he ball just keeps rolling Melbourne’s premiere soul band Saskwatch, after a busy year winning hearts and starting parties at Golden Plains & Meredith Music Festivals, a sold out LP tour and a debut UK tour in 2012. In the later part of the year Saskwatch & Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring / Total Control), a gritty track that brings a whole new layer of garage rock to the band’s ever evolving soul sound. We have a chat with the MElbourne soulsters about life on the road, Glastonbury and 2014.
Let’s go back to the beginning for a second. How did you all meet, and when did Saskwatch evolve from a busking act to a full-fledged live band?
We all kind of met through Uni, and some people played in bands together. It started off as a way to get money in between and after classes at Uni, most of us were studying at VCA and Flinders St station was pretty close. There were around 20 people who loosely turned up and played there. Vince Peach who DJs the soul in the Basement night at Cherry and is on PBS was walking past one day and asked us if we wanted to play on his show. We did. Nick who plays trumpet came up with Saskwatch, and from there, the name stuck and we wound up playing soul night at Cherry for the next three years.
What was it like when you first began to make the transition from playing on the street to playing in front of packed venues?
To be honest, it was a really gradual transition. We spent a year or two playing to (half) empty rooms, slowly building up our own songs, our live show and playing for peanuts. We rehearsed every week and tried to get better and better. Gradually, we started to get a whole heap of people down to Cherry on a Thursday and then they started coming to our other shows too! That was pretty cool.
It’s so good to see you back with a brand new single. ‘Hands’ has been getting some serious plays recently, and it’s been the perfect track to help usher in the warmer weather. What was the inspiration behind the track’s playful sound?
Thanks! Hands is a song written about putting yourself out there in a relationship and sort of accepting whatever comes. I think it’s ‘fun’ aspect comes a lot from the input of Jarrad Brown (Eagle and the Worm) who helped produce Hands and Not Ready Yet (B-Side). He really had some strong ideas he wanted to incorporate, and we’re really happy with how it came out.
Does your newer material differ to the sound of last year’s debut album, Leave It All Behind?
Yeah I think it kind of does. But I can never tell anyway. We’re not exactly the same people we were in the two or three years building up to Leave It All Behind. I think the new album has taken on a lot more varied interests but it’s still Soul influenced. We just try and play music that’s fun and that we like. That’s pretty boring to hear I guess though…
2013 has been filled with lots of highlights, but one in particular stands out from the rest. How was Glastonbury?
Out of this world. There are not many ways that you can describe Glastonbury mostly because the sheer size of the festival is bigger that anything we have here in Australia and the acts there we ridiculous. We woke up with The Hives one morning and finished the night watching The Arctic Monkeys. There were places that were completely dedicated to what their theme was for example, one area called the park had heaps of tents with stages in them and a place called ‘The Rabbit Hole’ where you had to write in Alice’s (in Wonderland) book before crawling through a hole to get to the bar which had a lit up dance floor.
Putting Glastonbury aside, have there been any other moments this year that made you sort of pause and pinch yourself?
We loved being at Glastonbury but, my favourite moment was when we played in Madrid, for the Black is Back festival. No one knew who were and we were almost half way through the set when Rob told them that it was Ed’s birthday that day. It was pretty much a passing comment but unexpectedly, the crowd broke out into happy birthday in Spanish at the top of their lunges. We met some pretty amazing people while we were over there.
Your European adventure was made possible through crowdfunding on Pozible. What was it like getting such a huge response from your fans?
Humbling, to say the least. We weren’t sure if we would even get close to our goal or how our fans would react. It really surprised us that we had so much support and people were willing to help us accomplish a dream so big.
You’re finishing off the year with a 12-date national tour through November and December. What’s it like touring on the road as a full nine-piece? Does it get crowded on the rider?
Yeah, at times the rider has to be spread a little thin. Having a big band means that things like flights and hotel rooms are a bit full on to sort out but, having such a large group also means that you don’t really get on each others nerves as much.
You’ve been one of the most in-demand local acts in recent times, but for those sad souls who haven’t managed to catch you live before, how would you describe the shows?
I think we just try to have fun and make sure the audience has a good time too. Hopefully the music isn’t too bad either.
What’s next in store for Saskwatch after the upcoming national tour? How’s 2014 looking?
2014 is looking pretty good. We will have a new album out, that we’re working on right now and hopefully we’ll be playing more festivals, touring and maybe go overseas again.
Saskwatch 2013 Australian Tour
Wed 27 Nov – Sosueme @ Beach Road Hotel, Bondi, NSW
w/ Sons et al, DJ Bobby Gray, DJ Bernie Dingo & DJ Hopophonics
Free Event
Thur28 Nov – The Small Ballroom, Newcastle, NSW
w/ Fraser A Gorman
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au | 1300 762 545 | All Oztix outlets
Fri 29 Nov – GoodGod Small Club, Sydney, NSW
w/ Naughty Rappers Collective & Fraser A Gorman
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au | 1300 GET TIX | All Moshtix outlets
Sat 7 Dec – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
w/ Atolls, Fraser A Gorman, DJ Chris Gill and Horns of Leroy
Tickets available from www.cornerhotel.com | 03 9427 9198 | From The Corner Hotel box office
