Sunbury garage rock duo The Ivy Walkers have created a distinct and energetic sound, which they will be bringing to The Tote Hotel in August for an album launch.
Making their debut last year, the band consists of guitarist and singer Kaelan Semmens, and drummer Lachlan Biewer.
The band record all of their music at home in Sunbury, which Semmens said has allowed them to explore and define their sound.
“I think it’s better for bands starting out to find their own sound using their own stuff. Because at least that way, when you go into a studio, you really know what’s going on and you can put more input into how it’s going to sound,” he said.
The band has played at a range of venues in Melbourne, supporting groups such as Wolfmother, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, and Nice Biscuit.
Being friends for about 15 years, the duo have developed a strong writing and recording process that has allowed them to release plenty of music in the past year.
“Me and Kaelan we kind of just mesh well … there’s not many opinions,” Biewer said.
“From my perspective, I write pretty much lyrics and song structure and as soon as I bring that to Lachy, he’s able to come up with a beat for that and make it interesting and actually fit the song,” Semmens said.
For their upcoming album, they hope to release up to 18 songs, which they said will have a Western-inspired sound.
“It’s all unreleased stuff that we’ve been working on since last year – we’re thinking around 18 songs … we’re trying to really go for this different sound and just explore ourselves musically and instrumentally,” Semmens said.
The Ivy Walkers will launch their new album at The Tote Hotel on Saturday, August 17, and will be joined by the Roy Darby Trio.
Oscar Parry
