STIRR
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
Writer: Joseph Maranta
Images: via @stirrstirrstirr & Hamish Laverack @_raidboss
The briskness of an early-autumn, late-dusk breeze cuts through him as he makes an early exit from the show. Aimlessly wandering away from the inner-west hotbed of partygoers and sociable 20-somethings, he resigns himself to the edge of the footpath, his gaze fixated downward as he trudges through Enmore Park.
Under the dim yellow hue of Victorian-era streetlights and a rapidly setting sun, he tracks back through his gradual withdrawals.
Messages left purposefully unseen and comments not said in social settings, the retraction of his personality once meant as a veiled warning now has moulded to his sense of self. The comforting and controlled melancholy which he once embraced has begun to metastasise to every facet of his life, an apathetic blight corroding into his closest relationships.
The texts from family he once ignored with a prideful sense of callousness no longer burden him. The stupid jokes from friends he’d once feign superiority to have stopped being sent to now-dead group chats. The anticipation he once held for the weekend has now morphed into a dread as his solitude grows throughout the week.
No longer can he lie to himself about the reason for his isolation.
The further inward he delves, the clearer the ugly face of cowardice becomes. A repulsive caricature of his likeness stares back, a figure of self-sabotage and wasted potential.
As he feels a familiar coldness wash over him, he refrains from surrendering to helplessness. Booking tickets to yet another show he likely won’t stick around for, he understands that this hole won’t be dug out in one simple action.
Although tonight’s early departure wasn’t planned, the action of arriving was a victory in its own right.
This is Stirr.
Hailing from Sydney, the enigmatic quintet have wasted no time in carving out their own space within the harbour city’s eclectic scene.
An electric yet disarming fusion of jazz, punk, and shoegaze, Stirr are composed of Ruben Dragone (vox & guitar), Zachary Lisle (saxophone), Tom Oswald (synth), Jorjabelle Munday (bass) & Angus Kettley (drums).
Here’s our chat with Ruben and Zac.
JOE: Cheers for catching up, Zac and Ruben! So tell me a bit about how Stirr came to life.
RUBEN: I met Zac three or four years ago through university, back when I was playing drums in my previous band, Drift.
I left that project a couple of years ago because I wanted more of a stake in the songwriting, and it coincided with me becoming closer with Zac. We eventually got the idea for Stirr, and the two of us started jamming from there.
We then added Jorja on bass, who was studying at the same Uni as Zac and me in Sydney, then we got Tom on synths and our current drummer Angus joined last, after our original drummer left the band.
JOE: What vision did you and Zac have for Stirr initially?
RUBEN: It was really sort of a bonding over King Krule and his sound.
ZAC: Yeah, he was definitely one of my biggest musical inspirations at the time.
RUBEN: I really wanted to make guitar-driven music with saxophones and orchestral elements. I guess from there we wanted to create a niche within that, something distinct and in our own voice.
JOE: Is your deadpan way of singing influenced by King Krule?
RUBEN: I only started singing after Stirr was formed, actually. I’ve always loved King Krule’s voice, so it felt most natural to try to replicate his style of singing at first.
But with our newer stuff, I’m trying to veer away from that and find my own voice that isn’t so on the nose. I’ve been listening to a lot of Geese lately, and obviously Cameron Winter’s voice is completely different from King Krule, so I guess I’ve tried to find that nice midpoint between them.
Something like a mix of Bob Dylan, Cameron Winter, and King Krule maybe.
JOE: Your next single ‘Broken Arm’ is noticeably more tranquil than your latest singles, Off-Balance and Speedracer. What led to dialling back the tempo on that track?
RUBEN: It just sort of happened.
I had the riff ready and got the recordings down quickly. I ended up scrapping the guitar parts and rewrote them to give it some more edge. It was initially a touch more poppy, but I was looking for a more explosive sound.
Compared to Speedracer's writing process, Broken Arm was a bit more off the cuff.
JOE: As far as the lyrics go, is it actually about someone falling off a swing and breaking their arm?
RUBEN: Haha yeah, if you take it literally then sure.
ZAC: I’ve actually been curious about this myself, Ruben.
RUBEN: It’s a bit more metaphorical.
It’s more so about bottling emotions in, how good things can happen in your life but that negativity still lingers.
Lyrics are something I’ve only really dived into after Stirr, usually I don’t try to put too much emphasis on the lyrics’ meaning, more so focusing on putting pen to paper. I like to get sentences out there, and if something rhymes I’ll fit it in.
The narrative usually doesn’t form until after all the words are there, and I can then look at what I’ve written and think - oh yeah, I see what this song is about now.
JOE: What would you say is your favourite part of Sydney’s music scene, and what would be your least favourite part?
RUBEN: That’s a tricky one.
I guess for the favourite bit, it’d be that we can claim Shady Nasty. Growing up in Sydney and having them always playing around here was very inspiring and influential for me.
The people in our scene are always willing to help one another, there’s so many niches and cliques, but there’s a strong overall community here despite that.
But the cliquiness can at times be a negative here too.
ZAC: I do love how everyone in the scene knows each other, especially everyone playing at the moment.
Whenever I go to shows, there’s such a friendly atmosphere and everybody’s talking to one another.
RUBEN: The crowds as well, I feel like I’m always seeing the same people at shows which is cool.
ZAC: That’s a bittersweet one though, you’re always seeing the same people - but you get the feeling that people aren’t searching for new sounds.
It seems that there’s a genre barrier within gigs at times.
But we’re very blessed in Sydney with the amount of venues we have to choose from here.
JOE: Speaking of venues, what venue in Sydney has the best post-gig late-night eats?
ZAC: I reckon anywhere in Newtown.
RUBEN: All the venues there are blessed, you’ve got Epic Pizza down Enmore Road on the south side of Newtown, and Mr Yiros on the north end of King Street. You’ve got Thai Bites next to the Vic as well, which is mad.
JOE: Despite being together for a relatively short period of time, you’ve developed quite a recognisable sound. Was it surprising at all how quickly you found your own niche?
RUBEN: I wouldn’t say it’s surprising by any means.
Everyone was on board with the vision we had. I’d say the surprising part would be how quickly we all clicked musically, that first jam with the five-piece was a bit of - oh fuck, this is us. With that post-punk sound, it naturally came about between us all.
ZAC: Before Stirr properly started and it was just Ruben and I, he’d brought a bunch of ideas to me while we were at university, and we were able to flesh out those ideas with the guitar and saxophone.
It felt like we hit that sound on the head, on the spot, straight away.
During that session, it was a lot of off the dome riffing, so we had a really good foundation going into that rehearsal.
JOE: Do you have any projects you’re working towards currently?
RUBEN: We have a four-track EP set to drop in April, we tried to drip feed singles with Off-Balance and Speedracer, but we’re really keen on doing an album this year.
We definitely have enough music ready, it’s just about putting the work in now. An album feels right for us, with where we’re at as a band, I think we can justify a full-length project.
We’ve been feeling a lot of love from community radio stations like Fbi Radio and 4ZZZ in Brisbane, so that is really rewarding for us. We’re pretty ambitious as a band so it’s been an exciting time for us.
JOE: Do you mind elaborating a bit more on your ambitions?
RUBEN: I think we all want to make a career out of music. We want to play big shows, we want to tour and we want a community who engages with us. I love the idea of this band becoming something bigger than ourselves.
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