Have you all, always been musical?
Yeah, well the Harding family has always played music. Robbie and I (Nicole) grew up going to gigs with Mum and Dad, and there were always instruments around the house. In contrast, Shane didn’t get his first drum kit until he was 17 years old but it was all he had ever wanted. His Mum used to find him banging on pots and pans in the kitchen as a toddler.
What/who are you/the bands musical influences?
Definitely our parents, Steve and Mikelle Harding. Between the three of us, our tastes in music are very eclectic. We all have very different but often overlapping music that we enjoy, from old Eagles classics, heavy metal Slipknot, mumble rap, Aussie bands like Sticky Fingers, the list goes on. That’s probably why we have such a unique sound, we all bring such versatility to the table.
What/who are you listening to right now?
Well we’ve been asked to open a gig for nationally renowned Sydney band Bootleg Rascal at the Old Bundy Tavern on August 14th, so although we’ve always loved the band we are giving them a lot of time at the moment. We saw Thirsty Merc live in May and ever since then we have been obsessed with them too.
Favourite line from a song?
That’s such a big question, we couldn’t possibly pick any one line from other people’s music, but Nicole wrote another original recently. Every time we played this one line, “The grass feels perfect, so I plant my feet” Robbie was just obsessed. We’re really excited about that song.
How often does the band practice?
We have been recently. We all work and have families so at times it’s a challenge, but with this inspiring upcoming gig, we’re all really excited about playing our originals again.
Which instruments do you play?
Robbie and Nicole both play guitar and sing, but Robbie plays guitar better. Shane can play anything from congas to a drum kit to the kitchen sink- anything is a percussive instrument. For the Bootleg Rascal gig, our mum will actually be accompanying us on bass, and Dad has a recording engineer qualification, so we are currently working on our EP at the home studio. We couldn’t do what we do without their awesome support.
What gig past, future or present would you like to have been to/go to?
I (Nicole) bought tickets for Shane and I to see Bush, Live and Stone Temple Pilots at the Under the Southern Stars festival. Sadly it’s been cancelled twice now due to COVID. There are a number of local and international acts we would all love to see, so here’s hoping the Australian music industry is able to recover and get back up and running as soon as possible!
If you could play any gig or venue, where would you play?
Ideally we would love to be invited to play at vibrant, intimate, family friendly festivals like Woodford Folk Festival. Aside from that, we’re really excited to host an EP Launch gig, hopefully later this year. That gig will be a massive achievement for us when the time comes!