interview: lions at your door
As I prepared to interview Sydney band, Lions at your Door, I intently listened to their most recent single, ‘In A Sea’, over and over again. It started as research, but a couple of listens in, I couldn’t stop myself going back to their page and wishing there was some sort of repeat function on myspace music players.
And now (a rather embarrassing amount of time later), little has changed. ‘In A Sea’ remains a song I can listen to dozens of times on end from this self-proclaimed ‘indie/dance/pop/rock’ outfit, whose songs range from 60s doo-wop to epic and serious melodies, as a result of their wide-ranging influences.
‘If we were all coming from a grunge background, all our heads would go in the same direction but I feel like all five of us have had very different musical upbringings so there are all these different ideas,’ says violinist, Sweetie. ‘I suppose it’s really good because we can all work together and everyone’s fairly well represented.’
‘It’s a really good test of compromise as well,’ adds vocalist, Marihuzka. ‘You have to learn that your ideas aren’t always the ones that are going to end up represented because by the time the band’s made it their own, it’s a completely different song. But it’s always for the better, I think it really helps us not write things that might be a bit shit because someone is going to call you out on it. Most bands have one songwriter and in ours, it’s five or six people writing at one time.’
Their beginnings were much along the same vein as most bands: a group of people who knew each other, who shared an interest in making music. But from there, their career has taken a rather different trajectory to most indie bands in Australia, including an appearance on Mornings with Kerri-Anne in late 2009 and a tour in Japan.
‘We did three dates in Japan and had some really silly experiences. Like post show, in the morning, we would be having a huge banquet with about 20 of us just smashing plum wine and eating the most delicious sushi and then you realise, oh it’s five in the morning, I have to be on a bus in an hour but I just finished this sweet banquet and we’re all a bit drunk,’ says Sweetie.
‘Even the shows themselves, we were blown away. The first one was in Tokyo, and we had no idea what to expect. We’d hoped for the best but then we get there and it just started filling up and by the time we went on, it was packed,’ continues guitarist, Dirk.
And as for their morning with Kerri-Anne?
‘That was awesome! It’s so far left of centre from anything we’d ever imagined we’d be doing that we had to do it. As if we’d ever be asked to play on Kerri Anne,’ says Marihuzka. ‘I’d like to think we moved her.’
You can check out more of Lions at your Door, including ‘In A Sea’, on their myspace page, and watch their performance on Mornings with Kerri-Anne below.
