For Tasmanian alternative band Chase City, the dream of travelling across Europe for their music was just that, a dream. Now with their forthcoming debut album to be released in June, the indie quartet has finally been given the chance to fulfill those aspirations.
Hailing from Hobart, the band formed back in 2013 and ever since has been making a name for themselves with singles being played on Triple J’s Unearthed and Channel V. The last 12 months has also seen them support the likes of Gangs of Youth, Sticky Fingers, Jinja Safari and Asta.
Currently the band is taking a break after completing the first half of their recent Australian tour, where they’ve so far played gigs in Melbourne, Byron Bay, Manly and Wollongong.
We caught up with front man Tarik Stoneman as he opened up about the Tasmanian music scene, what he loves most about being on tour and the debut album.
“It’s kind of fun, feels like being on holidays and it gets us out and about doing things,” he said.
Coming from one of Australia’s smallest capital cities, the singer-songwriter said that he’s noticed quite a bit of difference between his hometown and the larger cities the band has visited.
“Hobart is pretty small, at any given time there’s probably only a handful of active bands that are working hard.
“It’s not as saturated as places like Melbourne and Sydney, there’s only so many bands and so many venues,” Stoneman confirmed.
That said, he was quick to sing the praises of his home state and its small, but thriving music culture.
“I think the scene is good, there’s lots of music and plenty of venues to play in and there’s actually quite a few artists doing really well down here at the moment.”
When asked about whether the state could do more for upcoming artists and its existing ones, Stoneman believed there was plenty of opportunities for everyone.
“I think you can always have more music, but I don’t think there’s any problems about not enough music,” he said.
With five-track EP Winter Dawn already under their belts, Chase City have been actively working on their impending, yet to be titled first album.
“We’ve been doing it for a long time, we started almost two and a half years ago now,” Stoneman revealed.
The group worked closely with ARIA award winning producer Lachlan “Magoo” Goold to divest themselves of the “surf rock” genre that’s been following them around since their first EP.
“We keep going back and doing more songs, at this moment, I think there’s a couple of songs left from our initial session, which kind of tie in alright, but they’re more guitar, indie rock based stuff. Whereas a lot of the new stuff is ‘dancier’ – alternative dance is what I like to call it.”
Stoneman said he’s really enjoyed the entire process, despite the time it’s taken them to get the album ready.
“I guess a lot of bands tend to go for a month and smash it out, whereas we’ve kind of done it over four or five sessions, that’s why you’ll be able to hear how the album has evolved over that time.”
The four-piece is now gearing up for their approaching run of European shows. They were fortunate enough to receive funding for the tour from Arts Tasmania, after a friend got them in touch with the right people.
“It was awesome to get some funding to cover our flights to get there and back, it’s a wicked opportunity for us. We get to go on holidays, play to new people and get better as a band,” Stoneman said.
The band will be hitting up nine countries during their stay in July.
“Who knows how it’ll go, but it’ll be a good time regardless and we’ll get a lot of experience out of it,” he said.
Chase City will kick off the second leg of their Australian tour on March 25. For dates check out their Facebook for more details.
