There’s always something endearing about a band that wholeheartedly showcases their influences in their music.
Meet Sixth Avenue, a Western Australian four-piece that adore early ’00s Australian rock royalty like Kisschasy and Silverchair, and want to bring even just a tiny sliver of that halcyon era to 2023.
After making waves across their home state with their 2021 EP So Temperamental, Sixth Avenue recently released its follow-up, readmymind., an eight-track collection bursting with youthful energy and nostalgic patterns.
Sixth Avenue’s newest EP is filled with emotive alternative rock, the tracks splashing indie and emo together to become highly infectious anthems. The vocals are earnest and passionate; the songwriting is sensitive and sincere.
Having completed their first headline tour across WA late last year, readmymind. signals a band ready to grace bigger stages across the country. The type of guitar-driven music that Sixth Avenue deal in never goes out of fashion, particularly on the Australian festival circuit.
Following the release of their new EP, Tone Deaf caught up with Sixth Avenue as part of our Get to Know series to find out more about them.
Sixth Avenue’s readmymind. is out now.
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How did your artist name come about?
The band’s name comes from a Jakob Dylan song, “6th Avenue Heartache”. We tossed around a few different ideas early days but this one stuck. Notable mentions included ‘The Off State’ and ‘The Penguins’.
How would you describe your music to your grandma?
I’m not sure she’d get much out of it, that loud excuse for music those youngens call ‘punk’ I guess.
Tell us about a few of your tracks; their titles and what they’re about?
“23” was written towards the later stages of writing for the EP and is a definite step into a more indie direction for us, feeling like a coming of age movie from the ’90s in which I talk a little bit about the passage of time and getting older in a modern world of digital permanence and two-second attention spans.
“Bleach” is a song which can be described using broad strokes as a ‘breakup’ song. However, it’s more of a statement towards how difficult it can be to accept the change that life will constantly throw at you. It’s about rolling with the punches, and saying it’s ok to be angry about things. It’s that spiteful energy that makes it so fun to play live, I think.
“Doubt It” is the opening track to the EP and can best be described sonically as our homage to the bands that came out of the early 2000s Aussie punk scene (Kisschasy, Silverchair), which have formed so much of an influence on our sound and lives in general!
What do you love about your hometown?
What makes Perth so great is also its downfall – it’s just so goddamn isolated. A tonne of personal space, but can be a bit lonely. Great beaches though.
Career highlight so far?
The British India tour is definitely a highlight. Sidefest is also up there, being a part of such a stacked lineup of touring acts in our town was nothing short of incredible.
Fave non-music hobby?
We’re all nerds and when we’re not rehearsing or gigging you can catch us studying at uni or writing and practising our parts. We’re also not very sporty. I guess it just boils down to talking shit and sinking beers.
What’s on your dream rider?
Any form of pastry or Italian dessert – give me cannoli and I’m all yours.
Dream music collaboration?
It’s such a hard one but for me it’s always been Jeff Buckley. I owe a sizeable fraction of my songwriting vocabulary to that man, who’s entire catalogue has been a backdrop throughout my whole life, especially as a young adult.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Hopefully still healthy and kicking, not sure if we’ll be gigging but hopefully creating music together in some capacity.
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
“Iris” by Goo Goo Dolls, for sure. Nothing else even comes close, that chorus is just so huge.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
To find what you love, and let it kill you.
What’s one obsession you have that no one would guess after listening to your music?
What a good one to end on! We’re really into the art and photography side of things as well as our music – and have a slight (somewhat expensive) obsession towards analog photography as we each own and shoot using film cameras ourselves.
There’s something about how the world gets captured on film that’s so beautiful and intriguing – all our press shots and album artwork as of late have been shot on film (shout out to Luke Moore AKA Trash Camera, the analog king).
