Sydney garage-pop outfit Phantastic Ferniture may have started as a joke among friends, but with the release of their self-titled debut album they're taking things more seriously. Sort of.
“Look, I don't even know if we take it that seriously now in all honesty,” guitarist Liz Hughes says.“I suppose for me it was a complete joke, until our first rehearsal, which was also a joke. But I think we all had these serious folky projects and it was like when I was a kid and dreaming of being this loose rocker on stage, flailing about and turning my amp up loud and getting drunk and having a fun time.”
Even the name of their band is derived from a joke, but Liz says somehow it's been working for them. “I remember we were driving down Parramatta Road [in Sydney] and they have heaps of Fantastic Furniture signs along there,” Liz explains.
“We were just having a conversation about band names, which was our favourite topic at the time. We saw the sign and we were like – 'Fantastic Furniture', that would be hilarious, that would be a funny name. And then the go-to for joking around with band names is to either push the names together or have some little pun.
“We thought it was so ridiculous that no one would take us seriously, and everyone would be like 'oh my god, this is a terrible band name'. But weirdly, whenever anyone heard about it or saw it, people were always like 'this is great, what a cool band name', and we were like 'is it? Is it a cool band name?'.
"Like, we thought it was terrible and such a joke, but for some reason people like it. It still kind of baffles me.”
If that's the setup to the joke, here's the punchline: Phantastic Ferniture drop their self-titled debut album at the end of July, the follow-up to their first three singles 'F...in 'N' Rollin'', 'Gap Year' and newest track 'Bad Timing'.
Liz says the album gives a more well-rounded view of the sonic capabilities of Phantastic Ferniture with a few darker tracks on the record.
“The three singles that are out are more poppier and catchier numbers, I guess like fun, indie, airy pop songs, and there's probably like three darker, jammier numbers that are closer to five minutes as opposed to 3 minutes 30 seconds.”
To support the album release, Phantastic Ferniture will be on the road in August hoping to make some new fronds; I mean friends. According to Liz, audiences have a lot to look forward to from these shows.
“Fun, ferns, fantastic!” she promises, possibly infringing on corporate copyright.
“Usually people just sing-along and bounce around, and have a good time. They shouldn't expect any hectic guitar solos, it's all just good, fun pop-rock music.
"It does get pretty heavy sometimes, which surprises people because we've got some pretty riffy, jammy songs on the album which no one has really heard yet. And they're, I would say, a bit darker, which is really fun for us on stage – to get dirtier and grungier.”
'Phantastic Ferniture' is released 27 July.
Phantastic Ferniture Australia Tour 2018
Fri 17 Aug - The Foundry (Brisbane)Thu 23 Aug - Grace Emily Hotel (Adelaide)
Fri 24 Aug - The Gasometer Hotel (Melbourne)
Wed 29 Aug - Oxford Art Factory (Sydney)
