Layered with the eerie psychedelic sounds of ethereal guitars and lyrical quirks, Sydney’s Deep Sea Arcade have all the right technology to transport you to a dark, watery world of mystery and enchantment.
Like any strange and whimsical voyage into the deep sea of sound, it started spontaneous and unplanned when Nic McKenzie (keyboardist/ vocalist) started recording and writing songs at home with fellow deep sound explorer Nick Weaver (bass), when they were still fresh-faced, unassuming teenagers.
The humble beginnings of this compulsively quirky and imaginative project of psychedelic sounds was created using four-track tape recorders, broadcast microphones and unconventional computer effects that acted as a sinister backdrop to the pop-powered journey that was to become Deep Sea Arcade. With the addition of a drummer (Carlos Adura) and two indie-pop swordsmen (Tim Chamberlain and Simon Relf) a short while later, Deep Sea Arcade had a new haunting energy and sonic depth that was previously out of reach.
Their first single, ‘Crouch End’, came in 2008 and saw Triple J and a laundry list of community radio stations line up for airplay. Then in 2009 Deep Sea Arcade released their ‘Don’t Be Sorry’ EP, which propelled the band to the next level of musical fame.
Now Deep Sea Arcade are gearing up to play Bigsound and are adding the finishing touches to their much anticipated second album. “We're in the process of recording and finishing off the record; at the moment we are still mixing and recording and putting stuff down,” Nic McKenzie says. “We'll be releasing singles off the upcoming record. It will most probably be towards the end of the year, once we have played Bigsound and done Newtown Festival things will start happening and the album should hopefully be out the beginning of next year.
“We will be touring Australia and taking it overseas, definitely. We will hopefully be hitting the States for the first time next year too.” And as far as more festivals go? “We are due to play Parkpop Festival in the Netherlands, actually. But we will have to see what else pans out.”
While they’re in Australia finishing their album and having some well-deserved downtime from taking over the world with their enchanted pop-driven harmonies, these Beatles inspired artsy misfits are making a special appearance at Bigsound. “We played Bigsound the year before last. It was awesome; very keen to be back on the bill again. We curate our own night too called ‘Visions’ and we will be hosting a ‘Visions’ party in Brisbane for the first time which is also very exciting; it’s part of Bigsound and it’s at The Brightside on 11th September.
“We will be showcasing a whole bunch of new tunes from the album for the first time; it’s going to be really exciting and unpredictable.”
Although they are still young, Deep Sea Arcade show no signs of musical inexperience, instead they’ve crafted their talent into one of the most dynamic and individualistic sounds and show more experience on stage than Keith Richards – the opportunities they have had to play shows obviously shine through in their maturity and experience on stage. I guess you could say they’re almost bona fide rock stars. “I was in a park – Clifford Park in London's east – and we were all having a picnic and drinking champagne and then this little fluffy dog ran up to us and jumped in the middle of the picnic and started sticking its tongue in all the glasses and drinking the champagne,” Nic tells me about his best rock star moment.
“We turned around to see who owned the dog and strolling across the grass without a care in the world is Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream. We tell him that his dog just drank all our champagne and he just looked at us and said, 'Yep' and then just kept on walking.”
Deep Sea Arcade play Bigsound at The Elephant Hotel on Thursday 11th September, and Waywards in Sydney on Friday 3rd October.
