Photos by Elise Abotomey

London indie rock band Sea Girls touched down for their first Australian tour following the releases of their new singles, ‘Young Strangers’ and most recently ‘I Want You To Know Me’. Their reputation precedes them as a stand out live act and the Australian fans have been eagerly awaiting their arrival which was only made more evident by the growing queue outside the venue in the afternoon.

I had the absolute pleasure of catching up with them at Oxford Art Factory before their headline show that night, squeezing the five of us into the green room we chatted about all things new music, tour and finally being in Australia.

Pleaser: Could you tell me a little bit about what it is you most enjoyed about the creative process for the new music?

Henry: I think the underpinning idea of everything of was written for this and when we created, I think, I try to enjoy the moment and not think too much about it and make something exciting and not think too much about whether ‘is this going to be a single, is it not going to be a single?’

Pleaser: Do you prefer that way of doing it?

Henry: Yeah I think creatively with this album as well, we really lent in to what we are good at…this energy that we have always had, we didn't try and push away from it…full of like, super high energy…

Oli: Trust your instincts kind of..

Henry: That kind of indie-rock instinct, but working with producers from all parts of the music industry. We are a rock band at our core but we have let them mold us to a certain extent with sound and things like that.

Oli: We do what we do and they do what they do

Henry: But I think it's just us fully leaning into what makes us Sea Girls which is that gut-intense indie feeling.

Pleaser: You worked with Kid Harpoon…how was that experience?

Henry: It was amazing, it was awesome! He was in LA and he was just a bit of kindred spirit really, just a normal guy; super talented, super chill. The whole experience was chill and just a bit of a joy really.

Pleaser: That's what you want

Henry: Yeah exactly!

Pleaser: I loved the visualiser for ‘Young Strangers’, and the POV aspect of it…how did you come up with that?

All: That was Oscar!

Oli: We’ve worked with him and the same company for all our latest videos so they kind of tie it all in nicely. We trusted him, we had done the ‘Weekends and Workdays’ video with him and it was awesome.

Henry: We get that continuity and he totally got the feel and the vibe of that song; two people who just feel these similarities in their lives, they have never met each other before, but just sort of, come together and it was perfect. He totally got the vibe.

Pleaser: How have your music influences changed as you’ve grown as a band?

Rory: I feel like we have always got the same artists and bands that we knew when we were growing up. From you know, Green Day through to Block Party. But all of us have got our ear to the ground and we like modern music coming through from all genres; we’ve got a very collective mix as a band. Modern influences always shape us as we go through and we don’t shy away from that.

Andrew: Our core influences that we've always had and when we are making new music we’ll be referencing stuff that is modern as well

Oli: As I’ve gotten older I’m more curious. When you’re a kid you listen and you’re like “this is great” but now I'm more interested in “who are these guys influenced by” and then you kind of trace it back, and I find that really interesting.

Pleaser: First time touring in Australia, how are you feeling?

Andrew: Excited, a little bit nervous I guess.

Oli: I actually don’t know what to expect. We kind of talked about what Australian crowds are like because we don’t know.

Henry: I expect they are pretty good!

Rory: For us when we’re touring between Europe and England/UK there is a difference in the culture.

Henry: It’s going to be a good gig. I feel quite emotional thinking about it (laughs: but I can’t tell if that’s jetlag) that we’ve finally made it here. We’ve been wanting to come for a long, long time; people have been asking us to come. I remember when we were in the UK and one of our Australian fans was there and they were telling us ‘you’ve got to get out there’ and I was like ‘trust me, we want to’. He said “no more fucking excuses” and obviously it’s happened!

Pleaser: And you’re playing at quite an iconic venue in Sydney tonight, how are you feeling about playing Oxford Art Factory?

Oli: This is the only venue I’d heard of in Australia for a long time, and then it was like “Great we’re playing that one”

Henry: Very good, very cool!

Rory: It seems like the perfect blueprint for a venue

Oli: We were just saying this is the most venue-y venue ever!

Pleaser: What song are you most excited for your fans to hear?

H: I am really excited about ‘I Want You To Know Me’,

A: It’s the first time we’ve played it since we’ve been out

H: Tonight it will be the first time

Pleaser: It's a big show tonight…that’s exciting!

All: Yeah! Yeah it is!

Pleaser: What else do you hope that your fans take out of your music?