Interview: Rainy Day Women

Words by Scenewave Oz - Published on February 5, 2013

With blissed out vocals, reverb-drenched guitars and songwriting that oozes summer, Rainy Day Women have been tapping feet and capturing hearts across the country.

Coming off a stellar twelve months that has included spots at Groovin’ The Moo, Southbound, WAMi Festival, St Kilda Festival and Big Day Out; supporting gigs for Ball Park Music, San Cisco, Loon Lake and the Rubens; a stint as Triple J Unearthed Feature Artists and the imminent release of their second EP, Friends (21^st February), Rainy Day Women are set to go above and beyond in 2013. scenewave spoke with front-man Dylan Ollivierre about gigs, the new EP and what’s in store for the coming year.

SCENEWAVE: G’day Dylan, thanks for chatting with us.

DYLAN OLLIVIERRE: No problem.

SW: You guys played the Perth Big Day Out on Monday, how was that?

DO: Yeah awesome, we had a few tech issues. But we had a really good crowd and we played early on, it was sweet. We got to catch a few bands, Alabama Shakes were awesome and the Chili Peppers were awesome, they’re idols of ours. It was a really good day, man.

SW: Do you have a favourite Rainy Day Women gig so far? How does Big Day Out stack up?

DO: I think that one would be up there. Probably St Kilda Festival or Southbound for me, but yeah, Big Day Out was really good, despite a few technical issues.

SW: How does the Rainy Day Women live show translate to these larger outdoor settings?

DO: It’s awesome getting to play in front of a lot more people. It’s a pretty different experience as well, it’s kind of less nerve racking because it’s not as intimate.

SW: I saw your video for “Friends” last week, from the forthcoming EP, tell me a little about filming that.

DO: We filmed it in a couple of spots in our hometown of Freo. Ross gets in a dress; I think that’s my highlight of the video clip, it was awesome, good on him. His sister actually stars as the main girl. She’s the babe and he gets in the dress.

SW: You’ve got an EP coming out on the 21^st of February, tell us a bit about that one.

DO: The EP is called Friends. It’s our second EP. It’s six tracks with a retro pop kind of vibe. We recorded it a few months ago over the space of a couple weeks. We all really like it and we can’t wait for people to hear it.

SW: How different is it from your first EP Sleigh Bed?

DO: We think it’s different. It’s more lo-fi I guess. We kind of went the opposite direction and tried to make things sound a bit more gritty and use really minimalist techniques and lots of distortion and stuff. We tried to make it sound a little bit more interesting sonically. Song-wise, it’s probably not hugely different, but I guess our influences from the 60s and 70s shine through more on this one.

SW: What kind of bands are you guys listening to from that era?

DO: We were listening to lots of Beatles, The Beach Boys and some newer bands like The Strokes; there’s definitely a lot of Strokes in there. Then Sleepy Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, lots of stuff like that.

SW: If you guys are driving between gigs or on a tour somewhere, who in the band has the iPod, who’s choosing the music in the car?

DO: (Laughs) probably whoever’s in the front seat, but we have this policy now, I find it really annoying when someone changes it before a song finishes or is always anticipating changing the song. So probably Dan our drummer, he’s a bit of an iPod Nazi.

SW: What are Rainy Day Women looking forward to most in 2013?

DO: What am I looking forward to most… I’m looking forward to recording an album. I think the other guys are probably the same, or going on tour in March.

SW: So there’s a Rainy Day Women album in the pipeline this year?

DO: We’re going to start working on it this year, the plan is to record it in the middle of the year, we’ve already started writing for it, but it definitely wont be out until at least early next year.

SW: That’s exciting stuff. Thanks for chatting with us today Dylan, hopefully catch you at a gig sometime.

DO: No worries.

You can catch Rainy Day Women around the country on their headline tour this March:

Fri, March 8:

Amplifier Bar,PERTH

Wed, March 13:

Black Bear Lodge, BRISBANE

Fri, March 15:

FBI Social, SYDNEY

Sat, March 16:

The Workers Club, MELBOURNE