“We’re in a band, and we have our own mockumentary series as well.”
Succinct and humble, Jamie Timony’s no-nonsense approach to introductions can leave one feeling a bit whiplashed. Especially considering the success These New South Whales have achieved in such a short amount of time.Sydney’s self-proclaimed ‘premier punk outfit’ are pioneers in their own right. These New South Whales are re-vamping a subcultural discourse by amalgamating an absurdist sitcom (think 'Flight Of The Conchords' meets 'Spinal Tap'), with their own signature style of nihilist punk.
The disparity between the satiric nature of their television series, and the introspective and politically-charged nature of their music is one of the band’s biggest assets: The four-piece keep their audience guessing at all times.
It is the band’s ability to play on this disparity, keeping the lines between what is fantastical and what is genuine so expertly blurred that cultivates so much buzz around These New South Whales.
“We like being a group with two projects that run parallel with one another,” enthuses Jamie, “different polarities, you know?
“From the start, we’ve been really lucky because we’ve never had to force anything with it. It has all come about just through hanging out, getting along and wanting to create things together. There's no deliberate trying to blur the lines, but the beauty of it is that it does. Each project has its own lane and it’s a really nice crossover.”
These New South Whales have been immersed in a slew of tours with a number of festival appearances upcoming. The boys are performing at Falls Lorne as well as Grampians Music Festival in February (bringing a refreshingly hard tinge to a largely indie line-up).
At the time of this interview (late November), Jamie and the band were mere minutes from getting on the road to play in Wollongong as part of their 'I Just Do What God Tells Me To Do' tour. “At the moment, we’re touring so it’s a lot of logistics and boring sh.t. We’ve got three shows this weekend, so we've been getting everything together for that. . . We spend a lot of time working on music and writing for the new season, too.”
There is seemingly no rest for the wicked, and there’s lots to say about These New South Whales’ work ethic. Not purely reserved for their high-octane live shows, the band’s creative energy is constantly operating at full throttle – the first season of their mockumentary was 100 per cent independent and funded out of their own pockets. “We did the first season independently and entirely DIY,” Jamie says.
“There were probably only about five to ten pre-production sessions where we all got together in a room with everyone and discussed really brief outlines for each episode. So each episode was two or three paragraphs on a page, and we shot an episode each day for six days. I had no idea what I was rocking up to on the first day of shooting – we were just mucking around.
“For the second season, we did it a bit more seriously in terms of planning. Again, it was all improvised but we spent a couple of months writing and planning, and a couple of months doing pre-production, and we shot the second season over three weeks, as opposed to one week. The editing process took approximately six months. . . and then we were pitching it to try and license it to someone.”
The licensing pitches landed the band a partnership with Comedy Central, and season two has picked up Roger O’Donnell (The Cure) as an executive producer. Impressive notches to add to your belt by anyone’s standards, but it was simply a natural progression for These New South Whales.
“We were really confident with what we made [season 2] once we saw it all edited, so we were confident we were going to be able to work with someone on it," Jamie says.
“Working with Roger was this weird coincidence: We had an interview with him while he was in Sydney with The Cure, and we stayed friends. It was this really nice, free flowing thing. But yeah, I’d say our expectations were really high because we were so proud of what we had created.”
As their busy year draws to a close, Jamie shares some insight as to what TNSW will be getting up to in 2020. “We’re going to be getting to work on our third record in January; slowly but surely getting season three written; we have also developed a new film project, and we have just shot the pilot for it. . . and maybe some international tours again.”
