Shea Duncan - Toucan (04/02/2013)
The 59th Sound caught up with Shea Duncan from pop/jazz outfit Toucan to chat about their appearances at the Big Day Out 2013 and their Swim EP.
Hey Shea! First up, how excited are you and Jess to perform at Big Day Out? What were some of your highlights from Sydney?
It was really great show! Because it was our home town we had a whole bunch of friends come along and support us. We played the very first set of the day so we had no idea to what to expect. By the time we went on there was a whole bunch of people there and they kept brewing as the set went on. It was nice to play to a fresh audience at a new festival. We had a really great time.
Are you going to reconsider wearing jeans, if it’s another hot day like Sydney?
(laughs) Defintely! That was a definite rookie error for the Big Day Out. I had no idea how hot it was going to be. I got up in the morning and did my usual habit of putting jeans on. It got really hot at about 11 O’clock just as we were about to play.
After your show, did you go watch anyone in the mosh pit or did you stay behind the scenes?
Our manager was really good on the day, she organised a bunch of press for us. In between we have happened to see a few bands. There is a few local stuff I wanna check out like Jagwar Ma, I’m a huge fan of their stuff. Hopefully on the remaining three shows we will be able to check out a bit more music.
Our reviewer for the Sydney BDO gave you guys kudos for your stage presence. Is this something you think about in rehearsal or does it all come natural?
I think it probably comes… It’s all quite natural when we play in a way. I don’t think Jess or I or our band are overly outward, really extroverted people. But we all really really enjoy all the music we play together and it’s a really great opportunity to share the music we play with a whole bunch of people like the Big Day Out. I think it comes from the excitement of being a musician and performing with people.
I know that you guys have played with some pretty big acts already, is there anyone at Big Day Out that you are particularly excited to meet or play with?
The Line up is incredible! Especially from a sort of our generation point of view, like, I grew up listening to the Chilli Peppers of course and I’ve also been a Foals fan for a lot of years and I had a really quick opportunity to talk to Edmund in Sydney and that was a bit of a fanboy moment. The majority of the lineup are all fantastic bands and are really, really lovely. When you meet them you find out they are just normal people that are passionate about their music. I usually hang around the catering counter which usually has a lot of traffic and I can do a bit of people plodding (laughs), but I hope some more opportunities come up, yeah!
Do the big bands just walk around with everyone else or do they keep to themselves?
Yeah, oh definitely! Particularly at the catering because everyone has to eat. Everyone is always doing a soundcheck or something like that but it’s really great when you are backstage and you see all these people. You are like “AWW! There’s that guy” and it’s kinda a thrill back there.
How does playing at a festival compare to playing in a crowded room, did you do anything differently?
It’s been a really good opportunity for us because we just finished our E.P. We definitely change our set for different live environments. This festival, Big Day Out has a really strong energy and I think it’s one of those shows were you bring out a strong dynamic live energy. Firstly we got to play some stuff from our new material which naturally lends itself to a bit of a live environment. Similarly, we have some songs we left out of our setlist because they aren’t really suited to the festival environment. We did a few reworks to some of our songs to work together with the set as a whole. I think that you do think about that in a way, but not too much because the set could go either way, you never really know. For instance, our Sydney show had a really great dynamic energy and the Gold Coast was a little more chilled out, but the set still lent itself to that environment. So I think you really need to do your thing and people will react the way they will.
Just on your EP, I’ve had a listen and I really liked your new song Warrior. I noticed that it’s not as electro/dancey as your old stuff. Are you going for more of an indie pop vibe?
I don’t know if we think about that too much. Jess and I our approach is sort of like… we start writing songs on piano and then we try and come up with ideas and record. All the recording is done in house and we produce all of our own music, so we started a channel working on that muse and then we kinda of just play with sound wells and see where the songs pull themselves. A song like warrior really pulled itself into an alternative world, so we were working with brass and strings and choir. There wasn’t a conscious decision at the beginning to do an orchestral piece and it was just a progression of the song. We went to a music college so we knew a bunch of instrumentalists that play a number of different instruments. So we thought “Ya know what, maybe we could give this ago”. We brought in violin players, trumpet players and we sort of built up this orchestra. I think that’s the way we like to approach music, to think about each individual song, rather than writing from a point of view where we have to have set instrumentation or anything like that. It’s definitely different but I don’t think it was a conscious decision to go down that path, it just naturally happened that way.
I know that you and Jess met at Music College in Sydney, but how did you personally get into making music?
When I was really young, mum took me to music appreciation workshops which are sort like a simple introduction to music and I have sort of always played piano – I went down the piano route. Then I really got into Ben Folds, Elton John and those guys and I also had a bit of an interest in jazz. During high school I got into the composition side of things and did a degree and that naturally lead into production and music technology and I think that’s really what lead into today…. Yeah!
What are you gonna get up to after this stint of touring? How long to a full album and not just an EP?
Aww, good question! Ultimately more music is on the agenda, whether we put that into an LP or an EP we are not too sure yet. We just released our E.P but even in the mean time we have been working on a whole bunch of new material. So as soon as we finish Big Day Out we will probably get back into the studio and work on some new ideas. I’ll have to keep you posted on that, but definitely more music and more touring.
I have been thinking about this a lot, but I always wonder if musicians have other jobs. Do you have a job outside music?
Yeah definitely! It’s one of those things where ideally you’d get it to a point that you can do it full time but when you are studying. I actually do composing work so I do composition work for various things.
Anyway, I know you have a plane to catch. I hope the catering in Melbourne is up to scratch at the Big Day Out.
Thanks for the interview mate, have a good one! Bye.
Ryan Hyde
Follow me on Twitter - @RyanHyde93
Hey Shea! First up, how excited are you and Jess to perform at Big Day Out? What were some of your highlights from Sydney?
It was really great show! Because it was our home town we had a whole bunch of friends come along and support us. We played the very first set of the day so we had no idea to what to expect. By the time we went on there was a whole bunch of people there and they kept brewing as the set went on. It was nice to play to a fresh audience at a new festival. We had a really great time.
Are you going to reconsider wearing jeans, if it’s another hot day like Sydney?
(laughs) Defintely! That was a definite rookie error for the Big Day Out. I had no idea how hot it was going to be. I got up in the morning and did my usual habit of putting jeans on. It got really hot at about 11 O’clock just as we were about to play.
After your show, did you go watch anyone in the mosh pit or did you stay behind the scenes?
Our manager was really good on the day, she organised a bunch of press for us. In between we have happened to see a few bands. There is a few local stuff I wanna check out like Jagwar Ma, I’m a huge fan of their stuff. Hopefully on the remaining three shows we will be able to check out a bit more music.
Our reviewer for the Sydney BDO gave you guys kudos for your stage presence. Is this something you think about in rehearsal or does it all come natural?
I think it probably comes… It’s all quite natural when we play in a way. I don’t think Jess or I or our band are overly outward, really extroverted people. But we all really really enjoy all the music we play together and it’s a really great opportunity to share the music we play with a whole bunch of people like the Big Day Out. I think it comes from the excitement of being a musician and performing with people.
I know that you guys have played with some pretty big acts already, is there anyone at Big Day Out that you are particularly excited to meet or play with?
The Line up is incredible! Especially from a sort of our generation point of view, like, I grew up listening to the Chilli Peppers of course and I’ve also been a Foals fan for a lot of years and I had a really quick opportunity to talk to Edmund in Sydney and that was a bit of a fanboy moment. The majority of the lineup are all fantastic bands and are really, really lovely. When you meet them you find out they are just normal people that are passionate about their music. I usually hang around the catering counter which usually has a lot of traffic and I can do a bit of people plodding (laughs), but I hope some more opportunities come up, yeah!
Do the big bands just walk around with everyone else or do they keep to themselves?
Yeah, oh definitely! Particularly at the catering because everyone has to eat. Everyone is always doing a soundcheck or something like that but it’s really great when you are backstage and you see all these people. You are like “AWW! There’s that guy” and it’s kinda a thrill back there.
How does playing at a festival compare to playing in a crowded room, did you do anything differently?
It’s been a really good opportunity for us because we just finished our E.P. We definitely change our set for different live environments. This festival, Big Day Out has a really strong energy and I think it’s one of those shows were you bring out a strong dynamic live energy. Firstly we got to play some stuff from our new material which naturally lends itself to a bit of a live environment. Similarly, we have some songs we left out of our setlist because they aren’t really suited to the festival environment. We did a few reworks to some of our songs to work together with the set as a whole. I think that you do think about that in a way, but not too much because the set could go either way, you never really know. For instance, our Sydney show had a really great dynamic energy and the Gold Coast was a little more chilled out, but the set still lent itself to that environment. So I think you really need to do your thing and people will react the way they will.
Just on your EP, I’ve had a listen and I really liked your new song Warrior. I noticed that it’s not as electro/dancey as your old stuff. Are you going for more of an indie pop vibe?
I don’t know if we think about that too much. Jess and I our approach is sort of like… we start writing songs on piano and then we try and come up with ideas and record. All the recording is done in house and we produce all of our own music, so we started a channel working on that muse and then we kinda of just play with sound wells and see where the songs pull themselves. A song like warrior really pulled itself into an alternative world, so we were working with brass and strings and choir. There wasn’t a conscious decision at the beginning to do an orchestral piece and it was just a progression of the song. We went to a music college so we knew a bunch of instrumentalists that play a number of different instruments. So we thought “Ya know what, maybe we could give this ago”. We brought in violin players, trumpet players and we sort of built up this orchestra. I think that’s the way we like to approach music, to think about each individual song, rather than writing from a point of view where we have to have set instrumentation or anything like that. It’s definitely different but I don’t think it was a conscious decision to go down that path, it just naturally happened that way.
I know that you and Jess met at Music College in Sydney, but how did you personally get into making music?
When I was really young, mum took me to music appreciation workshops which are sort like a simple introduction to music and I have sort of always played piano – I went down the piano route. Then I really got into Ben Folds, Elton John and those guys and I also had a bit of an interest in jazz. During high school I got into the composition side of things and did a degree and that naturally lead into production and music technology and I think that’s really what lead into today…. Yeah!
What are you gonna get up to after this stint of touring? How long to a full album and not just an EP?
Aww, good question! Ultimately more music is on the agenda, whether we put that into an LP or an EP we are not too sure yet. We just released our E.P but even in the mean time we have been working on a whole bunch of new material. So as soon as we finish Big Day Out we will probably get back into the studio and work on some new ideas. I’ll have to keep you posted on that, but definitely more music and more touring.
I have been thinking about this a lot, but I always wonder if musicians have other jobs. Do you have a job outside music?
Yeah definitely! It’s one of those things where ideally you’d get it to a point that you can do it full time but when you are studying. I actually do composing work so I do composition work for various things.
Anyway, I know you have a plane to catch. I hope the catering in Melbourne is up to scratch at the Big Day Out.
Thanks for the interview mate, have a good one! Bye.
Ryan Hyde
Follow me on Twitter - @RyanHyde93