The band have spent much of the last year playing shows across the UK, Europe and North America. With just two intimate shows scheduled for this particular tour – one in Sydney and one in Melbourne – the band are preparing to charter into unknown territory.
“Different countries receive your music differently,” says Hamson Jr. “We did this really long tour with Chvches last October in Europe. You know, you travel 200 miles through different cultures and they react to your music so differently. How our music is received is such a big part of it.”
The birth of Thumpers was all about timing. Long time friends and bandmates, Hamson Jr. and Pepperell had spend countless years playing together in London’s underground indie scene. But after a rather unpleasant encounter with the business side of the music industry, they both found themselves needing to take time away from music. Hamson Jr. eventually found himself playing as a session drummer, playing live for Friendly Fires. Yet he was never quite able to find the same musical connection he had had with Pepperell.
“When you’re playing other people’s music, its brilliant because there’s no strings attached, you just do all the fun stuff,” he says. “Like doing Glastonbury or whatever, there’s a shit load of people but it’s not for you, there’s a bit of emptiness to it. That (connection) is the kind of thing I missed I suppose.”
It wasn’t long before the two friends began swapping ideas and sending demo tracks back and forth. Their friendship served them well, allowing the duo to reach their creative potential, but also enhancing their working relationship.
“When you’re touring with other people, it’s really hard. It takes so long to get to know each other and to trust each other I guess. So it’s good just to have someone that you know inside out and you can look out for each other,” says Hamson Jr. “I feel like we’re very honest with each other and I think that’s why you can have like two people being the creative force. But definitely things take slightly longer when you’re recording because all the ideas have to come from two people.”
This fact didn’t prove a hurdle for Thumpers. After some initial recordings and live shows, the band began to play a number of increasingly high profile support slots. Then, enlisting the services of producer David Koston, the duo went into the studio to record their debut album Galore.
“He (Koston) was at the top of our list,” admits Hamson Jnr. “Just because we loved the stuff he had done with Bat for Lashes and Everything Everything. It was just really relaxed. He’s got such good taste and sort of reined us in when we were doing too much. It was a really good experience.”
The result is a modern alt-pop record. It’s a record teaming with catchy, melodic pop songs, yet one which contrasts this with the use of unconventional drum sounds, rhythms and layered synths.
“That sort of drum sound, it’s all really triple tracked and layered up, just to create something a bit weirder,” admits Hamson Jr. “I guess the songs are so poppy that to offset that pop-ness, we like them being really melodic but then having stuff that’s quite harsh sounding as well. I think the synth is really similar. It can be really lush or really hard as well.” It’s a record that’s put Thumpers on the map and on the road to Australia.
BY JAMES NICOLI
