After a triumphant return from Nashville armed with their new single ‘Weakness’, Brisbane trio Dozzi are feeling stronger than ever.
Backed by the team behind P!nk, Christina Aguilera and Billy Ray Cyrus, sisters Nina, Andrea and Jesse — collectively known by their surname, Dozzi — are ready to bring their country-flavoured pop to the masses.
Their upcoming album, ‘Risk It All’, was written and recorded in Nashville, which proved to be the perfect setting for Dozzi to stretch their legs creatively. “You can go out every night to a different music venue, even on a Monday night and someone's playing original music and people are there listening. It’s definitely an inspirational place to write,” Jesse says.One of the songs the sisters recorded Stateside was inspired by a real life, family event, with the trio finding solace in the process. “There’s a song we wrote about a cousin of ours who was in a terrible car accident a few years ago. We really drew on that experience and wrote a whole song about it, which was sort of cathartic for us,” Jesse admits.
The siblings’ telepathic understanding of one another means help is always at hand if inspiration dries up. “It helps having three of us — three sisters. If I come up with a verse and I can't hit the chorus right or I get stuck for ideas then I go to them and play it for them and they’ve always got something new to bring to it.”
Of course spending so much time working with your siblings can occasionally lead to friction in the ranks. “We definitely have our moments, especially if we haven't had enough food or sleep. We get 'hangry’ as they say! But if we do have a fight about something, ten minutes later we're over it and we are talking about something else, so there are pros and cons to [working with your sisters] but it’s enjoyable most of the time!”
When the three sisters decided to go professional their parents, who were full-time musicians, had plenty of advice about entering the music industry. “They said ‘if you really want to do this as a career and try and make it to the big-time, then you've really got to sacrifice everything to get there’. They definitely warned us about that from the beginning. But they also understand what it’s like when it’s in your blood and you can’t think of doing anything else in life, so they were very supportive.”
Jesse recalls how she and her sisters were influenced by the style of music their parents had a true passion for, even if they had to play other people’s songs to pay the bills. “They would play a lot of cover music at night, which was their main income. But during the day Dad would write country songs. That’s where the songwriting came from for us and that’s what made us fall in love with country music.”
The label of ‘country’ can be off-putting for music fans, but Dozzi are on a mission to lift the stigma. “I do think people have preconceived ideas of what country music is … A lot of people come to us and say ‘I don't like country music but I like you guys!’ and we'll say ‘well we are country music so you do like it!’ It’s just a case of giving it a go.”
With a relentless touring schedule this year, the rest of the world now beckons. “We've got the travel bug so we'd love hit Europe at some point or even go to Asia. Anywhere our music takes us we'll head there!”
Dozzi play at The Green Room in Eumundi on 11th October. Dozzie will also be performing at the Mud Balls & Music Festival at the XXXX Club Country Bar in Jimna on 30th October, and on the Rum Main Stage in Bundaberg on 31st October.
