New single, All These Words has been aptly described as an exploration of nostalgia. With echoes of Phil Spector in the production and a voice at the realm to rival Florence Welch’s, we hear a band very much evolved from the Tully on Tully we swooned for back in 2011.
“We have [totally] rebranded,” says Foster. “We got a new logo, we got new photos taken. We’ve just changed everything. Our sound has evolved and now our image is following suit.
“Singing about nostalgia, telling stories of nostalgia – it’s all very much a part of growing up,” she continues. “Listening to our old stuff, I’m like, ‘I know who I am now.’ I don’t know if I did so much [when we started]. Now, it’s still us, but we almost have a tiny bit of a punk influence. We certainly have more attitude.”
If the new release’s reception is anything to go by, Tully on Tully are definitely moving in the right direction.
“We have had some good responses from it,” she enthuses. “[triple j’s] Dom Alessio has been a king. He’s played it and reviewed it, saying it’s beautiful and anthemic and hopeful. It feels good listening to all the feedback everyone’s been giving.”
In preparation for their up coming EP, the five-piece sought assistance from esteemed producer Tony Buchen (Andy Bull, The Preatures, Megan Washington) for two out of four tracks (the other two were self-produced).
“It was an amazing experience. A real eye-opener,” she says. “Of course, we had a loose idea of how we wanted our tracks to sound before we collaborated with him, but he was incredibly switched on and just ‘got’ us.”
With the band’s maturity has come a new direction and an exploration of a new side to their sonic pallet. With Buchen’s influence, Tully on Tully have developed a more comfortable, confident and unapologetically audacious sound. It’s with this natural maturity that the outfit have found harmony in their inter band dynamic.
“We go by a ‘majority rules’ philosophy. We always try to cater for everyone who disagrees, and see if there is some way we can do something better. There’s no hierarchy in our band. Everyone has an equal part in everything.” While Foster’s powerful vocals may be the forefront of their sound, she stresses this is a band that is moving forward unanimously.
“It’s not [just] me driving this thing. It’s not any one of us,” she says. “I don’t write the lyrics until the song comes together, and we all write the song together… If I write lyrics beforehand, then just try to wrap music around the lyrics, it doesn’t seem as authentic. You gotta feel it.”
In the first leg of an Australian tour, spanning just over six weeks, it’s reassuring to know the group knows their way around long journeys and living in each other’s faces.
“[During this tour] we will all squeeze into a nice little sedan,” says Foster. “We’ll be spending a lot of time together, but we actually don’t hate each other after it.”
The down-to-earth colloquialism that Tully on Tully embody translates well to the smaller festivals they frequent. Foster expressed her disappointment at the discontinuation of charming little festival, Inca Roads, which the band supported in their humble beginnings.
“We love playing at little festivals. I think they are an amazing platform for smaller artists to get exposure to playing bigger gigs, and performing for groups of people that they wouldn’t have the chance to otherwise. They are a great stepping stone,” she says. “After we played at a few bigger international gigs [New York, Singapore, Canada] it changed the whole way we went about songwriting. There was a time when we really wrote music for ourselves, but when you have a bigger audience in mind after physically experiencing them, you tend to take them into consideration when you write.”
The experiences Foster and Co. have picked up along the way have been instrumental in forming their sultry, intricate and confident musical texture. As for what’s to come for Tully on Tully, the sky seems to be the limit.
“We’re going to keep going, keep making music and keep playing shows overseas and in the country,” she states. “Everything seems possible at the moment and that’s a really good place to be in.”
BY ALISON ERLANGER
