“More drive than ever”: Tear Drive talks touring, favourite crowds and BIGSOUND

Tell us a little bit about the moment that first brought Tear Drive together as a band.

Issac: It started with Gabe and Nick, our drummer, they used to rehearse and jam, and then closer to the end of high school, I joined and we were a singer-less band for a while. Then I bumped into an old mate from primary school and I was just like, ‘Do you want to be our singer?’  He said sure, and then the rest is history.

What was the biggest lesson you guys learnt while recording your debut EP Face to Face?

Gabe: I think we had a lot of fear in actually finishing the songs and putting stuff out there, but throughout the EP, it became less about a song and more about a body of work and showing what we are as a band. It’s changed the way that we’re working in the studio from now on and going ahead with releases, in a good way.

Isaac: This is also very cliche, but we’re not afraid to try things outside of the box now. A lot of the things that have stuck in our songs were just weird things where someone was like, ‘Why don’t we try this?’ I remember one night Gabe was playing around on the cello or violin, and that ended up being the opening to ‘Better Off’, and I think it’s still the same recording that you did in your bedroom.

What song from the EP stands out as the one you’re most proud of?

Isaac: For myself, ‘Carry You Back Home’ was the last song we did in the studio and that song has just been with us since the start of the band. It was a song my dad and I wrote and so seeing how that formed was quite special. That was a song that we really poured a lot of heart into, and so we kind of call it the heart of our EP.

Gabe: It changes all the time, but ‘Better Off’ was an idea that I had on guitar back when Nick and I were the only ones in the band. The song at its core has really stayed the same structure-wise but there was a reluctance to do it because it was such an early idea. Isaac was the one that kept telling me we should do something with this and I’m glad that I had that motivation because otherwise I wouldn’t have written over it again. It’s funny when one of the first songs you write just ends up being the final track on the EP.

And is there a fun story behind the album cover for the Face to Face EP?

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Isaac: Yeah, there actually is a fun story, we haven’t been asked this question before. All the single covers are photos that I took at the gigs we went to. The ‘Lost in a Moment’ cover is from a Holy Holy concert, but for Face To Face, we went out one night in the city to take photos because our whole EP was built on music that we listen to late at night in our car, driving through the city, and it was the first photo we took that ended up being the cover. It was really a fun night, which was also the vision for the ‘Better Off’ music video, almost like recreating that night.

Tear Drive have two BIGSOUND performances coming up – is this your first time being part of the program and what does being included in it mean to you?

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Isaac: This is our first time being in it, but we went last year and it was the best night of our lives. It’s very special that we’re playing this year and there’s so many good acts that we’re keen to see.

What kind of acts are you guys planning on going to see when you’re not performing?

Isaac: We’ve made a list. Polly, Pash, Special Features, Jem Cassar-Daley, Local The Neighbour, blue diner., Daily J, eli wan, Public Figures, Birdland, just to name some.

Tear Drive have also joined The Jungle Giants on their tour – how has that experience changed you as a band?

Gabe: It’s been the best few months of our lives. We’ve learned so much. It’s kind of funny looking at who we were before this tour. We’ve improved a lot throughout this that I just can’t imagine never doing the tour.

Isaac: It’s hard to even explain what we’ve learned, we really have just emotionally, physically, and mentally grown so much that we are a different band now. It really just like tightens you up and the band chemistry gets better.

Gabe: The tour is 23 shows and that was more shows than we had ever done before the tour.

Isaac: You wouldn’t think that different cities have different crowds and different people, but man, some towns just breed different kinds of people. There’s been some towns where we thought, ‘This was the best week of our lives’, and some, which we won’t name, were a bit, ‘Okay, that was interesting.’

Well, now I have to ask, where has the best crowd been?

Isaac: I think we have to say Sydney. We went through and ranked the shows the other day. Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart were top three.

Tear Drive has a massive couple of months coming up with the rest of The Jungle Giants tour, BIGSOUND and then supporting No Cigar on tour as well. How do you guys manage the busy schedule and does it help or hinder your creative process?

Gabe: I think it’s been helpful. I know we’ve only been on tour for three months, but it feels weird to go back to not having a show every week. There’s this momentum that we’re feeling now with playing shows on the weekend, coming back, working in the studio and then going back and playing more shows and it’s just been great.

Isaac: Sometimes having too much time can be a bit of a hindrance. It’s good to have a bit of routine. The tour has bled into all of what we do, it’s like we’ve got a show, we have to get this done now.

Gabe: But it’s certainly tricky to balance it all.

Isaac: And there’s even more stuff coming up. It’s going to be sad leaving this tour to be honest, because we’ve grown so close to The Jungle Giants and Tullamarines and it feels like you’re leaving a bit of yourself behind on the tour.

Aside from all these upcoming shows, what’s next for Tear Drive? 

Gabe: We’re recording all the time but we’re more comfortable with taking our time with it now, and we’re definitely going to play more shows. We’ve got more of a drive than ever to do this.

Isaac: We’re really taking our time to plan out this next EP project, or whatever we do next. Then we’re going to release it in a cool way, and make sure we got some sick visuals to back it up.

Can you each tell me about a gig you’ve played that stands out in your memory, whether it’s good or bad?

Gabe: I would say our EP show. We’ve had so many good shows over the Jungle Giants tour, but there’s something really special about playing to a packed-out Brightside, with people that are there specifically for your music. That was a really special night, the crowd was nuts and really into it. I think we took it for granted while we were playing it. We finished that show and were like, what just happened?

Isaac: I’m going to back it and say Sydney. We had the best crowd and it was one of the first shows the tour. So to have that as one of the first shows was just phenomenal.

If you could both only take one song with you on a deserted island, what would it be? 

Isaac: I’m going to say the all time classic ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ by Paul Simon.

Gabe: I knew you would say that.

Isaac: I don’t think I could ever get sick of that song.

Gabe: I’m going to take ‘Hallelujah’ by Leonard Cohen.