They’ve toured North America and Europe, finding particular success in Germany, where lead singer Husky Gawenda notes they’ve been “three times this year.”
It’s no surprise then that Gawenda takes time to answer a few questions in Germany, where he’s “en route from Leipzig to Hamburg,” he says. “We’re playing the Reeperbahn Festival today,” he continues. It’s about as far from Southbank as one can get, but constant motion has become part of life for Husky.
“Touring the USA and Europe has been incredible,” he says after being asked about some of the highlights the band’s recent jet-setting lifestyle have brought them.
“Germany has been a highlight. Also there have been a lot of highlights over in the States – Portland, Austin, New York and San Francisco.”
Gawenda lists some of the epicentres of cool as his highlights, though some of the cities the band has visited have not been unsurprising. It’s refreshing to see that despite the thousands of kilometres logged on the band’s tour van, their wide-eyed sense of mysticism has not disappeared entirely.
“I think everyday has been surprising,” he notes honestly. “Things are always different in reality to what you imagine they will be. Every new town surprises me. The different cultures and people; even from state to state in the USA there are wild and fascinating differences.”
Though Gawenda seems comfortable waxing poetic on the vagaries of touring in the United States, when asked about some of the disappointments of the last year, his tone quickly turns to a sarcastic one.
“Things have been a bit tamer than I hoped after reading Hammer of the Gods, an account of Led Zeppelin’s touring shenanigans. We haven’t even trashed a hotel room yet,” he jokes.
Of course, their consistently affable demeanor could have something to do with their tame approach to the road. Regardless, one of the most successful musical exports in recent memory will soon return to Australia for a headline tour.
Having become successful abroad the old-fashioned way, through months of touring abroad, Husky haven’t spent as much time on their native soil as some fans would’ve liked. Combined with the backlash some artists receive when they achieve a level of mainstream success, it’s worth asking Gawenda if he fears their reception from their hometown crowd won’t be especially warm.
“I don’t think our success is great enough to warrant any sort of backlash,” he says.
“It’s true we have been away for most of the year. But the times we’ve been back, for our tour in April and for Splendour in the Grass, have been really important to us. Australia is our home. Our audience there, they’re like family. I hope they haven’t forgotten us.”
Referring to their crowd as “family” is all the more arresting when you consider that, over the last year, the members of Husky have become a family of their own. Spending countless hours in cramped quarters together has influenced not only their relationship as people, but their relationship with their songs as well.
“We all have our ways of escaping,” he says. “Books, films, music. When we can, we take some time out. Finding time to be on your own is important. It’s a little unnatural, four grown men at such close quarters all the time. But we are close friends and love and respect each other, and that also means we can tell each other when something is getting on our nerves. That’s important.”
“I think if anything (spending so much time together) has given us a kind of closeness and even a sort of telepathy when we play,” continues Gawenda, touching on how the closeness has impacted the songwriting process.
“We are like a unit now, we know what each other are thinking, we can anticipate each other’s next move. It’s made us tighter.”
That tightness will surely be heard in some of the new tracks Husky have been writing and may very well premiere at upcoming shows. The picturesque cities and towns Husky have been setting up shop in lend themselves to the subtle beauty within Husky’s roaming folk.
The road may not be the best place to pen new tracks, but Gawenda insists he’s been making the most with what he’s been given.
“Yeah I’ve been writing a lot,” he says. “The road is good and bad for writing. It can be hard to find the right time and space to write. But when you do, there’s plenty of scenery, outwardly and inwardly, to draw inspiration from.”
There’s a thoughtfulness in the way Gawenda details the last year, one heard in their music as well. Quintessential nice guys, Gawenda and Husky have proven that good things do indeed happen to good people. As much as the band has seen, they take nothing for granted. It was never their plan to take their music abroad, but they’re happy to continue.
“A dream, maybe,” he says. “A plan, no. I never planned any of this. We’ve already done so much more than I ever thought we would.”
BY JOSHUA KLOKE
