Ahead of their national tour, Tara Clifford fits in a brief chat in with Julian Schweitzer of Brisbane's Greenthief to discuss the Queensland Music Awards, touring with The Butterfly Effect, their upcoming album and much more...

Your EP 'Retribution' was released last year and received quite well, making Greenthief finalists in the Queensland Music Awards, earning a spot in Rage's top 50 music videos and gaining support by Triple J... how did you guys respond to all this attention? Was it surreal?

2011 was an exciting year for the band but 2012 has already been better. We have spent a lot of the year on the road whilst recording our debut album so things have been pretty hectic. Of course it's always great to get recognition for what you do but being constantly busy your just concentrating on performing the best you can.

2012 so far has also seen pretty big things happening for you guys, can you tell us a bit about that?

2012 has been an epic year thus far. We set out with a strategy of releasing 3 singles supported by 3 tours in support of each track and we've stuck to this plan. On top of this 'The Butterfly Effect' tour support came about which meant 2012 has 4 big tours whilst recording our debut recording an album.

What was it like touring with Aussie rock legends The Butterfly Effect? Any memorable moments?

Touring with TBE was amazing. It was quite surreal playing these massive venues each night and TBE has a very dedicated and passionate audience. Its hard to pick out a specific moment but we wont be forgetting the time we hit a Kangaroo on our way back from Adelaide to Brisbane which saw us being stranded in the middle of Australia for a few days.

What are your views on the Australian music scene at the moment?

To sum it up, I think Australia has a great rock scene but there is a definite struggle for bands to connect with their audiences. Certain radio stations & press seem to have a specific agenda to what they are wanting to promote which obviously doesn't always favour the more alternate bands. I do think rock bands forget that there is still a huge scene that exists which is evident by festivals such as 'Soundwave' being the quickest ones to sell out.

We hear you are working with ARIA winning producer Steve James for your upcoming album, what has that been like?

Steve has been fantastic. This is the second time working with Steve and he really brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. I think the best thing about working with Steve is the way he cuts the fat from the songs. He is quite brutal with song structures and I think this is very helpful for a band like us who can get carried away.

You are set to do your first national headline tour across in September, what can fans expect?

Our live show has always been the thing that we take the most pride in as a band. You will however need to come figure this out for yourself, see you there...

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Grab the tour dates here - it kicks off tomorrow!
http://www.theaureview.com/news/greenthief-announce-first-headline-tour-...

... or here: http:// www.greenthief.com