After just releasing her killer EP In The Fog, touring the country with the likes of Cub Sport and Montaigne and announcing her very own headline tour for 2017, it’s safe to say 2016 was the year of Bec Sandridge.
Even though we’ve been crushing hard on her all year, having a chat in August and inviting her into the studio for a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s I Drove All Night, we couldn’t help sitting down once again while up at Festival of the Sun.
Prior to crushing it at Festival of the Sun, Bec Sandridge chats her writing style, upcoming tours and being a fresh Melbournite.
HAPPY: Up at BIGSOUND you were saying you were moving to Melbourne, did you end up making the move?
BEC: Yeah, I did! I’ve been there for like six weeks. I’ve only been there for like five days or something because I’ve had the Cub Sport and Montaigne tours so it’s been pretty crazy.
HAPPY: How were the tours?
BEC: They were so great, and it made it so much easier that they’re all such nice people too. They were so much fun.
HAPPY: So you’ve just released an EP, how’s the response been so far?
BEC: Good I think. I know that my mum likes it which is good. But it’s been good. I finished it two years ago so I’ve been itching to release it for a while now so it’s really nice to finally get it out there.
HAPPY: How come you took so long to release it?
BEC: I wasn’t really in a rush to release it and I didn’t want to put something out just for the sake of it, so I just took my time getting the right team around me. I got a manager too because I had been self managing for ages, and I got a booking agent too so it all fell together quite well.
HAPPY: How long did you actually take to write it all?
BEC: Not that long. In The Fog I wrote in like five minutes. I tend to write at very inconvenient times, like when I’m driving… not that I condone unsafe driving. High Tide was the only one I wrote separately to that block of songs that I wrote while I was still living in Scotland, so I wrote that one probably six months or a year after the other four. And I knew that it had to be on the EP.
HAPPY: You spent a lot of time living in Europe, do you think that has much of an influence on your music?
BEC: Yeah, I think it broadened my palate. I’m from Wollongong so it’s so easy to just listen to the same kind of bands that you know from your small town, which is still awesome and I think that’s really important. But when I went to Europe the diversity and non-genre specific aspect of places was really cool, so I got to listen to a lot of really cool bands that I normally wouldn’t have the chance to discover. In Scotland there’s a real songwriter push, which is something that really resonates with me too.
HAPPY: What did you move over there for?
BEC: I just love it. I think it’s something about the really miserable weather, but everyone still just gets shit done. There’s just this really cool working class mentality, like it will be absolutely torrential rain and horrific winds but everyone just gets shit done. When I moved there it was January so I’d be busking and I’d have like three pairs of gloves on. But there’s a real feeling of warmth there, even though it’s freezing.
HAPPY: Have you done a lot of busking?
BEC: Yeah, I love it. It’s so good. It’s a really good way to get your music out there. I still do it all the time. Actually I haven’t had too much time to do it lately, but whenever I have time off I go out whenever I can.
HAPPY: Do people recognise you doing it now?
BEC: Nah (laughs). I usually try and hide when I’m busking. I’m not a very good busker. A lot of people that do it like to put on big shows, whereas usually I’ll just set up an amp against a wall and try and camouflage myself. I get nervous doing it.
HAPPY: Do you get nervous when you play on stage?
BEC: Yeah all the time. I think it’s really important to get nervous, for me anyway. Especially when I’m playing an early set, because it wakes me up and it also shows that you care. If I’m sleepy I tend to make mistakes. If I’m nervous I somehow manage to pull it all together like halfway through the first song.
HAPPY: What are your plans for 2017?
BEC: I’m doing the HIGHASAKITE tour and The Rubens tour, and I’ve got my own tour throughout March. It’s the biggest tour I’ve ever done. It’s a pretty hefty one, we’re doing Byron, Newcastle, Adelaide, Perth, I’ve never played in Byron or Newcastle so I’m pretty excited for those. So it should all be good fun.
Find all the details on Bec Sandridge’s tour right here.
