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Interview with Tundra

Jon Berrien
Latest posts by Jon Berrien (see all)

 Brisbane based indie pop band Tundra, has been on the grind making fun, fresh, tracks to jam to.  Their energy and youth projects through their music and with an EP soon to be released, it’s time you get acquainted with these guys. GroundSounds recently chopped it up with Tundra, check out our exclusive interview below. 

For those just discovering Tundra, how did you guys come together and start creating music?

We had all played music with each other at different points and it just worked out that we were all looking for something new at the same time so we started Tundra.

We at GroundSounds have had ‘Glow’ on rotation, can you tell us about the creative process and inspiration behind this track?

Glow was one of those songs where the main sections comes together in half an hour. Rob and Rohan came up with a cool guitar riff and lyrics and the rest of the parts really flowed off that. After we had a basic idea of how we wanted Glow to sound, we recorded a demo of the track and began the long process of critiquing the song until we had picked out every aspect we didn’t like and replaced it with someone we thought was cool. This process even continued into the studio as our sound engineer and producer Konstantin Kersting shaved sections off the song to make it ‘radio friendly’.

‘Glow’ has also left us really anticipating your upcoming EP, what can you guys reveal about it? What has it been like working on this project?

The EP will be out in early 2014. It has been awesome fun writing new songs and testing them out on live audiences. We’ve cut a list of over 10 sounds down to a 5 track EP. We can’t wait to release it!

Is there a release date for the EP?

We’re never too confident with release dates as we always tend to have some sort of set back in the process of our releases. But I think we can confidently say that the EP will be out by March next year.

What was it like growing up in Brisbane and what is one thing every visitor should see or do?

I think its cool! A lot of people love to say Brisbane is a boring place because its cool to hate the city you’re in (right?). But I think Brisbane is a cool place to live. I think that everyone visiting Brisbane should go and check out some live music and go to a few cool bars!

What do you guys feel while performing and jamming out?

Rehearsing can often get very tedious as 4 different musical opinions clash quite often. In a live setting, we like to use the audiences response as a gauge on how accessible the music is.

What has it been like working with Konstantin Kersting of the Belligerents? How has his expertise helped you guys out?

It’s been great to have an input from someone who has done exactly what we’re trying to do. Family members and friends love to just tell you you’re great all the time, so its been really helpful to have Konsti providing us with some constructive criticism.

What has been one of the most memorable experiences for Tundra to date?

Definitely recording our EP at Airlock. Living at a studio in the bush with your best friends playing and recording music is probably one of the best things in the world.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you guys create your music? Do you typically start with lyrics, a beat, guitar riff, or just an idea/concept?

Our songs usually start with a chord progression or riff written by Rohan. This is then brought to practice and developed until we have something which slightly resembles a song. We then begin the long process of critiquing the song until we are all happy with every aspect of it.

What books, people, places or things have inspired you guys?

Our musical influences range from old jazz cats to Kylie Minogue and almost everything in between. I think that our music is a result of our four different musical backgrounds coming together and meshing in to the sound we create.

After the EP is released will you guys be hitting the road? Is their a tour in the works? What’s next?

We hope to! We really want to tour down the east coast of Australia following the release next year. We would also love to play at a few festivals!