With a psychedelic, rock & roll, blues and pop mixture, the boys from Baskervillain aren't ready to let go of the '60s and '70s just yet.
Having only started gigging in August last year, the four-piece Brisbane band are amped to be playing the Kaleidoscope Festival this Saturday. Alongside acts like LeSuits, The Royal Artillery, Big Dead and WAAX, the lads are sure to deliver an energetic performance. Teasing us last year with their single 'Walls', they recently announced on Facebook they'll be launching their EP on October 2.
With exposure via Triple J's Unearthed, the band have already received airtime on international radio. Lachy Giddings, Baskervillain's drummer, says they made their music free to download online, using Soundcloud to spread their name. “We got it shared around in Peru and the Maldives and Germany, I think in the UK a bit from family and the US as well. It's only on a small level but we thought let's just get it out to people.”
On the local front, the band have already begun to make waves with a string of shows. Their live performances hark back to the halcyon days of pysch rock. “We really love old school bands like The Doors, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, all that sort of stuff, Pink Floyd. The guitarists are very into their blues. We also like quite a lot of modern bands like Tame Impala, Pond, Grizzly Bear.”
As a group, their writing process is very collaborative. “Usually someone brings an idea to the table and then we'll work on it together,” Lachy says. “We find that's the most natural and organic process for us. That way we don't have to force it, we like to just tap into something and let it come out.
“I think generally we write music first and then incorporate the lyrics for the vocal melodies. But sometimes someone will have an idea of the lyrics already, it just depends from song to song. I guess we don't stick to one process, although generally it's pretty collaborative — it's different for every song we write.”
Like their first single 'Walls', most of the music the band records is done so in one live sitting, with only vocals overdubbed. “We really wanted our first release to be fairly close to what we play live, fairly honest and not trying to make it something that we've produced too much.”
“We've basically got half the songs that have been recorded live and the other half have been recorded separately. It's pretty true to the live experience, I mean studios are always going to be different because of the environment and the vibe in there.”
After entering The City Sounds 'Amplify' competition and receiving over 700 votes earlier this year, the band was shortlisted to the top five. Although they missed out on the title, they say they won't let it get in the way of their love for making music. “We were really glad just to have the opportunity, it was a good experience to get into a competition with so many Brisbane bands. To get as far as we did, it's pretty good. We're really happy with that.”
With all the gigging they've been doing, Lachy says they're excited to get back into the studio. They even hope to one day experiment with a keyboardist. “We're planning to take some time to write more songs, maybe do a trip away, just spend some time jamming. Getting back to the music 'cause we've been gigging and working quite hard so we're looking forward to taking some time just to get back to it.”
