For the past number of years, PLANET have been kicking around, establishing themselves as one of Sydney’s most exciting bands. With their fuzzy, infectious melodies, the band have become masters of serving out deeply addictive indie-rock gems that’ll get stuck in your head for weeks.
So before they hit up Newtown Festival next month, we caught up with frontman Matty Took to chat about new music, sold-out hometown shows, and their evolution as a band.
Ahead of their set at Newtown Festival next month, we caught up with PLANET’s Matty Took to chat new music, hometown shows, and their evolution as a band.
HAPPY: Hey fellas, how’s it going? What have you all been up to lately?
MATTY: Hey Happy, all is well. Mainly been writing and digging up some old material to fine tune for our next release early next year. We have also lined up a couple of cool shows with Melbourne band DIET. in Melbourne and in Sydney. Also we are going out to a property in Mudgee for a week to rehearse some new songs so that we can get into the studio ASAP.
HAPPY: It’s been a couple of months now since you dropped your debut EP… how are youcfeeling about it now that you’ve had some time to sit on it?
MATTY: Yeah we have had a cool run with Waking Eight so far and the response has been great. Keen to start tracking these new songs that we have been sitting on for a while. I actually had a listen to the EP the other day and loved the sounds – but we always have thought the guitars could sound crisper – that’s what we are hoping with the next release.
HAPPY: I remember listening to Disaster Caster a few years back, and even back then, you always had such a strong direction with your sound. Back then, did you sit down and decide what kind of music you wanted to play? Or was it something that just emerged naturally?
MATTY: I think so. We always knew that we wanted to write loud pop songs. A few of us have played together in bands previously and as a band starting out, your sounds hasn’t been defined as such, but around the time of our release of Disaster Caster, I felt like we had found a good grounding to start on.
HAPPY: How do you feel your sound has changed since then? If at all…
MATTY: From our earlier singles compared to the EP, we’ve stopping drowning everything in verb and delay and decided pick and choose when it’s appropriate. We consciously wanted the EP to sound different to our live sound because we believe there should be a contrast in both aspects. I feel like our sound is developing into something else also. We are basically writing country songs with fuzzy guitars and hip-hop drumbeats.
HAPPY: There are few different sounds being thrown around in your music… which artists have been the biggest influence on your music recently?
MATTY: As of late been listening to a lot of Pretenders and R.E.M. Not sure if it’s had a direct influence on my music sonically, but definitely has been a influence for me to write more music with a strong pop sensibility.
HAPPY: You’ve been touring pretty heavily over the past year… have there been any particular gigs that have stuck with you?
MATTY: Definitely a highlight was our sold out Sydney show, late June at the Lansdowne. We were touring the UK/EU heavily the month before and was such a good feeling coming back to a full hometown crowd.
HAPPY: Next month you’ll be playing Newtown Festival… are there any artists on that bill that you’re looking forward to catching?
MATTY: Keen to see Georgia squared (Mulligan + June) and Dappled Cities are also good to watch.
HAPPY: What’s next for PLANET? Any other exciting plans in the works?
Writing and recording – have already locked in some drum sessions at the end of the year to get started on our next release. Also hoping to get back over to the UK early next year.
HAPPY: Cheers for the chat!
MATTY: All gravy!
Catch PLANET live at Newtown Festival on Sunday November 11th. More info here.
