SAMETIME are the energy you need in your life.
The dance-pop sibling duo from Sunshine Coast have been exploding venues up and down the east coast, in between writing and collaborating non-stop.Working tirelessly is what Tim and Sam do best, and if their new music and gig reviews are anything to go by, it's paying off in spades. The brothers released their self-titled EP in 2018, a glorious ode to Tim's love of indie rock.
However, upon discovering The 1975, Sam was able to lure his brother over to dance-pop and the boys found their creative common ground.
"The 1975 got us into buying a computer and producing music ourselves. We explored different sounds, and discovered we like synthetic sounds and electronic drums," Tim explains.
"Before then, we had very different music tastes," Sam continues. "Tim was Arctic Monkeys and Oasis, and I was into pop, so we clashed a lot.
"That EP was a bit of a mixture between the two. Then we found The 1975. They're the first band we both loved.
"They inspired us to change the type of music we make, and that's how we've gotten to where we are now. The thing we love the most about dance music is playing live and seeing everyone jumping up and down and dancing."
SAMETIME released new track 'Golden' in July, and it seems each new evolution of their sound serves to make them more addictive.
Recent writing sessions with Cam Robertson (Glades), Banton Brothers and D.E.L. have left them bursting with inspiration. "Before the session with the D.E.L. boys, we watched LANY at the Hordern [in Sydney]. We noticed that not all their songs were upbeat and super hectic.
"They had some really nice, cruisy songs. So the next sessions we went into, we started working on some different flavours and sounds, different styles of writing. We want to make songs that give people a physical reaction, but are still cruisy.
"We might put out another body of work next year, but our main focus is to play live and build our fanbase the old-fashioned way. We're over relying heavily on streaming platforms and social media.
"Recently, a lot of artists are saying that algorithms are getting in the way of their art and creating music they're actually proud of.
"We definitely fell into that trap of forcing ourselves to create music for the algorithm. The next music we put out we will create solely to be proud of."
SAMETIME have had more crowd interaction than the average performer. Tim and Sam began busking at nine years of age, with their parents driving them around the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Gold Coast and as far south as Byron Bay to perform.
"We've played together for eleven years, and for seven, we busked every weekend. We constantly put ourselves out there.
"When we started making pop music, we thought we couldn't do that anymore. It took us a couple of months to realise we should go back to what we were doing, because it was working. And it was a lot more fun, because you could actually engage with people."
SAMETIME won Bluesfest's busking competition grommet title in 2014, before taking out the adults gong in 2018. Their Instagram sports an adorable photo of the young buskers, Tim on guitar and Sam on cajon.
"Tim started off busking by himself for a year," Sam says. "He won a competition and with the money, he bought me my first cajon. I've been drumming since grade one.
"Then we started busking together. Our dad taught us how to harmonise in the car. He made us sing the harmonies to every song on the radio.
"We went out every weekend, and started playing in the street and in random pubs. Then we realised 'hey lets make our own music'."
Live shows provide constant feedback for the boys to continue creating and expanding. "Every gig, we'll walk off stage and we'll say 'that part in that particular song worked' or 'that part didn't'.
"We're always talking about improving, especially with the live shows. We have a bit of everything – from guitar solos to soft pianos and single vocals.
"We always ask 'what was the best song tonight?'. It's always different, because each crowd is different. That's the cool thing about playing all these different venues, seeing people's reactions to different songs."
Crowds seem to fall in love with SAMETIME pretty quickly. "We recently did a gig in Newtown [Sydney], and everybody in the room was really into what we were doing.
"They were trying to sing the words even though they had no idea what they were. We really like people to have fun, to give people a fun night out, to entertain."
SAMETIME have even gotten a little too into their own performances from time to time. "At a recent gig, Tim started doing the robot dance. It was so random," Sam says. "We all looked back at the footage going 'what is this guy doing?'."
"I did break it out," Tim confirms. "It was the one gig on tour I had a couple of drinks before, usually I don't. For some reason, the robot happened. I didn't mean to do it, it just happened."
