For almost a decade now, Tasmanian outfit Luca Brasi have been slogging it out, tearing apart the Aussie music scene with their raw brand of punk of music. Earlier this year, the band released their fourth full-length album Stay… and we’ve had it spinning on repeat ever since.
So ahead of their set at The Grass Is Greener Festival next month, we caught up with band’s lead-singer Tyler Richardson for a chat.
Ahead of a set at The Grass Is Greener, we caught up with Tasmanian punk heroes Luca Brasi to chat about their new album, finding a sound, and that Paul Kelly cover.
HAPPY: Hey fellas, how’s it going? What have you all been up to lately?
TYLER: Basically basking in the warm glow of putting out our last record, after a lot of shows. We’re about to kick back in after a little break, which is awesome. Itchy feet.
HAPPY: It’ been almost a decade now since you formed… did you ever think in those early days that this is where you’d be all these years later?
TYLER: Pretty insane to think our first record came out 7 years ago, we started this thing with no intention of doing anything… to consider what has happened (especially in the passed few years) is insane. We’ve been fortunate enough to have the time of our lives and make lifelong friends.
HAPPY: Do you feel that slogging it out in those early days has given your music an extra energy?
TYLER: I guess so? We definitely played our fair share of shows where no one cared, including us. We are in it for the fun and all those shows helped shape ourselves as a live band.
HAPPY: Your new album Stay feels like you’ve really settled on a specific sound for the band. Was this something that you had to sit down and really nut out? Or did it just emerge naturally over the years?
TYLER: We definitely feel our early stuff was all leading up to the songs we write now. Everything was definitely experimenting to getting to this point now. It took us a long time and a lot of work to nut out the sound we wanted for sure. A lot of shit songs and ideas haha.
HAPPY: Now that the record’s been out for a little while… how are you feeling about it?
TYLER: We’re stoked, it’s settled in so well and the subsequent shows have just been insane. It didn’t take long for people to know the words, and it’s so bloody gratifying to know people actually care, forever amazed.
HAPPY: I love in the video for Let It Slip, there’s a sign saying “Play Gravy“… it was such a great cover… has that request become a staple of your shows now?
TYLER: Haha, it definitely has. Although we took it out of our live arsenal about 6 months ago. RIP GRAVY.
HAPPY: You’ve just come off a huge sold-out national tour… what was it like seeing those massive rooms full of people belting out your tracks?
TYLER: Just amazing, we’ve done so many of those places as the support band, but to sell those rooms out and to have that kind of energy is response means the world to us, forever stoked.
HAPPY: Next month you’ll be playing Grass Is Greener Festival… do you approach festival sets and solo shows differently at all?
TYLER: I think so, we definitely have time in our headline sets to include some older/more niche songs. We kinda go for back-to-back sing-a-longs and fit as many as we can in with as few breaks as possible at a festival.
HAPPY: Any other exciting things coming up that you can tell us about?
TYLER: More shows! We finally started writing again after being fearful we were tapped out creatively… a massive bloody relief for four kooks who have no idea about anything.
HAPPY: Cheers for the chat!
TYLER: Our pleasure! See you in Cairns (CANS).
Catch Luca Brasi at The Grass Is Greener on October 27th at Cairns Showgrounds. More info here.
