TEAR DRIVE

ballpointpressbne
Jul 25, 2025
6 min read

Updated: Jul 25, 2025

Writer: Joseph Maranta

Images: Oli Derwin @freekmagazine

The enigmatic qualities of Tear Drive are both obvious and latent.

Though their discography consists of a single release, Nothing’s Gonna Save You signalled the arrival of a star band in the making. The bold pacing, strong vocals and an engulfing, climactic finish garnered praise and awards from punters and organisational bodies alike.

But beyond their music lies a blacked-out, denim and leather-clad quartet of close friends, whose stage presence and persona carefully toe the line between conceit and entertainment. It’s an aura reminiscent of the old school rock’n’roll days with a sensitivity grounded in the modern world.

Not content to stick with what’s worked before, their upcoming release marks an explicit shift in sound and atmosphere from their lauded debut.

Having been earmarked as one for the future so early into their career, Baxter Melrose, Gabriel Kolakowski, Isaac Clark and Nicholas Pezzimenti are ready to push Tear Drive far above the lofty expectations set by their launch into the Meanjin scene.

JOE: Thanks for sitting down with me tonight fellas, so how did Tear Drive get its start?

BAXTER: Isaac, Gabe and I went to primary school together and I just bumped into Isaac one day at Uni. It was so weird just randomly seeing him after a decade. He was actually trying to find a band for a film project he was doing, and after a couple months he finally messaged me saying that they needed a singer.

JOE: Do you all come from a musical background?

NIC: Yeah we all played music growing up through school, we’ve been playing our instruments for years now.

GABE: I grew up playing violin but made the switch over to guitar around 3 or 4 years ago.

JOE: You were lucky enough to play your second ever show at The Zoo, one week before it sadly closed down. What was that experience like?

ISAAC: That was a crazy experience. I was working with Gabi Rankine doing some graphics for her publication Unfazed, so I actually made that poster before we were announced on the bill. A band ended up pulling out last minute so I was like Uhh I have a band - and she put us on it luckily.

JOE: Was it scary at all playing one of your first shows in front of a packed out Zoo?

BAXTER: We’ve all performed and sang in front of school assemblies growing up, so it wasn’t too scary playing in front of a large crowd. But it was daunting playing one of The Zoo’s final shows.

JOE: How has growing up playing on stages and in front of big crowds affected your stage presence during gigs?

NIC: It’s had a big effect on all of us. I think we have more confidence on stage, we aren’t as scared or nervous when we’re playing.

BAXTER: It’s definitely different though. In school it felt like people were less worried about you as a person, but at a gig it feels like people are focused on every little thing you do. So it’s different, but it’s also really cool.

ISAAC: There’s more connection to the audience when the venue / crowd is smaller.

JOE: When you were growing up, which albums would your parents play on long road trips?

ISAAC: My Dad was a muso growing up in Brisbane, so he’d always play some niche stuff. Heaven by Mr Blonde was always on rotation - that’s a gangsta song.

GABE: Michael Jackson or Dire Straits. Anything from them.

BAXTER: Mum was a huge Bon Jovi fan. She’d always play it in the car. My soundtrack to school for the first 12-13 years of my life was Slippery When Wet.

NIC: My Dad would always play Matchbox Twenty and Rob Thomas, while Mum always loved Savage Garden and Dirty Dancing, so it was a lot of 80s music coming from my parents.

JOE: What album do you think you’ll subject your kids to in the future?

BAXTER: Mine would probably be Being Funny in a Foreign Language by The 1975. I’ve been big into it recently… again.

ISAAC: This has stumped me. I’ll say Go Farther in Lightness by Gang of Youths.

GABE: Isaac stole my answer, I’ll go Skinty Fia by Fontaines D.C.

NIC: Something from Inhaler or The 1975 for me. Early 1975. I don’t know, it might be too depressing for kids.

JOE: You released your first single in November last year, did you have any fear of being defined by the sound or genre of your first song?

GABE: Yeah for sure, but I think that’s why we released Nothing’s Gonna Save You. It’s very encompassing.

ISAAC: We showed the song to a lot of people before it came out and we had feedback that it was too long and that it might not be good for radio or streaming; but we just wanted to make a cool song.

We knew it was a good reflection of us as a band, and we’d rather put music out which is true to us instead of trying to appeal to people. I think it's worked out well.

JOE: What was the songwriting process like for your first song?

BAXTER: We’re very collaborative. That first single started with a guitar part which Gabe was sitting on for a really long time, it was only a week before our first gig that the song came together.

But it was a lot of Nic writing his own drum part, as well as Isaac and Gabe doing the keys and guitars. Gabe also did the lyrics for that song.

JOE: Do you try to place a lot of meaning behind your lyrics?

GABE: We had the riff and instrumental down for Nothing’s Gonna Save You, and I just had that hook lodged in my head, and I just worked backwards from that.

That song in particular is about someone, but the lyrics are so harsh and strong, so it is dramatised definitely. Sometimes you don’t realise until you look back on it, but it is personal and you are trying to say something even if you don’t understand it in the moment.

JOE: Your upcoming single “Lost in a moment” has a very different sound to your debut, tell me a bit about it.

GABE: That song came about before Baxter had joined. It’s a bit more of a pop song, but we still manage to throw in everything we love.

BAXTER: The song has changed so much since you first showed it to me. The lyrics are still the same but it was more of a ballad originally.

GABE: It also came together right before our first show since we needed originals for our set - and Baxter clicked with it immediately. We ended up taking it to Cody McWaters and he did his thing on it.

JOE: Were there any inspirations you had during its production?

GABE: I’m always listening to The 1975. I was listening to Sam Fender and Holy Holy around that time too.

ISAAC: War On Drugs too, always. I think we just took a bit of inspiration from all of them.

JOE: Do you have anything planned for its release?

GABE: Yeah we’re doing a single launch at Black Bear on the 23rd of August. We’re keen to make it a big gig.

NIC: We love Black Bear. The stage is good, so are the sound and the lights, it’s so friendly. That greenroom is great too haha.

JOE: Which venue do you think has the best green room?

BAXTER: The Zoo / Crowbar is the best.

ISAAC: Beardo’s was great too, such a shame it’s closed now.

GABE: Every venue we play gets shut down. The first venue we played at was It's Still a Secret and they relocated, then our second show was The Zoo, which got shut down, and then we played Tomcat which got firebombed. We’re praying Black Bear doesn’t get shut down next.

JOE: You won the QUBE Effect People’s Choice award late in May, what was that whole experience like?

GABE: QUBE was amazing. The video we did was so cool but the people involved were definitely the best part. There were so many awesome bands involved in it too.

ISAAC: Phoebe, Tayla and Joel were great, they directed the music video. There were also heaps of industry mentors there too and we learned so much from them. They gave us some great insight and education about perfectionism and procrastination too.

They also discussed the dynamic of being in a band itself which was helpful for us because we’re best friends before we’re a band. So as much as we love music we aren’t letting anything get in the way of this [friendship], so it was great to hear that it’s possible to do both.

BAXTER: We learnt so much about everything outside of the music itself. The distribution, revenues and knowing how to make everything else work, it’s not something which is easy to learn on your own, you sort of have to be exposed to it.