EUSH is MusicZeitgeist.com’s December 2011 Indie Music Artist of the Month

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EUSH - Indie Music Artist of the Month - December 2011

Influence is a funny thing. Artists will often be asked about whom affected their creative development, but seldom does the output match up with the input. This is the sublimity of creation and creativity.

Australia bred trio EUSH cite everything from Joni Mitchell to Steve Reich as influences (excellent pedigree) and yet the result evokes something akin to Rachels jamming with Radiohead and Kate Bush and all that the pairing might contain.

These chaps caught our ear among dozens upon dozens of entries for our December 2011 Indie feature. Here is what they had to say for themselves via bandleader Seán van Doornum:

MusicZeitgeist.com: Who ARE you?
EUSH is made up of these three fine talents: Seán van Doornum (Guitar, Voice), James Waples (Drums), Peter Kossen (Bass).

However our debut album – ‘TREE’ – also consists of other wonderful talents that include Nick Hoorweg (Electric/Double Bass), Daniel Felix Goodacre (Piano, Organ), Daniel Weltlinger (Violin), and John Douglas (Vibraphone). The album was also engineered by Daniel Denholm who is quite the man about town, to say the very least. In the future we’d love to collaborate with artists such as Cass McCombs, Annie Clark (St. Vincent) and bands like WILCO, to name a few.

MZ: Describe what EUSH is to an extra terrestrial:
Our bio reads that we perform “baroque-pop, experimental-rock, alt-country”. However, I feel that we’re much more than that. Like so many bands these days, our influences come from everywhere. We have a few electronic elements creeping into our sound, as well as more orchestrated, experimental “acoustic” sounds.

I don’t really think of any particular genre when writing, rather I just try to paint a picture both honestly and creatively. Actually a friend recently described our music as “mysterious-sea-shantys”. I love that. That’s exactly what we are.

MZ: Whence do you emanate?
I’m originally from Sydney, Australia. Peter is from Coffs Harbor on the New South Wales, North Coast and James is from Bowral in the Southern Highlands. James and I met while studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and I met Pete through another friend at Uni. Most recently we performed at the beautiful Vanguard Theatre in Newtown as part our album launch. We also have a great show coming up with other fantastic artists such as Damian Enemark, Tim Hart and Elle Kennard. I’ve performed EUSH solo shows in Melbourne, Australia and also did a six-month stint in New York where I performed at venues such as Rockwood Music Hall, Cameo and Pianos and hope to return there to play more asap!

MZ: When and how often do you play?
As often as we can. Gigging is funny. On one hand I’d love to be gigging every night but then you can’t do that in your own town I guess. I’m working towards us performing on tour regularly. We’re recording an E.P in January and will hopefully do a more extensive tour with it. I’m also planning on returning to the States early next year so will play some shows there, then.

MZ: Talk about the road to that led to where you are now:
I started writing for EUSH after finishing Uni about three years ago. However, the first thing I had to do was forget everything I’d learned and write less analytically or intellectually and more honestly, which took a while. My original plan was to combine the elements that I loved of contemporary “classical” composition with the elements of pop/rock bands that I loved. I kinda envisioned the love child of Joni Mitchell, Oliver Messiaen, TOOL and Steve Reich if they’d all had a four-some. But now, I’m just trying to be me.

I’m always listening to very different genres, from Terry Reid to Beach House or Rachmaninov to Modern Lovers. So my writing can sometimes appear a little disjointed. Not that that is a problem. I always feel like I should be more coherent stylistically, though most of my favorite artists/bands are really diverse in their writing. I think we’re still developing compositionally and in our performances and hope we always will be. I love playing with these guys and I think we work really well together.

MZ: What’s Next?
We plan to record an E.P early next year or perhaps an album comprising six or seven tracks. We recorded our last album pretty fast. Eleven songs in two days, and then a couple days for vocals. So I hope to spend a bit more time on this one. I really can’t wait actually. The new songs are much better. Also we’ll be hitting up some festivals and other goodies. We’ll keep you all posted on or sites as things evolve.

VITAL LINKS:

Listen now to “Somewhere Between” by EUSH and other artists we have featured at the MusicZeitgeist.com’s free Indie Music Jukebox

To see your act in MZ’s Artist Profile, submit to our gig listing at Sonicbids today!

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