“I’m very excited about it,” she enthuses. “This time we have a full week there, so between the shows we’ll be able to travel around, sightsee and be tourists, as well as be on the job.
“It’s another world there, and we’re looking forward to taking it all in.”
McDougall is expecting the hype to be even more amplified this time around: “It was pretty cool the first time,” she recalls. “I didn’t realise how we had fans there, except for Internet exposure. You know that when you’re not signed to a label, and you’re not being promoted, and you’ve never toured there before, the fans you do have there have sought you out. They might have just given you a chance, listened to your music, liked it, bought it and come to the shows.”
The difference between Aussie and Japanese rock fans became immediately apparent to her and the band during their live set.
“We had a lot of people singing along to the words of the first EP,” she remembers. “But when you finish the song, they’re silent and they’re waiting to hear you speak. It’s a really cool sense of respect; they also want to know what you have to say.”
On top of their Japanese jaunt, the band have the very exciting prospect of being on the Soundwave bill for the second time.
“We’re in the middle of writing an album,” she reveals, “and all these shows are pumping us up so much.
The last time we played there was three years ago, around the same time as we did Japan. We were quite burnt-out at the time: we’d been on the road for three months straight leading up to Soundwave, and at the time there were a lot of things happening internally within our team that were rocking the boat. I don’t think we really got to enjoy our first time on Soundwave.
“But since then, we’ve done a lot of things, and we’ve experienced a lot, and we’ve changed. We’re going to bring a different show to Soundwave this year.”
McDougall urges even fans of heavier music to come and check their band out at the festival, as she feels it may not be what they are anticipate from a female fronted pop-punk act.
“People tend to have a pre-conception of what a female fronted rock band will be like, how it’s going to sound, what kind of performance it’s going to be. I think that our aim is always to break those boundaries and surprise people.
“When we were growing up as a band, we were raised in a metal scene. Pop-punk didn’t exist in our local scene yet. We were listening to American bands playing this music, but no one was doing it in Australia, so the bands and the frontmen that I was looking up to were from metal and hardcore bands. Naturally, our performance is more heavy and aggressive in style.”
The band’s last album The Other Side, their second full-length release, came out in September 2013. It garnered much critical and fan acclaim, and was a commercial success. It’s certainly now time for a follow-up, and McDougall tells us that writing is well underway for their third LP. However, they’re taking the time they need to make sure it’s a step up from album number two.
“We’ve always been on a bit of a two-year cycle,” she states. “Every two years we have to put out an album, and we’re about to go in and make our third one. It’s actually quite nice, no one’s rushing us. Our team has said, ‘We want you guys to take your time.’
“It’s important that we get every element right, and make sure we outdo everything we’ve done in the past. I feel confident in the sounds that we’ve been developing in the new songs.”
BY ROD WHITFIELD
