Van Halen concert (I had never heard of them) and at the time I thought, OH MY GOD! This is so heavy!!! To my baby ears it was probably the equivalent to me seeing Slipknot now. She broke up with me on Valentine’s day. I’ll never forget that.
What sort of show should the punters coming to your “The Courtship of Summer Preasley” tour expect?
I don’t know. Something like a live band on a stage playing at a volume that’s a little bit louder than it needs to be, but you don’t really mind because you are a bit drunk, and you wanna dance and we wanna dance and we will probably make you dance and before you know it, we are all laughing and we are all dancing.
Where do you all search for new music?
Oh great question! I love discovering new music, I’m obsessed! I love Spotify Mobile right now. You find a song you like and just generate a radio station based of that song, and before you know it you are hearing all these amazing songs by bands that are amazing that you’ve never heard of and they turn into your favourite bands! I also really love the emerging charts on wearehunted.com for some great stuff too.
As a band, do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you?
We have this thing our bassist Tim came up with called The Glastonbury Theory. Basically before any show, we imagine that it’s Glastonbury Festival and no matter how we are feeling or who is sick or tired we make sure we go onstage and play like we would if we were standing on stage at that festival.
If you could curate your own festival, where would it be, who would be on the bill, how many people would you let in and what features would it have?
Man, another good one. It would be a lot like Secret Garden festival. Cap it at 10,000 tickets so it’s still pretty intimate at the stage. I’d make it miles away from civilisation on a camp site for 3 nights so you only get the real music lovers that are really committed attending. Drinks would be included in your ticket prices so you don’t need to pay $30 for a can of shit beer. Line-up would have to be Kanye West, Theophilis London, Devendra Banhart, MGMT, Grimes, Frank Ocean, Tame Impala, James Blake, Metronomy, Phoenix, The Belligerents, The Flaming Lips, Die Antwoord, OH THIS IS SO HARD!!!!! It’d be a long list. Attractions, Definitely on a beach, with a foam party for every band, and at night everyone would be able to sleep on anchored Lilos or House Boats.
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living artist from anywhere in the world would you most like to collaborate with?
Devendra Banhart!!! Hands down…… Because he is a brilliant, beautiful, psychedelic drug taking genius that writes the most obscure records that can still be enjoyed by people that aren’t just elitist hipster knob heads.
What is your band’s music the best soundtrack for?
Sexing and partying.
Where we can see you play next, what releases do you have available and where can we get them?
We are playing Adeliade, Perth, Sydney next. All the dates and tickets can be found on www.thegriswolds.com.au
We have an EP out called HEART OF A LION that you can get here https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/heart-of-a-lion-ep/id566457368
