The Grates

Regardless of who you are, everyone has that one musician, artist, scientist or prolific other who they admire for one reason or another. Patience Hodgson from The Grates just so happens to be mine, but interestingly enough, The Preatures are up there for the Brisbane musician.
“I’ve had the most amazing morning, it’s been brilliant. I just woke up this morning, had a really good breakfast, we put the film clip online and did stuff about the album coming out,” Patience says in excited bursts.
“Then we shot over to our shop to start doing a couple face-to-face interviews and the Preatures were hanging out there because they were in Brisbane – that was a total trip. I’m a big fan of those guys, so it was just special, unexpected and really sweet of them. So that was fucking cool.”
Talking to Patience on November 28 means one thing: their new album Dream Team has officially hit the shelves. An album that was the culmination of a month’s work of recording, mastering and perfecting all for Australian music month.
“I actually feel amazing and that no matter what happens to the album now it’s just a dream,” she says. “The last 25 days have been so wonderful and it feels like there’s already been so many good things to come out of doing this album that whatever happens is awesome.”
“There was never any moment when I was worried or scared, and I feel like there were a lot of people around us saying that the album wasn’t going to get out today, and I never felt that. I was like, ‘Of course it’s going to come out today, what could possibly hold it up?’”
It may have been three years since we all heard Secret Rituals, but The Grates have been keeping busy. Band members Patience Hodgson and John Patterson opened the Southside Tea Room together in Brisbane, got married and have a baby due at the end of January.
While the tearoom was one of the main constraints on them getting back to the studio, it also allowed them to meet their new drummer, Ritchie Daniell. Originally hiring Richie’s then girlfriend, she chose another job over the Southside Tea Room and recommended Ritchie as her replacement.
”Not that I know if I even believe in fate, but it was really beautiful knowing that he really needed a job and we really needed someone to work for us. Then it turned out we needed someone to play drums and he was a drummer,” Patience says.
Working together 40 hours a week gave them a bond unlike any other, and when it came time to head into the studio the whole process was seamless – even with the month deadline.
The follow up tour may be a little while away yet, as Patience isn’t due until the end of January, but that didn’t stop her from trying to get the new music out to her fans.
“I would love to do a pregnancy tour – it would be really fun, and as a lady kind of empowering. How many pregnant ladies get to go around touring?” Patience says.
“But when we were coming back from recording the album, they denied me from going on the plane unless they got a fax through from my doctor saying I could fly. That pretty much killed any chance of us doing any sort of tours. That and the entire time John was like, ‘You’re insane, we are never playing a show, your stomach is huge and there’s a baby in there, it’s not worth it’.”
Release: Dream Team is available now
By Amanda Sherring