It’s time for some OZ vibes! We had the chance to talk to the Australian Folk-Indie Band Sons of the East prior to their sold out show at Dynamo, Zurich – which was not only their biggest gig in Europe, but overall the largest headline show ever! Congrats boys, you absolutely deserve this!
Interviews are great, they’re even greater when you get some laughs and good answers. So when everything goes as planned it’s absolutely great. The interview with Sons of the East was one of those cooler interviews. What is not great however is, when you walk out the venue, all happy, try to save the recording of the interview (that will help you write this whole thing) and the recording is gone – as in deleted, non-existent, never saved, just not on your phone. Well, that’s exactly what happened to me this time! I go into total panic-mode. Thanks to Nina I got my shit together, sat down and went through all the questions, thank god my brain hasn’t totally shut down at this point and I was able to remember the most important things. I think…
Interview with Sons of the East
Welcome to Switzerland guys! How has it been so far?
Oh well we haven’t really seen much, we just got here, straight off the bus to soundcheck. But the views driving here were great. And we actually have some time before the gig to go out and discover. We will try going swimming. Is the water clean here?
Oh yes, sure!
So we won’t get an eye infection or something, right? *Laughs*
Nope, you’ll be fine! Otherwise we all would be in bad shape too. Back to the questions… The show is sold out! For those out there that don’t know you yet, can you describe your music in 3 words?
Nic pointing at Jack
What’s that word you use? Rambunctious, that’s it!
* And we just got the first point where my earlier explained technical “difficulties” hit. I couldn’t remember the other 2 words… But I still think rambunctious was the best of them anyways *
You’re about halfway through the European tour by now. What’s the main difference here in Europe, compared to your shows in Australia?
The fans for sure! They’re very respectful here and most of all loyal. We’ve been making music for about 5 years and some of the fans have been with us from the beginning and obviously had to wait for so long to see us live. It’s great to see they stuck around and tell us about it too. Barcelona was our first stop in a non-english speaking country, it was just a small venue but it was beyond impressive to have all these people sing along to our songs, scream the lyrics at us. We were so overwhelmed and couldn’t stop smiling. I (Jack) could barely concentrate on singing because I was smiling so much!
Talking about venues, where would you want to play – what place is on your bucketlist to perform at?
Oh, you know, there’s this venue called Red Rocks which is amazing! We want to play there! But there’s also a venue in Sydney called the Enmore – we’d definitely like to play there too.
I love how your songs are all different, but still have that certain tone that makes them yours! The upbeat banjo songs, but then the calmer ones like Into the Sun… But my favorite is “My Repair” Can you tell us a bit more about it?
We actually wrote it right before a gig. Dan was just strumming on his guitar and somehow it all just came together. We literally just quickly recorded it on our phones and then hit the stage!
OK, so is that the normal songwriting process for you guys, or is it different every time?
It’s always different. Sometimes lyrics come first, sometimes melodies and the music. That way everyone is also equally involved somehow, we all have our parts.
Fan Questions
Corina: For you personally, what makes a gig “perfect”
Nic: The fans for sure. The energy they give back is a big part of it. And only after that it’s how we play. Like we’ve had some issues with the sound in London and stood there for almost the first 10mins of the show having problems, but it was totally fine bc the audience was amazing!
Eva: It says in your bio that Jack tamed an Emu – how did that happen?
Jack: Well, yeah that isn’t entirely true. We exaggerated a bit. I basically only fed one. But we wanted to spice up the bio a bit.
Dan: Actually I think we should change that… Remember the camel farm? Exchanging the Emu for the camel would be a bit closer to the truth.
Jack: *Laughs* yeah, but camel doesn’t sound as exotic?!
We all agreed that a camel sounds just as cool as an emu.
Nancy: Which musicians have inspired you the most?
Nic: Definitely the Eagles, Jack Johnson, there’s so many…
Dan: Fleetwood Mac and of course Elvis, I think Fleetwood Mac is a big influence for all of us
Jack: Also Bob Dylan but yeah, Fleetwood Mac is up there on the list
Dan: Or wait, Paolo Nutini too. There are so many we could go on forever…
Ending Sentences
I never go on stage without (instrument doesn’t count)…
Jack: Hmmmm… A drink!
I have always wanted to go to…
Dan: Ooooh that’s tough. Wait… Venice! *laughs*
Nic: There’s a backstory, we’re going to Vienna soon and Dan kept saying it’s Venice…
When I see a spider I think…
Nic: I should try to not tell my girlfriend, sister or 50% of the I know about it – including Jack. They’re all terrified of spiders.
Jack: Yeah well in Australia the spiders are different. They don’t fuck around!
Dan: Yeah the huntsman!
(PSA: if you don’t know that spider – do not, I repeat: DO NOT go google it. I made that mistake and regret it. So spare yourself that nightmare)
I write the best songs when I…
Jack: Oh why do I always get the hard ones! Hmm… I write the best songs when I’m happy I think.
My favorite hangover food is…
Nic: Choockers*! It’s a chicken fast food kinda chain restaurant
Dan: Rye toast, avocado, 2 soft boiled eggs and bacon!
Nic: Oh or vegemite tea!
Jack: I’ll take toast, avocado, soft boiled eggs and tabasco over it! And a green tea!
Dan: Yeah avocado! Aussies love avocado!
* So with the recording gone, this is what I remember, all that I found when researching this place was a restaurant called Chooks which doesn’t exist anymore. If anyone wants to weigh in on this, please do so 🙂
After the interview the guys pretty much walked out and jumped into the Limmat as promised 🙂 We later on then got to see the show at Dynamo.
Sold out and with a lot of people that actually knew the songs, sang along and brought an overall great ambience to the show. It was great to see the Swiss audience enjoy themselves, not too much talking (even in the back) and just a great vibe in the venue. If you get the chance to see the guys live, do it! They sound great and their music will give you a great feeling – at least that’s what it did for me. You can check out a more details review over at KekoasKorner who kindly acted as my assistant/photographer/emotional support on this day 🙂
Concert Pictures: Sons of the East at Dynamo, Zurich
Concert Highlights 2018 - Kekoas Korner
June 23, 2019 (15:36)
[…] before but thanks to Loads of Music I got to meet the three lads from Sons of the East before the interview. They were pretty laid back, nice and funny just how you imagine Aussie guys no? 😀 It was also a […]