Project Description
Interview with
TRAVALLEY
Interviewer – Dave Bruce
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Have you always wanted to be a musician? When did you start writing music?
I have always wanted to be a musician, however it did come and go throughout my teenage years. I didn’t properly start playing guitar until I was around 15 and then singing was around 20 or so. The writing of songs happened when I started singing, I always used to try to write chord progressions but I would get bored. Singing along to the chord progressions I was writing definitely pushed me in the right direction.
Which music did you grow up listening to? How has it influenced your current style?
We listened to a heap of different music growing up.
Led Zeppelin, Daft Punk, Jungle Giants, Tame Impala, Kings of Leon, Florence and the Machine and Angus and Julia Stone to name a few. All of these artists were able to create an amazing discography which has really pushed us to try to replicate these bands and never stop releasing music. I think it has also pushed us to be more open to new ideas and not limit ourselves. We tend to release songs in no particular genre, just whatever we are feeling at the time.
How would you describe your sound?
Big, fun, catchy and jangly.
We try to make each song as fun and catchy as possible so that when we play them live the audience can sing along and have a boogie and a half.
Why do you think people resonate with your music?
The lyrics are often based around familiar situations that people go through every day.
We are quite laid back so that really reflects in our live performances as well. We are not full on rock stars, we are just rambling idiots who love to have a great time.
Each song is uplifting so when you listen hopefully we brighten your day <3
Your new single ‘Dear Babe’ has just been released! Describe its origin and evolution.
Dear Babe is quite new actually. We tend to try and write a song a month which this one came together being written, recorded and released all in a month so it happened super fast which took us by surprise. The evolution of it has yet to happen as we haven’t even played it live yet so we can’t wait to do that !
Do you have any more new music in the works?
We have a heap of new tracks coming out this year. We have 3 already finished and are currently working on another 3 songs as we have so much free time. When we will release them we don’t actually know. If the reception to Dear Babe continues to be strong we will release them sooner rather than later.
Do you have any shows/tours coming up? What are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
We did have an east coast tour planned for November but that isn’t going to happen anymore. For the time being we are going to just continue doing local shows around Vic.
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If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why?
Hmmmm, this one is always tough. I am going to choose 2 because I can’t just do one.
1. Tame Impala. I have seen them live twice and holy shit they are so amazing. The whole show you just feel like you are going to have an outer body experience.
2. Bluejuice. I was lucky enough to see their last show at Falls Festival and I cried and it was amazing. They have such a good energy and funnily enough they always get naked on stage which is hilarious and is something we do so would just be a huge naked party full of fun times.
What’s next for you in the near future?
We are currently planning an event which will be called Trav Fest. This is going to combine us as a live band and also a full set of house music with DJs and other really sick bands. We want to bring the festival experience to local pubs and do something new for punters.
What are your longer-term aspirations?
Our long term aspirations would be to continue releasing music and playing all over Australia. Eventually playing all over the world would be sick. But for now we are set on playing around Australia as much as possible.
What is the best thing about performing to a live audience?
The crowds getting into the set and having the best time. We have a super rowdy fan base which is quite funny considering we play quite chill music. When you can feed off the audience that is when you have the best shows.
Shout out to February 1st show at The Evelyn when people were hanging off the roof and half the crowd was naked to our famous cover of twist and shout.
Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:
Album – Oracular Spectacular – MGMT
Artist – Last Dinosaurs
Movie – The Wolf of Wall Street
Place to visit – Falls Creek
Venue to play – The ESPY St Kilda
Food – Weis Dark Choc Icecream hot dayum its good
Drink – Milo
Person in History – Joe Rogan
Tattoo – (If you don’t have one, what would you get?) I don’t think I will ever get one. I am not into them.
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Follow TRAVALLEY
Facebook – Instagram
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Aussie brothers, Travalley have recently dropped their seriously fun, raucous new single, Dear Babe. The track is accompanied by a fittingly bonkers video that sees the duo, Levi and Sam Mellington, munch through as many chillies as possible throughout the duration of the clip.
Upbeat and hooky as all getout, this driving indie rock track will be lapped up by fans of Lime Cordiale, The Jungle Giants, Hockey Dad and Skegss, and will have listeners toe-tapping, singing along with the insanely catchy backing vocals and coming back for more. Recorded in a Melbourne home studio, engineered by Fabian Hunter and mixed and mastered by Austin Asvanonda (The War on Drugs), Dear Babe is about lead singer Levi’s lack of ability to be able to flirt or express how he feels.
“I always manage to say the wrong thing or give too much away too early which tends to end up in the “what if I said this” situation happening over and over again and then repeating the process with the same results,” Levi explains. “About a year ago, I finally stuck to my guns and held back from blurting out everything about myself to a girl, I was so impressed with myself that I decided to write a song about all my past experiences, and now here we are! We just hope people really enjoy the song and get a laugh out of the film clip.”
Filmed and edited by Gareth Harrison (DJ for Yacht Club DJs who also tours regularly with DZ Deathrays and Dune Rats), the concept for the Dear Babe video was inspired by the DZ Deathrays The mess Up film clip where the guys drank as much alcohol over the duration of the song. An extrapolation of this was then released by Dune Rats in Red Light Green Light where they smoked as much as they could. Pretty chuffed with their ingeniousness with this video concept that is sure to set tongues wagging, and rightfully so, Levi explains,
“We decided to continue the trend that these two amazing bands created, and stupidly ate as many chillies as we could within the time of the film clip. Little did we know that we ate far more than expected and experienced all sorts of pains for days after the video was filmed!”
Having spent a lifetime together, and the greatest part of it playing music together, the visceral bond present in their playing and their vocal harmonies is obvious, and their onstage banter is infectious. And though the brothers have been combatting a heap of change during the Covid19 madness, they’re also able to see the positives.
“We’ve had a lot more time to write new music and expand our sound, and we’ve had to come up with more creative ways to keep our fans engaged, but it’s also given us the opportunity to sit back and relax for the first time in a long time,” says Levi. “But like many other bands out there, we had to cancel our entire tour and a bunch of bookings too. The biggest thing we’ve missed is playing live to our amazing fans that travel to come see us play. Once this has passed and we are able to start playing music in front of people again, we can only imagine how amazing and hyped everyone will be to get out and have a great time.”
Dear Babe is out now.
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