Long standing favourites of the Australian touring scene, HUSKY return to stages next month with their brand new single, “Walking in Your Sleep”. Between Husky Gawenda and Gideon Preiss, another piece of rich and gorgeous instrumentation has been crafted, one we’re definitely keen to see performed live.
Ahead of the tour, Husky gives an insight into what it’s been like to approach this tour and reintroduce themselves to fans back at home.
How does it feel to be doing the rounds on the road back at home? I know you and Gideon are more than seasoned touring musicians now, but there’s always got to be something comforting about introducing new music to Australian audiences?
There is something slightly more momentous about Australian shows for me. It’s a little bit like the feeling of throwing your own party versus going to someone else’s party. There’s more pressure but the payoff is a little higher. Australian fans feel a bit like family. Many of them have been with us for seven or eight years.
How would you explain the writing and performance dynamic between the two of you now, after so many years of being in this creative space with one another?
It really hasn’t changed that much over the years. We still get excited in the studio together. We still lie on the floor listening to weird sounds and playing with guitar pedals and old casio keyboards late into the night until we forget the outside world exists. And we still have a super strong bond on the road and on stage. Perhaps we’ve ironed out a few of the kinks of tour and creative life, which makes things a little smoother but it’s a green, green rocky road, as it’s always been.
Were there any standout moments during the writing/recording of “Walking in Your Sleep” that you perhaps weren’t expecting? What was the highlight of bringing this one together?
It ended up pretty classic sounding which wasn’t necessarily a shock, considering we’re in love with the classics – like Crosby Stills and Nash, Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd. But it was a bit of a surprise just because it wasn’t really intentional. I find that in general with the creative process. It’s often only in retrospect that I’m able to see what a song is, what it’s about and where it came from.
How easy did you found it to settle overseas, write and then tour your music? What is a significant difference to say, the European environment you were in compared to that of Australia, when it came to making and producing music?
Well living away from home is always such a different reality and mindset to living at home. You sort of exist in a different dimension, so it affects the way you think and feel and therefore the way you write and play. I found it very easy to get inspired living overseas and touring so much. I was writing a lot, but not really finding much time and space to settle and pull it together and turn it into something tangible and usable. I needed to be home for that. I needed the stillness and quiet, perhaps even the boredom, of my little desk in my little house and in my little street.
Was there any particular artists or material you were immersing yourself in or found yourself particularly influenced by when “Walking in Your Sleep” was coming together?
As well as the classics mentioned above who I’m always listening to on and off, Jonathan Wilson and Damien Jurado were on high rotation.
You’re heading out on tour with Hachiku and Baby Blue – had you known much about either before coming together for this tour? What are your thoughts on how this tour line up has come together?
I had heard of both. We always take a lot of care in choosing the bands we tour with and we’re really looking forward to sharing the stage with those guys.
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HUSKY TOUR DATES
April 12th | The Tote, MELBOURNE | NEW SHOW | (w/ Hachiku, Hollie Joyce)
April 13th | The Tote, MELBOURNE | SOLD OUT | (w/ Hachiku, Baby Blue)
April 14th | The Lansdowne Hotel, SYDNEY (w/ Hachiku)
April 20th | Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, BRISBANE (w/ Hachiku)
April 21st | Mojo’s, FREMANTLE (w/ Hachiku, Woolly Mammoth)
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