Australia’s President Street are on the up. Following the release of their brand new EP, ‘Heartbreak Player’, the pair then embarked on a non-stop tour of Europe with 80s legend, Roachford. We caught the pair in between busy performance dates in order to get the inside scoop on the tour…
Hey President Street! How is touring life treating you so far?
Hey! It’s been great so far thanks – we’ve loved being back in the UK. We’ve had a bit of down time so far and have enjoyed London life and a day trip out to the small town of Bray, too, where you have to duck your head to walk into the pub!
It’s been so fun gigging from The Bedford London to Brown Street in Sailsbury to Percy’s in Whitchurch to West Street Live in Sheffield, performing our music and meeting some great people along the way. We’re feeling warmed up and ready for Roachford in Germany, Austria and Switzerland – which kicks off Monday 15th November in Hamburg.
What does it mean to you to be on tour with 80s legend Roachford? What can you learn from him and his working ethic?
It’s amazing, and Roachford is such a class act, so full of talent…. we can’t wait to start the tour and meet Andrew Roachford and his band and crew. It’s a huge opportunity for us to perform in front of his fans, so we’re excited to put on the best show possible for them. He’s such a musical talent and professional across the board – from his beautiful natural voice to his insane keyboard playing, to his soulful and uplifting song writing. We’re looking forward to being around that talent and absorbing how he approaches things – everyone we’ve met so far has just been so emphatic of what a wonderful and nice person he is, so we can’t wait to meet him and learn all we can from him and his crew.
Do you have any surprises planned for any specific dates on tour? What about your last show?!
You’ll have to come along and see for yourself! 😉
Touring Europe is a massive deal, especially during such bizarre times. What goes on behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly?
Yeah we’re super excited! But definitely COVID-19, as well as Brexit are new territory for us all, and have created a lot of additional and unexpected considerations to navigate. But as always, positivity and being solution-focused is key, as well as really focusing on enjoying the moment and not fretting too much. Also, having an amazing tour manager like Duncan Callaghan helps to keep everything running smoothly… that and lots of herbal tea and donut balls!
What is your favourite song to play live? How do you keep them from growing old when you perform the same songs each night?
We have an unreleased track called ‘Borrowed Time’ (it’s Pete’s favourite!) that we’re really enjoying playing at the moment. Its a track that allows us to get emotive one minute, then loud and unruly the next. It’s a lot of fun to play live.
Of course our current single and lead track of our EP, ‘Heartbreak Player’ (Ruby’s fave!) because it’s theme of head versus heart in love, is one most people can relate to, whether now or from some point in their lives – and the electronic loops we’re using has a great beat that gets people moving!
Ultimately we want to do the best job each night for the audience so if that means playing the songs largely the same way – if that’s the best musical arrangement and performance to do the songs justice live – then that never gets boring for us. But the key to keep each night interesting, and not letting anything grow old is to have that interaction with the audience and adapt and read the room – there’s nothing like that live engagement and energy of an audience to guide you.
How do you deal with pre-gig nerves?
Being as prepared as possible! Over time, we’ve learnt to just let go of the idea of controlling the outcome too much and just focusing on enjoying the moment – giving out the good energy and our love of music to help the audience enjoy themselves and feel as much a part of our family, as much as possible.
Your thoughts and feelings about heading back home to Australia must be pretty mixed… How are you feeling about it?
Yeah we’re thankful to have our time here in the UK and over in larger Europe too – and we’re grateful that we’ll be able to head back home to Melbourne without having to quarantine for 2 weeks now too which is a bonus!
But of course, post-tour is always an adjustment from the constant movement, buzz and sense of achievement of touring and performing. We’ll each set some time aside to enjoy the festive season in Melbourne’s new found freedom but will be looking forward to getting together again to do some more song writing – as well as start preparation for more touring next Summer around the UK with Roachford on his “Twice in a Lifetime” UK Tour. Busy times… fun times! 🙂
You can catch President Street in support of Roachford throughout the rest of 2021 and into 2022 – buy tickets here! Follow the band on Instagram to stay up to date. You can check out their EP, Heartbreak Player, below…