It wouldn’t be right to do a WA Music feature without mentioning the sheer indie-pop force that is Dulcie. Saskia, Timieka, Ashleigh and Madison hail from all corners of WA, coincidentally colliding at WAAPA in 2018 to form the iconic quartet. Their sound is a sweet, spicy coagulation of unique musical backgrounds, with traces of Hiatus Kaiyote and Odette alongside harmonies so smooth they draw a likeness to classic Fleetwood Mac.
It is this contagious sound that has seen the girls make leaps and bounds in the Aus music scene since their first official release, ‘Fall’, in 2019. Casually supporting acts like Ocean Alley, Spacey Jane and Great Gable is only the beginning of the upward momentum behind these girls. I was lucky enough to pick Saskia’s incredible brain in late 2020, digging into all things Dulcie and the influence of WA on where the girls’ music is today.
So how has your year been? What have you been up to?
It has actually been pretty hectic with COVID and all of the restrictions, but it has been really nice. I think it’s time that we all needed to write and rehearse.
Was ‘Dust’ a result of all that writing time?
Yeh I think Ash wrote it at the very start of this year (2020), I think January before Covid hit…We then recorded it in February, so it has been in the making for a while, we were just waiting for the right time to release it!
Have you found that Dulcie’s sound has benefited from you all bringing different aspects from your musical backgrounds into the writing process?
It’s actually really weird because we all listen to different genres. I love psychedelic rock, Madi likes Artic Monkeys kind of old school rock and then Timieka and Ash love Indi and Pop and joined together we all have really different music tastes. But we all knew where we wanted it to go. So, I think when we wrote our first song, we were all like “this is the style that we want it to be”. It’s so strange because we all have different genres that we’ve meshed together and somehow created a sound that we all know where it’s (the music) is going to go.
We have a really clear direction and so it’s super easy for us to sit down and work together, write together because we know where it’s going to go.
Do you feel as though the WA music scene has influenced your band and your sound? i.e. Is there a particular vibe or style that you’ve heard a lot or been influenced by?
Well, Great Gable for one, they have helped us so much. So, we hadn’t even played a gig yet, but we knew Cal(drummer in Great Gable) and Chris (bass player in Great Gable) from WAAPA and just general networking. Because we hadn’t played a gig yet, they didn’t even know what we sounded like but they were like “Yep, you can support us at our headline show”. We had a month to really practice, but at that time, we didn’t think we would even be really serious but once we had our first gig we thought “shit, we’re really going to do this”. From then on, Spacey (Jane) got onboard and Carla (Geneve) and all of the amazing acts in Perth. It is just so good, we’ve got a really good music community that just love helping each other out and getting even small artists onboard, so we have been very, very lucky.
Who are some stand out fellow musicians to work/tour with from the west coast?
Gable. For sure. They have helped us flourish so much as a band. Venue wise, 459, which is maybe a little bit more under the radar but to get us to where we are, we played so many gigs at 459. I think around two gigs a week, playing to five people and then ten etc. They have always loved us and had us on board.
So, on that note, do you feel that love and support when you’re playing to a home crowd compared to when you’re touring?
I have never actually thought of that! But thinking about it now, it absolutely does (feel different). When you’re in WA, because you’re from the home state, I feel like it’s a lot more personal. When we are over east it is still just as fun, but they might not know us as well as when we’re playing at home.
I can imagine you’re getting some beautiful feedback on your new single ‘Dust’! How has the response been from all your supporters?
Yeh, we are! And it’s pretty amazing, we are so thankful. As COVID hit, we had a year, actually a year and a half, since we had put out ‘Own Ground’, so we had a year and a half between releasing songs. But every day, we were still getting followers, even just one a day and we were just so happy because in a time like this (pandemic) you would think everyone would really drop off and not be as interest because we weren’t really posting or doing anything. But we have had heaps of backup.
So, to round it all out. What is something exciting coming up, little or big, for the Dulcie gang?
We are all really excited for the Ocean Alley tour. It has been postponed twice now because of COVID so hopefully, fingers crossed, we can go ahead with it in Feb or March. When we first found out we were on that tour, we couldn’t believe it, it is pretty exciting. I think we are all just really excited to do that. We have been practicing heaps in the meantime because we’ve had so much time to get a better set and write new songs that kind of fit with the Ocean Alley set lists to give us a bit more continuity.
With new tunes and exciting tour dates in the works, you would be silly not to grab some tickets to watch the glorious Dulcie live this coming August, 2021. In the meantime, have a gander of the links below and treat yourself to some seriously sweet Dulcie listening.
Komentar