Hermitude - Stepping out of the fortress of solitude

After some time hiding from the beady eyes of public, a group of lads emerged from a cave somewhere in the Blue Mountains and combined their musical talents to create their upcoming Rare Sightings EP. Aside from that small feat the lads, better known as Hermitude, have been working on their third album and are about half way through. Oh and they’ve just returned from a successful international tour that took in the sights of Japan, UK and the US.

As you can see the hermits had quite a bit to talk about so A Fine Line took advantage of one of Luke Dub’s rare public sightings and probed him for some answers.

The first thing we asked Dubs was to explain how the crew were received in Japan because it’s a bit of a difficult concept to understand how an Australian band, or any English speaking band for that matter, could be embraced wholeheartedly in Japan. But it's a story reproduced time and time again. Language can't obstruct fine tunes and the Hermitude boys are proof of that.

"Japan has a massive scene for any type of music. Because of the enormous population you can go and check out any gig in any genre and no doubt it’ll be cranking. They love new sounds and aren’t afraid to support upcoming bands like ourselves. We found them really supportive and also quite curious as to who these two Hermits from the Blue Mountains are."

On the hermit theme, the band is releasing an EP in November aptly titled Rare Sightings. The title also plays on the fact there will be a limited run of vinyl pressings hitting the shelves. So if you're a bit of a collector, you better act fast. As for the music side of the things Dubs denies the EP is a tool to keep the fans happy while Hermitude perfect their upcoming album.

“Rare Sightings is more than just a release to tide people over. It’s an EP with five stories that are told through music that explain where we went, who we met, the ups and downs…all that kind of stuff. We really wanted to share this with our fans because its was an amazing trip for us and this way people can get a vibe of what we were feeling in each country we visited. (The boys recently did a string of dates across Spain, France, England, Norway and the United States).”

“As for the third album, we’re well into it, we’re also extremely excited about it. We’ve grown a lot musically in the last couple of years and that I think is definitely apparent.”

Hermitude draw on a mix of hip hop, jazz, down tempo, reggae, soul and funk influences. But Dubs found it difficult task to pin point specific albums that had directly influenced the upcoming album. It's more about the unknown for the band and messing around with it until they can make it work.

"I can’t really think of albums that are directly influencing the shape of the third album. We don’t set in concrete a structure and purpose for every song. We just ride along with an open mind, always hunting or searching for instruments, sounds or frequencies that we haven’t explored yet. I can rattle off a few bands that we saw live who turned our heads while we were traveling though. Crews like Jackson and his Computer Band, Roy Ayres, Common, Ramsey Lewis, Capleton, Buju Banton, Roy Hardgrove, EDIT just to name a few."

Speaking of tours Hermitude is just about to embark on The Three Strikes Tour with label mates Urthboy and The Tongue. The Elefant Traks community is close knit and there's a lot of neighbourly love between the artists. Guest vocals here, a bit of DJing there. But is traveling with your mates all that it's cracked up to be?

“Elefant tours are always great because it’s basically like cruising round the country with your mates. We’re all close friends and we know each other’s little quirks and who not to share hotel rooms with”

In the eyes of Mr. Luke Dubs who are some of the more entertaining bands to hit the road with?

“Man…everyone has been a pleasure to tour with. There’s never a boring one. The Bird are great to tour with because they’re so funny your jaw hurts from laughing so much. The Resin Dogs are killer to tour with cause Dave and Katch have so many stories so there’s never a dull moment. I’ve enjoyed every tour we’ve ever done.”

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