Seaside Joyride Interview

Seaside Unveil New Single 'Joyride' Out Now & Announce National Tour

Having evolved into one of the country's most promising post-punk driven indie rock outfits, Byron Bay's Seaside are thrilled to unveil their latest single 'Joyride' – the first single from their forthcoming debut record due out next year.

Fresh off a national support slot for West Australian rockers, Seaside are set to embark on a national tour of their own, presented by Front Row Artists, Young Henry's and Afends.

On 'Joyride' lead vocalist Darcy Dexter is done mourning love lost, offering a triumphant middle finger to a vindictive ex-lover by moving on and flourishing. Dexter recalls writing the song about "anyone who puts you down, and the strength it takes to leave a toxic situation".

Earlier singles 'Golden Girl' and 'Habits' shone with the glow of heavy bedroom pop influence, with last release 'Sycamore' demonstrating a slightly new direction for the band. Now 'Joyride' adds a faster, post-punk tinge to the band's already-diverse palette of sounds. Punchy guitar and blistering hooks take listeners down a new sonic path, showcasing Seaside's versatility.

'Joyride' was recorded at Rocking Horse Studios with engineer Paul Pilseniks (Powderfinger, The Living End, Angus & Julia Stone), mixed by Konstantin Kersting (Mallrat, The Jungle Giants, WAAX) and mastered by George Georgiadis (Last Dinosaurs, Charlie Collins, Gang Of Youths).

Seaside 'Joyride' Tour

Friday 25th October – The Gasometer Hotel (upstairs) – Melbourne, VIC
Saturday 26th October - Oaf Gallery Bar – Sydney, NSW
Friday 15th November - Black Bear Lodge – Brisbane, QLD
Friday 6th December - Indi Bar – Perth, WA
Saturday 7th December - Yalls Summer Fest – Yallingup, WA
Sunday 8th December – Mojo's – Fremantle, WA

Interview with Darcy Dexter

Question: Can you tell us about the track, Joyride?

Darcy Dexter: Joyride is the story of empowerment and leaving a toxic situation. I originally started writing the song from a memory of a high school boyfriends Mum who really didn't like me, and it followed on to the chorus, "I never wanted to fight each other but days went on and my heart got stronger", which is about personal growth, empowerment and some very valuable life lessons I have learnt.

Question: What motivates you most when writing music?

Darcy Dexter: I'm motivated by anything that inspires me, anything that makes me feel something so strongly I have to vocalise it in the only way I know how. I think it's healthy to have muses, and I think for me it's therapeutic to write lyrics.

I always have so many thoughts running through my head it helps me to write them out or tell a story, I hope those words help others too like other people's lyrics help me.


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Darcy Dexter: They're both amazing for their own reasons, I used to prefer recording- locking myself away with the boys and creating something- but the more live shows we played the more I loved performing. As a child I used to put on performances for my parents, I always loved the feeling of how happy it made them and I love the feeling now of watching people dance and enjoy themselves or sometimes sing along to words that came out of my head. It's pretty magical and hard to beat.


Question: What should we expect from your upcoming tour?

Darcy Dexter: We've taken a slightly new direction music wise, our live shows have more energy and our set is a bit faster which is fun. I hope that we can meet people who have come to the show. Expect heaps of dancing, laughs and beers.


Question: Which is your favourite song to perform live and why?

Darcy Dexter: It was Golden Girl for a long time, because people love to sing along and it's such an insane feeling. But now I love playing Joyride because it's definitely the hardest for me on the guitar and it's fast paced, it's so much fun to play and sing.


Question: If you could have anyone, in the world, attend a show, who would it be?
Darcy Dexter: I have so many answers to this but if I have to narrow it down to one person it would be Matt Berninger from The National. He's probably my biggest inspiration and if I saw him even tap his foot to one of our songs I'd probably pass out mid-set.


Question: What is the story behind the band name?

Darcy Dexter: Chris and I are firm believers in synchronicity, we were driving our dog to the beach one day after we had just started the band and it kind of came into my head- so I said what about Seaside, and he said he liked it. Then we turned the corner and drove past a sign that said Seaside so we decided that was too coincidental to just have happened and that the name was meant to be ours.


Question: How did the band come together?

Darcy Dexter: Tom and I have been friends for a decade and Chris and I have been together for almost six years. We all played music our whole lives and one day it clicked we should probably start a band, things fell into place so easily and we met our old guitarist and started rehearsing. The rest is history!


Question: Which music/artists are you currently listening to?

Darcy Dexter: I listen to so much music and such a mixture of genres. My last Spotify searches were Idles, Shame, Fontaines DC, The Cure, Joy Division, The National, Sonic Youth, The Pixies and Angie McMahon and they've all been on repeat lately.


Question: What or who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?

Darcy Dexter: My Mum and Dad, they always encouraged me to play music and always had the time to care about everything I tried. It took a long time to build the courage to play in front of people but they were there front and centre every time and with everything I do for the rest of my life I just want to make them proud.

Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?

Darcy Dexter: Robert Smith; a Seaside x Cure collab would be like a fairytale.


Question: What's a typical day like?

Darcy Dexter: A typical day would be waking up to my dog standing on me to get out of bed, and then we would walk and visit Chris at work for a coffee. Then I would either go to work or write music, we rehearse three times a week and on our off nights I try to see my friends or we take our van down to the beach at sunset and cook dinner in the back. I've been enjoying little things like that in between working really hard on the band, it's nice to have a balance.


Question: Can you share your socials?

Darcy Dexter: @heyseaside
@darcydexter
Facebook
@heyseaside
www.seasideband.com


Interview by Brooke Hunter