On the rise: Gypsy and the Cat plays Queenscliff Music Festival next month.
By Erin Pearson
HIDING away in a quaint country farmhouse offers the perfect recipe for songwriting success, according to Gypsy and the Cat’s Lionel Towers.
He described his little retreat as housing the band’s studio surrounded by bushland and cattle just an hour’s drive from Melbourne.
Towers said he and bandmate Xavier Bacash believed writing away from the big smoke was “far more liberating”.
“It offers us the perfect space to escape and write music away from everyone,” he said.
“We’re city boys but we’d much prefer writing out there as opposed to going to a studio in the hustle and bustle of Melbourne.
“It gives us a clearer headspace and I think it will certainly influence our next record.”
Recently back from a whirlwind tour of Europe, the duo is working on songs for its new record.
Towers, 25, and Bacash, 22, wrote, recorded and produced their debut album on their own in a small room above a garage workshop in South Melbourne with borrowed gear.
Their demo version of Jona Vark later earned airplay on Triple J before being released in France.
But the success didn’t end there.
The band’s promoters point out that Gypsy and the Cat was the only band to play the main stage at the two of this year’s biggest Australian summer music festivals: Big Day Out and Future Music Festival.
All three of the band’s singles also scored places in Triple J’s Hottest 100 poll before Gypsy and the Cat signed to Sony Music flagship label RCA in the UK.
Towers said he felt less pressure compiling the second record despite the early successes.
“It’s a little easier writing this time around because we have two years of ideas bottled up that we can now bring to fruition,” he said.
“We want to push the limits and define our sound more the second time around.
“It’s very exciting, I couldn’t think of a better job. The most enjoyable thing is people liking what you’ve created and that’s a feeling you cannot buy.”
Gypsy and the Cat will perform on Queenscliff Music Festival’s Lighthouse Stage from 4pm to 5pm on November 27.
