In our 44th instalment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Melbourne’s alt country rockers Raised By Eagles, and chat about their second album, Diamonds In The Bloodstream, and have a listen to their track, ‘Jackie’.
Band Name:
Raised By Eagles
Website / Social Media:
raisedbyeagles.com
Facebook / Bandcamp / Instagram / Twitter
Genre:
Alt Country
Members & their roles:
Luke Sinclair – Vocals, Guitar,
Nick O’Mara – Vocals, Lead Guitars
Johnny Gibson – Drums
Luke Richardson – Bass
What music or artists inspired you?
That’s a long a list! I guess we have been collectively inspired along the course of our combined lifetimes, by all the music we’ve heard. That, and all the wandering. The bastards and the angels. The sound of the rain and the silence. All the houses and all the rooms. All the keys and phones. The little victories and dead ends. Friends and their music. Idiots and their noise. Home and distance and the all the territories between
How did the band get started?
My other band, The Idle Hoes, went into indefinite hiatus when my writing partner Shaun Feeley decided to take a rest. I had a bunch of songs rattling around in my guitar case that I wanted to record. My wife, Tracy McNeil suggested I put a band together to play a show that she was putting on at the John Curtin Bandroom on Lygon. So I called up Nick O’Mara, who I met after a gig at Bar Nancy on the Westgarth strip. Nick also recorded a few tracks on the last Idle Hoes album Tomorrow Morning, so I was well aware of his sublime guitar chops and very keen to snaffle him. He was keen so we were already half way there. I knew Luke Richardson from excellent Country-Bluegrass band The Stetsons. He’s very handsome and very good on the bass, so I snaffled him too. Johnny Gibson I met through our mutual mate Van Walker. I went to Tassie for a week to play bass on one of Van’s five thousand albums Greetings From Penguin Tasmania, Johnny was playing drums on that record. It rained all week long. I learned how to successfully record a bass line while drinking dangerous amounts of cheap McWilliams Port during that trip. Johnny and I have been mates ever since so he was an obvious choice. We all got together for a few rehearsals and then played the show. It was a veritable train wreck, but after that we just kept the ball rolling. I can’t really remember deciding that we should be a band, the whole thing seemed to come together on its own. I called us Raised By Eagles after the first few gigs (that’s another story), but needless to say the name stuck. We went into Little Gold Studios in Brunswick to record the first album in 2012, and we learned how to play well together. So.. here we are.
How would you best describe your live show:
An alt.country exfoliante. Purifying, refreshing and gritty.
What shows do you have coming up?
We’re playing at Basement Discs in the CBD on May 8, then the Kingston Harvest Festival on May 9 before hitting the road with Alt Country sweetheart, Ruby Boots to launch our new album at Newtown Social Club in Sydney on May 21 – Howler in Melbourne on May 22 – Black Bear Lodge in Brisbane on May 29. Regional dates to be announced soon.
Keep an eye on Facebook for more dates.
Tell us about your latest release:
We just released album #2 – Diamonds In The Bloodstream, on 20 April 2015 through Vitamin Records. A collection of songs that remain unaffected by the smoke and mirrors of music in the post-modern era, and attempt to encapsulate the art of storytelling at its heartfelt finest.
Where can I get your music?
Online at raisedbyeagles.com / iTunes / Bandcamp / Vitamin Records / Basement Discs / JB Hi Fi… basically all groovy record stores.
Listen to ‘Stumbled Upon’ on AU Radio , Mondays at 8:30PM, Thursdays at 3PM and Sundays at 10AM (AEDT), or the playlist of past ‘Stumbled Upon’ artists on Soundcloud
