Interview with Pacific Avenue

Pacific Avenue will headline Stone & Wood’s festival in June

South Coast rockers, Pacific Avenue, have left an indelible mark on the music industry, their debut studio album Flowers secured a spot as a number one Australian album earning two ARIA nominations. Now, their recently released second studio album, Lovesick Sentimental, looks to be heading in the same direction.

Since their beginnings Pacific Avenue’s trajectory has been steep, including an impressive streaming count exceeding ten million on Spotify.

Headlining Stone & Wood’s Festival of the Stone in June, Seven had the chance to chat with singer Harry O’Brien over the weekend from his home near Stanwell Tops.

Is there anything coming up new for the band?

We’ve just released a record. Yes, we’ve released our second album, Lovesick Sentimental – and we have just done a national tour, and we’re actually about to get back into studio to start recording the next stuff. We’re at the very start of the cycle again, and we’re heading over to Europe in September as well.

Has the reality of what you thought was going to happen with the band matched the vision?

I’m not sure. Honestly, when we started, we were just so excited. The other guys were in another band already, and I was just playing solo kind of folky stuff. Then I met the guitarist (Ben Fryer) in a busking competition, and then he was like, ‘oh, you know, we gotta, like get together and have a jam one day,’ and then we end up doing that, and we wrote our first couple of songs, and then met the boys and jammed, and it just felt so amazing, because I’d never heard myself amped up with a band. We were just so excited to get out and start playing!

I think when we started we never really knew how far we wanted to take it, and then it’s like, things eventually like, got a bit lucky and kept rolling on, and, kind of kept leading us to where we are, and it’s like, we always dreamed of doing this full time.

You’ve been musical since you were a kid?

My family’s like super musical, so whenever we get together for Christmas parties, you know, there’s two people on the piano, and three people have guitars, and everyone’s singing old Beatles and Stones songs – we kind of grew up with that, and it was nice to see when I was so young – regardless of what’s happening in family, everyone’s always got family things happening, but everyone would come together and be so happy when they were singing together. It’s a really nice thing to bring people together and forget about what’s happening and just share a nice moment.

What is your current ear worm?

We’re actually just about to do a Triple J Like A Version again. So that’s in my head a bit.

[I can’t tell you what it is, but I can tell you, you will love it – stay tuned.]

What’s inspiring you to get out of bed every day?

Getting back in and writing, honestly. And, in my spare time, aside from the band, I’m going up to the city and just writing with up-and-coming acts and just like, meeting people and then seeing what they’re experiencing, and then getting in rooms and creating songs, that’s the funnest part of the process – it’s cool to see. You get a demo in a day, and then six months to a year later you’re playing it in a room and having people sing the words, and somehow connecting to them already and them giving back to you, so just seeing that whole process of making something, and then it not being yours anymore.

What have you got for fans for the Stone & Wood show?

We’ve got a new cover in the set, which we’ve just been playing on this last tour, which is a lot of fun. And high energy, we like to get people dancing. Looking at all the bands on the lineup, it looks like it’s going to be such a fun day.

Sounds great. Harry, are you having enough fun?

Yeah, I think so. Always. Now that we’re kind of home again after the tour, I’m already ready to get back out playing shows, because I feel like that’s when we’re most ourselves, when we’re out and playing in rooms, so definitely missing playing shows, and can’t wait to get back up to Byron.

Do you want to know something really spooky?  My grandfather was called Harry O’Brien. You’re not him, are you?

Hmmm – maybe.

The Stone & Wood Festival of the Stone is on Saturday, 20 June – you can find out more and access tickets at stoneandwood.com.au.