Much-loved acoustic power duo Hussy Hicks come to Mullum Music Festival after a stint touring across the US with Daniel Champagne and Christie Lenee.
The Gold Coast Music Award Artists of the Year have been dishing up their boisterous blues and roots to the place where the genre came from. They spoke with The Echo about their adventures.
Tell me, how is the All Strung up tour going?
So far we’re having a ball! We are three shows in and we’re in the band room of one of our favourite US venues – the Red Clay Foundry on the outskirts of Atlanta. The theatre and the sound guy here are amazing.
How did you come to be sharing the bill with Daniel Champagne and Christie Lenee?
Daniel has been a good friend of ours for years through the Australian circuit and about three years ago he teamed up with Gina, who used to manage Tommy Emmanuel. She recently started managing Christe too and brought her to Australia last February; we did some shows together. All being friends already helped make the decision easy when we were offered the opportunity to tour together.
How do the Americans accept Aussie girls such as you?
We’re like their strange exchange student friends.
They seem to like us – I maybe speak too quickly at times – I blame growing up with 5 brothers.
I asked Christie (as an authentic American) her opinion; she said we’re ‘kinda down to earth and chilled’.
What is it about your music, do you think, that resonates with the music-loving audience over there?
We slide between the genre cracks so, although it has its downsides, it means that people can’t easily pigeon-hole us. And we genuinely enjoy playing music so I guess that helps.
What are the challenges of being indie artists conquering the world stage?
Our biggest problem is with every tour and new place we go we make more friends whom we need to come back and visit. On the upside it motivates us to keep touring and making new albums.
What should we expect for your show back home at Mullum Music Festival?
We’ll be playing a bunch of songs from our new album On the Boundaries and it will be a trio lineup with Tracy on bass, Leesa on standup drum kit (and her usual awesome vocals), and I’ll be playing my guitar as well as I can and singing along.
Hussy Hicks play Mullum Music Festival Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 17–19 November. For tickets and program info go to mullummusicfestival.com
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