For any emerging artist, the concept of your first international tour is nothing short of exciting, daunting, nerve-wracking, all the above. Showcasing festivals aimed at bringing thousands of artists, industry members and music fans together for a concentrated period of time for musical discovery pulls all these feelings into one bubble and can be overwhelming – as Adelaide indie synth-pop band SKIES can attest.
Out in the UK for The Great Escape, they secured a short introductory run of dates in both London and Brighton before returning to London on the weekend to play at the Sounds Australia Aussie BBQ. Having become a favourite on the local scene in the past year, SKIES entered the international circuit as small fish in a huge pond, but as they point out, it’s been an experience that has changed their approach to music entirely.
“It’s broadened my horizons a lot,” keyboardist and bassist Michael Zabalocki says. “Everyone is such at such an amazing level. It’s very intimidating but at the same time, I feel very privileged to be here because we’re amongst so many great artists.”
Sitting in the outdoor area of the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen post-Aussie BBQ set, the venue is crawling with Australians – expats and visitors alike. Everyone is enjoying the ample amount of Coopers Sparkling that is on offer especially, a final get-together for the Australian contingent in the UK before we all go home or our separate ways. There’s a sense of camaraderie that these trips establish between acts who may not necessarily run in the same circles back home, which is always fascinating to watch.
When faced with the possibility of some important industry people potentially lurking in the darkness of a band room, watching the band play, SKIES admit to being aware of what could go wrong, but didn’t let it affect their live shows too much.
“What I like to do is just plead ignorance and not ask too many questions.” Frontman Dusty Stephensen says. “I don’t assume that there’s anyone important there. I think I do that subconsciously; I don’t ever think, ‘Hold on, there might be important people at this gig – pretend that there’s not!’. I just don’t think about it.”
“When we’re going on stage, whether it’s an open mic night at the Grace Emily or playing to people in London who are all from record companies, I try and have the same mindset. Otherwise, you perform differently. You’re more uptight and it’s harder. You’re not as relaxed. I think at our first show in London actually, I felt it. We all did, that night. That was stressful, mainly because stuff did go wrong; the laptop froze and we had to play a track without a whole bunch of backing…you can still get through it though.”
“We didn’t really have a soundcheck here, for example,” Zabalocki adds. “It can be really stressful but I think as time has gone on, we’ve definitely adapted.”
Of course, being immersed in this unique live music environment as an artist also offers up multiple opportunities to see new music and to learn from other artists who have got the advantage of having the European tour circuit on their doorstep. Now eyeing up the possibilities reshaping their own live show for a growing Australian fan base can present, SKIES look back on their time in Brighton and the artists who affected them the most.
“For me personally,” Stephensen says. “I saw a band who were doing similar stuff to what we do instrumentation-wise and sonically, a bit. They were a bit Glass Animals-meets-Vampire Weekend, called Beaty Heart. They fucking blew my mind, man.”
“There was a band called AYR,” Zabalocki remembers. “They were exactly the same, they were amazing.”
“The amount of effort they go to to change sounds multiple times throughout songs,” Stephensen says of the calibre of these artists to hit the stage. “Doing as much as they can so they can have minimal sounds on backing [tracks]. They had such cool songs and were so road-worn. These bands have done it. They’ve probably toured around Europe a lot, if not the world, whereas in Australia, you can only tour once every few months. At best. It’s really hard to get road-ready. You don’t want to play too many shows in your hometown, you can saturate it.”
“There are less bands [at home],” he continues. “You can feel that your live shows are of a really good quality; you feel like you’re doing well. Then you come here and you see some bands and you go, ‘Fuck – we’ve got some work to do’. It makes you realise how much work you’ve got to do.”
Returning home near the end of the month, the band is keen to apply all the lessons they’ve learned from bringing their show to new ears on the other side of the globe to the presence their building for themselves in Adelaide and around the rest of the country. At present, SKIES are currently enjoying the favour of triple j play, with current single “Speed Boy” nabbing some plays on the airwaves, while they’ve earned SA Music Award nominations through 2015 and, with manager Kate Cudbertson, they’ve been able to lock some impressive shows on the pipeline. A young group of musos moving forward with fresh eyes, ears and direction, the band praises their efforts of their network of supportive crew.
“We already trusted that she was going to be great before we got here,” Stephensen says of the band’s first tour with Cudbertson at the helm. “We just knew. She’s got this vibe. She makes shit happen and she’s always on top of it. All that this trip did was prove it. She’s really good as what she does.”
“As much as I gave her shit this entire trip,” Zabalocki laughs. “I fucking love her.”
“I don’t think I would ever feel like anything is ever ready.” Stephensen says of SKIES’ development as a result of their time at The Great Escape. “I think that’s the attitude you need to have. You need to constantly feel like your show can get better. When I see the other shows here, I think that I’m really proud of the point we’ve gotten to, but I also want us to get better so that when we come back, we can be on that level that’s closer to some other bands. I think that, in a lot of ways, we can definitely compete and be up against a lot of the other bands I’ve seen, but there’s something that comes with the experience of being international and doing these tours…you can’t rehearse enough to gain that experience.”
“You can’t just be in a rehearsal room at Derringers Music and rehearse for fucking three times a week and gain the experience you would from being on the road. Get on the road; we did a lot of shows interstate before coming here and it does help. It’s a similarly daunting experience to now having gone international; we rocked up to a show in Bondi and it’s like, you don’t know the sound guy, you don’t know the venue and you’re just there. You’ve got to have your shit together and you’ve got to do your show well.”
“No matter how overwhelming your position may be or no matter how much you might feel like you’re not getting anywhere, persevere.” Zabalocki says. “The one thing I’ve taken back from the last three months of meeting other bands who are starting to emerge outside of Australia, is that they’ve been at it for so long. Gang of Youths have been at it for like, eight to ten years. Same with City Calm Down, they’ve been at it for six or so years. They’re now just getting to a really good level.”
“I feel like it’s very easy, especially being in Adelaide because it’s such a small town, to get overwhelmed by everybody who is breaking through but the reality is, is that it doesn’t happen overnight. I think that, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from here, is that you’ve got to keep persevering, you’ve got to keep doing what you love. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t believe in ourselves and if we didn’t believe in our music.”
As a frontman, Stephensen notes that he’s been able to pick up lessons specific to his role in SKIES, tips and influences that has broadened his horizons when it comes to live performance.
“The thing I’ll take back the most is actually from watching Gang of Youths and watching that frontman [David Le’aupepe], he just blew me away. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that. I think that watching that INXS Live at Wembley Stadium [footage], there’s no exaggeration in my head that he has that same confidence and persona as Michael Hutchence. He’s incredible. It makes me want to step up as a frontman and realise that, when you’re up there and you’re singing that song, everybody is looking. You’ve got to captivate them and you’ve got to do something to give them an experience. He gave me an experience at their showcase.”
“When we go back to Adelaide, I want to try and take all the experience we’ve gained here from seeing these bands that are just so tight and they’re competing in such a high level market, I want to go back and treat it like we’re doing a showcase in London. Even if we’re only doing support shows and stuff in Adelaide for a little while. That comes across. If you can just do a show at such a professional level, you can blow people away, no matter where it is at any time. If things go wrong, just plough through it and own your crowd.”
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Header Photo: Daniel Marks
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