The Stiffys We Are Groovy Boys Interview

The Stiffys We Are Groovy Boys Interview

Melbourne rock and roll two-piece The Stiffys toured the east coast to launch their second EP – We Are Groovy Boys and to celebrate they're releasing a taste in the form of new single 'Boogie Boarding'.

The success of their national 'Champagne' single tour late last year earned them the support slot for "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" star David Liebe Hart's Australian tour, followed by mini tours to Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.

In their off-time the band began filming and selling exercise videotapes on eBay and ran an uninvited fundraiser for Fitzroy's -The Old Bar'.

'Our manager says that we have too much time on our hands and we have to get back out on the road for our own safety," says Jason.

The new record is an unexpected turn for the previously erection-based duo, who decided to record in a professional studio (Melbourne's Sing Sing) for the first time and expand their thematic content.

'This is the first time we've ever had a record in the shops before and we're really excited because the ladies will probably know all the words to our songs," - Adam Stagg, Drummer

The record mixes dance-friendly numbers -Champagne' and -I'm Really Good At Sex Because I'm Always Doing It' with harder rock and roll tunes -Boogie Boarding', -Give Me All Your Cocoa Pops' and the more sinister head banger -Groovy Boys'.

'Everybody does such a great job at our shows these days. I think they understand that we're all there to have a really nice time, have a couple of drinks and crowd surf together on boogie boards." - Adam Stagg, Drummer

Tour Dates

Saturday 22nd March – The Joynt, Brisbane
Thursday 27th March – Musicman Megastore, Bendigo
Friday 28th March – Cherry Bar, Melbourne
Saturday 29th March – The Loft, Warnambool
Wednesday 2nd April – Beach Road Hotel, Bondi *FREE SHOW
Thursday 3rd April – The Phoenix, Canberra
Friday 4th April – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney *FREE SHOW
Saturday 5th April - Lass O'Gowrie, Newcastle *FREE SHOW

Tickets available now at https://www.musicglue.com/the-stiffys/listings/

www.thestiffys.com
https://twitter.com/The_Stiffys

Interview with Jason and Adam

Question: How have you matured as artists?

Jason and Adam: We've definitely matured as artists because we've settled down with the drinks and we don't do kickflips outside Red Rooster every day and we're not bad boys anymore… just joking everybody none of that stuff was true we're definitely still bad boys!


Question: How would you describe We Are Groovy Boys?

Jason and Adam: Great question our new record We Are Groovy Boys is basically music by coolguys for coolguys but also very specifically aimed at ladies. The thing about The Stiffys is that we know all about ladies and we know they like to do all the dancing so we work to accommodate that because we're very tuned into the needs of girls; we're basically a couple of ladies men everybody we're really very popular with girls, we're a couple of fashion boys.


Question: Can you tell us about 'Boogie Boarding?

Jason and Adam: Boogie boarding is very personal to us it's a song that everybody can identify with it's about boogie boarding and it's one of the most popular songs in our live set at the moment and people like to bring boogie boards and do a crowd surf on each other it's basically cray - what does cray mean?


Question: Do you write your own songs? What's your inspiration?

Jason and Adam: Yes The Stiffys write all originals and our inspiration is predominately champagne but also sparkling white wine; we used to just sing about stiffies but now we sing about all the coolguy stuff like kickflips, boogie boards, pushups, positivity and kissing girls - you know things of that nature because we've been in the music business for a little while now. I guess you'd basically say we're pretty cool guys, yeah I guess you could say that.


Question: What music/artists do you listen to when you are not playing your own?

Jason and Adam: We mainly listen to rap music and post punk music (is that still a thing) also all our friends are in bands like The Beards, Gay Paris, Snowdroppers, Udays Tiger, Twin Beasts, Damn Rerran, Mesa Cosa, BJ Morriszonkle, Mightiest Of Guns, Heads of Charm, Going Swimming, Manfred Moore, Settling, The Royales, Surprise Wasp, Queens of the Stone Age, Danny Brown and Ghost Busters.


Question: What should audiences expect from your shows?

Jason and Adam: Everybody should have a couple of drinks and emotionally prepare themselves to have a terrific time, do all the dance moves together, kiss all the babes, boogie board on each other, buy sailor hats together, then find some more drinks and then wake up in a Just Jeans change room. Then ask, -why did this happen again? I'll be out in a minute, I'm just trying something on, I swear I'll buy something this time (laughs). No I won't not today Just Jeans; you've done it again The Stiffys'.


Question: Was there a moment you contemplated throwing in the towel?

Jason and Adam: No we love rock and roll too much and we're honestly not capable of anything else. Our manager says -that if we stopped drinking so much we might be able to have careers in the media' but yeah we're mainly just interested in having a couple of drinks, I mean the music it's all about the music for us we're a couple of music boys.


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Jason and Adam: We'd say definitely performing live because of this thing called a rider and it means that they have to give you free drinks for a little while until they get mad at you for asking for too many drinks. That's pretty great but that being said we had a really great time making our new record We Are Groovy Boys because it's the first time we've done it in a studio, we went to sing with our friend Matt Neighbour and gee whizz they let you get really loud in there - it sounds amazing and it's really creatively fulfilling. At the end of the day, I'd say filming exercise videos is our favourite thing at the moment because you can have as many drinks as you want before and during exercise videos

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

Jason and Adam: Probably champagne we used to have a lot of drinks every night and watch bands play and we noticed that they got free drinks and also girls talked to guys in bands so we were like -ok we'll be a band too' so we did that and got a manager and went on all these tours and made some great records it's been really great everyone should do it


Question: What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your musical success?

Jason and Adam: The Stiffys have never and will never face any challenges because of our teamwork, courage, our believing in ourselves and our never giving ups. I'd say probably our sexy outfits have made it harder for us to connect with rural Australian audiences


Question: What has been your favourite part of becoming a music artist?

Jason and Adam: Playing rock and roll music so loud that you forget who are and also providing a vessel of absurdity to help everybody have a great time together alongside our unique brand of high energy rock and roll and also the drinks… yeah probably mainly the free drinks


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

Jason and Adam: John Lennon or Notorious Big, it would probably be a three way collaboration with those guys and we'd probably sing about skate moves, roller blading, boogie boarding or something like that! That's the great thing about musicians you get us in the room together and we create hits


Question: What is the story behind the band's name?

Jason and Adam: We're basically a couple of coolguys so we thought what's the coolest name we could pick, something that makes us stand out in a commercial sense but also appeals to the ladies and we thought yeah The Stiffys is pretty cool! It was either that or The Groovy Boys and we went with The Stiffys because it sounded a bit more snazzy and more professional, we'd had a couple of drinks by that stage.


Interview by Brooke Hunter