New Music

The Top 5 Albums That Shaped DRAFTDAY

Apr 24, 2020
7 min read

Some of the most talented acts in Australia come from the unlikeliest of places. Like Perth, and...Darwin. Post-hardcore outfit Tapestry recently made the massive move from the Top End to Victoria to take advantage of better musical opportunities. However, it's left us all wondering ... what else does Darwin have to offer?

Well, while Tapestry have got the metal community well and truly in their sights, it looks as though fellow Darwinners DRAFTDAY are looking to dominate in other musical arenas. The five-piece caught us offguard with their debut single 'Soap' way back last year, and their alt/rock, punk antics straight up gave off immediate gestures to bands like Trophy Eyes and Violent Soho, and we're thinking...hey, they could really be playing to huge festival crowds one day.

The lads have just released their brand new track 'Misspent', the catchiest song we've heard from them since 'Soap' and focuses on the band's pop rock tendencies with an added maturity we rarely witness from a band so young. To celebrate their new song, we caught up with DRAFTDAY to find out the top 5 albums that have shaped them today.

#5 Self Titled - Blink-182


Tom (Guitar): Blink 182 is a band that we all grew up with, they set the space for almost every current pop punk/alternative band within this scene and it was really with the ‘Self Titled’ release that they completely dissected the standard writing approach of pop punk for the era.

The record goes so far from their comfort zone on prior releases, experimenting with more obscure production techniques, sonic aspects and song structures. Tracks like ‘All of This’, ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ and ‘Violence’ are great examples of this. I think this record gave us the courage to explore out of our comfort zones and test our abilities in a multitude of ways.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC_cnPRSHQA&w=560&h=315]

 

#4 Stovall - Microwave

Rowan (Drums): This album really influenced me in the way its songs captured both positive and negative emotions without straying from the direction of the band one way or another, which is something we’ve tried to do in DRAFTDAY.

Microwave calls on to our collective influence of alternative music, especially emo music. There’s a heavy sense of honesty mixed with the raw energy of each track that hits some part of us all equally.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BFCgkqS1wE&w=560&h=315]

#3 Disintegration - The Cure

 Arran (Vocals): The Cure has been one of my greatest influences over the past two years, the primary record that influenced melodies, lyrics and the subtle ‘old school’ sounds on this record was ‘Disintegration’. It’s a flawless album, the production and structure of it is so dense and completely submerges a listener in the emotional ideas of the record. Doing it in such a simplistic fashion.

That was a primary aim for our work, creating music that isn’t necessarily complex. But has so many aspects for them to sort of lose themselves in. From a production standpoint we used a lot of synth sounds inspired by ‘Disintegration’ and I developed an unhealthy obsession of applying a CE-1 chorus to as many tracks as possible….

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks_qOI0lzho&w=560&h=315]

 

#2 Chrome Neon Jesus - Teenage Wrist

Lucas (Guitar): This is one of the most honest records I’ve ever heard, we wanted to write from a similar point when it came to emotion and transparency as a band and as a record Chrome Neon Jesus captures the sort of emotion that we wanted to be influenced by.

The record influenced our sound in that it’s more grunge, alt 90’s and shoegaze moments. It was a huge moment for us to hear how these different sounds could be brought into what we had originally been writing. It was without a doubt my album of the year.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkO5szkjJj4&w=560&h=315]

 

#1 Chemical Miracle - Trophy Eyes


Manolis (Bass): Chemical Miracle was the first record that we all bonded over as a band, it was an album that we all had some sort of connection to and wanted to use as an influence of our own sound.

The massive singalongs that come from John Floreani’s melodies and Lyrics is on a whole new level, each song sounds as though it could fill a stadium. This record stands out as a masterclass in writing a modern alternative record.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5vZNTnT1QE&w=560&h=315]

DRAFTDAY's brand new single 'Misspent' is out now.


[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MisXCwIfO_8&w=853&h=480]

 

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