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Interviews

Respect, self-love and gender equality: The Last Exposure are making a statement with The Boys

Interlacing music with politics, individuality with humility, The Last Exposure are creating tunes with a cause and revolutionising our perception of gender stereotypes.

The Last Exposure

Based in Penrith, Campbelltown and Wollongong, The Last Exposure travel from opposite ends of the spectrum to bring you songs heavy with passion that will hit you straight in the chest.

The Last Exposure are the musical equivalent of Captain Planet, with a strong focus on self confidence, love and respect rather than saving the environment.

Influenced by the likes of Lady Gaga, The Living End, The Gossip and Queen, this alternative-rock dream team are preaching love and equality with the hope of changing lives in the form of loud, fearless and spirited tunes.

Chelsea Barnes, Hayley Curran, Nathan McCulloch and Jake Doran are the four musician activists that make up The Last Exposure: a band with the hopes of changing the world one song at a time.

With two successful singles already under their belt, the band’s third debut single The Boys is a powerful statement towards gender equality and to love one another equally, whatever gender a person identifies with.

HAPPY: The Boys is a shout out towards gender, and anyone who feels like they’re not free to be themselves at music events. Amen! Is this something you guys collectively feel strongly towards?

THE LAST EXPOSURE: Definitely! Collectively, we have always wanted to make our audience feel comfortable and enjoy themselves at our shows. We don’t want people to feel pressured or unsafe. People deserve to be celebrated because of their differences and unique qualities, not ridiculed, trampled on or emasculated.

Last year was a big slap to the face for us when we actually experienced this complete disregard of respect at one of our shows, this was towards a friend whilst they were performing. It’s a reminder that it actually does happen and it shouldn’t. Artists and their audiences deserve a space to feel accepted and free.

HAPPY: I also feel strongly about the ideas portrayed in The Boys about the relationship between homophobic males towards homosexual males. How do you think your music can help create change?

THE LAST EXPOSURE: We are just one small part of a great force that’s pushing for change. You can’t make people change but you can give them the knowledge and help them to understand. Our music is full of experience and honest words, it’s about what we care for and care about.

There is something beautiful about honesty in music, especially when it’s come from people that experience such things as inequality and inequity consistently throughout their lives, and can use it as a voice and an expression towards diversification.

HAPPY: Having studied at JMC academy in Sydney, how do you think this has played a role within your music, compared to bands who haven’t received formal education?

THE LAST EXPOSURE: Studies have had a major influence on our band and music, this is simply from the variety of topics covered in our course and the little we knew from where we came from. We learnt about business, theory, history, technology, collaboration and performance and we took it out with us into the live scene and applied it.

However, a massive chunk of what we know has actually come from experience and doing it ourselves, with more experience we have gained more knowledge and we’ve developed. All musicians and artists are unique, it doesn’t matter if they have formal training or not, the things that make them stand out from others is experience, individuality, humility and passion.

HAPPY: Do you think having a target audience is important, and does The Last Exposure have a particular audience in mind?

THE LAST EXPOSURE: Having a target audience can really help to identify who you are seeking and aiming your product to. Identifying your values and beliefs as an artist is a great way to assist in narrowing that audience. Of course it’s difficult and you may have more than one specific target. Surely, we want everyone to be loving and embracing what we’re doing but it doesn’t work that way.

The Last Exposure seeks alternative and indie rock listeners, queer individuals and their allies, and people who respect and enjoy women or diversity in music. Honestly, overall we are going to welcome anyone who’s loving our vibe and what we’re about.

HAPPY: What’s next on the horizon, any upcoming tours?

THE LAST EXPOSURE: This September you’ll be able to see us on our first tour, where we’ll be taking our music up and down the east coast. We’ve organised The Boys tour entirely ourselves, making our first ever stops in Brisbane and Melbourne, playing our home cities of Sydney and Wollongong and travelling back to play Newcastle and Canberra.

While we’re in Canberra we’ll be catching up with our friends CAMP COPE and supporting them for the third time, this time with WORRIERS from the USA. Later on in November we’re playing Sad Grrrls Fest in Sydney, and a few other shows to end off the year. After that, we’ll have to let you know!

The Boys is out today, August 17. You can catch The Last Exposure at one of the tour dates listed below. Check out more info on their tour dates here.