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Since we last checked in with Aussie rockers BEDDY RAYS, there have been some major changes, mainly related to the size of their audience and their ever-increasing growth in popularity. Of course, for this band, some things will never change, and you can always count on their carefree, positive attitude, their solid friendships, and the love for their hometown of Redland Bay. Their latest album, Do What You Wanna, is classic BEDDY RAYS, just with maybe a little more confidence and finesse. Singer Jackson (Jacko) Van Issum explains, “we’re pretty proud of it, so we’re stoked really.” Guitarist Lewis (Lewy) Mckenna states, “I’m just really excited because so much work has gone into this album. We know people are gonna love it, well hopefully they love it. I’m just excited to see what people think, and excited to spin it up on my bloody record player.”
BEDDY RAYS have always been pretty chilled out people, but with so many more listeners, it would be impossible to not feel a little bit of pressure in writing their second album. Jacko says, “It’s hard to get back to that original, naïve style of ‘nobody’s gonna hear it’. We definitely think about it a little bit more before you write the words down, rather than back when we first started. At the same time, we’re just gonna get it out.”
Of course, they are determined that it won’t change who they are at their core, or even the way they write music, insisting that they just write what comes naturally to them. A big part of their appeal is that they are always so down to earth, so it’s a relief to their audience to know that that’s not changing any time soon. While it doesn’t affect the way they make music, the band are conscious that more people are listening, and they hope everyone will find something in the new album that they will like. Lewy explains, “it’s hard to please everybody, but I reckon we’ve done a pretty good job.” Jacko says, “we didn’t want to go and write something completely different. We just did what was natural and we’re not really at the point where we wanted to change it all. We’re still happy with playing guitar music and catchy hooks and choruses’ people can sing along to. We’re still loving that phase, and that’s what we’re all about.”
After the success of their debut, it can sometimes be difficult to know where to go from there in terms of song writing, but for BEDDY RAYS, writing from the heart has always come naturally. Jacko explains, “there definitely wasn’t a concept, but we’re just sort of mates that get together and hang out and write music together. We said, let’s just be us, be really honest and authentic, and people will relate to it.” Jacko explains that for a short amount of time, he began overthinking the lyrics he was writing, and worrying about what people would think of him, especially in the sense of how deeply personal a lot of the lyrics are on this album.
Of course, he discovered a way to overcome this, and he says, “I could just block everything out, and pretend I’m writing it for myself or my family or my mates. The reason why I started this whole thing in the first place was to express myself and have fun, and we’re just trying to get back to that mindset.” While BEDDY RAYS are no strangers to opening up in their music, something that sets this album apart is its raw honesty, and that maturity is something that seems to have come with more time spent as a band. Lewy explains that part of what fuels this is having fans tell them in person how the songs have helped them, stating, “you sort of go, holy shit, this is actually helping people. This is why we should continue to do this because it’s therapeutic for other people, helping other people is such a beautiful thing. It’s a big part of our music and we love doing it.” Jacko simply adds, “it’s healing. Music is healing.”
The last time we spoke to BEDDY RAYS, a big topic of conversation was their friendship as a band, and how their connection fuels the music. Luckily, that hasn’t changed at all, and their friendships are as strong as ever, but they have brought somebody new into the mix: a producer, Matty Cochrane. In the past, the band were definitely hesitant to introduce a new person with the fear of how somebody else might change things, but Matty seems to have done only good things for the band. Jacko explains how they grew up playing music with him, and how he “taught us to give everyone’s idea a crack. Matty’s our best mate, and he’s a fucking wizard.” Lewy says, “it’s so helpful having Matt there cause he’s like an encyclopaedia of music, it’s like having an extra limb on your body.” Something else he introduced was trying out new instruments, like a violin, a cello, a triangle and even a glockenspiel. It sounds random, but they add a new dimension to the songs that take them to the next level.
While BEDDY RAYS loved the process of making the album, they are a live band through and through, with touring being the part they look forward to the most. Jacko says, “At the end of the day we’ll pinch ourselves and we go, ‘look where we are right now’. We’re in Dublin drinking a fucking Guinness. How good is this? We would never be here right now, and the bands taking us around the world and playing tunes together is what we always dreamed of.”
Do What Ya Wanna is out now via Warner Music Australia. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS121 here:
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