Tired Lion

Artist info

Genre

Indie, Rock

band members

Sophie Hopes-Vocals/Guitar,Matt Tanner-Lead Guitar, Nick Vasey - Bass,Ethan Darnell-Drums

Influences

Smashing Pumpkins, Pixies

Unearthed artists we like

Pat Chow, Emperors, Sons of Rico, Rainy Day Women, FOAM, Graphic Characters, Apache, Our Man In Berlin, Mezzanine, The Love Junkies, WiseOaks, HYLA, The Jezabels, Major Leagues, The Sinking Teeth, KINGSWOOD, Timothy Nelson & The Infidels, Marksman Lloyd

Website

instagram.com/tiredlionband

Bio

The last 12 months have seen Perth's Tired Lion begin to stand out as one of Western Australia's most exciting new bands - including showcasing at Singapore’s prestigious Music Matters Live, wowing crowds at the 2104 WAMI Awards, touring nationally for their debut EP All We Didn't Know, supporting the likes of Gyroscope, The 1975, Kingswood, Luca Brasi, and Velociraptor, and being nominated for 'the most popular live act' at the 2014 WAM Awards.

Recorded with Dave Parkin (Emperors, Snowman, Karnivool) in their home town of Perth, the first single of their upcoming second EP is “I Don't Think You Like Me” is a fresh take on 90’s nostalgia that will ring both true and loudly to the ears.

“We're all about the raw honesty in the music we make. If you sit back and take in the energy of what we are playing and what it's all about, it's a direct view into the looking glass that is collectively our lives - be it happy, sad or confusing. We're passionate about bringing to people a fresh take on what is a nostalgic sound, keeping the guitars loud and trying to evoke some kind of feeling for the listener with dynamics and melody.”

Fronted by the enigmatic Sophie Hopes, Tired Lion's infections melodies are brought forth with raw honesty and intensity, calling back to the rich tradition of strong Australian front women. Acting as the perfect ying to her yang, Sophie is backed Matt Tanner, Ethan Darnell and Nick Vasey who play with passion, precision and a 'take no prisoners' approach, making Tired Lion a powerful act worth keeping your eyes (and ears) on.

Tired Lion will be touring extensively over the next few months, supporting Luca Brasi nationally, Kingswood in WA, and a scattering of their own headline shows.

Featured Artist

2015

Apr

Tired Lion

Indie
Rock

(

tired ,
Tired Lion ,
Lion ,

)

Perth, WA

Perth 4-piece Tired Lion make excellent grungy rock'n'roll. We like them. A lot.

Read Interview

Tell us about your music. How did you develop your sound?

Our sound has kind of just changed as time has gone on; we wear our hearts on our sleeves and you can hear our influences in the music. When we all first started jamming we were a weird stripped back folky thing but once we wound up plugging our acoustics into fuzz pedals we knew it was time for a change. I think each of us has brought our own little flavour into the band and mixed together it comes out as what you’re hearing.

What’s your greatest source of inspiration for making music?

It sounds cheesy but day to day life, really. When we’re content it’s harder to write but as soon as something happens to rock the boat it all comes pouring out. Sometimes we sabotage ourselves just to get something to write about, but being a band of sooky emotionals [made up word] generally it’s not hard to find something to pull inspiration from. Also just hearing, seeing and experiencing music from other great bands inspires us in our writing.

What can punters expect from a Tired Lion live show?

We try to put on a high energy show which ends up being lots of sweat and long hair flying everywhere. We put everything we’ve got into a live performance and lately it’s been great to see audiences getting a bit raucous and joining in.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given and who was it from?

A good friend of ours Dave Parkin who is responsible for recording our latest EP and the single “I Don’t Think You Like Me” is kind of like a wise father figure to us. Throughout the recording process we’d often come to him with an issue of life, love or whatever and he’d always have some pretty cool advice. It’s hard to pinpoint an exact example but if anyone ever gets to meet him or has met him you’ll get it. Sensei Parko!

What Australian track would you play to cheer up someone who was crying?

Probably Violent Soho’s “Muscle Junkie”, if someone’s crying it’s usually because some loser has done something to upset them. Without knowing exactly what the song is about “Muscle Junkie” seems like one big f**k you to someone, plus the loud guitars are an automatic cheer up. I know it makes all of us in TL happy blasting a bit of Soho as loud as we can in the car.

What Australian track would you play to someone to make them cry?

Maybe “Get Out Of Here” by Bored Nothing, it’s reminiscent of a troubled Elliott Smith and such a beautiful song. In the right frame of mind, at the right time and with the right person I’m sure they’d shed a tear.

You’re the DJ at a party. The dance floor is pumping. What Australian track do you put on next?

In Melbourne about a month ago we hijacked the guest DJ spot at the Luca Brasi show after party. We took over just as the dance floor was pumping from some well-placed bangers. We put on Bodyjar’s “Not the Same” and everyone went absolutely crazy, some even rushing the stage to sing along. We were pretty stoked to see people give it up for a classic.

What was the last local gig you went to? How was it?

The last local gig we went to was a little floor show mid-week in Leederville just outside of Perth City. It was one of those shows where nothing is mic-ed up and the vocals can barely be heard over the loud guitars and drums. This gig albeit a pretty basic set-up was awesome, a new band called Hip Priest (members from unearthed bands Silver Hills and Rag ‘N Bone) absolutely killed it for their first show ever, immediately afterwards we asked them on to support us for a local headline show we had in the coming weeks.

Tell us about the bands or people in the WA music community that inspire you.

The WA music community is a great thing to be a part of and basically everyone involved inspires and supports us. We could go all day giving shout outs but…; Pat Chow, Timothy Nelson & The Infidels, Apollo’s Son, Silver Hills, Emperors, Apache, Foam, Rag ‘N Bone, The Love Junkies, Black Stone from the Sun, our Manager Jake, Claire and Mike from WAM, Rachael Barrett Photography, Mitch and Lizard from the Prince. That’s just to name a few and missing probably one million others that make being in a WA band so rad.

What are your plans for 2015?

Our plan is to be as busy as possible, next weekend we’ve got Groovin the Moo in Bunbury. Then next month we hit the road with British India to tour their new single across Australia as well as releasing a new single ourselves. The following month we’ll likely be releasing an EP followed by our own Australian Tour. We’ve locked in a few mini-festivals over east towards the latter part of this year, and of course in between we are always writing and working towards our debut album.

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