Project Description

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How did you all come together musically? Is one of you the “driving force”, or do you all make decisions together?
We’ve been playing together in various projects for years. When I finally worked up the nerve to put together my own project, I wanted to be working with people I was comfortable ceding creative control of my music to, and I wanted to be making music with friends and family. The current line-up was a no-brainer.
I write the chords and lyrics for the songs (apart from Here Am I, which was written by our bass player Isaac), but for the most part everyone writes their own parts. The first release we did was really focussed on giving equal weight to the input of all band members, but given the personal nature of the songs on this album, I may have pulled in the reins a little bit this time around.

How would you describe your sound? Why do you think fans resonate with your music?
Our music could broadly be described as folk, but carries influence from blues, indie rock, folk punk, and Americana. I hope that what connects for our listeners is the thing that draws me to sad songs – that feeling of being seen, that you’re not alone in the emotion you’re feeling, even if it’s just a vague sense of being crushed beneath the weight of the world.

Which artist’s music and/or performance, past or present, inspires you today?
I think one of the greatest musical performances of all time is the Apartment Sessions performance of Empire Liquor Mart (9127 S. Figueroa St.) by Gabriel Kahane. Incredible delivery of a beautiful song with a powerful and heartbreaking message, look it up.

Your new album ‘Bury Me In The Garden’ has just been released! Describe its origin and evolution.
‘Bury Me’ was born out of the ending of a long term relationship I was in. The break-up happened right before the start of COVID, so I had nothing but spare time to write songs. We spent the next few years refining these on and off stage as the world opened back up, and taking them to some more interesting places than we’d been before as a band, working with Melbourne producer Isaac Barter to get the recordings sounding lush as heck.

What are the signature tracks, and which is your favourite to play live?
To me, ‘Make Do’ near the tail end of the album is the thesis statement of the whole piece, summarising all of the agony of watching something fall apart that brought some conflict into your life, but you never really expected to see the end of.

Any tours or events coming up soon? What are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
Hopefully! I’d love to do more regional shows, take our music to some new audiences. If you own a little pub in a cute country town somewhere, give us a shout!

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If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why?
I’d love to support Big Thief, mostly just for the chance to meet the band. In my daydreams we all go swimming in a waterhole on a hot day and follow it up with coffee and apple pie in a cafe somewhere, and all the while they’re dispensing worldly wisdom about songwriting, the creative process, and the human experience. And then I guess we all play a show too.

What are your long-term aspirations as a music artist and how are you progressing towards them?
My long-term aspiration as a musician is to make the music I want to hear in the world, and I feel like that’s not really going to slow down any time soon, so I’d say that’s progressing pretty well.

With that in mind, what piece of advice would you give to an artist starting out?
The music should be the goal. There’s steps you can take to give your releases more of a chance, but at the end of the day that side of things is out of your control. The part that is in your control is the music, and your goal should be to make the music that makes you feel proud of your work. Everything past that is incidental.

What is the best thing about performing to a live audience? What’s been the career highlight so far?
The best thing about playing to a live audience is feeding off the energy in the crowd to inspire your own performance – one of my favourite gigs we’ve played so far was a late night slot at the Crown and Anchor here in Adelaide that was just inexplicably packed. We played our new song ‘Marion Bay’, and when it got to the outro, the crowd was going wild. The catharsis of having your own songs sung back at you by a room full of people is indescribable.

Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:
Album – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
Artist – Conor Oberst
Movie – What We Do in the Shadows
Place to visit – Exmouth, WA (go in the winter or get boiled alive)
Venue to play – The Wheatsheaf Hotel in Thebarton, SA (great performance space and amazing beer brewed in-house)
Food – Cheese toasties (convenient and delicious!)
Drink – Hazy IPAs (my flat cap is arriving in the mail any day now…)
Person in History – Can I say Terry Pratchett?
Tattoo – My banjo-playing ghost tattoo with the label “Sad Songs Forever”, given to me by my friend Katie Pomery

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Follow STURT AVENUE
Unearthed – Facebook – Instagram
Bandcamp – YouTube – Spotify – Apple

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Press Release 23rd November 2023 (below) HERE

Breaking hearts and building bridges:
STURT AVENUE’s
album provides a unique take
on love’s end

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AMNPLIFY – DB