How many Australian musical acts have been swept up by trendsetter music blogs, deemed worthy of Triple J’s hallowed playlist by Richard “Kingmaker” Kingsmill and, as they relentlessly toured cooler-than-thou boutique festivals, found they’d become toast of the town? A couple of EPs or an album later, though, and they’re chewed up, spat out or burnt out, feeling as though they have nothing left to give.
It could have been the destiny of Melbourne’s Strange Talk, whose 2010 genesis came at the peak of the city’s indietronica movement. Success came as simply to Gerard Sidhu and Stephen Docker as popping a few tracks into the Myspace microwave and watching the generating heat attract managers, labels and publishers.
A two-piece production duo became a four-piece live band – something the pair now say “blanketed” their passion for electronic music. The 2014 debut album Cast Away fared well but behind the scenes the group struggled to manage their career trajectory. After a US tour that cost the band a mint, they went through two managers in the space of a year and, post-release, bounced around in record-label limbo.
Strange Talk are back to their original duo, signed up to Cooking Vinyl in Australia and Wind-Up Records internationally. Sidhu says 2015 single Something’s Bout to Change, the video of which is premiering here on Guardian Australia, has “kickstarted the Strange Talk transformation”. The lyrics are mysterious, infectious, with Docker’s vocals pitched down and used like a sample.
He has three tips for other Australian acts who don’t want to end up on the former flavour-of-the-month trash heap: shop around before making decisions about management or labels, take your time (“There is no quick or easy path, especially if you want longevity. The faster you rise, the faster you can fall,” he says) and there’s no escaping hours and hours of cold, hard sweat.
“If you want something in life, you have to work for it,” Sidhu says, ahead of their US tour. “Living it, breathing it, and making sacrifices are some of the ingredients needed for progress. Repetition is the mother of skill!”
- Strange Talk are touring the US, Canada and Colombia, with Australian dates to be announced later in the year. Their EP E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N is out now
