“Our music has a very positive vibe in our lyrics,” he says. “It’s about day-to-day living stuff – how you treat other people, what you do when you go out and setting examples for others. That vibe comes across in the music and people latch onto it.”
After coming together following high school, the band got into roots music and discovered their sound. A lineup change earlier this year saw Fisher move from rhythm guitar to bass, and the acquisition of Johnny Curran – brother of Jeff Curran of Dallas Frasca – to play additional guitar. It’s this lineup that wrote the as-yet unreleased single.
“He came and had a jam with us and it’s going really well,” Fisher says. “He had some neat little licks and just kind of fitted in. We’re just putting the final touches to [the single]; it’s called Dreamcatcher. We’ve got a heap of songs written, and it’s basically just a matter of narrowing them down at the moment.”
The band hails from Yandina – an area that Fisher says has helped shaped the band’s sound.
“We believe that where we live is one of the most beautiful places in Australia from what we’ve seen,” he says. “So we’re pretty lucky like that. There is a really strong roots music scene up here, and a lot of our influences that we draw locally come from other bands here and Brisbane bands that are similar to us. We’ve never had any issues or blues at our gigs. People just enjoy the vibe.”
Refreshingly in touch with social and racial issues, Fisher says a part of the band’s approach is to raise awareness of cultural respect and fairness.
“We’re really passionate about Indigenous culture in Australia,” he affirms. “We’ve got a very big connection to our local elders in our area – the Gubbi Gubbi people. We’re very well connected with those guys, and we think it’s really good as a young person these days to be culturally aware of what’s going on and what’s happened in the past. We don’t want to cause any arguments or anything like that, but we just want people to be aware of what’s happened here before and everything, so when you make your decision on cultural awareness [issues], you’re well educated, you know? A lot of people make uneducated comments about different things, but we believe it’s really important to know where you’re from and to know what happens.”
BY PAUL MCBRIDE
