A DEAR SEATTLE DISCUSSION

Image courtesy of Dear Seattle

Sydney-based heroes Dear Seattle will be roaring into Lion Arts Factory on Friday September 23 to celebrate the launch of their sophomore album ‘Someday’ via Domestic Lala Records. Joining them will be Stumps, Horror My Friend and Sophisticated Dingo.

We had a great chat with vocalist Brae Fisher about all aspects of the record, the show at Lion Arts Factory, a very special 30th birthday and tours consisting of having barbecues with friends and fans.

I, along with probably hundreds of others at Lion Arts Factory am going to be pretty keen for you to be coming back to Adelaide. Have you always had a good time down in Adelaide?

Yeah, honestly, it's one of the ones that kind of took us by surprise. When we started to do Adelaide and Hobart, we just started to fall in love with them because I feel like they're the kinds of places where if you make the effort to go, the people are just really responsive and really thankful that you've actually taken the time. It just feels like it's becoming more and more one of our favourite places to play.

How would you describe the whole Dear Seattle journey from its humble beginnings to now? How would you sum it all up?

It's kind of interesting because I feel like a lot of people don't necessarily know that when we first started, we had a screamer in the band and I was just the backing vocalist. The first EP we released was more in the realm of melodic hardcore and that kind of thing. It kind of just didn't really do much for us. We were just kind of doing it to really just play shows with friends and maybe get free drinks at the local bar.

After a little while, because we're kind of just playing those songs because that was what we listened to; we hadn't really thought about the idea of creating something that was our own. It was a bit unique. And so, I think that was really the turning point in about 2016 when we decided we were going to start writing more of what we actually wanted to write as opposed to just what we listen to. That was when we wrote the self-titled EP, which kind of got picked up and that got us our break and kind of got us a bit of traction.

And from there, it's just been a matter of trying to stick to that and just making sure every release when it comes up, we're writing what we love and kind of serving ourselves first and foremost, because at the end of the day; if you're not serving yourself first when writing music, then there's not really much point in my opinion.

What would be some of the things that have changed since writing that record? And a second part to this question: Were those changes deliberate or were they more like a naturally progressing thing that just kind of happened?

Yeah, I guess it's always a balance of natural and deliberate. We kind of focused on the songwriting a bit more in terms of the nuance of it all and the subtlety in the first record. I feel like the songs kind of took a different shape and they sounded a certain way. Like they all kind of translate well into an acoustic fashion and also are just a bit more subtle and nuanced in the way that if you listen to it over and over again you start to pick up a little more every time rather than it just being an immediate slap you in the face.

It's so easy to just end up writing the same thing and come out with another record that is just a rehash of the same old stuff that you've done in the last one. So, I think we're really conscious of trying to avoid that.

On the line-ups and more the show, so stoked Horror My Friend are jumping on this tour. You both are such a good combo.

Yeah, we've known it for ages. I think we've only maybe played with them once before in Adelaide and it was so good. We're like ‘All right, we got to get them onto the whole tour for sure.’

Great pick. I'm going to apologize in advance for this incredibly s*** pun I just came up with this morning by the way-

[laughs] Never apologise for that.

Talk us through the special two of you guys and Stumps. 

[laughs] It's funny, actually. Obviously, any chance we could possibly get to tour with them would be amazing because my brother is the singer of the band and two of my best friends are the other two members of the band.

It's actually my brother's 30th birthday on the Perth show. When we were locking in the dates for the tour and got the routing and everything like that, my brain must have been so elsewhere, and I didn't realise that I was booking a show on the date of his birthday.

At the last minute, we were trying to find a main support. I was like, Stumps! 100%. Obviously. So, we can celebrate all together for those three weeks.  

I just love their bands so much as well. In my mind, they should be headlining, so it's cool to just have them on the tour and be able to see them every night and celebrate it with my best friends and my family.

One of the main messages I got from this album was it was just more about living in the now and taking stock and gratitude. In light of that, what would be on the horizon after this run?

After this run, we kind of have a lot of things in mind.

There are a few summer festivals that are coming up, which will obviously be awesome. Because in that time frame where we had the break between when we finished the masters and when we released the album. We had a bunch of B-sides on the record as well that we had written and put together. We went back in the studio and recorded all of them as well. After this, you're not going to have to wait this long for DS ever again.

I was reading in another interview that you guys want to do a barbecue tour. That is genius.

So, we've always wanted to do it around a tour, but to celebrate the launch of the album, we actually just did last weekend. We went to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and just did night after night doing barbecues and a little acoustic performance for everyone. We played a few songs off the new record and played the whole album over the speakers and stuff while we were cooking.

That is perfect. Literally, chuck on a Bunnings hat and get a carton. Sorted.

 [laughs] Can that just be the whole tour? I just want to do that.

 You got to do it in Adelaide. That’ll go off like pancakes.

 One day.

Tickets for Dear Seattle live at Lion Arts Factory on Friday September 23 are on sale here!

Words by Brad Rankin.