OUSES
Hands Like Houses are kicking goals. The Canberraborn boys are touring the States before they return to Australia later in the year. Their new video has just come out and has had a tremendous amount of success worldwide. We chatted to vocalist, Trenton Woodley. How is your tour of the US going so far? It’s been great! Had a few logistical nightmares over a few days, trying not to miss a show while our van was in the ER, but overall the response has been great, the bands are phenomenal and we’re stoked to be a part of it. What do you miss most about Australia when you are away? I think that’d vary for each of us, but for myself it’s definitely my fiancé and family. Being away is tough but having someone to be your anchor and reference point for who you are means you’re always making sure not to miss or waste any opportunity or time away. Beyond that, I miss good quality food (especially cooking at home) and the ability to sleep in a full-size, stationary bed haha! You’ve just announced dates for an Australian tour which is super exciting! How important is it for you to have support from fans back home? It’s huge for us – we are Australian, we’re proud of our country, our upbringing and our music scene and so it’s incredibly important for us to be able to come home and not feel like we’re foreigners in our own land. Australian shows have actually been among the most fun we’ve ever played because I think people are starting to take pride in what we’re about and it shows.
What has been your favorite moment of the year so far? I think our hometown show in Canberra in February was pretty amazing just because of the friends and family that made it incredible, that or Self Help Fest in California last month; we played to 5,000+ people and it was pretty mind-blowing. Unimagine is the current album out and it’s also the dreaded second album. Were you guys nervous going into the process of creating the album? Absolutely – Ground Dweller had become such an underground favourite to a lot of people, that we were nervous of how to follow up in a way that progressed but didn’t leave anyone behind. We had to go in with the utmost confidence that our ‘sound’ is simply what comes naturally to us, and as we mature and improve as people and songwriters, we hope that is reflected in the music. I suppose we’re looking down the barrel of the same challenge going into album number three, but we’ve been blessed with a huge response to both albums so far. We hope to keep the faith going forward. Did you aim to keep things similar to the first album or did you try mix things up completely? Like I said earlier, we just tried to progress intelligently and naturally. We’d actually had three years between starting Ground Dweller and recording Unimagine, as there were a few back-and-forths and delays in making Ground Dweller a completed reality. So it sounds like we grew up a lot in a short amount of time, but in truth we had a big head start long before Unimagine came about. There are six of you in the band. Is it hard to organise yourselves and make group decisions without any drama? Haha absolutely. In some ways we work exceptionally well because we’re a band of brothers. Of course we disagree pretty fiercely on things from time to time, and there are the occasional frustrations of who is cleaning up after who, etc. but overall we have a great mutual respect so > 17