What is your name and role within The Vasco Era?
I’m Ted, I play bass.
How did the Vasco Era form?
Sid and I are brothers, and Fitzy went to school with us. So we’ve been playing music together since we were in high school. Which is about 150 years ago.
Where are you currently based and what is the music scene like there?
I’m in Melbourne. It’s the best music scene in the world! Always something amazing to go and see. It is a great musical community.
What’s been happening recently?
Fitzy had a kid, Sid has two, I’m about to have one. So we are officially a dad rock band.
You’re playing By The Meadow Festival Friday 29 – Sunday 31 March 2019 in Bambra. How do you prepare for each live show and what do you have in store for By The Meadow Festival?
We jump around like fools on stage, so we prepare by talking about how unfit we are, maybe have a beer, maybe write a setlist. Our set at By The Meadow will be a lot of jumping around, very loud and a whole bunch of fun.
Being from a regional area, how important is it to you to have Festivals like By The Meadow connecting with the local community and giving local acts the opportunity to play?
We were lucky enough to have the Apollo Bay Music Festival in our home town when we were growing up. It gave us so many opportunities that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. My first festival show was when I was 15 (and really not very good), but the organisers were very supportive of local acts. I got to experience what a full festival stage was like to play on and learnt so many invaluable lessons from my time there.
Which acts are you looking forward to seeing play at By The Meadow Festival?
Everyone! I haven’t seen the Murlocs or Harvey Sutherland for a while, so they will be good fun. And I’m looking forward to Seeing Lucy Dacus, The Goon Sax and Murmurmur for the first time. I love what I’m hearing from them. I’m also looking forward to hearing a bunch of new stuff I haven’t heard before, finding some new gems!
You recently sold out the iconic Corner Hotel in Melbourne, how was that?
It was a fun, crazy night. We ended up playing for just over two hours. We thought everyone would get bored and leave (we told them they could if they wanted to), but everyone hung around, singing every song along with us. It was a lot of fun.
And do you have any other upcoming shows, besides By The Meadow?
We’re playing in Brisbane on April 6 for Mojo Burning.
Who have you been listening to recently?
I’ve recently become obsessed with IDLES, a fair bit of Car Seat Headrest, Neutral Milk Hotel, Michael Kiwanuka, Peep Tempel and a whole lot more.
What do you like to do away from music?
I’m studying creative writing at the moment, which I’m loving. Takes me into other worlds, it’s so much fun to explore. And surfing. Surfing is fun.
Favourite food and place to hangout?
Vietnamese style vermicelli noodles with fried calamari. Delicious. And I like to hang out wherever there are good people.
How do you usually go about writing music and who or what influences your sound and songwriting?
With Vasco, Sid would usually come with the raw idea for a song and we would jam on it to figure out the full shape and form of what it would become. Then we would play it live a bunch of times to road test it and see what worked and what didn’t.
In my other band, Localles, I will bring an idea to the band and we work on it differently depending on each song. Some come together really quickly, some take a long time. But it’s all fun.
Our influences are fairly broad, including Lou Reed, Van Morrison, Neutral Milk Hotel, Bob Dylan, Pavement, My Bloody Valentine, Michael Kiwanuka, Kurt Cobain, Sonic Youth, Johnny Cash and a heap more I can’t remember at the moment.
What do you have planned for 2019? Do you have any new music on the way?
No new music at the moment, we’re just having fun playing a few live shows again. But you never know…
