[INTERVIEW] Little Sea: ‘We’re still on this perpetual journey to find our sound’

Tipped to be the next 5 Seconds of Summer, Aussie band Little Sea isn’t your average boy band. In fact, they refuse to use that term. “There are definitely a lot of successful boy bands out there at the moment, which is why we made an executive decision a long time ago (before the band was really ever even a thing actually) to not be a boy band.” Shares Dylan Clark, bass player and pianist for the four-piece.

“That is how we are different…Yes we do write all our own songs. Yes we do all play instruments. And no we don’t all sing and dance.” Touching on the unique bond the quartet share, he adds in, “However Leighton’s solo career will touch on old classics like Saturday Night Fever and MJ’s classic PYT. I think the album will be called ‘To Chest Hair or not to Chest Hair, Volume One: the Pastizzi Prince!’”

So who is Little Sea? Well they got their big break supporting 5SOS in 2014. Hitting number 1 on the Aussie iTunes charts with their EP Wake The Sun, they were soon signed to Sony and the rest, as they say, is history.

“That whole experience was very overwhelming for us considering we’d only played a handful of shows beforehand…We were very lucky to be given that opportunity, the amount of exposure we got from playing in front of those sold out crowds is insane, you can’t buy that sort of thing!”

And while Little Sea maintain a slightly different niche in the market to 5SOS, they can’t speak highly enough of the “Amnesia” singers. “I think the main influence the lads have had on us is how humble and down to earth they are in person. In the short few years they’ve been a band they have had an unbelievable career travelling all over the world many, many times, and somehow with all this they still manage to be the same down-to-earth western suburbs dudes from way back. That’s the main thing that we took from them, how cool and chill and real they are.”

Releasing their single “Change For Love,” Little Sea have made their mark on the music scene by diverging from the cliché teeny bopper pop of their peers, and instead going for heartfelt hooks and anthems. “The concept of the song is about staying true to yourself (whatever that means) and just being yourself (whoever that is). ‘Cause as Mr Wilde put it, ‘everyone else here is taken,’” explains Clark.

“The lyrics are from the perspective of someone speaking to a girl, assuring them that they’re fine just the way they are and that love doesn’t necessarily have to be the incentive for changing oneself to suit someone else. It’s all bullshit – you already are enough.”

Written with singer/songwriter Jon Hume (Evermore), the boys took to the outer suburbs of Melbourne to pen the hit. “Jon’s a very switched on dude when it comes to writing, recording, producing and mixing music. He’s been in the industry for quite some time now so it was cool learning skills off him and seeing him work in his element…Sometimes we had to give him a kick in the ass to get him to try out our ridiculously overzealous perceptions of how the song should go in our opinion.”

The result is a catchy pop hit, light hearted enough to capture the tween market, and mature enough to gain the attention of an older audience. “It’s always a fun process with Hume in the room, and we always end up coming out of the studio with a track that we’re all proud of.”

Working on an album (Clark adds in, “We are writing for many albums in fact. Who would have thought, right?”), fans can expect an eclectic sound from the band. “We’ve been fiddling around with a lot of synth-based R&B styled rhythms, as well as heavy bass riffs alongside hefty drum grooves. Who knows what everything will sound like in the final production. We may decide to drop everything and release a jazz-fusion cross reggae styled album; Andy’s just gotta work on them dreads!”

After diving into a whirlwind of success, they have embraced every opportunity to learn and craft their sound. “It definitely has been a full on year, we’ve found ourselves writing in every studio all over Australia and in LA and playing shows around Australia several times over, which is crazy. We’re very lucky to have the team behind us that we do, and it’s great to be able to meet new people everyday.”

Having just released their EP With You, Without You and embarking on a national headlining tour, Clark keeps grounded through the process. “With all this traveling and writing somewhere new each day comes structure, and I think structure and routine is really good for the mind. That’s how I stay grounded and know what is going on, plus I try and journal most days so as to not forget the cool things we get up to.”

Their solid friendship is fundamental to their success, and even when they aren’t making music, Clark highlights just how close knit the boys are. “We’re each others best friends actually. I don’t know if that’s a sad thing or not, but it’s the truth. We see each other everyday and when we’re not together for band we’re hanging out as mates. The only time I don’t see the boys is when I’m sleeping, and even still they somehow Freddie Kruger their way into my dreams.”

Making time to step away from the whirlwind of their career, they maintain their bond by hanging out. “When we’re rehearsing or having meetings we take that stuff very seriously, but ourselves we don’t take too seriously. Having separate individual hobbies always helps maintain the stress and craziness, such as I like to paint or read or write music, I know Andy loves to write music, Ollie’s a big Nintendo player or television watcher and Leighton loves hanging out with his school mates or having long baths or watching Netflix… in fact all the boys love watching TV series like Game of Thrones.”

Sony Music Australia

Still evolving and changing, Little Sea is a band on the edge of what could be the next big thing in pop music. Within this though, they remain focused on their artistic integrity.

“As far as a true authentic sound is concerned, we’re still on this perpetual journey to find our sound – still not sure where it’s hiding though, we’re trying to decipher all the clues that music leaves behind daily. But I don’t think we’ll ever fully encapsulate it at one point or another because I think music is a forever changing form of art.

Already adored by their fans, the band knows they owe their success to their loyal Seashells. “Each of our fans are cogs turning and turning, making up a bigger machine and keeping it alive and going. Without them, Little Sea wouldn’t exist, because they not only motivate us and keep us on our toes, but they’re the ones that are buying our records, and favoriting and retweeting our silly, random tweets daily. They know more about us than we do.”

With the release of “Change For Love” comes the extraordinary chance for four boys from Sydney to unleash their new sound to the world. As for long-term goals, well they promise to be vaster than most bands with their already phenomenal success.

“It would be pretty cool to still be selling records in 10 years, if we could stay relevant for that long that’d be rad…10 years’ time is a f**k long time away, though. Considering the goals we’ve kicked so far in our short career is pretty cool!” Says Clark.

“Who knows where we’ll be, let’s just hope more people know who we are by then. The dream would be to be able to travel the world and get paid for it. To become an international act and for people all around the world to hear our silly tunes would be hectic.”

Little Sea’s EP With You, Without You is out now. You can connect with them on their Website, Facebook and Twitter.