As one of the acts to watch in 2014, Tully on Tully, on the back of the release of their debut EP, have been kicking goals all around the music industry. Having recently played a couple of stellar shows at Apollo Bay, the band is gearing up for the release of their new disc and international touring. Out the back in the green room behind the main stage, I caught up with vocalist Natalie Foster following their final performance to find out a little more about this success story.
In a reclining chair in the green room, the discussion about Tully on Tully’s rise to fame starts with their latest offering Weightless, a six-track EP that was released last year. “I think that on the EP most of the songs are quite delicate and intricate within their production, and with the next EP, which will be coming out in the next couple of months, the band is moving away from that sound entirely. That said, it won’t be an extremely different change, but our fans should keep an open mind.”
If you haven’t heard of Tully on Tully, the spine-chilling vocals of Nat combined with the indie-pop sounds create a new distinctive flavour to the pallet of indie-pop, making them definitely one to check out. The two main singles of their EP are ‘Naked’ and ‘Stay’, which sees the band team up with fellow acoustic indie-pop superstar Hayden Calnin.
A surprise to Nat, ‘Naked’ came very quickly, and the band just knew that it was the first single. Written in one day in the shoebox sized spare room of Frank the drummer’s parents’ house, the thundering drum patterns as well as the dreamy guitar lines make it a definite feature to Weightless.
Tully on Tully formed close to two-and-a-half years ago and quickly secured some residencies around the Melbourne pub circuit. In those early days, the band never thought that they would get the opportunity to play at Canadian Music Week or in New York, so the upcoming months for the band are quite a pinch yourself moment.
“We booked the tickets yesterday, and so everything is really ramping up now and it is no longer a dream. I don’t think it will hit us until we’re on the plane, but we’ve always had an ambition to tour America. I think we’ve all got a bit of drive as a band and that has allowed for these amazing opportunities to come about.”
Having previously shared the stage with the likes of Whitley and Nada Surf, one of the coolest gigs that the band has played thus far was Wanderland festival in the Philippines, where Tully on Tully met The Temper Trap. “I remember back in the early days, I was thinking we need to support some bigger names to get some names in our bio, but now we have too many. Temper Trap, Neon Trees and Nada Surf all came about from that Philippines festival. It was an interesting insight to where Tully on Tully could develop to into the future.”
Currently in writing mode, the new release for Tully on Tully will hopefully see the light of day in the next few months. On the back of that release, the band hopes to do some more touring before starting work on their debut record. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for more news over the next few months.
When&Where: The Espy – March 28
Written by Tex Miller