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Photo credit: Dara Munnis

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About THE PAPER KITES

The Paper Kites are a folk/rock band from Melbourne, Australia, composed of Sam Bentley, Christina Lacy, David Powys, Samuel Rasmussen and Josh Bentley.

Formed in 2010 in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, The Paper Kites have released 2 EPs, 6 studio albums, continuing to capture hearts around the world with their sincere songwriting and moving performances. Their first ever single ‘Bloom’ (2011) is certified platinum in 6 countries. Their fourth album, On The Train Ride Home (2019), received an ARIA Award nomination for ‘Best Adult Contemporary Album’, and their podcast Between The Houses earned an Australian Podcast Award nomination for ‘Best Entertainment Podcast’ (2021). The bands music reach extends over 7 million monthly listeners and over 1 billion listens across their catalogue.

Selling out international tours throughout 2023 and performing at prestigious festivals such as Edmonton Folk Music Festival and Calgary Folk Festival, The Paper Kites are preparing to embark on a world tour with The Roadhouse band.

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“It’s a place you’d want to stay – warm and inviting, and the pace is unhurried… File next to your Ryan Adams records – this is quality Americana…” – Jeff Jenkins for STACK Magazine

“Songs that distill heartbreak and longing into beauty and hope… everyone who stepped into The Roadhouse — in person or via listening to the recording — can carry with them a light against the darkness.” – Stacy Chandler for No Depression

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How did the band come together back in 2010? Is there someone who is the “driving force”, or do you all make decisions together?
Christina and I met when we were both still at school, but Dave (Powys) and Sam (Rasmussen) all knew each other from the local punk scene in Melbourne – we were all playing in different bands at the time and obviously very different music back then too. Christina and I had been playing some cafes and pubs back then just for fun really and for a little money – but decided to pull together a band for an event we were playing – and asked Dave and Sam because they were some of the best players we knew at the time – and also asked my cousin Josh (Bentley) to drum. We’ve been a band ever since. I think in terms of driving force the other members would probably agree it’s generally me pushing the songs and the creative output and direction of the band – but everyone these days has their own roles within the band that also inform those decisions. We’re still discuss everything together and make all our decisions together. 

How would you describe your sound? With 7M monthly Spotify listeners, why do you think fans resonate with your music?
I couldn’t really answer that because in terms of what resonates I think it’s likely very different from person to person. I don’t think our music is particularly difficult to understand or connect with – so I think that’s maybe a reason that a lot of people seem to listen to it. 

Which artist’s music and/or performance, past or present, inspires you today? 
I think I’m mainly interested in songs from the past that still feel powerful and relevant today – not just musically but subjects and stories – there’s a reason those songs stick and I’m always interested in the craft of those songwriters. I do try and keep up with current artists as best I can – but at least for me I really do have to search for music that I think is great. It’s definitely our there but you do have to go looking for it a lot of the time. There’s always both a degree of astonishment at the popularity of artists I don’t really understand or appreciate, and also a great too many that I think are truly brilliant that aren’t very widely known. I suppose though that’s the joy in discovering those artists. I value sincerity in music in its many forms and generally gravitate to those kinds of artists that I feel are expressing themselves in beautiful ways. 

Your new album, your 6th, ‘At The Roadhouse’ has just been released! Describe its origin and evolution. 
So this was a record we made in a little town in Victoria called Campbells Creek. We spent a month there in the winter last year playing a residency in a little bar called The Roadhouse – we didn’t announce the shows or promote them really – we just played as the house band in the evenings across the month. We had a bunch of new songs that we were performing and recorded all 16 of them which ended up becoming this new record. We also just finished a film of the same title that was filmed during the residency and just premiered in Melbourne and Sydney this past weekend. The whole experience of these shows and making this record was really special for us and a lot of the magic of the performances was captured on that album. 

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A performance at The Roadhouse in July 2022.

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What are the signature tracks, and which is your favourite (to listen to and to play live)?
I think most of us would say ‘I Don’t Want To Go That Way’ would be a stand out track to us, songs like ‘Black & Thunder’ was always fun to play, ‘Hurts So Good’ is a great representation of the sound of the band – but there’s so much music to digest on this album and songs that I think will be easy to connect to and other songs that will reveal themselves with listening and time. 

You just sold out a recent EU/UK Tour and performed at a couple of Canadian Festivals. Can you explain a little the mix between the challenges and the obvious enjoyment that comes from the tour?
The challenge is always the family element back home – and just trying to balance work and home life. We do tour a lot overseas and each time comes at a cost to the people you leave at home – whether it’s missing important family or life events because you’re on the road or just general strains that your absence can put on relationships with loved ones is forever a difficult thing to navigate. There’s no way around it, it’s just hard. I think you just need to firstly have a family that supports what you do and believes that it’s worth the grind, and then you as the one away need to also understand that you leaving puts a lot of extra stress on the general workload of home life. It needs to be understood and respected by everyone involved. We always say the lows can be very low – but the highs are really so high – it’s a great and wonderful thing to be able to tour – but if you want to do it for a long time and still have a home life, you have to take care in how you go about it. 

I see you are down for Bluesfest in 2024. What are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
We are! It’s our first time at Bluesfest and we’re really looking forward to being there. We haven’t really talked about the show yet but we would have just come off the back of two North American tours and a UK/EU tour – so I think the band should be sounding pretty good by then. Hoping to bring the whole roadhouse band to Bluesfest. 

If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why? 
I don’t think I would chose any – I think if I had my pick of any artist I admire alive or dead I wouldn’t dare want to share a stage with them – I’d rather just sit and listen to them play their songs. Although I did recently get to sing ‘Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You’ with Julia Jacklin at a festival in Calgary – that was pretty cool. 

What are your long-term aspirations as a music artist and how are you progressing towards them?
I think the answer is in the question there for me – just being ‘long-term’ in general is enough for me. If I can do this and still be doing in 10, 20, 30 years down the line I’d be very happy with that. Longevity is my aspiration, and being able to express myself sincerely through that time. 

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With that in mind, what piece of advice would you give to an artist starting out? 
I mean I can only give advice based on what I value – but I would say only ever write and create for yourself, if you think you have something to prove – then prove it to yourself – don’t do it for anyone else. There’s a lot of distractions out there, a lot of trends, a lot of artists that come and go, a lot of devaluing of the creative process and an emphasis on content and giving so much of yourself and your time. I say take your time, work on your craft – write music that you want to write and trust your vision. Pay attention to artists that are in their later years and still playing – learn from them. 

What is the best thing about performing to a live audience? What’s been the career highlight so far?
I think the best thing about playing and highlights kind of melt in to each other a little. When you play so often a lot of shows can sometimes feel unremarkable from night to night – but it’s the very small human connections that can elevate certain nights above others – it can be as small as the look on someone’s face that you catch when you’re singing a song – or maybe an applause that you didn’t expect or a standing ovation – just little moments that lift you up and send you on your way with a great deal of love for performing. In terms of highlights – I certainly felt that premiering the ‘At The Roadhouse’ film in Melbourne last week was a very important highlight for me – because the project was so epic and ambitious and so much time was put in to the making of it all – and hearing the applause at the end of the film was really something I was so very proud of. I hope people get to see it soon because like the record – it’s really special. 

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Photo: Dara Munnis. @daramunnis

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Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –

FAVOURITE:
Album – I can’t go all time, but Nick Cave’s ‘Push The Sky Away’ shifted some things around in my brain 
Artist – I shouldn’t go past The Beatles – too many great songs 
Movie – Rocky Horror
Place to visit – Whitby
Venue to play – The Forum in Melbourne – or Paradiso in Amsterdam 
Food – Chocolate
Drink – Tea
Person in History – whoever invented bamboo sheets 
Tattoo – (If you don’t have one, what would you get?) I have a little cup of tea but you’ll never find it 

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THE PAPER KITES
AT THE ROADHOUSE

Out now via Wonderlick

Listen/Purchase

Midnight Moon
Till The Flame Turns Blue
Black & Thunder
Marietta
 Rolling On Easy
Hurts So Good
Good Nights Gone
 Burn The Night Away
June’s Stolen Car
Maria, It’s Time
Green Valleys
The Sweet Sound Of You
I Don’t Want To Go That Way
Pocket Full Of Rain
 Mercy
 Darkness At My Door

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Follow THE PAPER KITES
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Press Release 4th September 2023 (below) HERE

THE PAPER KITES
share new album
AT THE ROADHOUSE

Listen / purchase HERE

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AMNPLIFY – DB