The Redsunband - Shiralee and the burden of life’s unexpected arrow

As this interview takes place, the Liam Finn support tour is well underway and usually the middle of the tour is when most bands get into their rhythm but The Redsunband on the other hand have been adapting to some surprises. With the unexpected departure of their drummer John only two days before the tour, they have been using fellow band friends to fill his shoes, “We’ve played with two drummers so far, both very different in style and temperament and I think we’ve enjoyed the experience.” His departure was abrupt and as Sarah puts it “One of the great mysteries… At first I was in shock and quite horrified at the prospect of having to salvage the tour in two days” but at this point in time The Redsunband have no intention in replacing him in the outlook of 2008. “I hope to be touring like crazy next year. But that’s not really surprising. We don’t intend to replace John with a permanent drummer, so perhaps the surprising part will be who is playing drums!”

The Redsunband have recently released an EP named Like An Arrow with a single of the same name. This is to the precursor to their follow-up album entitled The Shiralee to be released next year, “The Shiralee is an Australian novel by a writer named D’arcy Niland It's about a swaggie who finds himself having to take his four year old daughter with him on his travels. 'Shiralee', according to the book, is an Indigenous word meaning 'burden' that also refers to the swag carried on the main character's back. It also refers to the burden of dragging the child around with him. For us, however, 'shiralee' is a poetic word for emotional baggage, or being someone's burden.”

The Shiralee is to be their sophomore album and the misconception of going into the recording studio for the second time around is having certain processes become easier. But once again all things are not the case in The Redsunband camp and as Sarah clarifies it puts on a lot of pressure “It was just different. The first time we were so excited and naïve… This time it was a bit more serious, for me at least. Especially as we recorded the first one under the watchful eye of a record label, whereas this time it was just us. We paid for and organized the whole thing ourselves”.

The Shiralee surprises fans with Daniel Herring (of Magic Dirt) as well as Gareth Skinner appearing in their cover of Smog’s ‘Bathysphere’ and you’ll also start hearing some difference with the expansion of vocals. “Lizzie plays a greater sonic role. Three-part harmonies.” As mentioned by Sarah, this album is being self-funded and they have just started their own label “Enchanted Recordings”. Their debut album “Peapod” was released on “Slanted Recordings” but with the discontinuation of that label they saw an opportunity to release on their own and eventually expand their musical journey “I think we will be working with a band called the Line Drawings next year.” So with all these things happening in The Redsunband camp let’s keep an eye out for them in 2008.

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