Last week, when Sydney outfit The Hideaways shared their new single I’ll Try, we were blown away. The band’s music carries an emotional weight that’s seldom found in modern music.
While their sound feels pretty original, there was obviously a lot of inspiration. So we caught up with the band for a playlist of track that have influenced their music.
Weekend listening sorted: Fresh off the release of their new single, we caught up with Sydney band The Hideaways for a playlist of tracks that have influenced each member.
Liam: INXS – By My Side / The 1975 – Love Me / Gang Of Youths – Atlas Drowned
These three songs I have chosen each inspire my writing lyrically, melodically and musically, but furthermore have helped shape my vocal technique and on stage attitude.
By My Side by INXS has long been a favourite song of mine, stretching back to early childhood, with my father letting scrummage through his CD collections landing on artists like Eric Clapton, Madonna, Led Zeppelin, REM, Blondie, The Beatles and of course INXS.
This song’s crooning vocals, hooky melodies and heart breaking emotion have really helped me develop my vocal style and how I look at writing from a emotive/feeling-driven perspective. Michael Hutchence as the front man of INXS really set the bar high when it came to entertaining a crowd and showing on-stage charisma, in that sense he is also a great inspiration of mine.
Love Me by The 1975 oozes attitude and swagger, stylistically reminiscent of the 80’s and INXS this song imposes such a vibe of pretentiousness and lust, it is an inspiration in confidence, stylistic choices and again front man charisma, as well as having one catchiest choruses of this decade. It can all be seen in their music video for this song, with Matty Healy greatly personifying the attitude and arrogance of the song.
Atlas Drowned by Gang of Youths, is one of my favourite GOY songs, though I think every song they write is a new favourite. David Le’aupepe’s lyrics are (in my opinion) are some of the best to ever be written. He’s the modern Dylan but with better melodies. Their music always fills me with energy and positivity somehow, even if the song brings me to tears.
Gang of Youths give me hope as an Australian artist with dreams to break the US market one day, by leading by example and potentially starting an Aussie music renaissance all across the world.
Hadi: The Delta Riggs – Fiend / Kings Of Leon – Waste A Moment / Lime Cordiale – Temper Temper
I’ve always been a rock and roll boy at heart, and you can probably hear that through my selection on this playlist. Fiend by local favourites The Delta Riggs bleeds the attitude and swagger that they put into their live shows. I’ve seen them a few times and that charisma is definitely something I try to emulate on stage. And that chorus hook is catchy as.
I’m also a huge Kings Of Leon fan… so I had to throw in Waste A Moment off their latest album WALLS. I’ve always loved the bass tone on their albums and the riff in this one is driving but punchy straight from the start. Just how it should be.
Finally, I picked another Aussie band. I’ve been smashing out Lime Cordiale on my playlists lately, so I had to include one of their bangers on here. They have a knack for writing the coolest vocal melodies. This song has been stuck in my head for weeks.
Max: Gang Of Youths – The Heart Is A Muscle / Hockey Dad – Join The Club / The Cure – Friday I’m In Love
My songs are a pretty good representation of artists who inspire me to write music. The Cure are an old favourite of mine. Hockey Dad, and particularly Gang Of Youths, are Australian heroes of mine.
Tommy: Jeff Buckley – Witches’ Rave / Nothing But Thieves – Amsterdam / The Killers – Somebody Told Me
Witches Rave: I was always drawn to the mystery of Buckley’s unfinished second album, the lyricism and arrangements are all so complex and enthralling.
Somebody Told Me: The Killers have this ability to have total control of their pop sound, all the while having total artistic integrity in their lyrics and the production. Bangers with carefully designed hooks.
Amsterdam: The new Nothing But Thieves record blew me away. With all the pop punk grit I loved in my teens mixed with lyrical integrity and hard hitting choruses. There’s a spot reserved for music that fits that bill in my heart.
(The last tune on the playlist, I Remember by Marvell, is there to showcase the local talent we’re playing with for our single launch at Frankie’s).
The Hideaways’ I’ll Try is available now.
