High-tails

Artist info

Genre

Indie, Pop

Sounds like

Pavement, The Go-Betweens, Real Estate, Spoon, Orange Juice

band members

Nicholas Griffith ~ Vocals/Guitar Samuel Mason ~ Guitar Felix Colman ~ Bass Toby Davis ~ Drums

Unearthed artists we like

The Ocean Party, Snowy Nasdaq, The Carraways, Cull, Jack and Elmo

Website

www.hightailsband.bandcamp.com

Bio

Sydney's sure-footed guitar-popsters High-tails today unveil their new single "Terrible Day". It follows on from previous smash "Bending Over Backwards" and is another taste of the band's debut EP "Sipping Tea To Make Music To Sip Tea To", which we are proud to announce will be released on Stop Start on 3rd October.

Frontman Nicholas Griffith says of the song "I wrote it at my old house in Chippendale. The opening line 'Walk your Chihuahua in the garden bed across from my house' literally came from watching an old woman and her dog out my window. From there I basically indulged myself in excessive wordplay, which I hope others will find as amusingly cheesy as I do."

The band are the newest signing to Sydney's Stop Start, joining top-notch homegrown alumni Ball Park Music, Millions, Northeast Party House and others. Label head Andy Bryan says "It’s always about good songs and when I heard 'Bending Over Backwards' I was immediately taken with this band. 'Terrible Day' only further cemented my interest. The material they’re writing shows huge potential and we are very excited to be working with them. Another great Aussie band in the making.”

High-tails is comprised of four childhood friends from Wagga who all moved to the big smoke for varying reasons, but found themselves drawn back together through a shared love of creating chiming pop music. They dropped their debut song a little under twelve months ago with "Maps" - a sunburst shot of economical pop that channelled the boys' beloved favourites The Go-Betweens, it had Two Thousand praising its "dreamy layered guitar melodies and a chorus to emote nostalgic Australian film scenes" while triple j Unearthed's Dave Ruby Howe proclaimed it "The Song Of The Summer".

The band followed it up in February with slinky rock stomper "Bending Over Backwards", which has been a bona fide triple j hit this year as well as receiving loads of love on public radio and blogs alike. Aussie Playlist frothed "This songs gets stuck in your head (and doesn't get out quickly)" and The Music Network confirmed "it shows these guys are no one-trick ponies". Further afield, the track even found its way into an episode of US TV series "Best Bars In America".

In tandem with these releases High-tails have played gigs across the country supporting Northeast Party House, The Holidays, Major Leagues, Loon Lake, The Cairos and more. An enthusiastic Guardian review called the band's live show "impressively tight" and "a well-rounded set of slacker pop".

www.facebook.com/hightailsband
www.twitter.com/hightailsband
www.instagram.com/hightailsband
www.triplejunearthed.com/high-tails
www.hightailsband.bandcamp.com

Featured Artist

2014

Mar

High-tails

Indie
Pop

(

)

Sydney, NSW

Sydney quartet High-tails make crisp sunshine-filled guitar-pop with timeless melodies and toe-tapping rhythms.

Read Interview

Q&A with vocalist/guitarist Nicholas Griffith.

Tell us about your music. How did you develop your sound?
Essentially it's pop music in its many forms. Admittedly a lot of British influence although we've been told we also sound quite "Australian". The songs are lyrically focused with some groovy, rhythmic vibes to match. Our sound is constantly developing as well depending on what we're listening to or what what's inspiring us in general.

What’s your greatest source of inspiration for making music?
A lot of the time lyrics are inspired by moments of solitude and aimless rumination. All of the sudden a hint of poetry (maybe) presents itself. The same sort of thing can happen with an instrument or a band jamming.

What can punters expect from a High-tails live show?
A precisely bipolar delivery of emotive pop music. Theatrical hand gestures and sub-par banter.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given and who was it from?
"Always wipe before pulling your pants up" ~ Peter Cook

What Australian track would you play to cheer up someone who was crying?
'Need You Tonight' ~ INXS

What Australian track would you play to someone to make them cry?
'Reckless' ~ Australian Crawl

You’re the DJ at a party. The dance floor is pumping. What Australian track do you put on next?
'Older Men' ~ Snowy Nasdaq

What was the last local gig you went to? How was it?
We saw Cull and Sures play an event called VISIONS at Cliff Dive in Sydney (sadly we missed the opening band Morning Harvey). It was pretty amazing! First time we have seen Cull, definitely not the last!!

Tell us about the bands or people in the Sydney music community that inspire you.
There is a copious amount of good music in sydney which is coming to the surface. Just to name a few ~ The Carraways, Cull, The DeadHeads.

What are your plans for High-tails in 2014?
Lots of things to come but not too much to disclose at this point. We're currently finishing off the mixing of our debut EP "Sipping Tea To Make Music To Sip Tea To". It's really quite close to being done but we'll be releasing another single before we put out the whole thing. Then it's more touring and more writing for the remainder of the year and basically trying to jump on opportunities that come our way.