The Brisbane scene has served as the birthplace of countless great Australian bands, and even after the ravages of the past few years on our industry, I’m proud to say that it’s still the cutting edge of new Australian talent.
Tear Drive are one such Brisbane band who’ve rapidly risen from the depths of Valley dive bars to tour the world with indie rock titans (and fellow Brisbanites), The Jungle Giants. It’s been a massive few months for them, with the start of the tour coinciding with the release of their debut EP Face to Face back in April.
A slickly produced, five track release, Face to Face sounds amazingly fresh yet familiar to me at the same time. It’s new wave for a new generation, drawing influence from contemporary acts like The 1975 and Sam Fender, but with the unmistakable mark of the genre’s forefathers in its DNA.
Tear Drive appeal to both people with older sensibilities like yours truly as well as the modern indie crowd, which I think is a large part of why their current trajectory is up, up, up. The interplay between the chiming synths and reverberating guitars makes the songs sound moody and atmospheric yet absolutely massive at the same time.
BIGSOUND was the first lap around the block for many of the acts that we interviewed. But as Brisbane locals, Tear Drive were perhaps more prepared than their out of state contemporaries for this one. It’s almost impossible to not have seen at least some of it if you have even a casual interest in live music here. There’s definitely advantages to being plugged right into Australian music’s beating heart. Interested to see how their BIGSOUND experience was going, I ventured to the Content House on Day Two to meet with them Face to Face and ask them: Where Did You Go Last Night?
Tear Drive are:
- Baxter Melrose (Vocals)
- Gabe Kolakowski (Guitar)
- Isaac Clark (Bass and keys)
- Nic Pezzimenti (Drums)
1. You’ve embarked upon your first major tour this year. I’m sure you’ve been asked plenty how the tour has been. But now that it’s over, what will you remember the most about your first major tour?
OB: Your debut EP Face to Face came out in April and then you set off on the road with the The Jungle Giants and The Tullarmarines. You’ve done a big city run, jumped the ditch to NZ, came back to do a regional run, and now you’re here at BIGSOUND. Quite a lot to look back on.
Baxter: I think what I’ll remember the most is how nice everyone was and how well we gelled with everyone. Like we’re the new kids on the block, so we were expecting (to be on the fringes). Like our plan was stay as far out of the way as possible, let everyone do their thing, and just do whatever we were told.
But no, everyone was so open to chatting with us and making sure everything was done right and it was generally like one of the most fun experiences, probably the most fun experience we’ve had doing music.
And it was insanely long. We had the final show last weekend in Jindabyne and it was just like this big party and it was so bittersweet, we’d become this huge family. It’s been the coolest thing ever. So much fun to play, like we played so many of our dream venues like The Forum, Fortitude Music Hall, insane. But yeah (what I’ll remember) is how nice everyone was and how willing they were to like give their time to chat to us and answer any questions we have.
Gabe: It was a very formative thing. And I’m really grateful that we just had a really good experience. It was amazing.
Nic: Oh, I think we can all say the people. Like we have just made lifelong friends with Tullarmarines and The Jungle Giants. Like we first day back and we were already messaging each other like ‘We miss you guys so much. So definitely the friends. But also like the places we saw. Like we’ll always go back and be like ‘Remember when we played this for the first time?’.
OB: Now that you’re back on home turf, are there any lessons you’ve learnt about being on the road for so long?
Gabe: I think the biggest takeaway that we’ve got now is like how we approach shows because we played so many of them. I think we became desensitised to the actual lead up to the show. Like before this tour, we would play a show maybe every second month and do a headline.
And then this tour was like every single week, two shows, three shows. And so the actual struggle became the getting to the show. And then the show was just like sweet. This is just routine. So yeah, we’re four hours away from our BIGSOUND set whatever and I think we’re just like you know, this is something that we’re going to do. And not like the biggest deal in the world.
Isaac (chuckling): Your body is a temple.
Nic: Look after yourself! You don’t have the party every night.
[Everyone agrees]
Isaac: Make it, you know, you look after yourself and it makes it easier for you and makes the tour as easy as possible.
OB: Have there been any crowd favourites that have emerged from the EP?
Gabe: Where Did You Go Last Night? Recently just like I think we felt a connection playing it live and then we felt the crowd responding well to it, it was a bit of a sleeper on the EP for us.
Nic: And Better Off maybe as well, I think. People like that one.
2. Most people I’ve interviewed so far have said they’ll figure out what they’re doing for the rest of the year after BIGSOUND. But I can see that you’ll already be joining No Cigar for a few dates next week and in October. How are you feeling about this one coming up?
OB: Starting to feel like you’re an old hand at this now?
Nic: Ah I wouldn’t say. Yeah… it’s, I don’t know, it’s good, it’s fun, but it’s different with each show and each band, you know? It’s a different setup, different crew. And that’s kind of what makes it fun and scarier.
Isaac: I think it’s like, entering the territory of like… not like this is a job, but like ‘Yeah, we get to do this’. Like this is so cool, like this is awesome, you know? I think it’s just like we’re just excited about every show rather than nervous now, which is great.
OB: Were you big fans of theirs before you got the support slot for this one?
Isaac: Yeah that new album I’ve been streaming a lot, but I hadn’t really known them much beforehand. But yeah, I love Under the Surface, so good. Really good band.
3. You’re the local boys on this line-up and you’re here after only being at this for a few years, so firstly congratulations. Have any of you been previous years as a punter or played it as part of another project?
Baxter: We were here last year as punters. And had one of probably the craziest nights we’ve ever had in Brisbane. We just kept getting, you know, you’ll be talking to someone and then they’ll be like, ‘Oh you need to come to this thing, you need to come to this thing.’ Ended up in a car park watching a dude, Eli Wan, he was sick, out the back of his car with just his boom box and like a DJ and he was just rapping and it was like, “Dude this is awesome.”
Issac: And that was only nine PM.
Baxter: That was only nine PM! It only got better from there.
Isaac: I don’t even know, was that an official BIGSOUND thing?
Baxter: No it was, it was like a sideshow just literally in a car park. So funny, but yeah, it’s BIGSOUND‘s awesome.
OB: How does it feel to be here on the line-up in front of the big movers and shakers of the industry?
Isaac: You know, I’ll go back. I know I said that every show is exciting now, but this is the one that I think I’m the most nervous about.
Nic: A little bit scary, I mean as we get further into the day I’m more and more like, “Ah shit I’m fucking shitting myself.”
Isaac: I think as well, because when we’re on tour, it was very much like the anticipation of the show coming up was like, you arrive in the city, it’s like okay cool, it was very routine. BIGSOUND is very sporadic and you’re doing something every other moment and so time catches up on you quick. And now we’re like… what’s the time? It’s like four o’clock, so we’ve got (four hours until our set)…
Nic (laughing): Oh I am shitting bricks right now that you’ve made me think about it!
OB: Well my next question was going to be how you’re feeling ahead of your first set but I think you’ve already answered it!
Baxter: I feel fine, I’m excited!
Nic (still laughing): I’ve been doing interviews about it all day so now I’m thinking about it and it’s stressing me out a little bit.
4. For most people here, this is their first industry thing but I can see that you guys did the QUBE Effect last year, how was that?
Baxter: That was amazing. I think that definitely helped like set us on the right track.
Nic: We also learned so much from it, you know. It was a big learning experience. And like, just meeting so many good people…
Gabe: It kicked off the whole thinking about the music industry as a business, rather than just being a band. Cuz it’s like, oh there’s so much stuff that like, you just don’t think about when you’re making music in your bedroom and then all of a sudden you’ve got to do all the official things like organise splits and like sync deals and it’s chaos. But yeah, definitely helped an awful lot.
Isaac: It was very informative.
5. What do you think makes the Brisbane scene tick? This place punches well above its weight when it comes to music, there are other regional scenes, but I reckon we’re still undefeated.
Nic: Something in the water!
Baxter: The music programs at schools are like pretty good in Brisbane.
Nic: Also low-key the fact that the city is so small, there’s not really places you can really hide. We’re all playing the same venues, we all know the same people.
Isaac: Yeah like The Valley is like, that’s where you play. Unless you’re playing like the bigger ones, you’re probably not as much of a local band or like you still could be, but the local acts are playing in the heart of The Valley and most people are out like every night so you just run into them. I think everyone’s really close knit. I think that’s a really strong thing.
6. I’ve read that you’re all classically trained musicians. It said somewhere that one of you is a jazz vocalist. How do you feel this has influenced your songwriting compared to other bands?
Baxter (putting his hand up): Yes. I think a lot of what we do is like, we spent so long (doing it), like I was a classically trained musician before I did jazz singing. All that sort of stuff gave us the tools to do kind of whatever we want, compositionally now. It helps give you the rules and then you can break them.
OB: Are there any parts that you reckon you only came up with because you have a stronger and broader education in composition?
Baxter: I don’t think so. I think doing jazz sort of gave us the confidence to, even me just like, confidence to just be weird. There’s so many strange things you wouldn’t typically do or people would tell you not to do. Even in our first song we ever did, there’s just like a minute long avant-garde section. There’s just me screaming into a mic. Which is not inherently like a jazz thing, but it’s just like having the freedom to do whatever or just, break the rules.
7. These won’t come out until after the festival is over, but what or who are you on the prowl for at BIGSOUND 2026? Not sure if you got out yesterday but have you been successful so far?
Baxter: We saw some great music yesterday. The Brightside was kicking off. Just show after show.
Gabe: Lazy Haze, and then Special Features basically right after. Back to back.
OB: We’ve interviewed them before. I really like them. And they did the very political song as well. I was very interested to see if they would do Che Guevara T-Shirt in front of all the industry people but they did apparently.
Gabe: It was great. It was a really good show.
Isaac: We’re just here to say hi to some industry folks and then…
Nic: Yeah, just say g’day, catch all the acts, have fun.
Baxter: Yeah, just chat with people.
8. This is your platform now. What’s one thing that you want everyone in Australia to know about you and your music?
[Everyone takes a moment to consider the question. Nic says something derisive but Baxter says that they won’t be going with that answer ha-ha-ha]
Baxter: The live show is where it’s at. If you like the music, you’ll love the show.
OB: I can definitely back that, facts, one hundred percent.
9. Bonus question from Jed: As newcomers to the scene, if there’s one thing that you could change about the current music industry in Australia, what would it be?
Gabe: Oh… I think, getting rid of beer tax. Nah, but I think, you know what would be good? I don’t know how you’d solve this, but I know there’s so many people who maybe don’t feel comfortable coming to a show or you know, cost of living, it’s expensive. And I think that is a huge problem. And you know, venues are shutting down now.
Baxter: More people going to gigs. Yeah, because people can pay the same amount of charge to see a DJ.
Isaac: We can probably talk a long time about like the cultural forces behind that, but yeah for sure, I think people being more comfortable coming to gigs.
Gabe: Having each other’s backs as well. I think (I’d like to see more) people feeling comfortable going to gigs, because community is so huge in music, and I think just not even in music, but just having each other’s backs I think is such a good start.
Nic: All love in the end!
And what an all too appropriate way to end an interview! I didn’t quite get the chance to touch upon it, but like Stimpies, Tear Drive are also a buncha old mates whose band has taken them all the way to BIGSOUND. Having each other’s backs is exactly what community is built on and it’s something that we need to keep nurturing if we want to see great bands like Tear Drive take off.
I hate the term networking, but if there is one thing that BIGSOUND is great for, it’s the chance to cross paths and connect with people that you might not usually be in the same room and setting with. I’m sure our paths would have crossed eventually with how much I run around, but I’m not sure I would have gotten the chance to really see what makes Tear Drive tick.
They’re a young band who impressed me with some thoughtful answers about their experience in music so far. Throughout the whole festival I was very privileged to work with so many great emerging acts as well as my own team of young volunteers who did incredibly well for their first run.
I’m in the other side of my twenties now and I’m starting to already see some of the people around me treat people only a few years younger than them like an alien species. It’s a very bizarre prospect that we’re already heading this way and it’s something that I reject entirely. The kids are alright is what I’m saying and if you’ve been following along with our coverage, it’s plain to see why.
If you’re in Brisbane on October 3rd, they’re for FREE at Valley Fiesta so make sure to come round. As Baxter said, if you like the music, you’ll love the show. In fact you’ll be Better Off for it!
Thanks to James Latter (@jvmeslatter) for all the shots of Tear Drive in this article. You can listen to Face to Face below and make sure to follow them below to keep up with what they’re up to:
