INTERVIEW:
LUCY DACUS
DEADLAM 2016: YOU BEAUTY
Written by Brodie Popple
20.10.2016
You Beauty are a special type of band, not only does lead man Will carry an astoundingly eccentric stage persona, but he matches it with lyricism that fabricates a story in your head that many of us can relate to. The story of heart break, sport prospects and new love, we've all been there. After playing to an electric Foundry crowd earlier this year, the boys from Sydney are back for Deadlam to bring their unique style of NRL POP. I was lucky enough to have a chat with the lead man himself to elaborate on Auscore, bum bags and Smash Mouth.
When I saw You Beauty on that Deadlam poster I lost my shit, how excited are you guys not only for your own set but seeing some of the other musicians on the bill?
Yeah! Pumped, pumped as always to see The Drones, we played two shows with em' earlier this year and they were definitely You Beauty's highlights of the year so far. They were just on fire and we are so pumped to see them regardless of playing.
In the realm of Auscore, your name is outstanding. Is there any back story to the name You Beauty?
Uh, it was better than the other ones that were thrown around at the time,
What were something of the other ones?
I think someone floated, the Mod Cons, which is pretty revolting. I think in reference to having a USB jack in your car, that's a mod con apparently. I don't know when the next one came up, I wasn't there. All these dudes started this band and they were in Sydney and I was living in Melbourne at the time so I wasn't actually involved in the preliminary discussions. I just got invited, well probably more accurate to say begged, to join later on.
I caught you guys at The Foundry earlier this year and it was honestly so entertaining! You and I chatted briefly after and the shift in your character was baffling. What inspires you to shift personas?
Oh I don't know, I mean it comes out of doing the records, you know? The records are written in character, so that when we started doing shows after the first record was written and recorded, it kind of just made sense to bring that guy on tour along with us. I have to be me most days of the year, so why not be someone else? When you're given the opportunity, you know, why not? Also you can get away with saying some shit you probably don't personally believe, and if someone brings it up with you, you can just shrug it off and say it’s all fictional.
Is he based off of someone you know?
Well I mean, he's mainly just the records, the second album is based off the first album and the first album kind of came out of nowhere. I can't really pin-point the exact genesis of it.
The outfit is impeccable too, what exactly are the contents of your bum bag?
There's often a texter, definitely a texter to sign autographs, you've got to always be prepared for that. I'm regularly replacing them, they run out real quick. Then there's shakers and always a backup shaker and always a backup pair of sunglasses. Those are two things I wouldn't be caught dead on stage without. The shakers are so I can feel like im getting involved with the boys and a pair of sunnies because, again, why not. I think that's the guiding principle with You Beauty, Why not?
What a mantra to live by
Well I mean, it gives me a giggle and we're satisfying ourselves and the fact that it doesn't put other people off enjoying the records or the live shows is a bonus. But I’m fairly sure even if it did (put them off) we'd be doing it anyway.
Your album Jersey Flegg is a masterpiece of what you pioneered as NRL POP, was it a lot of fun for you guys to put together concept albums like this?
I’m actually a bit scared that in the course of doing these two records, if I ever wanted to do something less fictional, then I wouldn’t be able to. But it’s definitely an essential part of it all and like I said it just kind of happened. It'll always be story telling, tall tales.
Speaking of footy, you obviously grew up pretty invested in Rugby League, what’s your team?
No no, you see that's a false assumption. Well I mean yeah, you grow up in NSW on the coast and you will come into a high degree of contact with NRL as the predominant code. But no, no I didn't have any encounters apart from jocks in the school yard and a bit of touch in PE. My contact is pretty minimal. The boys would be in Sydney I'd be in Melbourne and they'd have a jam and some beers and go see the Newtown jets play and have a giggle. I guess I was feeling a bit left out from that and started feeling nostalgic for NSW or something.
We had a release from you guys in 2014 and then in 2015 with ILLYWHACKA, can we expect a tasty new album EP or single this year?
Nah look, we've slowed down. I was hoping that, we'd keep it up, but yeah it kind of caught up with us I guess. You know, we're a little bit older and we are feeling the tiredness in our songwriting muscles. But we're jamming and starting to write a bit of new stuff. We had the album tour and did those shows with The Drones, but apart from that we've just been chilling on holiday in developing countries.
I've got a few quick fire questions for you now:
Would you rather play in a Smash Mouth Cover band for the rest of your life or never be able to see any of the Shrek films ever again?
Umm, I'd rather play in a Smash Mouth Cover band for the rest of my life that would be sick! The crowd would be going nuts for that shit! You'd get paid well, that would be amazing. I'd rather play in a Smash Mouth Cover band than You Beauty.
Bunnings snag and a cold tinnie on scorching hot day or a packet of Tim Tams and a cup of Bushells on a brisky Winters night?
Oooh…That's a tough one, that is a tough one. Well, because it's daytime and hot in Sydney right now, I'll go with the snag and tin.
What's your go to tin in Sydney?
Uh well, Resches. We're in Sydney we drink Resches.
Reschs is quite ignored in Brisbane actually, most people reach for the XXXX
Is it true that XXXX gold is a mid strength?!
Yeah it's a middy and the Bitter is a full strength
Yeah right? So the whole of QLD is actually drinking mid strength? Because in my experience Brisbane is probably the most loose or the valley is the most loose nightlife precinct in Australia and the fact that everyone’s drinking mid strength….I guess it's made up for with all the strong rum drinking. It's an interesting dynamic.
To you, is the old saying “fair suck of the sauce bottle” or “Fair shake of the sauce bottle”
I think as soon as a politician grabs ya lingo then you gotta move on, so I don't think anyone should use it. I think that phrase is dead to us, as soon as Kevin Rudd had a go it was over. It's like tattoo's and sports players, you know when the majority of AFL players are rocking tribal's and full length sleeves then tattoos are no longer an alternative way of expressing yourself and you should probably go buy a nice suit or something.
Well thanks for your time, I'll let you get back to work and can't wait to see you at Deadlam.
