The Paper Kites to kick off tour alongside The Roadhouse Band at Freo.Social
Indie-folk band The Paper Kites have been on the music scene for more than a decade but one thing they’ve noticed post the Covid-19 pandemic is that people have a more intense appreciation for live music.
The Melbourne-born band—consisting of Sam Bentley, Christina Lacy, David Powys, Sam Rasmussen and Josh Bentley—is hitting home soil next month for a series of shows, with the first one kicking off in Fremantle on June 8.
The tour will see bassist Rasmussen return home to WA before they jet off back to the East Coast stopping in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Castlemaine.
Catching up with lead singer Bentley and guitarist Powys, the pair said it was “lovely” to be heading over to WA.
“We haven’t played in WA for a long time,” Bentley said.
“It’s an important destination for us, we don’t want to leave out our cousins in the west
“Sam (Rasmussen) being a Perth boy there’s a push from him to make sure we get over there to play.”
Joining TPK on tour will be The Roadhouse Band consisting of Hannah Cameron, Chris Panousakis and Matt Dixon.
The trio were part of the band’s most poignant project to date, the writing and live recording of their sixth studio album At The Roadhouse released last year.
Stumbling across an abandoned heritage venue in the small Victorian town of Campbells Creek in 2022, the band repurposed the space into a venue (The Roadhouse) and embarked on a month-long residency.
Described as a “magical time that can’t be replicated”, the band performed weekend shows to crowds of up to 30 people which they later turned into an album.
“We wanted it to feel like you are sitting watching a band play in front of you,” Bentley said.
“It brings a magic energy to the album that I don’t think it would have had we not done it that way.”
Fast forward a couple of years later the eight-piece super band is now bringing their special creation to the rest of Australia.
After being deprived of the experience a live show brings throughout the pandemic, Bentley said he noticed a change in the atmosphere at shows.
“Post Covid, people come to shows really wanting to get something out of it. There is no messing around anymore, like ‘I’m here to feel something, don’t get in my way of the experience’, it’s intense in an appreciative way and it’s enhanced our shows,” he said.
“We play music for people who really want to listen.”
How fans interact with their smoky vocals and magnetic, folky groove also changes with different audiences overseas following their extensive UK and European tour across April and May.
“In Bavaria, people were really polite at shows, which is becoming more common across the board at our shows, people are great at listening and are more sensitive to the quieter songs,” Powys said.
“In Munich, it was so bizarre the way people would applaud after the song for a short amount of time and then be completely silence in between songs.
“Different crowds give a different feeling but maybe the room matters more and changes the feeling more than the crowds.”
Bentley said that because the group has been around since 2010, shows have gotten bigger and the culture has changed.
“The songs have become part of people’s lives now and people care about them a lot,” he said.
“These days the culture of the shows is very respectful and people are really hanging onto every word you sing because they know the songs so well.”
TPK had their debut EP release in 2010 which gained global attention with the song Bloom hitting platinum certification in the US.
Tallying more than half a billion streams to date, the success of Bloom is still felt 14 years on.
The Paper Kites play at Freo.Social on Saturday, June 8.
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