The Perks of being a (Canberra) Wallflower | HerCanberra

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The Perks of being a (Canberra) Wallflower

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No, we’re not talking about the movie. Independent Canberra band, Wallflower, formed about this time last year, and in just twelve months their dreamy melodies and chilled out pop songs “draped in skeezy autotune” have already turned heads.

The band – comprising Ben Cumming, Henry Waldren, Alexander Yoon and Matt Dixon – has garnered a great reputation for live performance, supporting the likes of Eskimo Joe, Owl Eyes and Safia; their single Dynamite  was given four stars by Triple J’s Rosie Beaton; and – most recently – they rocked GIO Stadium as pre-match entertainment for the Brumbies.

And while they’ve got a great hometown following, they’re now casting their eyes further afield, and towards the iconic Studios 301‘s producer Simon Todkill, who has worked with the likes of Matt Corby, Kanye West and The Griswolds. I caught up with the boys as their current Pozible campaign is on the brink of turning their dreams of a top notch recording into reality.

wallflower

Do you see yourself as ‘crush worthy’?

We don’t want to lie, we spend more time looking in the mirror than playing music.

What do you think of Anna Wallace (MusicACT Committee Member, Manager and Programming Director of UC Live! and independent band manager) naming you “Canberra’s best looking band”?

She obviously hasn’t seen Slow Turismo, those guys are absolute hunks.

Do you do anything other than playing music when you hang out?

We drink a lot of tea and have really bad pun battles.

What was it like playing with artists like Eskimo Joe, Owl Eyes, SAFIA and Willowbeats?

It was awesome to experience their big sound and it was a reality check for us to see where the bar was set and motivated us even more to reach that level and really step as a band.

Any upcoming gigs or recordings in the pipeline?

August is big! We hit the studio but will also be playing at one of the Chop Shop events and then planning a small tour of our upcoming single!

But we’ll  be launching our single to locals at a super secret garden party! It’s going to be in an incredible garden, decked out with fairy lights, comfy spots to sink into and a heap of our talented friends to ensure it’s a really different night for Canberra music.

Tell us a little about your Pozible campaign

We organised to record in Sydney, with an incredible producer at an incredible studio and found out how expensive it was, so our fans have been helping us out by donating via Pozible and so far they have been amazing! All the money is going 100% into this recording, potentially recording more stuff, a music video for our next single and creating a better live experience for our fans!

It’s also your only way into our Secret Garden!

Any not so obvious influences?

There’s a few…realising how closely life and music are related…and that probably comes off in our music in subtle ways, also seeing everyone else’s music as a fuel to know what we want to distance ourselves, from but mostly just tea.

How well did you know each other before forming the band?

Alex was working the corner in Fyshwick and Henry was looking for a good time, but Matt and Ben were working as police at the time and arrested them both, and in the car on the way to the station they started humming and broke out into a barbershop quartet adaptation of ‘talk dirty to me’ by Jason Derulo and loved it so much that Matt and Ben quit their jobs and Wallflower pretty much started from that day on.

[but seriously]

We didn’t know each other before we started playing together but we’re really tight now, everyone of us comes from different backgrounds so it’s really interesting to see how that has influenced our sound.

Anything you would love to see change or incorporated in Canberra’s music scene?

 It would be awesome for more bands to come through Canberra on their tours and it would be awesome to see a proactive live venue open up in Garema Place. Also the return of the mighty Phoenix so we can start going to the Bootleg sessions again!

Do you have any plans to take your music interstate or O/S?

Definitely but we’ll always think of ourselves as a Canberra band, hopefully we can make y’all proud one day!

the essentials

What: Wallflower
Listen: soundcloud.com/wallflowermusic/dynamite
Facebook: www.facebook.com/wearewallflowertheband
Give: www.pozible.com/project/183406

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