The smooth-sounding vibes of Sydney six-piece funk band Winston Surfshirt, will be floating into ear holes across the country as their 'Baked Goods' tour continues throughout June.
After sliding into our DMs last year with the single ‘For The Record’, prepare to feel the soothing warmth of a group Elton John has labelled his favourite Aussie band.
‘For The Record’ is Winston Surfshirt’s latest release since their debut album, which took the band to new heights, seeing them play triple j’s ‘Like A Version’, selling out shows, being added to festival line-ups and managing to impress the aforementioned Elton John.
The boys are strapped in for another big year of shows, new music, and even more shows. And they’ll be playing Splendour In The Grass as well.
The man behind the silky smooth, mellow vocals of the band is Winston. He's a funny guy who’s nice to chat with. There’s something about the English accent that makes you instantly comfortable.
After a bit of small talk, we get straight into the so-called “important stuff” like how to describe the band to someone who hasn’t listened to Winston Surfshirt before? “I would say listen to it. I don’t know how to describe it, I don’t know.
“I usually say it’s sort of souly [sic], R&B kind of music. That’s pretty much what I tried to do, but when I first started off it was just me with an acoustic guitar and I was trying to do all the drums with my voice, you know beat-boxing and stuff. Then... we just went a bit further.”
Since the band’s inception in 2015, they have firmly established themselves within the national music scene with extensive radio play and an ever-expanding cult following created off the back of their live shows.
Thanks to the success of their 2017 debut album, 'Sponge Cake', most of the country has heard a Winston Surfshirt song without even realising it was them. “It was wicked,” Winston says about their debut album.
“I’m glad it got out and people got to hear it 'cause I nearly didn't release it and no one would have heard it, but then we waited and did it correctly. So yeah, I was very happy with that record.”
The release of 'Sponge Cake' placed them on the right path for the future of the band, and Winston says there were a couple of memorable highlights that came off the back of that release. “When my dad said, ‘That’s a good song’. AHAH! No, I don’t know.
"Probably the best thing that’s happened in my life was meeting Elton John; he heard our song and liked our song. That’s probably the highlight of my music life. He heard a song and liked it, and then he played it on his radio show, and then he invited us around to have tea and crumpets.”
The 'Baked Goods' tour will see the band criss-cross the mainland throughout June. “We’ll be doing a few new songs that people haven’t heard and then a couple of covers that we’re just finishing up.”
Winston assures us that more band releases are on the way. “There is more coming my friend!” he exclaims.
“We’ve got [new] music coming, it’s just taking awhile to get a certain song out which will all become clear in a couple of weeks; but yeah, we’ll be putting out some music at some point and then playing that music.”
Winston Surfshirt's live shows are sure to reflect the smooth, smart side of the band as well as the funny and silly side. “I saw Bik Julio [band's bass player] last night put a whole can of beer in his mouth... like the whole thing! I’ve got photographic evidence as well.”
Winston Surfshirt 2019 Tour Dates
Fri 7 Jun - UOW Bandroom (Wollongong)Fri 14 Jun - Forum Melbourne
Fri 21 Jun - HQ (Adelaide)
Sat 22 Jun - Metropolis (Perth)
Fri 28 Jun - The Tivoli Theatre (Brisbane)
Fri 19 Jul - Splendour In The Grass (Byron Bay)
