The Audreys

Mon 10th Nov, 2008 in Features

When FL speaks to The Audreys, it’s been half a week since they bagged their second ARIA for Best Blues and Roots Album, beating the likes of The Waifs, Mia Dyson and Angus & Julia Stone. Fittingly, the party has far from ended in hometown Adelaide.

Lead vocalist Taasha Coats, however, disguises any scent of a hangover well. “We stayed in Sydney for a couple of days cause we had a show up there, so we only just got back into Adelaide last night. So for our friends and family, we had to keep celebrating,” she admits.

“This time was really unexpected…You never expect stuff like that. We weren’t the favourite this year and we weren’t the favourite in ‘06 either so everyone goes, ’ Oh look, I don’t think you’ll win,’ and we go, ‘That’s cool, we’ll just go along and it’ll be really fun.’ Then we ended up on the stage going, ‘Oh my god!’”

The Audreys are one band that have legitimate reason to celebrate as well. When The Flood Comes, their sophomore release, has been a clear success, debuting in Top 20 of the ARIA Charts and garnering mass critical acclaim. However, Taasha makes it clear that she enjoys staying out of the commercial limelight.

“I don’t care about that. [The ARIAs] is kind of our only little access to that whole scene really. We walk down the red carpet and most people are going, ‘Who are you?’ and The Veronicas are right behind us and everyone’s going, ‘Wow! The Veronicas!’ And that’s okay. They can have that. I don’t want to be a pop star. I don’t look that great in hot pants anyway!” She laughs away.

Yet despite all of this, The Audreys have been able to resonate with a wider audience then some of their predecessors. Taasha, showing her love for her genre’s compatriots, is quick to share the acclaim around. “I think it’s not just about us. It’s actually the genre in general is getting more mainstream acceptance. I think people are starting to enjoy listening to those different sounds, like acoustic instruments and banjos, heaven forbid!

“I think it started back with Kasey Chambers and The Waifs. I thinks there’s a bit of a movement here in Australia for people to be more accepting of that as a more mainstream style of music.”

With blues and roots on the rise, what’s Taasha’s hot tip for writing a emotionally beautiful, ARIA-winning blues album? “Drink lots of whisky,” she jokes. “That’s my hot tip. Though I don’t recommend it for health reasons. Though, it was quite a hard album to write in some ways, with the whole sophomore album syndrome. But I’m really proud of it.”

Her pride for her work became the key to creating When The Flood Comes. “For me it’s a real personal achievement thing. I want to make the best music that I can. I want to make something I am proud of…On this record, that was hard and it meant I had to really push myself. Go into some dark places, have a lot of doubts, have a lot of days when I couldn’t get anything down. But then we’d have great days as well.

“I think the creative process can be really, personally challenging. I don’t know if it will be anything but that. I think maybe that’s just how it works for me. I don’t know.”

With the recording process being such an arduous process in the past, Taasha was quick to reveal how the third album might take shape. “We’re going to rent a house and all sort of get into a room and jam stuff out and put stuff down on tape at the end of the day. Just see if that process yields any different results and if we enjoy it. We’re going to give ourselves more time to experiment.”

After performing at most of the top-tier festivals in Australia, the live element of the Audreys has also had an effect on the band. “The live performance is a really big part of it for us. It’s probably more fun for me than making records. I thinks that’s partially why we’re thinking we might do something different on the next record; we want to try and really capture some of the joy of playing live.”

The Audreys hit the road for a string of dates through November.

Thursday 13 – The Promethean, Adelaide
Friday 14 – The Promethean, Adelaide
Saturday 15 – The Promethean, Adelaide
Thursday 20 – Heritage Hotel, Bulli
Friday 21 – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Saturday 22 – Brass Monkey, Cronulla
Thursday 27 – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
Friday 28 – Theatre Royal, Castlemaine
Saturday 29 – Queenscliff Music Festival, Queenscliff