Right on target with Sheppard

AFTER YEARS OF touring the globe, Australian indie pop group Sheppard have finally released their debut full-length album, “Bombs Away”, and it’s as explosive as the title suggests.
The sextet of siblings and friends ventured out of Brisbane in 2009 and slowly began building up a fan base at music festivals all over the world, including in Bangkok at Sonic Bang in 2013.
George, Amy and Emma Sheppard and Michael Butler, Jason Bovino and Dean Gordon had a chat with us recently about the album and their plans for touring Asia.

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR SEVEN |ARIA AWARD NOMINATION LAST YEAR! HOW DID THAT FEEL?
Amy: It was a huge surprise! We were the second-most-nominated artists behind Chet Faker, who’s this incredible Australian guy. We just don’t know how to express the gratitude when your home industry gives you that sort of recognition.

IS THERE A STORY BEHIND SETTLING ON THE NAME SHEPPARD FOR THE GROUP?
George: When we first started, Amy and I were just a duo, but in the studio the producer asked what we called ourselves and we just wrote “Sheppard” as the project name. It just kind of stuck.

DID THE DUO BENEFIT FROM EXPANDING INTO A SEXTET?
Jason: The advantage is that having lots of friends around is always good. The disadvantage is fitting onstage with all the gear! [laughs]
Emma: Another disadvantage is checking in at the airport. We get some dirty looks and all because it’s always Mum at the front and then a big line of people and so many bags.

DOES IT COMPLICATE THE MUSIC-MAKING PROCESS?
George: Well, there are three songwriters – Jason, myself and Amy – and we collaborates on every single track. We put all the heads together and see what we come up with, plain and simple. We share all the songwriting credits equally, even the producing side of it.
Going into the studio is very much a matter of collaboration as well, so it’s not just the producers telling us what to do.

WHAT’S YOUR MUSICAL BACKGROUND?
George: We listened to what our parents were listening to, and luckily they had good taste, so Jay, Amy, Emma and I grew up listening to Cat Stevens, Eric Clapton, the Bee Gees, Fleetwood Mac, America and so many of these awesome classic-pop artists.
We realised at an early age what made a good pop song, and I guess that’s what influences our writing today, with catchy choruses, lovely melodies, great structure and meaningful lyrics.

HOW DID “GERONIMO” COME ABOUT?
George: It was two minutes before we went onstage in Melbourne, and Jay had found this little DJ booth and was playing this intro, that guitar riff for “Geronimo”. He called us in to have a quick listen, and it was like a wave of inspiration. We came out with the very beginning of the song right there on the spot. We recorded it on an iPhone and then played our show.
Then the few months later we were having a writing session and pulled up the iPhone to see what we were going to write next, and this one came up again. And in two hours we had pretty much finished the song.

WHAT WILL THE NEXT SINGLE BE AFTER “GERONIMO”?
Jason: The next single is “Let Me Down Easy”, which was our first single in Australia, and did well. So we thought we would release it for the rest of the world.

ANY PLANS ON COMING TO ASIA SOON?
George: Absolutely! There’s no plan set in stone yet, but next year we’re going to be doing a lot of touring and, especially if the album comes out here, I imagine it won’t be long before we come for a visit.