More Than A Meme: Bag Raiders Looking Forward Beyond The Horizon
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More Than A Meme: Bag Raiders Looking Forward Beyond The Horizon

Bag Raiders shot to sky-high fame in 2017 after their 10-year-old hit ‘Shooting Stars’ remerged to become the soundtrack to a viral meme, but the Sydney duo, consisting of Jack Glass and Chris Stracey, are much more than an internet trend. Their decade long career, sell-out world tours and support slots for iconic acts, Duran Duran and Chic, are just the tip of the iceberg in an already legendary career, with the meme only a mere icicle dangling from the top.

“It just seems like it was this weird/cool/out of our control thing that happened and that has now finished and we’re kind of back into being a normal band again,” says Jack Glass. “If you can’t control it then you just have to let it go, you know. The internet is a weird and wacky place you just have to let it run its course [laughs].”

Now the producers are setting their eyes on the, metaphorical and literal, horizon. Having just wrapped up their national headline tour last weekend for their sophomore album, ‘Horizons’, the boys teased new material which they are keen to drop to eager fans on Friday 6 September 2019. Two years in the making, the follow on to their self-titled debut consists of some capsule tracks that they have been sitting on for five years as well as fresh and more mature songs birthed only months ago.

“We are much more mature as people, I hope, so I guess that comes through in the music. It’s a lot more introspective and maybe a little less club-focused and a little more something you can listen to in the lounge room or in the car. I guess we are different and the musical landscape is different and what influences us is different so it just kind of comes out that way.”

Glass continues, “When we first started thinking about the record we were in LA and there was the whole EDM thing going on and there’s the kind of in-your-face, trashy loud music getting pumped on the radio in clubs and we wanted to make an album that was a bit more restrained and a bit more low key. Restraint bangers, that’s what we were going for. More simple and more really good songwriting is the goal just to have a dope song without all of those sirens and EDM bells and whistles.”

Horizons, derived from a track of the same name that didn’t make the album cut, not only features fresh sounds from the boys, it also features fresh talent from an all homegrown line-up of collaborators including The Kite String Tangle, Panama, Mickey Kojack and Tora.

“It’s all by Australian artists and all people that are doing cool stuff and we really like so that feels good that it’s all a home-grown vibe,” Glass says. “It feels kind of representative of what’s going on in Australia at the minute which is cool.”

Bag Raiders are definitely adding to what is happening in the Australian music scene with their album and tour but they will also be joining our festival scene this New Year as part of the Beyond The Valley 2019 family bringing with them their touring live set but on steroids.

“We’re doing a bunch of festivals over New Year and I’m really excited for it to be able to take it to the next level and just sort of amplify everything. The new visual we got done for the live show have been amazing in the venues we’ve been doing but I’m just imagining them massive at a festival and it’s going to be great. It’s going to be very, very full-on.”

You don’t want to miss it!

Get along to Beyond The Valley and be sure to pre-order ‘Horizons’ before it drops Friday, September 6 via Island Records Australia.

BTV is now sold out, but you can find tickets via the official resale facility tixel.com

Written by Tammy Walters