surf rock kings

GERRINGONG-BORN BAND THE TERRYS CAN’T WAIT TO GET BACK ON STAGE

Words Emma Smith Image Adelaide Amourd

Local indie rock band The Terrys have recently celebrated one million streams on their iconic track Our Paradise! Born and bred in Gerringong, it all began when three mates Lukas Anderson (lead guitar), Jacob Finch (vocals) and Ben Salvo (rhythm guitar) moved into a shared trailer house and began jamming together. It wasn’t long before the boys roped in Cameron Cooper (drums) and Trent Cooper (bass) and the five-piece was complete.

As an ode to where it all began, the band was named after their legendary landlord ‘Terry.’ The Terrys released their debut single Video Games in June 2020 and by December that year, they already had over 62 thousand streams – and they haven’t slowed down since. Lead guitarist Lukas jokes that it was probably 10 of their friends alone who were responsible for getting the streams up, but that can’t be true. Since then, they’ve featured on triple j, headlined local festivals, sold out interstate tours, played alongside some of their music idols like Dune Rats, Skeggs and Hockey Dad and launched their Oddpast podcast.

One of their first local shows ‘TheTezzfest’ at the Towradgi Beach Hotel sold out in two days. Lukas says Tezzfest is, to this day, his favourite event that the band has ever played. “All of our mates bought a ticket to come and support us and it was so much fun,” he recalls.

In February this year, they released Our Paradise, which catapulted The Terrys into even more success. Fans have gone crazy for the catchy track that feels like summer.

“To be honest, Jacob and I have been waiting for the day that it hit one mill for quite a long time, so when it finally happened, we just treated it like a holiday and had so much fun,” say Lukas, who was also stoked when the band were named ‘your new favourite surf-indie outfit’ by triple j following the release of their singles Our Paradise and Cost The Peace.

“We put our songs on Spotify in the hope they would get played on triple j because it’s the biggest and most popular Australian radio station. Once Our Paradise got played on triple j, it definitely put our name out there into a different format where people that we don’t even know started following us – and that’s really important because now we can go and play shows all around Australia.”

Fast forward a couple of months and The Terrys came full circle, headlining the SurfLife Festival in Gerringong, in their hometown. “Surprisingly, I had never actually been to that festival,” says Lukas. “So when they asked us to play, and we experienced it for the first time while playing, it was pretty awesome.”

The Terrys sailed into lockdown on a high – according to music website, The Underground Stage, they were among the top 10 artists getting the most playlist adds in the country in June.

During lockdown, the boys sprung into action, launching ‘Terrys TV’ – a free interactive live stream gig to keep their fans entertained at home. Lukas says live streams were ideal at the time, but they don’t compare to the real thing. “It was fun, but definitely weird,” he says.“It’s almost like we were playing to nobody.”

While the last six months came with the obvious challenges for the band, Lukas says there were some silver linings too. “A bonus was not having to go to work. And if we aren’t at work, we might as well be writing songs.”

The boys released their first ever six-track EP The Terrysonic Mixtape in September.“The songs Cost The Peace and Our Paradise were already out, while Blue was written a long time ago – it was like the second song we ever wrote together as a band and we really wanted to get it on the record,” Lukas says. “Then Never Going Home was probably one of the more heavy-hitting songs of ours. Hearing it recorded in our studio was a bit of a milestone for us. I hope people listen to that song because a lot of who we are as individuals comes out.”

The EP was produced by Jack Nigro, who has an impressive portfolio of work. Jack has worked alongside some real talent in the music industry including Pacific Avenue, DMA’s and Middle Kids. Lukas says when it came to bass and drums and getting the guitar riffs that bit more catchy, Jack was an expert.

“When we were going into the studio, we knew he had worked with Sticky Fingers and Skeggs and some of our biggest inspirations but we wanted to keep it really professional and make something as good as we could when we were in the studio. So we all just turned a blind eye to that and met Jack as an individual and he definitely helped us a lot. He is a fantastic bloke.”

As life is beginning to look a bit more normal, the boys are looking forward to finally getting back on stage again for their national tour, which is coming up in December. Illawarra fans have already shown their love for the boys, with both local shows at La La La’s in Wollongong and Wombarra Bowlo already sold out.

Since their debut, The Terrys have built themselves a large following that they endearingly call ‘The Terrydactyls.’ The boys run a Facebook group by the same name, where they offer fans exclusive access to brand new music, concert tickets, merch drops and memes before they’re available to the public.

“We constantly get messages from little kids saying how good our music is, which is really nice. We appreciate that and hope it never ever stops. For every kid that messages us, I try to the best of my ability to reply and tell them, ‘I’m so stoked that you listen to my music and I’m going to keep making it for you’,” says Lukas. “They’re the reason we can do what we do. And we can't wait to get back playing live music to each and every one of them – our fans are the best.”