How does a group that has been together for under two years play the Forum? Daezy gives us the hack.
It’s pretty unusual for a local band that has just released their debut EP to play the Forum six months later, but it’s 2025, and way weirder shit has been happening, we guess.
Daezy, the indie-pop-rock band that Daisy Bateman started when she decided she was done with her AFLW career, has done exactly this. Together with Jackson Raeburn and Josh Michels, the group’s debut EP, See Me Standing, has been spun on Home and Hosed, and played in front of plenty of punters thanks to support slots with Jacob Fitzgerald, Alex Lahey and most notably, The Rions at the Forum.
Check out our gig guide here.
“It was unbelievable. I feel like, upon reflection, it doesn’t actually feel like we played it,” explains Bateman about the Forum experience. “It was pure adrenaline and the most amazing feeling ever. It was a 30-minute set, but it felt like it was a five-minute set.”
While a Forum crowd is something most Melbourne bands aspire to, playing big shows is something this relatively young band is already used to, with sold-out headline sets at the Worker’s Club and Bergy Bandroom also already under the belt. As Michels adds however, The Rions gig was something else.
“The feedback we got from everyone from that night was that it was the best that we had sounded, and it’s really good that was the case because sometimes, especially being as a smaller band who is used to smaller venues, knowing you can perform and play like that on a huge system is nice.”
So what is the hack for young bands to get big support slots? According to the Daezy playbook, you just have to cover the headliner’s song, post it on Instagram and tag them. Simple. As Raeburn explains, “Someone had an idea to do a cover of one of their songs, and I feel like it’s the whole ethos of the band. I feel like it comes from Daisy, this idea that you’ve just got to go and say you want it. You’ve just got to manifest and say, ‘We’re just going to go for it. We’ll make a video, we’re going to put ourselves out there.’ You might as well give it a shot and see what happens.”
The band are the first to admit they had no idea what they were doing when they first started in February of 2024. “We were just playing shows and then people were like, ‘Do you have music?’” explains Raeburn. “Daisy had written a song, and then we’re like, ‘Okay, well, people want us to write more music, how do we do that?’ We just learned along the way, whether that’s in the studio or actually writing the material. The more you write and the more you record, the easier it is to figure out ways to express yourself better.”
Fast forward, and the band’s EP has since been followed by two new singles with a second EP set for release early next year. “At this point, it’s just cool to be able to reflect and be like, ‘Hey, we actually did a pretty good job of the EP,’ as opposed to when you release it and you’re like, ‘I can’t hear that song ever again,’ even though everyone’s listening to it for the first time,” explains Bateman. “Now, the stories that we’re writing about are a bit more vulnerable. We’re taking bigger risks and diving deeper into the stories and not being so afraid of being vulnerable.”
Daezy will be ending the year with a great run playing at the Torquay Hotel for the first time, supporting Sly Withers, before heading over to The Palms at the Crown to support Daryl Braithwaite. In the New Year, after the release of their sophomore EP, they will be heading out on their first-ever tour up to Brisbane, then Sydney, with a homecoming show at Northcote Social Club. “We’re really excited about all of that,” explains Raeburn. “We’re keen to celebrate the EP we will have released, but also to just connect with audiences everywhere, hopefully.”
You’ll be able to hear a new single from the next Daezy EP on November 27th and catch the band at one of the aforementioned shows before the year is done.
Daezy are playing The Palms at Crown on 12 December. Tickets here.
