Interview with: Ryan Adair of Ah Trees

We chat to Ah Trees frontman, Ryan Adair about the bands new single & their favourite thing about playing live shows.

Can you tell us a little about Ah Trees and how you guys met?

We’ve known most of each other for years, with the exception of Germy joining the band early last year. We’ve played in bands together over that time and what started as a little bedroom project turned into the beast that we are today. We all hung out in the same circles and when I needed bandmates to take Ah Trees out of the bedroom, a few cocktails and mixed drinks in a pool in Thailand later, Charles agreed to help and shortly after Harry too. We’ve since had members come and go on their own journeys, although the core unit has always stayed the same. We like to think of Ah Trees as one big extended family, people come and people go but we’ll always be a family, members past and present.

For those who haven’t listened to your music before - how would you describe your sound?

We used to describe it as music you could dance down a hallway too or drift away on a cloud, and though that still stands, we’re finding our sound is getting more angsty and aggressive while staying true to our late 80s soundscapes. Its big guitars, soaring synths, tight driving bass and drums with vocals reminiscent of the new wave generation of musicians.

Who would you say are your biggest influences?

Wide and varied, we all have such diverse tastes! The Cure, New Order, The Horrors, David Bowie, Hot Chip, Talking Heads, Mogwai, Dire Straits, Brian Eno, Siouxsie and The Banshees, The B-52s, Foals etc. That’s a small taste of my influences though honestly, we’d be here a long while if we mentioned them all!

Can you tell us about your most recent single ‘Shark Bait’ and the story behind it?

There’s no doubt we live in an age of fear. Every day we wake up to more bad news. The internet age has become a festering boil of hate and ignorance, we have parents giving children bleach enemas to cure “autism”, the business of death is booming, forgetting history is our history and we’re living under constant threat of a new world war. The ones we should be scared of, the land sharks in their suits and their multiple houses, their anti-immigration views, misogyny, climate change denying ways, are rubbing themselves with delight while their purses get heavier and heavier.

‘Shark Bait’ is all of this burning venom sharpened to a point, a middle finger to all that ails us. Written in a single sitting, it’s our most literal song yet, there’s no sugar coating here, just as there’s no sugar coating our reality. The music is aggressive and fast, the urgency of our impending demise is not lost on us, but neither is our willingness to fight, and that’s the message we finish with. They will attack, we will fight back. The time for metaphors is over, choosing life isn’t politics, it’s just wanting to live.

You guys released your debut single ‘Bodies’ in 2016, how much have your lives changed since then?

Quite a bit, while at the same time not a whole lot. We’re still just a bunch of weirdos making music that both inspires us and helps us deal with the day to day mud that life can sling your way. We still love what we do though would be lying if we said it wasn’t challenging. Balancing life as we get older and keeping our heads above the water while still devoting most of our free time to do what we love. The world itself is changing quickly and dramatically and our lives are a reflection of that, I guess. Last year was one of the more challenging years we as a band have had to experience. A lot of bad luck all seems to come at me at once, from drink spiking to broken ribs more than once, a severely broken finger and surgery on my thyroid that put my musical life right on the ropes. Shit was scary. However, we got through it together with the support of each other, luck turned and here we are in 2019 releasing more music, playing more shows and doing what we love. So I feel really lucky.

Which part of the music making process do you enjoy the most?

The initial moments of creativity, when you feel you’re onto something and the obsession that follows. We record/mix/produce our own tracks, so we really do love that process, especially the mixing. That’s a time of really bending and pulling/ pushing ourselves creatively, to see what kind of monster we’re going to be left with when we finally pull ourselves away and say “ok, I think we’re good”. It’s challenging and time-consuming though I think that’s why we love it - and we grow from those experiences every time.

You guys have been busy playing headline shows as well as supporting the likes of Northeast Party House, Gypsy & The Cat, Jeremy Neale, Tired Lion & Katy Steele. What do you love the most about playing to a live audience?

We spend a lot of time in isolation working on our craft and as all creatives know, there’s brilliant highlights but also deep shadows of doubt and questioning whenever you’re creating something new. When we play live to an audience all that doubt and worry leaves as soon as we hit the stage, when we get to live in the moment with the audience and our friends and not think about anything but just feel. It always shocks me when I see people dancing and singing along to our lyrics. It’s cathartic and it’s vindicating, and we know full well without the people in the audience we’re nothing. We owe a great deal to the people who come out to our shows and we’re eternally grateful.

What else do you guys have planned for this year?

We’ll be releasing new music and have a couple of live videos we’ve shot that we will be releasing. We’re also in the midst of planning another Australian tour for later this year.

Are there any emerging musicians/artists that you are loving right now?

It’s great to see the wider music industry starting to really take notice about the amount of crazy talented artists we have out in the west. Isolation breeds this intensity in our music scene and the passion is incredible. Airline Food’s latest single is awesome, and I can’t wait to see what they do next. Then there are artists like Your Girl Pho and Jamilla who are really starting to get the recognition they deserve (if you haven’t checked out Jamilla’s latest music video for her song ‘Bloom’ stop what you’re doing and check it out). Feels duo Rosie and Elise are just back from South By Southwest and had an incredible time, not to mention all they do as the founders of WOMPP.

There’s a lot going on and apologies to those I’ve missed, though there is a whole heap of rising WA talent that is fresh and exciting!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

Do what you love today, you could be dead tomorrow.

Do you have any advice for emerging songwriters/musicians like yourselves that are trying to break into the industry?

Be true to yourself, ask yourself what you want to do and be determined cause nothing is handed out for free. It’s all about the journey, not the destination (something we try to remind ourselves often), and most of all have fun and make sure you look after yourself, no one else will!

Check out Ah Trees at soundcloud.com/ah-trees and instagram.com/ah_trees