“Back in the heyday, it was all sort of surreal starting out for us. We didn’t really expect to be playing university shows, or anything, really. I remember at one of our first shows it absolutely bucketed down and it was kind of hilarious to be sitting there seeing these people getting absolutely drenched while we were trying to go through the set.”
It took a number of years for the notoriously impenetrable Melbourne music scene to catch wind of the five-piece, but when it did their craft resonated with audiences on an international level. That said, The Paper Kites are the first to admit that they have much to learn from more seasoned performers. Dallas Green is one such example.
“You blink and next thing you know, you’re on a plane on our way over to the states, and we’re playing with Dallas Green and City and Colour and it was mind-blowing. We’d never been to the States before, so just seeing how City and Colour do it – a very tight-knit, professionally run band, getting to see all the behind-the-scenes stuff and playing in these amazing theatres and venues over there was mind-blowing.
“We’ll probably never experience that kind of thing again. We were definitely walking around wide eyed with our mouths open, just looking at all of the different things over there and the way things are done. It was a real learning curve for us. We’ve toured around with a few different acts here and there and we always try to grab inspiration or just ideas or that sort of thing from different acts we play with.”
In the wake of their success, The Paper Kites have had to devise techniques to curb their pre-show excitement, their upcoming national tour naturally being no exception.
“It can be very easy for us to get distracted or get excited, or lose sight of what we’re actually [at a show] to do; we can get caught up in the moment quite easily. We’re the kind of people who are high on life when playing a show. We just love it, so taking an hour or even half an hour beforehand just to sort of collect ourselves is important. Especially considering the type of music we play, it’s a little quieter – very involved. It’s not hyped up punk music where we can go nuts on stage.”
Hyped-up punk music though it is not – the intricacies of getting any band on the same page creatively comes with its own set of challenges. The Paper Kites do not take their intention to entertain lightly, and are considerate well beyond necessity in making every show run as smoothly as possible.
“We started rehearsals a while ago now. It’s really exciting, we’re starting to nut out all of the songs and the set list and the structure and that sort of stuff. It’s getting a bit more hectic as we come closer to it, and to be honest it can be a bit of a nightmare when we make a decision. We can ‘um and ah’ over it for days, weeks, months on end – even just sorting out band practices. We actually have a group on [mobile messaging app] ‘WhatsApp’, and it goes off about 60 times a day just communicating with each other.
“We try to collaborate and obviously make decisions as a group and I think that’s really important as a band, especially because we have five members. It’s key that everyone is involved in decision making, whether that’s, ‘Are we going to play this show?’ or ‘Are we going to play this song?’ right up to, ‘Which beer should we have on the rider?’ It’s kind of ridiculous. Maybe we take it too far, but I think too far is better than no communication, or just one person making all the decisions. As a band, we’re a bit over the top in that area.”
With a network of tens of thousands of people following them online and some music video clips well exceeding five million views on YouTube, The Paper Kites have made themselves serendipitously synonymous with thought-provoking, highly sharable video content. Their latest clip, Tenenbaum, has already received overwhelmingly positive feedback despite, or perhaps because of, the ambiguity of its narrative.
“Tenenbaum was done in Sydney. Sam Elliot, our lead singer, sort of took the artistic direction and then a friend of ours actually directed it. The clip itself is kind of open to your own interpretation. For me personally, it’s just got a guy in the car and he’s on his way to see a girl, and to me, I sort of relate that to a father-daughter relationship. It could be a boy-girl relationship, it could be a grandpa-granddaughter relationship, but for me it’s a father leaving his daughter. I guess the beauty of the clip is that it can be open to any explanation.”
As you could imagine, The Paper Kites have a phenomenal support base in Melbourne, and a special – if not somewhat paradoxical – relationship with it.
“We always end up playing Melbourne as our last leg of the tour. It’s great for us, because it means that we get a homecoming, playing to our family and friends and everyone at home who supports us.” I think we find it a bit more scary, a bit more daunting because we do know people in the crowd. We do have family and friends and people who have come to see us, so therefore we have to put on an excellent show. I’d actually feel more comfortable playing to 30,000 random people [than a small Melbourne gig], but not because it looks good or anything.
“I personally love not knowing anyone and I guess not caring, just sort of playing as if you’re free. I guess that’s sort of weird, but as for 15 sets of eyes looking at you knowing exactly what you’re thinking and what’s going through your head, it kind of gives you that weird feeling that you better perform well or you’ll look bad. But nah, it’s great. We love playing in Melbourne. We’ve played lots of our shows here from the beginning, right up to where we are now and we’re so grateful for the support Melbourne has shown us. It’s the best city in Australia, I reckon.”
BY ALISON ERLANGER
