Melbourne psych-rockers Lurch & Chief have had a busy couple of years.
With a handful of east-coast shows under their belt and their first EP, 'Wiped Out', gaining them a growing legion of followers, the band have been going from strength to strength. Fast forward to 2015 and the band are ready to release their second EP, 'Breathe', to an ever-expanding fan-base.
To celebrate the release of Breathe, out today (27 March), the band is about to embark on their first ever, national tour. Hayden Somerville, better known as 'Chief', says the band is excited but also starting to get stressed about the tour. “I can't wait. Tours are always stressful – obviously we still have to work during the week and you know, you're sort of always half living at home, half not living anywhere, but I love doing shows and I'm more excited than ever to do shows where we've never been before, just to see what the reaction is like.”
The group are also looking forward to getting the chance to duck out and see the sights and sounds of Perth. “Perth is such a beautiful place and we're all gonna try and duck out in between shows to do our own thing. We've done a lot of the east coast, which has been magic, but this has been the first time that we're jumping all the way across to Perth, Fremantle, Margaret River so it's the first national tour we've done, yeah.”
The culmination of intense, 12-hour recording sessions that Chief says made quite a noticeable change in the sound – for the better – The 'Breathe' EP has come a long way from the band's original release. “I definitely see a change in the sound. I think there's a lot more to the new EP. The 'Wiped Out' EP seems now, looking back, very stripped back and rushed. And the music on that was very simple compared to the newer stuff.
“Just having the time to go away and to concentrate and then the time to record has been a step in the right direction and something I'm really enjoying at the moment. I can't wait for the EP to come out at the moment, I'm really interested in seeing how it goes.”
The recording sessions in a remote, recording studio in rural Victorian played a big part in the overall sound of the new EP, giving the band a chance to really focus on recording without any distractions. “We went away to a national park in Victoria for two weeks to just hang out with each other with no distractions and recorded in another intense two-week period. It was just amazing. Just purely focusing on the music and our recording process and our writing process without having any distractions in between,” Chief says.
The band has had a huge boost in exposure thanks to Triple J, with the band noticing a big difference in the number of fans they have at their live shows – even in regional areas. “I mean getting on a national radio station such as Triple J – you see it when you go out to your regional shows or you go interstate and people know the songs.
“One of the most surprising times for me was before we released 'Wiped Out', we did a gig up in Brisbane, just supporting a local act up there with only a handful of people. The next time we got up was a year or a year and a half later and we were playing to a full house, so it's really quite mindblowing.”
Despite performing at larger festivals and gigs, Lurch & Chief still prefer to play the smaller, more intimate shows every once in a while, mainly because the gigs are a lot more relaxed – not just in terms of the atmosphere, but in terms of the enforcement of rules too. “The less rules the better I think with gigs,” Chief says.
“We've done a lot of bigger festivals and things but I think that a lot of boutique and smaller festivals – where there's not a lot of rules, it's nice having that freedom where everyone is just sort of hanging out, rather than just saying 'here is the next act'. It's nice being able to hang out with people and do your own thing.”
The band aims to have a full-length album out in the near future, but for the time being are focusing on the live shows. “It's on the bucket list – putting out an album. That's the absolute dream, but I think it needs a huge commitment. We haven't got the EP out yet, so we'll do it one step at a time, but we're always constantly writing, and that's something that's never gonna stop.”
'Breathe' is released on 27 March.
Written by Matthew Sales
Lurch & Chief Tour Dates
Fri 8 May - Workers Club (Geelong)Sat 9 May - Howler (Melbourne)
Thu 14 May - Karova Lounge (Ballarat)
Fri 15 May - Rocket Bar (Adelaide)
Sat 16 May - The Loft (Warnambool)
Thu 21 May - Moonshine (Sydney)
Fri 22 May - Newtown Social Club (Sydney)
Sat 23 May - Transit Bar (Canberra)
Wed 27 May - Small Ballroom (Newcastle)
Fri 29 May - The Brightside (Brisbane)
Sat 30 May - Great Northern (Byron Bay)
Thu 4 Jun - Prince Of Wales (Bunbury)
Fri 5 Jun - Settlers Tavern (Margaret River)
Sat 6 Jun - Mojo's (Fremantle)
Sun 7 Jun - Four5Nine (Perth)
