Tell us about your music – how did you develop your sound?

I guess we call ourselves an indie/rock outfit but I'm not really sure if we really fit in with the 'indie' genre. Everything we've done has been self funded and promoted so I guess we're indie in that sense. All the songs we have written up until now have come about by standing in a room together, instruments in hand, mucking around and jamming new ideas then somehow forming them into some sort of structure. We've never been a band who has individual members bringing a whole song to the table. At the moment we are experimenting with other formulas though; for example two people working on an idea and bringing it to the others etc. I think to keep your songwriting fresh you need to change up the ways you go about creating your music.

What should we expect at a Rapids live show?

We've always written songs that have been influenced by multiple genres, so I think our live show is quite diverse in that sense. We integrate elements of punk, pop, indie, hip hop and alternative music into our set so I think that at a Rapids show you can expect a bit of genre hopping whilst hopefully retaining a Rapids sound.

How long have you been together - what were you all doing before forming?

We've been together for a little over a year. Angus (drums) and Will (guitar, bass) are from Victoria and have been friends since primary school. Remy (bass, guitar) and I (synth, vox) are both from Queensland but didn't really meet until our first band practise. The circumstances in which we met are actually pretty complicated but it all happened whilst living and working together on the Gold Coast. Shortly after we all relocated to down to Sydney into a converted office space to start writing music and gigging together properly.

What’s coming up in the future?

At the moment we are gearing up for our first tour in November. We are going to play in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Byron Bay, Newcastle, Sydney and Melbourne. We are hard at work writing new material and rehearsing the set in preparation. I guess we're especially excited for 'The Phillip, The Hawk' single launch party which we're holding at a warehouse space in the inner west of Sydney to kick off the tour. Other than that, we are looking to book some more studio time in early 2011 to kick out some new tracks. We are also very lucky to have our hard working friend Kain O'Keefe, who is so motivated when it comes to creating and directing film clips for the songs we record.

Australian music is?

Australian music is really wonderful. We're so lucky to live in a country with such a distinctive and relevant music scene. Australian bands are recognised consistently at an international level and in my opinion we have a music industry to compete with anyone else's. Perhaps the live music scene could do with some sort of kick up the ass. Everyone you speak to seems to love music and has an extensive list of favourite bands, but are hard pushed when it comes to going out to see someone live on any given night of the week.