Image by Simone De Peak
Summer Bright Lager’s Summer Sessions are kicking off this weekend, and Sunday’s show will be taking us back to our hometown, Newcastle.
There’s nothing quite like coming back to Newy and basking in the glory of Joey Johns and Jim’s Dairy Delite Bar – and this time, we have the bonus of a massive Sunday gig courtesy of Summer Bright Lager. It’s the second date on their Summer Sessions tour, which features Cub Sport & Middle Kids playing free arvo shows all along the East Coast. On October 22, the two bands will be hitting The Cambridge Hotel, with support from local breakout star Fritz.
Fritz is a completely self-taught musician who crafted an album using GarageBand in her bedroom. Since the release of her self-titled debut earlier this year, she’s picked up airplay on FBi Radio and Triple J, with an admirable disregard for genre that makes her music all the more exciting. As one of Newcastle’s most exciting emerging artists, we can’t wait for her to open Sunday’s activities – get familiar with Fritz below:
You explored a lot of styles on your debut album. When and how did you learn to use GarageBand for so many sounds?
I don’t think I ever really ‘learnt’ Garageband, as in I don’t actually remember watching YouTube tutorials or anything like that. I just started using it around December last year when I wanted to become a bit more serious about the songs I was writing – and by ‘more serious’ I mean actually recording them and not just playing them to myself, and that was it.
Actually recording the song was way more fun than writing them because of all the different sounds I could choose from, so digesting what I had written and hearing it that way was a big deal for me at the time! Also it became my main hobby, I would play around with sounds for ages. Before recording proper, full lengths songs though, I would make like 20 second pieces of just weird sounds and me saying stupid things over the top, just as a test I guess but I would someday love to release them, that would be wild.
What are some of your favourite childhood memories which inspired the album?
The whole album is really inspired by childhood, but I find it difficult to explain why! I’ve always been such a sentimental person – I’ll probably be a hoarder when I’m older because I’d hate to part with anything that I had when I was a kid. Creating a similar sound to what I was growing up with was something I wanted to do, but again that’s hard to explain. I really click with songs that have a nostalgic sound to them, whether they are new or old, and this is what I wanted to create in my music – a sound that in a way had a nostalgic feel to it, even though it’s never been heard before.
It doesn’t really make sense saying it, but I understand what I mean, haha. Some melodies I vaguely based off cartoon theme songs because of how catchy they were, which inspired me to make catchy, jingle-like songs, and obviously when I was a kid I watched those ABC kids shows that always had some kind of fun theme song, so I could count that as an inspiration. However, when hearing the album, people may not recognise the childhood theme – it was more something that I could connect with because I made every song so personal.
Who are some of your favourite Newcastle bands?
I have so many! Some include Oilbaron, Vacations, RAAVE TAPES, Gooch Palms… the list goes on
Take us through the first time you heard one of your songs on the radio. Where were you and what happened?
FBi started giving my single ‘YUK!’ a few spins after I had emailed them with some info about me and a link to my music – in case they were interested. When I heard it first, I was amazed and so honoured that they liked it enough to give it air time. At the time I was just in my bedroom, internally screaming! After they added it to rotation, I got a text from my uncle saying he heard it on his way to work which I thought was so weird – a good weird – and then to think that other people would’ve heard it on the way to work too is crazy.
A few weeks later it got its first play on JJJ after I got an email from Dom Alessio saying that he was going to play it on Home & Hosed. It was the 1st of May I think, random, but I like to remember dates like that. I couldn’t really wrap my head around how huge it was that a song I made in my bedroom completely alone was getting played on national radio.
You played Sounds of the Suburbs this year. How was that fest and did you get to meet the living legend Aaron Girgis?
Sounds was so much fun! Playing on a line-up with some of my favourite bands was mad too, and the whole fest just went so well so yes, kudos to Aaron and others! I had actually had already met Aaron when I played at Spaghetti Fest earlier in the year, he was the one that hit me up about playing that which was a huge deal! He’s a good egg, and I have a lot to thank him for.
Your mum accompanies you at your shows. Would you say that she’s your biggest fan?
She does! I’d say so yeh – she hears all the insider goss first and I always ramble to her new song ideas and get her to listen to stuff, and she gives really good and honest feedback too which is so nice of her.
SUMMER BRIGHT LAGER: SUMMER SESSIONS W/ CUB SPORT & MIDDLE KIDS
SAT 21 OCT – WOLLONGONG – Towradgi Beach Hotel w/ White Blanks
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SUN 22 OCT – NEWCASTLE – The Cambridge Hotel w/ FRITZ
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SAT 28th OCT – SYDNEY – The Bucket List w/ Wild Honey
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SUN 29th OCT – COOLANGATTA – Coolangatta Hotel w/ IVEY
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SAT 4th NOV – BYRON BAY – Byron Bay Brewery w/ Galaxy Girls
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SUN 5th NOV – SUNSHINE COAST – Sunshine Beach Surf Club w/ Doolie
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