Name:
Luke Sinclair.
Define your sound in five words or less:
Alt country.
Bearing the terrible clichéd nature of this question, what do you reckon people will say you sound like?
Whiskeytown or Ryan Adams usually – that’s RYAN Adams pal! No fuckin’ ‘B’ understand? – as far as the standard reference points. But I like the more obscure ones. Don Walker facebooked our guitarist Nick, and said my vocal on Watching You Fall sounded like Peter Wolf doing Nothing But The Wheel. That’s a great song! I reckon whatever Don reckons.
What inspires or has influenced your music the most?
My friends write and play some of the most inspirational music I have ever heard. Melbourne is a special town. My wife is always writing/playing great songs around the house and that usually lights a fire under my arse. I start trying to write something just as good. There’s nothing more inspiring than playing someone else’s great song. A dysfunctional family is always a bonus too.
How long have you been gigging and writing?
Writing songs, badly, since I was a kid. Writing them not so badly since about 2006 when I started doing it for The Idle Hoes. Shaun Feeley asked me to join that band in 2004. Then he asked me to write a few songs for the first LP. I never knew if a song I’d written was any good unless someone told me it was. Shaun told me my songs were good, and they made it onto the album. One of them was Backbeaches of Rye which I’m most proud of. Mick Thomas covers that song sometimes, thank you very much!
How do you balance making and playing music with your other commitments?
By accepting that you will indeed, be tired all the time. It’s hard if you’re trying to work a day job and have a music career; waiting for one to consume the other. But it’s also hard if you’re not. In any case, playing shows and making records pretty much cancels all the shit stuff out, so it’s something I need to be doing.
What can a punter expect from your live show?
Beer, wine and spirits. The music is beautifully played, honest and cathartic and the band is rugged, handsome and talented, so you can expect that. And the lyrics are good. People respond to Raised By Eagles in a way I’m not really used to. It’s a great feeling to know your music has hit somebody where it counts.
When are you playing live/releasing your album/EP/single/etc?
We’re launching our debut LP at The Bella Union (Trades Hall) on the corner of Lygon and Victoria Streets, Carlton, this Saturday July 20 from 8pm, with special guests The Stillsons and Bill Jackson and Pete Fidler.
