After achieving all they can at the vanguard of Australia's underground rock scene, Sunshine Coast psych-rockers Hobo Magic strike out for the fertile, live music lands in Europe.
“Australia's been awesome, it's one of the greatest countries in the world in our eyes,” Hobo Magic's drummer Luke Hanson says.
“We've met an insanely awesome group of musicians and just people from all over the country. I reckon Australia has some of the greatest rock & roll happening in the world at the moment.”
As good as it is, Luke says the band have reached a plateau in Australia and have decided to relocate to Europe to take advantage of being able to play more shows to more people. “Australia has been great to us, but there are unavoidable limitations to living here,” he says.
“Obviously it's so f...ing big and there's so much space between cities. We can play more shows to more people in Europe, and we want to be on the road constantly so it's way more financially viable to do that over there.”
Still a band that packs all their gear into a van and hits the road for long stretches at a time, Luke says the live scene in Europe and what it has to offer bands like Hobo Magic is much more conducive to what they want to achieve.
Added to that is a collective feeling among the band that they have accomplished all they can in Australia for the time being. “I think it's definitely a feeling you get, especially in niche music,” he says.
“That's a huge reason we want to make some moves because I don't want to be playing the same circuit for ten years in Australia. I reckon if we go to Europe and build up a fan base there, it's only going to help us when we come back home, which we will do regularly.”
Though clearly excited about the move to Europe, Luke is acutely aware that in Australia Hobo Magic are a big fish in a fairly small pond compared to the murky ocean that is the European live-music circuit.
“I haven't thought about that too much but that's definitely a thing,” he admits, “but we have friends over there and I'm not overly worried about that. We'll play to ten people at our first show probably and it will build from there. It's part of the fun.”
Hobo Magic quite literally say 'hooroo' to their Australian fans on their upcoming 'Hooroo' tour, which takes them around the country one last time before they bid us all 'bon voyage'.
Before they go, Luke assures fans Hobo Magic will most definitely be back. “It's a necessary thing that has to happen, but we're going to come back often and keep our Australian fans engaged because they built us from the ground up. So we owe them the world.”
Hobo Magic 'Hooroo' Australia Tour 2019
Fri 22 Mar - Hamilton Station (Newcastle)Sat 23 Mar - Frankie's Pizza By The Slice (Sydney)
Sun 24 Mar - El Sol (Sydney)
Thu 28 Mar - Young St Supper Club (Melbourne)
Fri 29 Mar - The Tote (Melbourne)
Sat 30 Mar - Barwon Club (Geelong)
Fri 5 Apr - The Northern (Byron Bay)
Sat 6 Apr - Mojo Burning Festival @ Hamilton Hotel (Brisbane)
Fri 26 Apr - Lefty's Old Time Music Hall (Brisbane)
Sat 27 Apr - Solbar (Sunshine Coast)
Sun 28Apr - Mo's Desert Clubhouse (Gold Coast)
