Melbourne rockers Magic Bones have begun touring Australia along side one-man-band Harts. Along the way they will be launching their new single Anytime Anywhere. Tomatrax caught up with Dylan from the band to ask a few questions.
How did the band form?
Rich and I (Dylan) had been jamming and writing music together back in 2009 after our last band split up. Armed with a handful of songs we started looking around for some other people to complete the 4 piece. It was pretty much always to be a 4 piece. I met Michael by chance at a party in late 2009, it was a bit like love at first sight. I saw him walk in across the room and thought, “he looks like a rocker”, turns out he is. After a bit more jamming and recording, Mike brought Kiri along. She brought another dimension to the band and I suppose we’ve never looked back since.
Where did the name Magic Bones come from?
There’s not really an interesting story to this, we were bouncing around names and Magic Bones was the one that stuck.
Each members plays multiple instruments, is it hard to juggle the different instruments on stage?
We don’t know any other way to do it. We each have our own style and flavor on each instrument and swapping is the only way to make the songs feel right.
Three of you sing for the band, how do you work out who sings on what song?
Our voices each have unique qualities and sound better doing different things so really it’s just a matter of figuring out what sounds best.
What was the inspiration behind the video for Anytime Anywhere?
We just wanted to let loose, show the more wacky side of our personalities. We were mostly inspired by videos of The B-52s, mixing an 80’s VHS aesthetic with Australiana pop-culture.
Anytime anywhere was added to Triple J’s High rotation list, what’s it like to hear your music on the radio?
It brings a great sense of achievement, it’s like confirmation that other music professionals like what we’re doing. It’s also great to think that we’re reaching such a wide and enthusiastic audience.
You’ve began touring with Harts, how has that been going?
Harts is a great act and knows how to write a damn catchy tune! It’s always a pleasure to share the stage with him. It’s pretty early on in the tour, but so far the dates we’ve played with him have been a hit.
Are there any plans to put out an album in 2015?
Yes, we’ve started work on it and plan to release it this year.
Do you ever listen to your own music?
We listen every time we play live, rehearse and during the writing and recording. A lot of labor goes into creating our music so by the time it makes the radio we’ve probably listened to each track about 1000 times. We still enjoy hearing it on the radio each time it comes on.
What other music do you listen to?
We all have a fairly diverse and large music collection but most recently we’ve been listening to Royal Blood, The Delta Riggs, DZ Deathrays, Dune Rats, Ty Segall, King Gizzard & The Lizard, Mac DeMarco, The Datsuns.
What do Magic Bones have planned for 2015?
We’ll be touring the release of ‘Anytime Anywhere’ throughout January with Harts and releasing another new single after that. Then the plan is to put out our first full-length album and hopefully another string of touring dates.
Magic Bones are currently touring Australia with Harts, dates and venues are listed below. Check out the band’s bandcamp page to find out more!
