Pacific Avenue Strawberry Skies Interview

Surf-Rock-Garage Sound

In 2017, on the coastal town of Kiama on Pacific Avenue, a four-piece garage rock band was born, blending authentic rock & roll with today's modern sound. They released their debut single, "In your Arms", quickly becoming a familiar track in their set, reaching #1 on Triple J Unearthed in early May, led to the band landing a slot on 2017's Sounds of the Suburbs festival line up in Cronulla.

They then released "Girlfriend" and "Sally" the year after. With more than 100,000 Spotify Streams, "Sally" was praised by Triple J legends, Zan Rowe & Home & hosed Host, Declan Byrne. Sparking interest, the boys were invited to support Tyne-James Organ on his 'Watch You Go' Tour. Pacific Avenue also embarked on their first headline tour up the east coast promoting the release of "Sally".

"This band continues to grow into their ambitions. This latest track curls around until it's all spring loaded rock goodness"- Dave Ruby Howe- Triple J Unearthed

The band stems its influences from the Surf-rock-garage sound, looking up to bands such as Hockey Dad and Skegss. Other influences include, Gang Of Youths, Powderfinger, Catfish & The Bottlemen and Crowded House.

With more releases, Pacific Avenue found themselves supporting artists such as Ocean Alley, The Wombats, Skegss, Thelma Plum, Crooked Colours, British India, and San Cisco, to name a few. The band finished the year off by playing at Jindabyne's Snowtunes Festival and the Lost Paradise over the new year.

2019 is looking exciting for the boys, having a debut EP on the way, and having supported Tash Sultana and playing alongside Ocean Alley, Lime Cordiale and CLEWS. Keep an eye and ear out for lots of new stuff on the way!

Interview with Pacific Avenue

Question: How would you describe your music?

Pacific Avenue: Our music is a blend of Britt-rock, Indie Rock and Classic rock, and it draws influence from each of the different bands we enjoy listening to. We love blending the characteristics of these genres as we often like making music with big builds, strong riffs, and a ballad chorus.

Over the last two years we have been playing together some of these influences have changed which can be heard as our music evolves overtime.


Question: Can you tell us about the inspiration behind Something Good?

Pacific Avenue: Something good was inspired by a period of time when we were all living out of home in a little beach shack in Wonoona. The lifestyle around that time influenced the writing behind it giving it a sort of beachy sound. It's cool because every time we listen to it because it draws us back to that place of freedom and youth which has since been demolished.


Question: What motivated the Strawberry Skies EP?

Pacific Avenue: The EP was motivated by all the songs we've been busy writing over the past year.

These songs were all inspired by the 'first time out of home' lifestyle we have been living and the emotional twists and turns that come with it. We wanted to make a collection of all our favourite songs we have written and enjoy playing at our shows. The name "Strawberry Skies" is a lyrical hook-line in one of the tracks featuring on the EP.


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Pacific Avenue: Definitely performing live! Nothing quite beats the feeling of all that energy going back and forth between us and the crowd.


Question: Which is your favourite song to perform live and why?

Pacific Avenue: "You" is always a lot of fun to play live. There's a huge amount of energy in the track that really lets us bounce off one another and often that gets sent out into the audience as well. It kind of feels like with this track that each of us kind of get our little few seconds in the spotlight which also makes it a bit of fun.


Question: If you could have anyone, in the world, attend a show, who would it be?

Pacific Avenue: We would love to have Daniel Johns attend a show. We have grown up listening to Silverchair and he's always been one of our bigger inspirations. Would also be pretty cool to have Dave Grohl stop by. What an iconic guy.


Question: What is the story behind the band name?
Pacific Avenue: One morning we were all down at Werri Beach in Gerringong going for a surf and we had just started jamming as a band. We were constantly throwing out dumb band name ideas and then we looked up and saw the street sign which said 'Pacific Avenue'. We thought about it for a little while and then locked it in. Felt super right at the time and was just down the road from where we would practice so we locked it in.


Question: How did the band come together?

Pacific Avenue: Because we all grew up together we all sort of got to know each other through school, surfing and footy. Until a couple years ago, we were all doing our own thing with music then decided to meet up and write a few songs together. We all worked so well together that we kept jamming and writing songs together and now here we are!


Question: What motivates you most when writing music?

Pacific Avenue: Discovering a new riff really motivates our writing. It's a lot of fun just starting with such a small idea and just seeing where it takes you. It's really motivating seeing what a journey such a small initial idea can take you on.


Question: Which music/artists are you currently listening to?

Pacific Avenue: At the moment we have been listening to a fair bit of Silverchair, Black Sabbath, Rage Against The Machine, Radiohead and Nirvana. I also love listening to a lot of other more modern artists including Didirri, Matt Corby, FIDLAR, Ocean Alley and Lime Cordiale.


Question: What or who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?

Pacific Avenue: My first guitar teacher Chris inspired me to go into the industry. Not only did he teach me to play but he also taught me in such a way that I knew from that early age that all I wanted to do in life was play and be around music. We all were very inspired by other local bands doing well such as Hockey Dad, so we decided to put our heads down a bit and go for it.

Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?

Pacific Avenue: I'd love to collaborate with Thom Yorke. His writing style is so cinematic and choice of sound design is incredible.


Question: Can you share your socials?

Pacific Avenue: Facebook.com/PacificAvenueAU/
@pacificavenueau
Spotify
Triple J Unearthed 


Interview by Brooke Hunter