Writer: Erryn Thyer
All Our Exes Live In Texas have a debut album that’s waiting to meet you.
‘When We Fall’ and its March 3 release are edging closer, but in the meantime Hannah, one quarter of the Exes, phoned in to chat 2017 happenings, and share a few moments from along the way that helped make their journey thus far extra spesh.
The Exes have recently celebrated a creative marriage that is 4 years old, (that’s a gift of linen or silk for the traditionalists) and have achieved much to write home about. When Elana, Georgia, Hannah and Katie combine, they create unique, timeless, melodic & charismatic indie-folk. Curious as to if the transition from individual solo artists to Sydney super group (yeah i said it) was a difficult one, Hannah affirms the appeal for her lies in camaraderie, “Touring as a solo musician can be really lonely; finding the venue, setting up & packing down, making your way back to the air B&B alone…so to share a stage and have people to bounce ideas off is really nice”.
“Touring as a solo musician can be really lonely; finding the venue, setting up & packing down, making your way back to the air B&B alone…so to share a stage and have people to bounce ideas off is really nice”.
Friends first, bandmates second. Latest single Boundary Road, and its guerrilla style clip depicting tour life in NYC, ties into the sentiment it’s nice to know you’ve got support around you. Story goes – the refrain came about after a screaming fight between Katie and her mother, when Katie’s “You’re the mum, suck it up” was met with a “What if I wanna be the one to fall apart once in a while?”.
Emotive lyrics, impeccable 4-part harmonies, well-dressed; the quartet don’t drop the ball humour-wise either. Their antics, stage banter and video clips (see ‘Tell Me’) prove singin’ about heartbreak doesn’t mean sacrificing the lols along the way. Refer to their Sydney TEDx 2016 performance in the Concert Hall of the Opera House, whereby (alongside a dreamy trio of “Devil’s Part”, “Sailboat” & “Tell Me”), they also showcased World record holder Deb playing her spoons. I personally did not see that coming.
Live-wise, the Exes have gigs early March in AUS; supporting Nathaniel Rateliff at PIAF, whom Hannah admits they couldn’t say no to (“we are obsessed with him”) and Adelaide Festival’s sassy lineup includes a show from the ladies also. All Our Exes Live In Texas go international too. September last year saw the band sell out their first ever London show, before arriving in Ireland, where the crowds continued to blow them away with their openness and enthusiasm. The Irish folk festival-goers had thoroughly researched their lyrics and Hannah recalls fond memories of meeting the best people, “in hot tubs and whiskey bars”.
Currently performing in the US for the Folk Alliance showcase, with the assistance of a grant from AUS council they are to return in mid-March, befittingly to Austin TX, for the SXSW showcase. So, is cracking the US market a focus?
“Well one thing is that we don’t actually have any exes in Texas, so that’s a big goal for us; we need to break some hearts!” , laughs Hannah.
She continues- “America at the moment feels like that’s where the most opportunity is for us, so we’re happy to spend a lot of time wherever, if people are keen, and right now they are keen in the US, so that’s where our time will be spent.”
“America at the moment feels like that’s where the most opportunity is for us, so we’re happy to spend a lot of time wherever, if people are keen, and right now they are keen in the US, so that’s where our time will be spent.”
It would seem Americans immediately warm to the gals; they even managed to win over The Backstreet Boys whilst touring Australia with them in a very (on paper) unusual pairing…
“Have you seen Jimmy Fallon does mean tweets? We wanted to do that. We were originally billed as special guests, so perhaps the audience was expecting a Ricki Lee, or Guy Sebastian, so we just got a bunch of messages, like confused girls saying “I don’t even know what these instruments are!”…I’d like to point out my Mum personally went and trolled all those people back- “Who are you? What are you doing with your life?”. The Backstreet Boys actually jumped up onstage during our set, and yelled to the audience “this is our favourite Australian band, and you should love them too”. It wasn’t until the part of the set featuring the acoustic break down, where the boys sat with guitars and 5 part harmonies the audience fully came to understand the support connection. 98% of the crowd had no idea who we were at the start, but it was a chance for them to discover something new, and they were really nice by the end.”
When quizzed to choose a song off the forthcoming release to elaborate on, “When The Sun Come Up” is selected. “George brought the song to the group, and it was realised with our instruments, but we imagined it with a full orchestra arrangement, drum fills and strings. The final edit came out the exact way we’d wanted. It felt satisfying knowing we’d achieved the sound we’d set out to.”
Rumour has it the collection of songs compiled on “When We Fall” are enough to make grown men cry (not that there’s anything wrong with that…).
Pre-order “When We Fall” at allourexesliveintexas.com
