Once upon a time, circa 2019, four young musicians, Ned, Ethan, Bec, and Van, headed out to a Twin Peaks concert in Melbourne. They met unexpectedly and decided to start a band, right there and then. Thus, Stimpies was born.
“We were very refreshed to see and meet other people that were interested in the same music as us”, they nodded their heads in agreement on fate bringing them together that night.
“We bumped into each other and were like, ‘hey, do you want to start a band with me?’ And we did from there”.
Ethan, Ned and Van all grew up playing drums from a very young age, eventually picking up other instruments along the way. Stimpies began playing gigs around Melbourne, with Ned and Ethan on guitar, splitting singing and songwriting duties 50/50, quiet and humble Van on drums, and Bec bringing it all together playing bass and singing harmonies.
“We played our 1st show at Ethan’s 16th birthday party. Now here we are, at BIGSOUND, a couple years later” Ned smiled.
It was sunny afternoon as we chatted over pints at BIGSOUND’s content house, surrounded by fellow showcase artists and content creators on the second day of the festival.
“It’s exciting to be in a space where there’s all these bands from different states that we’ve known about for a really long time, and be able to meet them and go see them play”, Bec said about being at BIGSOUND for the first time this year.
“It’s also exciting to chat to people that have a bit more knowledge about the music industry than us, I feel like there’s room for us to learn about that. It’s great to feel like we’re in a space where we can do what we love doing and meet other people doing the same thing”.
Described as “the biggest week in Australian music”, BIGSOUND aims to showcase and skyrocket 100 bands from across Australia. From the 1st to the 4th of September, Brisbane’s entertainment district, Fortitude Valley, is transformed into a huge music conference by day, and an even bigger festival by night, with the selected bands set to perform at over 30 different venues across the three big nights.
Playing “hand-picked rock ‘n’ roll”, from their impressive discography, Stimpies put on two electric performances in Brisbane for big audiences of festivalgoers, music lovers, and industry professionals.
Standing to the side of the stage at Ric’s on night three, the crowd awaiting Stimpies were excited and restless, the energy was palpable. The band’s ridiculously addictive, chiming guitar hooks drew the audience in, receiving cheers and whistles for the sound that felt like it was instantly releasing endorphins in the brain.
“A Long Long Time”, was clearly a favourite and one that has obviously resonated heavily with listeners, as everyone was singing the lyrics back, arm in arm, despite the song only being released a couple of months ago.
Stimpies were also one of the few bands I saw at BIGSOUND to spark a mosh pit during their show, one that I was in immediately.
Punters just couldn’t contain their joy.
Talking to Ned after the show, he was absolutely shocked at how well the set went.
“We thought last night’s gig couldn’t be topped! And it was. That was awesome”, he said, stoked.
And BIGSOUND was just one of their stops on their tour. Stimpies have been on the road since early August playing shows around Australia’s east coast before landing in Brisbane for the festival.
Starting off with a hometown show at The Tote, the band travelled to and from Melbourne for their weekend shows in Sydney, Wollongong, Mount Buller (VIC) and the Northern Rivers (NSW) working their day jobs in between to afford the tour.
Off the back of their biggest tour to date and their BIGSOUND showcase, Stimpies are also set to release their sophomore album Doing Good. The record will feature the four songs on Stimpies’ most recent EP, Counting The Days, plus eight more previously unreleased tracks, that are upbeat, easy listens, but, “very emotional”.
“I’d say this album is very vulnerable”, Ethan admitted.
It covers “a lot of feelings about friendship and family that everyone in Stimpies can relate to a lot right now. There’s a lot of reflection, acknowledging issues, and confronting our emotions”.
Ned shared that a defining moment for the band and the conception of the new album was during a period when the band were on hiatus.
“After we put our last album out, we kind of took a whole year off from making music or even being together” he said.
“Bec and I went travelling for a year, so we didn’t see Ethan or Van and I think that really reminded us how much we love each other and how much we love doing this, it really brought us together. I think going forward, defining our new record, it really represents that love we have for each other and those emotions”.
Returning from travelling and feeling like life was “in a bit of a standstill”, Ned used writing as a vessel to open up about the way he was feeling.
“I just couldn’t put a finger on how I was feeling because I didn’t feel like I was depressed, I wasn’t sad all the time or angry or grumpy. I just sat in this numb middle ground which was a really difficult thing to understand and confront because I couldn’t put a finger on it, I couldn’t say how I was feeling. I wasn’t really feeling anything, and I speak about that a lot in “A Long Long Time”.
While the songs on the album might be confronting to write, Ned and Ethan have discovered how important that it is to recognise those emotions, and they’re becoming braver about sharing them with each other when collaborating.
“We’ve grown up playing and singing together since we were about 16, so we have a very strong synergy, whether we are writing together or separately, we’re writing to impress each other”, Ethan shared.
“I know I can show Ned a song that I’ve written and not have to worry that he’s not going to like it because I know he will. And he does the same for me. Or he’ll write a riff because he knows I’ll freak out about how cool it is, and I do the same thing for him”.
“But we’ve become a lot braver recently in confronting our emotions, our personal stories and histories”.
“Telling people about it and using songwriting as a way to deal with it allows us to understand those issues a bit more”
“I think being able to express something in any form, whether it’s songwriting or drawing, putting those feelings into something physical or oral that confronts how you feel, means that you’ve faced it. It might not necessarily mean that you know how to deal with them, but you have acknowledged the issue. You’re able to then move forward from there because you’ve acknowledged it”.
Right now, Stimpies are riding the wave and enjoying every minute of it. They are really four people who are just completely invested and passionate about pursuing and perfecting their art.
“I think the goal is to be able to leave our day jobs and instead of going to work, going to the studio and smashing out a writing session for eight hours. Being comfortable enough to pursue your art as your career wholeheartedly, and to be noticed for your art, that’s pretty special”.
“I’m going to shamelessly admit that we’ve always been driven to play in front of thousands and thousands of people. We chase it. We love being on stage. It’s the best feeling in the world. So that’s a real goal for us. Every crowd we love, but yeah, man, to be on stage in front of thousands, that’d be a dream”.
“At the end of the day, we just want to do this forever and for life. To have whatever it is we need to support that is our dream, to just be able to keep on doing it”.
“Being in Stimpies at the moment, playing together every day, week in, week out, getting in a studio and hanging out, that already is the dream. We get to spend time with each other and make art, to us that means we’ve already accomplished it, and it feels great to be able to do that”.
Stimpies are hosting an album release party for their second record Doing Good on October 9th. The band will be doing an in-store performance and signing at Sound Merch in Collingwood (VIC) to celebrate the occasion.
You can pre-save Doing Good HERE, or pre-order a vinyl HERE.
Follow Stimpies on Instagram @stimpies to keep up to date!
Images supplied
