The four-piece band from New Zealand is currently taking the UK by storm. Drax Project just finished supporting Camila Cabello on her ‘Never Be The Same Tour’ in the UK.
I chatted with Matt, Shaan, Sam and Ben about their tour with Camila Cabello and what it was like to have the fastest selling club show in Auckland history.
Tell us about yourselves, how did you guys first meet?
Matt – We met through jazz school studying music and started busking while we were there.
Shaan – It started with saxophones and drums on the street and then we had Sam join on bass, and then Ben joined a couple months later on guitar, that’s when we started writing music together as a band! a couple years later here we are.
How did you first get started in music?
Shaan – All of us played music from a young age, but we all met when we were 18/19 years old. I started playing trumpet when I was 10 and then I moved to saxophone. I always like busking as a kid, my mum told me that if I wanted to learn saxophone I had to earn half the years’ worth of lessons because I kept switching instruments. So I went busking with my brother and made half a year’s lessons from busking, so we did pretty well. It was a good lesson early on – playing music is fun but you can take it seriously and really do something with it.
Matt – I come from a bit of a musical family, I grew up playing in church
Sam – Both my parents are musicians, so music has always been a part of my life.
Ben – I had a friend that played guitar, and I just wanted to play the guitar.
Can you tell me about your debut EP ‘Noon’?
Matt – We had a few songs and we had to cull them down to five, and somehow they managed to kind of all fit the same theme of starting something new, new experiences and new beginnings. We called it ‘Noon’ because, well there’s the lyric in ‘Woke Up Late’ the single (“awake til dawn / Slept till noon”) –it looks cool backwards and forwards.
Sam – And ‘Woke Up Late’ is the first track on the EP, so everything else comes after.
Matt – We could call the next one ‘Dusk’
For those that haven’t heard of you, how would you describe your sound?
Ben – Fun and energetic
Shaan – Musical Pop.
Sam – It’s a mixture of lots of different things because we listen to so many different kinds of music. It’s a fusion of everything that we enjoy.
You’re currently touring with Camila, what’s that like?
Ben – It’s amazing, it’s an incredible experience.
Matt – For us as a band to be travelling around Europe is insane, because we’ve never really gone past Australia as a band. To be able to go to all these places, with someone so big who we’re massive fans of is literally a dream come true, which I know is cliché, but it really is.
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
Sam – We call a friend and sing a song
Matt – We’ve called this friend every gig – we’ve done hundreds of gigs and called the same guy before every gig.
Shaan – It was 6am New Zealand time and he picked up. He’s picked up every time in Europe so far and we’re on completely different times.
Matt – The one time we didn’t do it, it was the worst gig we’ve ever done, so we have to do it.
Shaan – We only started calling him recently, we used to just sing the song. But now he’s part of the culture.
Sam – Recently meaning the last two years.
Three tour essentials you can’t live without?
Shaan and Ben – Noise cancelling headphones!
Matt – Fannypack
Sam – This cotton shawl thing I have, so I can put it over my head and sleep anywhere if it’s light.
You guys broke Lorde’s record for the fastest selling club show in Auckland history, how does that feel?
Ben – We weren’t even sure if we’d be able to sell out that venue. And we sold the tickets crazy fast.
Shaan – We weren’t even sure if we could do the show because its like 1000 people venue and we’d never done a show that big before. New Zealand’s been great to us.
What has been the best advice you’ve received since starting ‘Drax Project’?
Shaan – To try and keep everything so we can still be friends. I would hate to spend however long our life might be, not enjoying each other’s company. We spend a lot of time talking about how we cannot get in each other’s way, and not piss each other off.
Ben – And it’s always really clear that when we’re in the studio and things are getting heated and people are arguing what’s best for the song – not to take it personally. Everyone is just trying to make the songs the best they can be.
Matt – Friends first
Sam – And our whole team are our friends as well, so it makes things easier.
What’s next for you guys? Is a headline tour on the cards?
All – Hopefully!
Shaan – We’ll see how the music goes. If countries want us to visit them, then absolutely.
Matt – Countries – or anywhere in New Zealand
Shaan – Our favourite thing to do is to play live.
Matt – Fingers crossed more songs, more shows and meet new people.
