TROPHY WYFE

Writer: Joseph Maranta

Images: @rosebloomlens & @imogenphoto

Fuck yeah, the Jacarandas are back.

It’s a late Friday afternoon in early October and the streets are beautifully littered with loose purple leaves. The decorated street mirrors a gorgeous pastel sky, hues of purple and pink bounce off a distant coastline.

It’s a shame how the beauty of the springtime flora has been co-opted by the academic stressors of exam season. His finals are slated for the coming week, and though he’s poised for a decent result in music, he and his friends are keen for an orchestral rehearsal on the Gatorade saxophone tonight.

The impending dread of next week’s exams is stowed away as he enters through the back fence, the sight of haphazardly stacked amps inside a shed provides the same feeling of ecstasy as a 99 on his HSCs.

Though his parents have incessantly reminded him of the lasting consequences of next week’s results, he knows it’s nights like this that will truly mould the rest of his life.

This is Trophy Wyfe.

A high-school rock trio born from the renowned musical legacy of Newcastle, their sound and polish far exceed their young age.

Not satisfied with the label of a good ‘high school’ band, the trio refuse to rest on their laurels following the release of their brilliant debut EP No one’s Listening in late June.

It’s a pleasure to present our chat with them.

JOE: Thanks for having a chat guys, so tell me how Trophy Wyfe began as well as your backgrounds in music. 

REX: We all go to school together so that’s how we know each other, Tallis and I are in Year 11 and Neve is in year 12. Tallis and Neve know each other from way back, they went to primary school together. 

I’ve always written songs and played guitar, so I’ve been doing music for a while now. 

TALLIS: My Dad taught himself the guitar as a kid, and he’s been playing the blues his whole life. My Mum is good on the bongos, and I actually taught myself the drums a few years ago. 

NEVE: I’ve been playing random instruments since I was young. Like violin, clarinet and saxophone - but once I found guitar and bass I was like “this is where it’s at”. 

REX: We made you play bass. You don’t deserve the other strings. 

JOE: You’ve just finished touring with Press Club! What was that like? It must’ve been a blast. 

REX: It was so, so awesome. They’re amazing. 

TALLIS: We ended up playing three shows with them, we got to head down to Wollongong, Newcastle and then Sydney. 

NEVE: We’ve been going through withdrawals since going back to school. Their manager reached out to us to join the tour - we still don’t know how they found out about us. 

REX: The Sydney show was properly our favourite. That tour was the first time we’ve played outside of Newcastle. 

JOE: Newcastle has always punched above its weight when it comes to music, do you think the next generation of Newcastle bands and artists will continue that legacy?

REX: I think the Newcastle scene is in such a good place right now. There are so many bands our age making really good music and there are so many different sounds out there right now. Newcastle is such a hub for creativity, even if you aren’t into music there's always stuff happening. We don’t really have to try that hard to get shows because people are always looking for young bands to support them. We’re pretty lucky to live in such a good spot for music. 

NEVE: We struggled initially trying to get underage shows. It took us a while to get a proper gig at a pub or something, we had to do a lot of D.I.Y gigs.

REX: I think it started to blow up over the last year especially with bands our age. A lot of bands started at a similar time last year and it feels like we’re all moving together and it’s a very tight-knit scene. 

JOE: Are there any young Newcastle bands you want to shout out quickly?

Shoutout to Bardvarkk, Arietta, Stomp, Evan and the Oysters, Filthy E and the Clean Teens and Molde. Keep your eyes out for Moneyfight too. But there’s too many bands to mention, that’s an indicator of how good the scene is right now. 

JOE: I’d imagine a decade ago it would have been Silverchair which lit the musical fuse for many Novocastrians, but who do you think is putting on for Newcastle now?

REX: Dust and Dave the Band are some of our biggest influences now, Dust especially. They actually came to one of our gigs recently. 

TALLIS: It wasn’t to see us, but they liked us and we had a good chat with them. 

REX: I think Silverchair is still massive for people from Newcastle. Even for us, we don’t sound like them but they’re huge for us - any band from Newcastle would stay the same. 

JOE: You released your debut EP “No One’s Listening” at the end of the June - what was that process like?

REX: We did it over a few different sessions. Our first single Monday was recorded ages ago and then we did Dead & Come Around together in the same session. The other four tracks were then done over two days and it all turned out great. We are so thankful for our producer Steve, big shoutout to BG studios. He makes us sound so much bigger than we could ever imagine, he brought it together so well. 

We didn’t have much of a focused idea for what we wanted from the EP, we just wanted to make music that we enjoy. We all have so many influences and it’s cool to have a single recognisable sound - but for us we might get a bit bored of that. We really aim to make each of our songs different because it makes things so much funner for us. It keeps us thinking and remaining creative. 

TALLIS: The seven tracks on No One’s Listening would be some of our more safer songs though. 

NEVE: They were our first songs too, so we’re moving towards more of a ‘sound’ now - but I don’t think we’re locking ourselves into a genre. 

REX: I’d say we’re moving towards something a bit heavier, more punk or post-punk. I think that’s where we always wanted to end up going. But we have so many new songs, it's hectic, we’d almost have an album worth of unreleased music. 

JOE: What song off the EP are you most proud of?

REX: I’d say Temporal personally. 

TALLIS: I’d maybe go with Locked Up. It’s the first song where we were really collaborative together, we played around with different ideas and thoughts until we found the right sound. I’m proud of the song because of that. 

NEVE: Yeah, Locked Up is kind of underrated. 

REX: Locked Up would be our favourite track to perform live, definitely. 

JOE: So are you going to go straight back into recording?

REX: Yeah. We haven’t done a whole lot to promote the EP outside of a launch show and playing the EP live, but we’re very keen on moving towards the future. We love our new songs, we’ve been much more collaborative with them. In the past I’d bring a song to the group which was pretty much finished and then we’d all learn it - but now the ideas come from whoever has the idea, and I think that really improves the songs, it makes things more interesting. 

JOE: And how are you all balancing Trophy Wyfe with high school?

NEVE: We are pretty busy. I have HSC trials tomorrow so I’m not feeling great about that haha. 

REX: It’s really busy now with HSCs, but it’s good that we’re split up in terms of age. Neve is obviously under the pump being in Year 12, but Tallis and I can take some of the load off now since we’re in Year 11. But next year when Neve is being weird and hanging out with high school kids still, it’ll hopefully be the other way round and we can keep going strong. 

JOE: What’s the biggest pro of being in a band during high school and what’s the biggest con?

REX: The biggest pro for us is the people we meet. A lot of high school people can get stuck in the mindset of only being friends with people from the same school as them, but for us being able to play gigs all around Newcastle, we’ve met so many new people and we’ve made connections which I think we’ll have for the rest of our lives. 

You also get a bit more credit for being a musician at a young age. That’s also somewhat of a con though, because you can get stuck with the label of being a ‘high school’ band. You know people will say “they’re pretty good, for kids”. 

NEVE: The Unearthed High program is definitely a pro too. They keep the support going throughout the year and they’ll keep playing tracks on Unearthed. Even just getting reviews from the Triple J team is really cool. The biggest con for me would be time management though. 

JOE: Your lyrics are quite vulnerable and introspective at times, how do you think the process of writing personal lyrics has affected you?

REX: It’s almost like therapy for me, I’ve been writing music for as long as I can remember. Some of those songs I wrote as a kid have become Trophy Wyfe songs, and playing them live is such an escape for me. When I’m on stage I just feel I’m a part of something bigger than myself, even if I’m only playing in front of four people. I think songwriting is the best way to show yourself, not just through lyrics but through the feeling of the music. 

I write music first and then the lyrics, so a lot of my writing comes from that feeling of the riff or the chord progression. It’s an amazing thing. 

NEVE: It’s definitely a good way to express yourself, even if it doesn’t become a song. Just getting something down is very good. 

JOE: Do you think Adam O’Brien will be coaching the Newcastle Knights in 2026?

REX: That’s a good question, I think the Knight’s trajectory speaks for itself. It’s been brutal for the last decade. 

JOE: Are there any post-punk bands whose music resonates with you especially?

TALLIS: We’ve mentioned Dust already, but they’re a huge one. 

REX: Press Club as well, especially after hopping on tour with them. They’re going to be a massive influence because all their songs are stuck in my head after seeing them three nights in a row. Floodlights and Radium Dolls are awesome as well, those bands who are more punk than post if that makes sense. It’s what I’ve grown up on musically. There’s something about those bands where you can tell they’re Australian even before they start singing. That real authentic garage sound. 

There are some non Aussie bands I love too of course. Bands like shame, DIIV and Lifeguard are pretty big inspirations. 

NEVE: The Belair Lip Bombs are so sick too. 

JOE: Do you think Newcastle is a place where you don’t have to leave to be successful in music?

REX: Well Dust haven’t left, they’re still based in Newcastle. But our plans vary between the band, though I don’t think staying in Newcastle will affect our opportunities. 

I will take this time to say that we need more underage venues in Newcastle for young bands. Most of the venues here are pubs, which is cool, but as an underage band you need to make a name before you can play there. 

TALLIS: We need to be providing more opportunities for young bands to grow and flourish, and they can’t do that without more all ages venues. 

NEVE: The turnout for all ages shows are always so big. Everyone is always really happy to be there, they’re some of the best crowds we’ve had. 

JOE: Just finally, what do you think the next couple of years looks like for Trophy Wyfe?

REX: Hopefully an album, we’re looking to get back in the studio soon. More gigs and hopefully getting out of Newcastle a bit more - playing in Wollongong and Sydney really opened our eyes to the idea that we can really do this. 

We’re just going to continue trying to build a fanbase and to put out more music. Whether we’re releasing it or not we’re always writing more music and coming up with more ideas. It’s so important for all of us, not just musically or creatively but socially as well. We’re not gonna stop, that’s the main thing. 

TROPHY WYFE LINKS -> | NEXT GIG (NEWCASTLE) | INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY | BANDCAMP