BLACKCHORDS back in Melbourne for a run of dates in November & December
Melbourne band Blackchords, whose frontman has been off soaking up a bit of Parisian bohemia for the past six months, will return this week for a month of shows around their hometown to show off tracks from their forthcoming debut album, due for release next year.
Blackchords have been humming around the Melbourne music circuit since 2005, but the closing stages of 2008 look set to be when the band finally makes its mark. After recording and releasing their first single, Broken Bones, in 2006 - and then its video clip, which was entered in the St Kilda Film Festival to much acclaim, the only independent act to do so - and signing to Dust Devil Music last year, a debut full-length album is nearly in the can, and anticipation is at an all-time high - not the least of which with the band itself.
A stint living in Paris for bandleader and songwriter Nick Millright throughout the latter half of this year has meant Blackchords have taken something of a hiatus from the live circuit. So it is with much anticipation that they return playing shows around Melbourne this month and next.
The Blackchords sound has been variously described as involving “acoustic subtlety, lyrical passion and epic, driving guitars”, “dark emotional intensity”, and “lyrical subtlety”, but how would the band sum themselves up in the great dating classifieds page that is the music industry? Nick is not so sure how to define it - “It’s something that we’ve never been good at!” - but their songs speak for themselves, and now more than ever, the band has defined their sound. And it is most definitely their sound.
“In the beginning we were an almost an alt. country band,” recalls Nick. “Then, after going through a few changes of time and space and band members we found ourselves trying to resemble instrumental rock bands like Silver Mount Zion, and Explosions In The Sky, while bringing in the pop structure of people like Coldplay and Radiohead. Now in the most recent stage of Blackchords I feel like we’ve taken a little from everything we have learnt and instead of just trying to sound like the bands we love, it’s time for us to sound like Blackchords.”
“It feels much better this way,” he continues. “Obviously because your strong point is always going to be being you and not being someone else.”
We’re certain you’ll agree. Come check them out for yourself when Blackchords play the following dates and venues in November and December in Melbourne:
Fri November 21 The Evelyn (supporting Jess McEvoy)
Weds November 26 Ding Dong Lounge (with The Wishing Well and The Tiger & Me)
Thurs December 4 Curtain Bandroom (supporting Matt Joe Gow & The Dead Leaves)
Sat December 13 The Wesley Anne (with Lady Grey)
