A QUICK CHAT WITH TRACE DECAY

Congrats on the new release ‘Sad Dance’! Can you tell us what it’s about?

Sad Dance was written by me (Jordan De Pas) at time when I was pretty burnt out on people & just doing things in general. I’d just moved to Melbourne from Brisbane with a bunch of emotional baggage (less than my actual baggage) and had begun studying at RMIT. All of a sudden, I was thrust into many social situations I had to navigate through – most of which I thoroughly enjoyed however, it was taking a toll on me both mentally and physically. So, one day I came home after a failed day in the studio feeling pretty dejected and ended up writing sad dance in a couple hours. It was a semi joke/ therapeutic process to start with but ended in something we’re really proud of!

How would you explain your music to someone that has never listened to Trace Decay?

Great question! I have no idea. I would probably say If you dig 80’s style vocals & synths mixed with modern production and lo-fi elements, then you’ll love Trace Decay. We have been compared to artists such as The Jungle Giants, Slum Sociable & The Cure.

If you could perform with any artist dead or alive, who would it be?

 DAVID BOWIE – It would get real weird as well.

Do Trace Decay have a specific routine before every show?

 I’m constantly worried that my voice will sound shit and people will disengage with us when we play live, so I’ve started a very strict routine of drinking bulk peppermint tea in the days leading up to and on the gig. I first trialled this method when I was recording vocals for our track ‘Hindsight’ and my voice was sounding pretty flat and thin. So, my friend/ producer offered me a peppermint tea and since then I’ve been religiously drinking it before shows.

 I also like to have a couple beers beforehand to loosen up.

What can people expect from one of your live sets?

 My main focus with live sets is to always keep them interesting and fresh. We’ve started to include Saxophone in our live shows and incorporating a cover here or there, depending on the show. We are a high energy live band and I don’t mind having a chat to the crowd and throwing out some cheesy observational humour. Our live guitarist will always do something sporadic and weird each show as well like jump in the crowd mid song, take sneaky photos of us when we are mid song or drop to his knees and play a face melting solo. Depends on what mood he is in.