deerRepublic hails from the Sydney’s live scene and in early 2012, the boys set out to harness the power and excitement of their live shows onto their debut EP release. Not an easy task, they enlisted the skills of Jean-Paul Fung (Last Dinosaurs) to record and acclaimed producer Scott Horscroft (The Sleepy Jackson, The Presets, Birds of Tokyo) to mix the release. And the result is “The Sweet Resistance”, combining hypnotic melodies with instinctive rhythm, the debut EP is a collection of four tracks and showcases
The four piece were invited to take over the coveted Saturday residency spot at the Beresford Hotel each week of July, winning over a new legion of fans and maintaining their reputation as one of Sydney’s most exciting up and coming artists.
This is now the second time the boys have worked with Scott, after being tracked down by the producer in 2011, to record their debut single ‘Feel Like Dancing’. The track gained strong support in from notable quarters, receiving airplay on triple j and community radio nationally. It also put deerRepublic on the radar of taste-maker bloggers around the world including The Music Ninja. “It’s hard to resist the three and a half minute gem that, despite the weather, will warm the mind” (Partyaids TV).
The fact that this was the band’s first single may seem surprising given they had already been playlisted on Sydney’s FBi radio with some of their demo tracks, including the infections ‘Need To Know’. ‘Need To Know’ also gained the attention of RAC Maury of the renowned RAC remix crew – responsible for remixing some of the worlds’ biggest artists including Phoenix, Death Cab For Cutie and Tokyo Police Club – who produced a remix of the track.
You’ve just released the film clip for ‘Young Reverie’ that was filmed in the snow, how was that experience?
Surprisingly it can be quite difficult to convince film folk to venture down to the snowy mountains over a weekend to film a clip on an indie budget, but the lads at Youeni Agency had the vision and we were right behind them. Our film crew were awesome.
However, not until we saw the first cut of the clip did we truly appreciate how the elements came together. It somehow then made sense to throw Mike (singer) down a mountain face, off a cliff and eventually into lake Jindabyne.
If you had carte blanche, what would your ideal film clip feature?
We love the snow so the only element we truly missed was a camera drone (unmanned aerial vehicle). The Director had some epic ideas we will now have to implement in the next clip.
In addition we would have hired a sasquatch and definitely gone heli-boarding in Japan.
Your EP Sweet Resistance was released last month, are you happy with how it turned out?
It was a long process but definitely worth the wait, we are stoked with our debut EP.
Considering you’ve worked with Scott Horscroft on a couple of occasions now are there other producers you would like to work with?
Scott and Jean-Paul Fung are incredible and there are other great producers in Australia but if we cast an eye offshore I think Andy Wallace would top our list.
You did a Saturday residency at Sydney’s Beresford Hotel, how do you keep the punters returning week after week?
The Beresford is a really sweet gig, and Tony Gosden (Even Manager) lined up a great bill for each show which made life easy.
We always mix up the set list and leave the stage exhausted so hopefully that resonates with the audience.
What music is inspiring you right now?
It depends on who you ask in the band really: Mike is into Gossamer by Passion Pit, Moeaki is right into Grizzly Bear, Chris loves folk and Nick is probably still listening to Keith Moon or John Bonham.
If you could curate your own festival, where would it be, who would be on the bill?
To be honest I think there are enough festivals around, but the pick of the bunch would be Coachella, Roskilde Festival or Summerfest. We would love to play alongside Passion Pit, Field Report, Arcade Fire, Reptar, At The Drive In, Grizzly Bear, The Ruebens, Kimbra, Knife Party and the list goes on…
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with? Tell us why?
Knife Party, as there is no telling what would come out of the studio and we dig their sound.
Do you have any particular ritual before you go on stage, or even a lucky charm you take with you?
Before every show we huddle and breathe in unison, its helps focus those in the group on vodka and cider.
Are there plans to begin working on an album soon?
We plan to head into our guitarists home studio to record some singles before we focus on an album, but it’s in the pipeline.
Where we can see you play next? [Feel include links, dates, album titles etc.]
We are launching our EP this Friday night – Friday 21st September @ Oxford Arts Factory (Gallery Bar) from 8:30pm. Free entry.
Followed by Yours&Owls in Wollongong on Wednesday 26th September from 8:30pm.
