Preparations for a chat with TOWNS matches the aesthetic of the Adelaide duo, one of rough-around-the-edges punk rock.
"Yes, that is us – this is rough, we're always pretty rough," one half of the outfit, Aston says. "We're pretty unfinished, still figuring out our way in life."Not a bad thing though to be a little rugged, because it's served TOWNS pretty well in their career thus far.
The pair have gained a fair bit of traction, which led to them landing on the bill for inaugural Adelaide two-day festival Harvest Rock, on the same bill with none other than Jack White; doesn't get much sweeter than that.
"When we got the [Harvest Rock] offer, our manager mentioned a couple of [band] names and left out some of the big ones on purpose," Aston says.
"When we saw the poster for the first time, we were like 'I'm sure this was an accident, I'm sure they were looking for maybe The Beatles or someone else’, but they got us!"
The Harvest Rock line-up is insanely good. The aforementioned Jack White (in his only Australian appearance) joins Crowded House, The Black Crowes, Sam Fender, Tones And I, Avalanches and a heap more.
When Aston looks at this eclectic mix of international and homegrown artists, and then at what TOWNS have been doing thus far, he pinches himself.
"Sam Fender was actually a big inspiration to us musically," he begins. "I have a note on my phone of dream artists that we'd love to play with, and Sam Fender is on that list! That was huge.
"It was crazy getting the offer, once again, because we were like 'Oh, this is such a great opportunity for us to play in front of people who've never heard of us' because that's our favourite thing to do – it's always a fun game to try and win over people who have no idea who you are."
For people who don't know about TOWNS, Aston says their brand of punk rock will work lovely with the blended crockpot of genres on the Harvest Rock bill. "This line-up is insane because there is something for everyone," Aston says.
"You could show every single person in Australia this line-up and they would know at least one artist – that is pretty much a guarantee.
"It's so inclusive, such a diverse line-up. I think everyone got used to the same line-up on a lot of these big festivals for so long with COVID, it was pretty limited on who we could get over and who could tour, so this alone is huge.
"In terms of us on the line-up, it's crazy. As a band, we don't take ourselves too seriously, but then being on something like this, you have to also take it seriously. But we're doing it to have fun, and that's obviously what got us to where we are now.
"We're not going to change that too much; we'll probably just be our usual selves. We're not the kind of band to prepare for months in advance for this and be like 'this needs to be the best thing we've ever done'.
"We're just going to be our usual selves and I think that's why we're there, and hopefully people enjoy it, and if they don't, we're having fun and that's the whole point."
TOWNS play Harvest Rock in Adelaide, which runs 19-20 November. The festival also features Groove Armada, The Lumineers, Khruangbin, Angus & Julia Stone, Hot Chip, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Courtney Barnett, Cat Power and many, many more.
TOWNS 2022 Tour Dates
Fri 9 Dec - Urban Sports Fest @ Carrara Stadium (Gold Coast)Sat 10 Dec - Astor Theatre (Perth)
Sun 11 Dec - Prince Of Wales (Bunbury)
