Lonesome Dove generously invite us into their vibrant world to explore their creative process, musical passion, and debut album “Sucked In.”
Lonesome Dove: A force to be reckoned with, Lonesome Dove is a supergroup of seasoned musicians hailing from Perth, bringing a wealth of individual experiences to their impressive debut record, “Sucked In.” This dynamic quartet, formed around founding member Nici Ward, has set the indie rock scene ablaze with their relentless and highly charged energy.
Recorded and produced in their very own PINK HOUSE STUDIOS, the album is a stunning showcase of their collaborative prowess. Evolving through two years, one EP, and three singles, these Perth indie rockers are soaring from strength to strength, gracing the stages of renowned festivals like Slightly Odway and sharing support slots with distinguished groups like Psychedelic Porn Crumpets and Screamfeeder.
Lonesome Dove comprises talents that include the virtuosic Ben Protasiewicz (Pat Chow) on guitar, the bass powerhouse Olga Sigurthorsdottir (Snowman, Boys Boys Boys), and the rhythmic anchor Leo Downsborough (Wrongtown) on drums. Together, their musical synergy is unstoppable, creating an enthralling live experience that leaves audiences electrified and craving more.
In an exclusive interview, we catch up with Lonesome Dove’s Nici to delve into the creative process behind “Sucked In,” their passion for music, and what makes them tick. So buckle up and get ready to dive into the vibrant world of Lonesome Dove!
Happy: What are you up to today?
Lonesome Dove: I did some op shopping and went and saw the new spider man animated movie.
I’m pretty beat, we had rehearsal for our launch coming up last night and then caught the end of our mates EP launch afterwards so little sleep but much joy.
Happy: Tell us about where you are from?
Lonesome Dove: I live in the Perth hills. After moving back to Perth from Melbourne for the best part of 8 years I’ve been here about ten years now and my husband and I, also a
musician, have built a family home and a studio together there, it’s becoming a great little community now, it doesn’t take long for word to spread in Perth so having a place for ppl to come not far from the city where they can be creatively free is pretty enticing.
It’s something I’ve always wanted to be able to offer ppl. And I love the social and community aspect of it for my family.
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Happy: What’s the music scene like in your neck of the woods?
Lonesome Dove: Perths music scene is very healthy as far as bands go. There’s really something for everyone.
I think the days of people only sticking to one genre of music to go and see are over and I think its great that we’re seeing way more diverse line ups.
I think as far as venues go things have changed over the last few years. It’d be nice to see more venues but after covid and with the general costs of living that proves difficult.
What I do see though is resilience, ppl find a way, back yard events, sml private venues being used and generally I see ppl standing up and trying to offer something different.
Happy: Describe an average day?
Lonesome Dove: An average day for me… well I run a bespoke one on one gym for people that hate gyms haha! it’s situated above the rehearsal rooms that we practice at (MATCHLESS MUSIC) most of my clients are creatives who value their health but maybe don’t necessarily prescribe to gym culture.
I work two really long 15 hour days there, and one half day. The rest of my days are split between caring for my family, running my record label PINK HOUSE RECORDS and managing our band.
I’ll try at least one day a week to spend some time writing and giving myself time to be creative, as well as evening rehearsals.
Happy: What about your ultimate day?
Lonesome Dove: My ultimate day would start with coffee, haha, and then it would be just sitting on my bed writing. With no distractions, getting into that headspace and being able to write and demo all day is so fulfilling for me.
And I crave it. Some nice food that someone brought to me on a tray with a little flower in a vase would be nice too and I’d like to not have to do any dishes
Happy: What did you listen to growing up that fuelled your passion for music?
Lonesome Dove: I grew up in a musical family. There was no escaping it. So I guess my first memory of music would be standing on the coffee table in a nappy singing Suzi Quotro’s “Devil gate Drive” for any visitors that would care to listen.
After that in my younger pre-teen years I remember The Beatles, The Who, Dolly Parton, Stones… a lot of classics were drilled into me. But once I started listening to music for myself it was very pop orientated, but it always needed an edge, Beck, The cure, Primal Scream, supergrass, garbage, Elvis Costello. I absolutely love the Bangles.
I love sugary pop but it was always All Saints over Spice girls if that makes sense. I’ve always loved good storytelling and song writing. Ben Kweller, The Lemonheads, Liz Phair… They are still my go to artists
if I get stuck or need inspiration.
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Happy: Can you tell us about the formation of Lonesome Dove and how the band came together?
Lonesome Dove: I had started LD as a solo project, a few years ago, something I wanted as a creative outlet to do whatever I wanted with and work with whoever I wanted to
work with. Then I saw Ben playing in his band Pat Chow, they had me on as an opener.
They’d been playing for years but I’d been living in Melbourne and then went into a time bubble of having babies so I missed most of their time. I’d listened to their albums and loved his sound a lot, there aren’t many ppl that can do what he does which could be seen as really derivative of a particular time but he somehow manages to give it a completely fresh spin and be incredibly innovative.
His lyrics are so poignant. I asked him that night if he’d collaborate on a song and he said yes. And so we wrote and released ‘Like Me, Like You”I t kind of went from there with ben. Olga had been at that gig too and I’d heard that she’d said something along the lines of “if Nici put a band together if wanna play bass in it” so I thought that would be really incredible.
Ben worked with Leo during the day and new he played drums so after asking him if he was keen for a rehearsal it all kind of took off very quickly from there. I think from recollection we had one rehearsal and Leo said “so I guess this is a band now?” And it was a big YESS from everyone.
Happy: What individual experiences and backgrounds do the members bring to the group?
Lonesome Dove: Olga played in Snowman who were a very big deal tbh. She’s had a lot ofexperience in a working band so I felt extremely lucky. She also played in pop sensation Boys, Boys, Boys plus she’s the sweetest human. Her and I are both mums, I think we have this unspoken, underlying understanding of what this band means for the both of us. We’re both very protective of it.
Like I said Ben had played in Pat Chow for the best part of a decade, earning his stripes as a prolific songwriter and guitarist. Pat chow put out 4 albums, are very respected and built up a really strong following. He grew up playing drums in his local church band in Wagga, he knows his chops.
Leo had played in various bands over the years but I think maybe felt like he couldn’t ever exercise the full capacity of his skills. He is extremely talented in the studio, his patience and execution is a massive positive asset to this band. His obsession for technology bleeds into creativity and its been a beautiful thing to watch.
I have done a lot of writing in my younger years for myself and other artists, Imoved to Melbourne and had my band Nici Blue Eyes which I did a lot with, playing at the big day out, Melbourne int film fest come to mind right now and playing shows on the east coast were memories I treasure, I got to work with a lot of people I admire and built really good relationships that still stand now.
Happy: “Sucked In” is described as a highly charged and energetic debut record. How did you capture and convey that relentless energy in your songwriting and production?
Lonesome Dove: Our songwriting usually starts with either Ben or I sending one another an initial idea, if it sticks we get a rough demo together and take it to the band where it’s fleshed out in the room live. I guess that’s what keeps it energetic sounding.
That and the fact we are really productive and don’t like wasting time so having the luxury of taking the songs from the rehearsal room straight to Pink House has really kept the momentum of things going. Being able to experiment in the studio has its bonuses, trying different ways of using amps and pedals on vocals for effects is not only fun but definitely brings new energy to the songs we might not have come up with had we been more restricted.
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Happy: Despite the challenges of global COVID-19 lockdowns, Lonesome Dove independently recorded and produced “Sucked In.” Can you share some insights into the creative process and the experience of working in Pink House Studios?
Lonesome Dove: The making of this album was experimental in lots of ways. We were still quite a new band and new to each other so working out how each other works in the studio and what we were comfortable with and how far each member was willing to take things was pretty interesting.
Three of us have kids, so they would generally be up at my house hanging out while we would be in sessions, we’d all take turns to check up on them (: I think that factor actually really helped us as far as being productive, having families means we know how to spend our time really well as we don’t have a lot to waste. So every moment we had was really precious and used wisely.
From recollection I don’t think there were any sessions we came out of where we didn’t get what we wanted. There were sessions however where maybe we’d push too far, You can get really fatigued in the room trying to stay focused that long so we learnt pretty quickly to stick to the game plan and not do that.
For me it was incredibly important that everyone was enjoying their time, this was supposed to be fun, productive and fulfilling. So whatever had to be done for that to happen was a big priority.
Happy: The album was mixed by Andy Lawson from Debaser Studios and mastered by William Bowden from King Willy Sound. How did their expertise contribute to the overall sound and production of “Sucked In”?
Lonesome Dove: Andy has an incredible ability to make everything on an album sound cohesive. So although we recorded over about a six month time frame, it all sounds like it was done together and it isn’t disjointed. We did A LOT of tracking, I think on one song, it must have been “Sorry” we had about 25 guitar tracks between
Ben and I, hahahaha. That included having double tracked stereo amps and about four different mics used on each take. Ben also did a lot of guitar layers on Drive. Andy is very tasteful in knowing what to keep and what to take out. So it was really cool to hear how he whittled things down to what was really needed with out losing the impact we were trying to create.
He also has a really great way of creating a sound for a vocalist if that makes sense. I have a lot of pride in my work so I get really nervous about messing with my vocals too much, but I love the way Andy made me sound and how my Vox sit in the tracks. As well as being really good at taking direction from us as the artist he really knows how to create space within all the elements of the tracks, this was really important to us.
Ben and Leo went and spent time in at Debaser with Andy for the final mixes and Andy was really great at taking any final directions Leo and Ben wanted.
Mixing is hard, you could literally go forever, so having someone like Andy on our team was a total dream.
William was really easy to work with and he knew we were mastering for Vinyl, so he just knew we wanted everything to sound big and fat and warm and not over cooked. We were really happy with the master.
Happy: The DIY composition of the album is mentioned. How did this approach influence the creative direction and overall feel of the songs on “Sucked In”?
Lonesome Dove: I think because we were so open to experimentation we often would come up with things on the spot while recording that would make the cut and have now found their way into the live performance of the songs. Especially in WINDOWS, we spent a solid weekend recording that song and basically just played out any ideas we had in our heads that we thought would work. Ben had a fair few ideas of how he wanted that song to play out He brought in and organ, a two way radio mic, bongos, a vibraslap and Olga surprisingly brought to our attention that she can also play the saxophone.
Happy: The guitar riffs on the album are said to be reminiscent of early moments of The Cure. Can you expand on the musical influences that shaped your sound and how you incorporated them into your own unique style?
Lonesome Dove: Ben loves John Frusciante. You can hear it in his playing as he has a bent kind of whimsical style that is very emotive and can take you places. He controls a room with his playing and its fucking powerful. He can also make things feel really heavy and harsh, so when you back that up against my, I guess you could say, sweet vocal and lyrical content you get a really cool contrast.
I guess maybe that’s where you might hear some kind of Cure – esque vibe? A lot of Robert Smiths lyrics were sad but felt happy and romantic with travelling guitar lines that make you move. I really love artists that don’t really stick to one genre and are more focused on delivering a story or an emotion, I adore Ben Kweller, I feel like he does this really well.
Something really fun about this band is that we all like different things and we allow each other to bring that element in and just see what feels good.
Happy: Lonesome Dove has performed at Slightly Odway (THIS IS A LIVE RADIO RECORDING NOT A FESTIVAL) and supported groups such as Psychedelic Porn Crumpets and Screamfeeder. How have these live experiences shaped the band’s sound and stage presence?
Lonesome Dove: I think honestly it pushed us to be good. Shows like that make you step up, in Perth it’s very hard to tour due to finances etc, so getting opportunities like to play infront of bigger audiences are not something to waste.
Our first ever performance was Slightly Odway, a filmed segment for Perth radio Station RTRFM where you have to record your own rendition of a Perth artist, we chose Drugs by Ammonia and it went really well.
We ended up supporting them at their reunion show last year. Screamfeeder was pretty special for us as we love that band and musically it was a really good match and was well received by the audience. We have stayed in touch, Myself and Ben got to open for Tim for his solo shows in Melbourne when we were there last.
It’s inspiring for us also to play with working bands of that calibre. I remember coming off stage and seeing Tim at the merch desk just getting totally pummelled by people and he looked up at me and was like “get here now, people wanna buy your tee shirts!
Im selling them for you!!” I was shocked, that hadn’t happened for us before and I was like “omg gogogogo!!!” I learnt a lot on that one night and it was basically because they were so open and supportive. There is so much respect there from us.
Happy: The launch shows for “Sucked In” are happening across Perth. What can fans expect from these live performances, and how do you aim to create a cathartic. and engaging experience for the audience?
Lonesome Dove: We have three shows to launch this record, I was really excited to find other bands for the line-ups that would work but also create a really nice balance of different elements for the audiences. Paint are opening all shows and they’re great and fun and rad with killer songs to boot.
Gloam I’m super excited to see, they’re playing main support for our first show at Mojos on the 22nd (this Saturday) and Pretty Ugly are super fun, they’re playing Bunbury at the Prince of Wales and Amplifier in Perth, I think they’ll make for a really fun vibe.
We have some special guest vocalists joining us for the Mojos gig on Saturday that we think will be really special. Its going to be cool to hear some of the songs off the record we haven’t played live before in that format.
Happy: Are there any specific themes or messages explored in the lyricism of “Sucked In”?
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Lonesome Dove: Yes. I think this band has come at an extremely pivotal time in all our lives to be honest. I think for me personally I was really shifting into a new chapter of my life in a big way. I had recently been diagnosed with and treated for ADHD.
As far as my capabilities go I feel like this band is really a vehicle for me to reach my full potential personally and creatively. I won’t speak for Olga but I think she shares a pretty similar sentiment. Ben has now stepped into being a year and a half sober.
He has been quite outspoken and is comfortable talking about this and for me watching him on this journey has been really remarkable and pretty inspiring. I think this band came along at the right time, although also challenging for him.
Coming out of a band he’d done for so long and then stepping into LD and being newly sober was a lot. Playing shows and recording sober is a whole different thing and its something he’s had to find his place in.
Dealing wth feeling everything all of a sudden is a big thing. This is a very supportive unit and that is first and foremost the most important thing because I think that’s what we were all in some way or another looking for.
The notion of SUCKED IN can apply to whatever you want it to really but for us it came from a positive time. I think we were coming back from a really fun show and I was just overwhelmed with how much I loved the band and everyone in it and I just yelled “Haha Sucked in to anyone who’s not in our band!!!” And everyone cracked up cause it was so juvenile and ridiculous.
I kind of also meant it to my past self, “Sucked in Look at me now!!” But now we just say it all the time to each other. It’s a way of also saying “You don’t have to completely understand me but I know you love me so sucked in!” Hahaha.
Happy: What inspired the lyrical content, and how does it contribute to the overall storytelling of the album?
Lonesome Dove: Each song has its own message really. The general thread of the album though is “Here is my Life, Im trying, I seek Joy, I love guitars, I love noise, Be kind, have fun.”
DRIVE is a narrative I had in my head about a relationship based on infatuation. It’s about having a lack of communication in general and just being trapped in a car on a long drive and having it all out. Making a mess, potentially ruining everything but not really caring.
SORRY is based on the concept of perpetually apologising just for the sake of making things ok. I was coming out of a very toxic work situation and I found myself coping by just apologising all the time, for everything, before Id done anything wrong or said anything most of the time.
Leo actually came up with the initial idea for the song and the lyrics came pretty quickly to me, I took that idea to ben and he related to it on some level and penned the second verse.
The three part vocals at the end really give the circular round and round effect of what that situation can feel like in your head.
I wrote the lyrics in BULLY about people not understanding or accepting each other. That sounds so cliche but I see people trying to change, or do better or just live their lives the way they need to and others not coming to that party.
Not showing understanding or compassion and instead of being supportive they drag you down. I experienced this in a big way last year and the more people I spoke to about it the more common I realised it was. So I guess its an anthem for anyone trying to do better and not being understood.
SIXTEEN is very biographical. Its a peek into my 16 year old diary, but its probably relatable to anyone that’s been 16. I loved a boy in high school who didn’t know how to love me back. (I’ve since forgiven him hahah) My feelings in general are big so teenage Nici was feeling things pretty hard.
My heart was very broken at that time and I wanted to write something that expressed that feeling. I also wanted the song to feel cinematic if that makes sense.
Ben sent me the guitar riff for SOMETHING DUMB. I wanted to write something fun and big and with a sassy attitude. Something Dumb is about knowing you’re gonna fuck everything up but going ahead anyway. I think most ppl can relate.
I had a lot of expectations on me as a kid and I don’t think I lived up to them the way my parents would have liked. But I don’t think that’s a unique situation really. Its a big dumb song about being a big dumb fuck up!
The lyrics in ORDINARY FLOWERS are a reminder about finding peace and beauty in the mundane. There is so much pressure on us to live these fabulous lives and expectations in relationships are so high, but I think it’s important to find joy in the boring bits. Simplicity is nice, holding hands is nice. It’s ok to be ok, ya know?
WINDOWS is Bens ode to not having enough time to spend with loved ones. Our lives can become so busy with commitments and responsibility and this song is about the want for more time to just hang out with the people that mean so much to us without a time restriction. This song is big and joyful and ridiculous. It also contains two key changes for extra spice!
UNDERWATER LONELY is about how I felt after having a baby. While becoming a mum was incredible and I don’t regret it for one second, the weight I felt of responsibility was immense. My baby completely overwhelmed me with a feeling that I might not be enough and I wanted to just do everything right, which is a lot of pressure to put on ones self.I felt extremely lonely and quite lost.
It’s all in retrospect though as I look back on that time now and realise where I was at then, I don’t feel like that anymore. I was really nervous about writing this song as its not typically a topic you’d sing about on a pop record, but like, why not? I think Olga and I bonded over this song.
Feeling what we do now about coming into our own after our babies have grown up into beautiful kids is very freeing, I think this song is about giving past me a big hug and telling me it’ll all be ok. You gotta get through a lot, but it’ll be good.
Happy: Looking ahead, do you have any plans to bring your energetic performances to the eastern part of the country or explore other regions? Are there any future projects or collaborations in the works for Lonesome Dove?
Lonesome Dove: We are currently working on a 7” vinyl release that we are working with Brodie J Brummer of Flyying Colours with that we are really excited about. The more comfortable with each other we get I think the more we can dig into bringing out more lyrical content and musical expression.
We have a run of shows in November with MAGIC DIRT for their “Young and Full of the Devil Tour” that we absolutely can’t wait for followed by bunch of shows in Melbourne the following week. There’s also some talk of a trip to Japan next year that Im manifesting through indie label Hands and Moment that we have a relationship with, I have everything crossed for that as playing Japan is a dream of ours. So yeah, we’ve got plans.
Happy: Lastly, what makes you happy?
Lonesome Dove: Honestly? My kids make me happy. Seeing them express themselves freely and experiencing life while growing into independent little humans makes me happy.
Love makes me happy. Learning makes me happy. Seeing other people happy and doing well makes me happy. My friends make me happy. And being busy and fulfilled makes me extremely happy.
