Photo Credit: Madeleine Brighouse
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Introducing Daffodils, a four-piece group hailing from Auckland who have gone from rocking out on the stages of Smokefree Rockquest to releasing an EP and touring all while juggling work and study.
Isaac, Jade, Louis and Theo had a cracking start to the year playing Rhythm & Vines on New Years and they were about to embark on a nationwide tour in celebration of their debut EP ‘Boys’ when the pandemic lockdown hit. That forced them to reschedule the shows but fans were able still able to get a bit of a Daffodils fix, with lead singer Theo sharing a mini concert live show, via Jam on Toast Live Festival.
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CHECK OUT OUR CATCH-UP WITH THEO BELOW:
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1. Happy NZ Music Month! How did you initially get into creating music?
Happy NZ Music Month to you too! I think we all got into it in slightly different ways, but we all grew up around people who were music lovers, and in my house there was always music on as I was growing up. I didn’t really think about writing music until intermediate school, where the band Louis, Isaac and I were in wrote the first song that we had creative input in. That was also when I started singing! We kind of pottered along for ages just doing writing here and there and performing (mostly to our mates) every so often. I think we kind of got the bug for performing at those little gigs, just being able to mosh and dance and then get up and play some messy tunes. When Jade and I met, we wanted to put something together to do those kinds of shows, and so we got Isaac and Louis together and entered Rockquest, which gave us deadlines that I think we’re pretty important at the beginning! We really cut our teeth at the gigs, and with the writing we did over those next two years; at one point we were doing like probably one show a week, if not more.
2. Tell us about your inspirations & motivations?
We all definitely have pretty different inspirations, for me personally a lot of it comes from the post-punk and ska that I started listening to when I was a small teenager, stuff like Joy Division and The Beat really got me into writing properly when I was in my early teenage stage. On the motivation front, quite a bit of that comes from the energy that you get from the audience at a show, and how they respond to the music we make. It’s so sick hearing from people that really like what we make, it’s the most validating thing ever, I think that’s a big part of what keeps me motivated.
3. What have you been up to in this lockdown and how has it affected you?
It’s been pretty weird not being together for the last month. I’ve been finding it hard to get inspiration from things, I guess from the lack of social contact and there not being much of a change of scenery. We’ve all been just working through it, trying to write as much as possible. It’s so weird how little you feel like you’re getting done when there’s nothing else to do! We’ve all been keeping a pretty low profile really, but I think we’re all just restless and keen to get back to making things together.
4. What do you think of the NZ music scene?
I love it, we’ve met some bloody fantastic people over the last few years and made some really great mates. I think it helps a lot that we have such accessible venues here, places like Whammy and San Fran. My one criticism would be the lack of smaller all ages venues, but that’s definitely something that I understand is less feasible for venue owners. There was a pretty thriving all ages scene a few years back, but it seems like something that’s happening less and less, which is a huge shame. I’d love to see more of that become a possibility, it’s something that gets left by the wayside, or is just an afterthought way too often. Besides that, I love how supportive so many of the people we’ve met in the industry and in the scene are, there’re some serious gems of people out there. We were really lucky to have the support we did, considering how young we were going into it too!
5. Goal board time – where would you like to see yourself in a years time?
Oh man, there’s so many ways to answer this question. We want to do more shows, as many as possible in as many different places as possible. We’re looking forward to making it over to Aussie, hopefully once it’s possible to get over there! I guess it’s hard to know exactly what the world will look like in a year. We really just want to be writing and putting out more music and touring, meeting new people and seeing new places too. We’re really desperate to get back out there at this point!
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