by Jackson Tujo
Aussie band alt. recently exploded onto the scene, touring with bands such as Don Broco and Saosin. They released their debut full-length album Abeyance on June 16th. This release offers a mature blend of post-hardcore and electronic influences, creating something truly unique to their scene. I was given the opportunity to ask their vocalist Daniel Cullen-Richards some questions from the other side of the world.
MSM:
How did you all meet and decide to form alt. ?
alt.:
We all were previously in a band together called After Change. At the end of that band, I was the only original member and I thought the only way for us to continue was to change our name and sound. That band came together just by meeting each other at shows and through friends of friends.
MSM:
alt. is a unique name, is there a story behind the band name?
alt.:
I came up with the name and it was a spin-off of our previous name After Change, I thought to myself if you’re After Change what does that mean? To be it means you want something different, an alternative. Shorten that and you get alt. It also feels like it opens the door for us to do any sound we want using that name.
MSM:
Abeyance is your first full album release, but in 2020 you released an EP titled “Dysfunctional”. How would you describe the growth from Dysfunctional to Abeyance?
alt.:
It’s mainly confidence and knowing we can write good songs. We learnt a lot through the few co-writes we did on that EP. Then we took everything we learnt and also the knowledge of who alt. is now and channeled it into ABEYANCE. It felt a lot less experimental and a lot more deliberate.
MSM:
Are there any artists that influenced the sound of the new album?
alt.:
You ask a different band member on this one you’d probably get a different answer. For me it was Linkin Park, Bring Me The Horizon, Pvris and Post Malone. You ask Simon the other main songwriter it would probably be Architects, Polaris, The Plot In You & Billie Eilish.
MSM:
What artists have you been listening to “on repeat” as of late?
alt.:
Personally I’ve been listening to alot of Kid Brunswick, Waterparks, Don Broco, Trophy Eyes & Boston Manor just to name a few.
MSM:
Is there a song you are most proud of on the new album?
alt.:
PARASITE is probably the best song alt. has ever written. I still can’t believe we wrote that song some days. THE ONLY GOOD THING I am so proud of the melodies I wrote for this track, it just came out so fluid and easy and it being one of the last songs we wrote for the album it makes me excited to see what comes out when we write next. Honestly though I’m proud of all of us for the entire collective work. Wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.
MSM:
You have been touring Australia heavily recently opening for bands such as Saosin and Don Broco. Do you have any favorite memories on the road this year?
alt.:
A memory I’ll hopefully hold on to forever is getting to join Don Broco on stage in Brisbane to do their song ACTION with them. It was an absolute dream and the nicest bunch of dudes.
MSM:
Are there any Aussie artists, under the radar, that readers should check out?
alt.:
Inertia are absolutely amazing live, everyone should be listening to them. Outloved are some of the nicest dudes on the planet and make some catchy tunes. Wolf & Chain have one of the best songs of the year coming out in the not too distant future. Keyan and Co. are also some of the most talented musicians in Australia. Don't Sleep on any of these.
MSM:
Are there any goals you hope to accomplish by the end of 2023?
alt.:
We would love to do a summer festival run, it's been our goal since the start of the year and we are ready. We would also love to have some plans to make it overseas. We are heading to NZ at the end of this month which is wild but we would love to hit a major market like the UK/EU or USA.
MSM:
What is your best sales pitch to go check out an alt. show?
alt.:
If you want to see some good tunes, some raw energy and just a bunch of guys just having fun up there come to an alt. show. Everything translates differently live but I reckon we got google translate on cause this shits clicking.
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*Photos provided courtesy of Atom Splitter PR
