Byron Bay Brewery | Friday 31 May | 7pm | FREE
Boisterous and explosive Gippsland boys The Paddy Cakes are quickly forging a name for themselves with their fast-paced, high-energy live shows, a contagious sense of mischief and fun, and some seriously slick sound production. Taking influence from a range of international favourites, The Paddy Cakes have crafted an eclectic and danceable indie rock sound reminiscent of Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, and Two Door Cinema Club, while bringing a uniquely Australian charm to the table. Guitarist Oakley Kerr spoke with Seven about the band.
You guys are from south Gippsland in Victoria; that’s different. Is there much of a music scene down there?
Yeah it is a bit different! There isn’t really much of a music scene around Gippsland, which is a shame because it is such a big area. There are definitely people around who love music but the accessibility to it is pretty hard down here. To see most live bands or musicians we travel to Melbourne. For us it was great starting our playing gigs in Gippsland because we were one of the very few bands around home.
How did you guys get into music? Did you grow up in musical households?
The three of us all grew up loving music. We all have very musical families; that got us into music at early ages. Jonah (drummer) and I are cousins and grew up playing guitar with each other a lot. Dalton (singer) and Jonah went to school together but it wasn’t until after high school that we formed the band and started practising. We all have pretty similar tastes in music, which helps a lot, because we are all on the same page when thinking of ideas for new stuff.
How long have you been playing together? How did it all start up?
We started in 2017 as a cover band, which was pretty fun! We would learn all the songs from bands that we loved. Our first gig was in at the Inverloch Inlet Hotel and we sold out the venue, which was huge. I think we sold 350 tickets to a pub with 300 capacity so it was a crowded first gig.
You’re touring your new EP Broken At Best. Where did the inspiration for this EP come from?
Broken At Best was written about just going out and having fun, sometimes getting into trouble, and rumours that we would hear about ourselves. Dalton was the main songwriter behind these songs’ lyrics. I think we’re all very influenced by British bands like Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, and Catfish and the Bottlemen.
Your sound has been described as bringing together elements of Brit-pop and Australiana. Do you think that’s an accurate description? How would you describe your sound?
Yeah I think it’s pretty accurate! Lots of our favourite bands are British. But across the three of us we do have a pretty vast music flavour. We try to be ourselves as much as we can and try to fit into our own genre. We want to make our own music that we actually enjoy. I think we’re making music that is quite different from most that’s happening in Australia at the minute.
You’ve been receiving some great reviews and regular play on Triple J recently for your single Depressing All. How is that for you guys? Does that get you pumped to write / record more?
Yes it definitely does! It’s always good getting some praise for your work. It’s still very unreal getting airtime and the fact that people like our music. I remember the first time being told we were getting played on Triple J: it was the most excited feeling in my life.
We have a lot of ideas and demos recorded but it is time-consuming working full-time jobs and trying to create quality music. We have just recorded some new music that you will hear soon. We are always writing new stuff and hope to aim for some more releases later this year.
What else is on the cards for The Paddy Cakes this year? Is there any news you’d like to share with your fans up here in Byron?
We are releasing a surprise new single on 30 May! It’s the day before the Byron Bay gig so come along to be the first to hear it live. We’ve had this song for a while and are excited to release it before the tour. We will no doubt be heading back to the studio after we tour to record some new material and if all goes well will be doing some more east coast gigs before the year ends.
The Paddy Cakes perform a free show at Byron Bay Brewery this Friday night with Garage Sale and Matt Collins (Wharves).
