From ARIAs to Geelong: Bag Raiders is set to play in Geelong with Flight Facilities next week.
Erin Pearson
PAUSING during a recovery swim on Monday, Bag Raiders’ Chris Stracey pondered his “demanding” new life in the spotlight of fame.
“We went to the ARIA’s last night, which was a mixed bag of fun – very industry,” he told the Independent.
“Although we didn’t see many of the awards we enjoyed snacking on mini hamburgers and champagne – Jason Derulo even walked past us a couple of times, which was pretty unreal.”
Stracey’s two-piece duo shot to fame with consecutive hit singles Shooting Stars and Way Back Home catapulting Bag Raiders into the Australian music charts.
After recently releasing a self-titled debut pop album, Stracey and band-mate Jack Glass have embarked on a national tour, with a stop at the ARIA awards.
Stracey said the pair “never imagined” they would attend the ARIA’s or tour the country with their own music.
“It’s a pretty weird feeling and not something I thought I’d ever be doing when I was in high school,” he laughed.
“We’re both classically trained musicians and have been around music all of our lives but the whole dance music and DJing thing happened pretty fast.”
Stracey credited The Bang Gang DJs’ events as an early key to the Bag Raiders’ success.
“We started going out to Bang Gang parties because we loved the music and they were silly enough to give us a go.”
Stracey said Bag Raiders was now preparing to bring its “unique brand of hands-in-the-air pop” to Geelong.
“People should expect a big whiz-bang live show with both of us singing and playing multiple synthesizes and lots of percussion.”
Stracey said his band’s name reflected its beginnings plundering the works of other acts.
“We made a mixed CD years ago before we were doing anything serious and called it Bag Raiders because we didn’t have any of our own songs – we took records out of the bags of other musicians to make the CD,” he revealed.
Stracey said touring was proving more of a challenge than just playing other bands’ songs though.
“It’s pretty fun but also a lot harder work than just rocking up to a club with a bag of CDs,” he laughed.
“We tour with over 100 kilograms of gear but people are coming to watch us perform our stuff live which is really special.”
Bag Raiders will play Geelong’s Eureka Hotel next Thursday with support act Flight Facilities.
