Season Five (Break My Fall) is out now!
Image: Supplied.
Adelaide pop punk two-piece TOWNS have dropped their nostalgia-fuelled new single, Season Five (Break My Fall). We caught up with Aston Valladares to chat about the track, their current tour, what they have up their sleeves for the rest of the year, and so much more!
Having kicked off last weekend in Melbourne, TOWNS national tour will continue on to Wollongong tonight, before visiting Sydney, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Adelaide. Tickets are on sale now! Alongside the new track comes the announcement the band have signed with Farmer and The Owl, the label home of Hockey Dad, Moaning Lisa and more.
Tell us a bit about your background in music and how TOWNS came to be…
Well for myself personally, music started as I grew up around my grandparents and my grandfather was a musician for a living so naturally I idolized him and wanted to follow in his footsteps. So from age 12 I started playing Bass, Then moved onto Guitar and so on. Eventually fell in love with punk and hardcore music and everything either side of it. Dan has been playing drums for yonks too so when we first met and found out we both weren’t in bands it formulated the idea of maybe one day playing together but I feel like two piece bands weren’t as common in 2014 when we met as they are now. But we thought screw it and now here we are, an actual band since 2017 and couldn't be prouder of what we’ve done!
We’ve been treated to your brand new single, Season Five (Break My Fall). What inspired you to pen this track?
This track came about so quickly musically, I remember we were rehearsing for Summer Sounds Festival in Adelaide and I literally went ‘I just want one of those songs that starts like this’ and played the four chords that open the song and Dan said ‘just do that’ and within 10 minutes had a structure and everything we needed to start demoing it. Lyrically I think the first line I sung was ‘shifting my focus’ and this was around the same time I was confused about what Gen Z and Millennials etc were because I kept hearing people refer to these terms like they were personality traits and I felt confused cause I related to a lot but also felt alienated by others so I decided to shift my focus from those labels and write a song instead.
Is there a particular line or lyric from the song you’re most proud of, or one that you return to more often than the rest?
I think many people will hear the reference to our song ‘safe to stay’ in the second verse which just felt like a little nod to how far we’ve come since that song was released. Personally I think the line ‘I thought it happened slow, I guess I've really grown’ may resonate with many people feeling the sting of not fitting in because they're growing up quicker than they realised.
The track brings 2000’s pop-punk vibes. How did you arrive at the sound the song exists within?
Man 2000’s pop punk is something that will never get old, so lucky to have grown up around everything being put out in the early to mid 2000’s. It's naturally a sound we’ve always loved but felt like we hadn’t achieved it yet in a song, so we decided to lean into it as much as we could, goal achieved I’d say.
Alongside the single comes the announcement of your signing with Farmer and The Owl. What drew you to Farmer and The Owl and what makes them the best fit for your label home?
This was a massive thank you to our Manager Rachel for teeing up the zoom call with them so we could chat. We’ve always loved their ethos as a label from the outside looking in but after chatting to them it was 10% business chat and then 90% talking about Seinfeld and Red Rooster, so what's not to love. In all honesty they are such a lovely group of genuine people who made us feel like all our hard work had been worth it and I can't thank them enough.
You’re currently on the road, bringing your Keep On Swingin’ Tour to audiences across the nation. What’s in store for someone attending a TOWNS live show?
Never the same show twice. For as long as Dan and I have been working together whether that be a group assignment at uni, writing songs or even just hanging out, we wing it everytime. We obviously have our stock standard moves we pull out but there is no script to our set, if we want to cover a Motley Crue song we will, if we want to talk for 15 minutes about a bowel movement we had we will, I think thats what makes me feel happy in our band that we aren’t under some scrutiny to grow up and act a certain way and it makes playing live 10000% more fun making it up as you go along. So many times people ask for setlists and we never have them because we’ll just say what we’re feeling for the next song.
How important do you think live music is not only for yourself as a musician showcasing their art, but also for the audience members who resonate with your music?
I’d say 99.9% of the time I see an artist live, I spend the next 2 weeks streaming them because I got to see who I was listening to. Obviously a recorded song needs to be great and to your taste but seeing an artist play live truly shows you where it all comes from. I’m so glad we’re getting our live scene back in Australia. I think audience members should know that the shows they attend are sometimes shows where we go backstage as musicians and say ‘that’s why we do it’. Dan and myself consistently finish a set and say to each other how glad we are that we are still playing live even after the last few years of no normality.
Live music has had an altered presence over the past two years. How have you gone about crafting a set list to celebrate its return following a number of lockdowns and restrictions?
We released maybe three songs during Covid and it's obviously hard to gauge their popularity within the live setting so we make sure we play them even if we feel like we’ve heard them to death. We always try and chat to people before a show to ask what songs they want to hear to make sure we’ve fulfilled their wish of wanting to hear a specific song, even if we play it poorly, at least they got what they wanted (in a sense)
What can we expect from you for the remainder of 2022? Is there more new music on the horizon?
SO MUCH new music, it's about to be our biggest year releasing music and it’ll feel amazing to share them with any old and new fans. I wish I could just post the dropbox link to everything and chat to everyone about everything but you gotta keep it steady and build the hype!
RAPID FIRE
Biggest influences?
Blink 182 are MASSIVE for myself but Dan and I are immense fans of any 2000’s punk, 1990’s pop and 2010 Hardcore.
Dream collaboration?
Wallows? We both have loved that band since their first single.
Album that has had the most impact on you?
For me it was Blinks Untitled Album BUT Dan and I speak of The Used Self Titled Album ALOT.
How do you define your musical style in 3 words?
Spontaneous, Dynamic, Garage (Auto Body Shop name Patent Pending).
Best song of 2022 so far?
OH GOD, I said this out loud the other day. Its either Jackie Down The Line by Fontaines DC OR Not Today by THE BLSSM.
If you could create the soundtrack for any film, which one would it be?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind hands down, that film already has a wicked soundtrack but I think we’d probably sit somewhere nice on Max Keeble's Big Move too
Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus?
Miley, cause we want the real you Ms Cyrus.
What was the first song you loved to sing?
Blur- Song 2, so easy, I remember hearing it at my first A League game and it blew my mind.
A song you would love to cover on tour?
We’ve been covering All Star by Smash Mouth, because even though that song is a meme, it's an incredible song. (we also have a playlist of 160 songs we want to cover).
Album you would listen to on repeat on a road trip?
The soundtrack for the movie Grind or Angels and Airwaves LOVE pt 1 and 2 (bang for your buck with a two parter).
First concert you went to?
The Veronicas, The Hot Lies and After The Fall at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre for a Coca Cola Live and Local tour.
Best concert you have been to?
It's pretty fresh but I think watching Stella Donnelly at the Gov was almost the happiest I’ve ever been watching an artist play live, she is flawless at what she does.
First album you ever bought?
Panic at the Disco A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out (that might be the same for both of us).
Would you rather be a Spice Girl or a Backstreet Boy?
I think I used to copy the Backstreet Boys dance moves growing up, so I've gotta stick with Nick.
What’s your favorite backstreet?
If we’re talking Backstreet members, Kevin felt way too underrated, but literal Backstreet probably the home of Sunny's Pizza, Solomon St in Adelaide.
Most memorable show you’ve ever performed?
Our Adelaide Show for our Swimming Single Tour at the Gov, to headline and play to over 600 people who have all heard of you, was insane. I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling of seeing so many familiar and unfamiliar faces singing back to me.
Guilty music pleasure?
I have a lot, but i think both of us still listen to alot of ‘emo’ music from our childhood, yes Escape The Fate, looking at you.
If you could support any artist on tour, who would it be?
Title Fight, So we could see them play again.
An artist you think has had the most influence on the music industry.
Dave Grohl, I think he’s kept the ‘rockstar guitar player’ dream alive for a lot of people and has closed the gap between heavy and casual fans and has consistently written good songs and has stayed insanely relevant since the start of his career.
What advice would your current self give your future self, for a year from now?
I would tell my future self that all that anxiety you felt heaps wasn’t worth it and it never will be.
The moment you knew you wanted to be a musician?
It was when I learnt how to play the opening riff to Dumpweed by Blink and I played it over and over really really loud and it felt really really good so I didn't wanna stop, so here I am!
Season Five (Break My Fall) is out now!
TOWNS NATIONAL TOUR
Friday 20th May – La La La’s, Wollongong
Saturday 21st May – Waywards, Sydney
Thursday 26th May – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane
Friday 27th May – Gold Coast, Elsewhere Bar
Friday 3rd June – Adelaide, Jive Played
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