After recently wrapping up their debut headline east-coast tour, Perth outfit Joan & The Giants are buzzing for what comes next – their showcase at BIGSOUND.
The band's vocalist, Grace Newton-Wordsworth, reflects on their recent tour. "The audiences were amazing, so much fun," she begins. "We had a few people singing along to the songs, and that was so wild because we'd never gone over there. So very new, and we travelled so much and did nine shows in twelve days – we were venturing into the unknown, but the shows went really well, and we can't wait to be coming back."
Joan & The Giants are taking big steps toward BIGSOUND, a marker for Grace perhaps more significant than her bandmates – the band is her baby. "I've been managing the band since 2019," she says, "but we got a new manager after the east-coast shows – my baby is stepping up, but in a way, it's super exciting because I'll have more time for creativity and songwriting."
With their achingly raw rock-ballad leanings, Joan & The Giants may well be placed as the most unique outfit on the BIGSOUND bill, and the prospect of exposing themselves is met with a nervous excitement from Grace. "I feel there are so many people, artists, so many industry people, and I've only faced that in smaller ways. I'm getting ready to join the big guns and I'm very scared!" Grace jokes.
Sharing not just their sound but their commitment to the crème de la crème of the music industry, Grace attests, is an opportunity Joan & The Giants will grab by the horns. "We've been working so hard over the last five, six years, and we're just ready to put on our best. We want to meet all the people we can and embrace new friendships, and make some new connections musically, so I have a positive attitude about it."
When it comes to crafting the overall production of sound, guitarist Aaron Birch (also Grace's partner) and producer Dylan Ollivierre work together, driving the group's sonic vision to its mesmerising finishing touches. "I'm more on the songwriting part, which is where my passion is," Grace says of her contributions. "Aaron's excited – he's from a very small, remote Indigenous community at the top of WA. He's been pushed out of his comfort zone a lot, travelling for music, but he absolutely loves it, he's really excited. Even from being from a small scene in WA, it's inclusive and beautiful over here, so I'm really hoping [BIGSOUND] feels like that."
Without that small scene, the support and intimacy that comes with it, Grace says Joan & The Giants may not have had their current opportunities. "We all know each other and have heard of each other [in WA], and really want each other to do well. There's space for everyone. It was surprising when we went over east – I was talking to the bands that supported us, saying, 'How's the scene over here?'; it seemed the bands that had supported us had tiny communities within a huge community. It's all really exciting!"
Joan & The Giants showcase at BIGSOUND at The Outpost 5 September (8pm) and Tomcat 7 September (11.15pm).
