By MICHELLE HERBISON
GEELONG musician Sam Burtt might have surprised his hard-core bandmates when he revealed he’d been tinkering with indie rock but they were quick to jump on board the new venture.
Once massive hard-core fans, Andy Rankin and Nicholas Cousins found themselves listening to “Triple J bands”, as the contemporary indie genre has become known, and were soon were looking for a bassist.
Residual was born when the group recruited Josh Carter, also a convert from the hard-core scene, who described indie music as a “breath of fresh air”.
“When I went to one band practice I saw a lot of potential in it,” Carter recalled.
He was certainly right about the potential – Residual, barely a year old, has just scored an APRA songwriting award and played its first FReeZA Push Start Grand Final.
The band had to win two heats to get to that stage – something the member didn’t for a moment expect to achieve.
“At that point we’d only really just finalised our set but we thought, ‘Why not just get out there and show people what we’re about’,” Carter said.
Up against talented and more-established local bands including Murdena, the Residual guys were surprised to come out on top.
“We thought, ‘Wow, we’re not on the same level as them’. We were very, very humbled,” Carter said.
The crowd and judges at Warrnambool responded positively to the release of Residual’s single, Wait, on the night, despite the band feeling “really nervous” about it before the show.
“But rather than thinking of it as a competition we just thought of it as another show and it just worked for us,” Carter said.
The band will release another single, Numbered, to coincide with an east coast tour including local gigs at Beav’s Bar on 10 April.
“The opportunities that we’ve been given we want to use to the best of our ability, play more shows and have more people listen to our music,” Carter said.
“We’re purely doing it to enjoy ourselves.”
