SUNBLEACHED // The World Through Rose-Tinted Eyes

When Brisbane’s Sunbleached dropped Flowers Grow from Ugly Places back in October, we thought they couldn’t get any better. Oh boy, were we wrong!

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Because now, the band has upped the ante with the official release of Rose Tinted, a two-tracker embracing the best parts of modern and retro alt-rock and the band’s own emotional experiences.

We caught up with vocalist Josh Baker and guitarist Joey Keating and dug into how the mini-EP came together, the band’s history and more.

Hysteria: Let’s get the band introduced.

Josh: I ran into Bradley (Maddaford, guitar) at Stones Corner, which is just a place in Brisbane near the CBD. I hadn’t seen him in years and he said that he was writing some new stuff and asked me if I wanted to come in and sit in on a rehearsal that he was doing with a drummer friend of ours. We solidified some of the songs and then we invited Joey in. And it sort of went from there.

You guys have done a lot of the work for this band during the pandemic. Where have you found the motivation?

Joey: Forming the band during the pandemic, we had heaps more time to be able to get creative and to think a little bit harder about where we wanted to go sonically and what we wanted to do as a team. That brought us to the place of wanting to be honest with our sound and not deliberately trying to be like anyone else, but trying to find something that we love to listen to and something that we connected with when we played it live. So, that was probably the major spark for us. The fact that we had enough time to be able to be creative and get things right.

We’d love to dig into what inspired the two-tracker lyrically.

Josh: On the track Rose Tinted. I mean, it’s just sort of something that we’ve witnessed a lot and we’ve experienced ourselves. You know, being stuck in a situation, it could be with a friend or it could be with someone that you’re in a relationship with. And they might be taking advantage of you or it might be a volatile relationship and you’re not sure whether to leave it or not. Or even just loving this person so much that you’re willing to take the damage that they will deal to you. It’s a weird song because lyrically, it’s quite full on but it doesn’t sound like that.

Joey: Sonically, within the two tracks, there’s two sides of the same coin. Both songs revolve around a similar theme. One is quite a balls to the wall rock song. The other one is a little bit more of an indie, summer sounding track but it still has our fingerprint and our DNA. I think they give two different sides of the same story as well, as far as emotion goes throughout the songs. So Rose Tinted has this really dreamy lovey sort of sound about it, whereas Flowers has this rage underneath it. And I think both of those feelings are ones that you feel in that kind of environment. The polarising between hot and cold and positive and negative and how those two things live with one another, especially within a relational context. It’s interesting. It can be volatile. It can be beautiful. It can be hard, and it’s all something that we need to navigate.

Rose Tinted has this really dreamy lovey sort of sound about it, whereas Flowers has this rage underneath it. And I think both of those feelings are ones that you feel in that kind of environment.
[Joey Keating]

We love how Rose Tinted felt so modern yet so nostalgic. So who’d you take influence from sonically?

Josh: I definitely take inspiration from bands like Postal Service and King Krule. It’s weird because they’re not really in this realm, though. There’s also Citizen. I love them. What about you, Joey?

Joey: When it comes to the writing of guitars and soundscapes, there are many bands that Bradley, Zane (Hughes), and I owe a big debt to. The likes of Silverchair, The Smashing Pumpkins and even Linkin Park. Those guys paved the way for the modern music industry. And then obviously, you can hear modern heavyweights throughout it, like Citizen or Pianos Become the Teeth. Those guys are creating a really beautiful, modern edge on something nostalgic. And that’s something that we wanted to aim to do as well. We wanted to lean on our influences but not mimic them or mirror them. There’s nothing more frustrating than listening to a band and being like, ah, I want to listen to Smashing Pumpkins now. It’s always nice when you listen to a band, and you can acknowledge the flavours but still realise the fingerprint.

Josh: We’re starting to define ourselves a little bit more. With some of the stuff that we’re writing for the future, we’re really honing in on that blend.

What was it like working with Tristan from Waxflower on this one?

Joey: I have a personal relationship with Tristan, so he and I grew up together. The first band that I was ever a part of was with Tristan and another good friend of ours, Dylan. So for us to be able to work in a creative space with him was sort of like a coming home moment for me. It was very comfortable, very fun, but very professional. We were super blown away by how far Tristan’s come with his production and how confident he is with it. And, for us, it was definitely a sonic step up into a new realm. We plan on working with Tristan more in the future. That’s both the intention of the band and him. We want to keep sonically moving forward. But yeah, it’s streamlined. Having Tristan with a hand in the creative process just feels right. There’s no pushing or pulling. It’s just the river. It’s really good.

Josh: I can’t say enough positive things about working with Tristan. He understands the music that we want to make. And the little flares that he puts on it production-wise are great. There are things that we don’t think of that he does, and he adds those flavours in. It’s a great little thing that we’ve got going on with him.

What’s next?

Joey: We absolutely have more material on the way. Between myself and Bradley, we’re creatively moving a lot together and putting a lot of things in place for the future. You’ll expect more from Sunbleached in the coming year, that’s for sure.