JUST five years ago, Perth band Crooked Colours won its way into the line-up of their hometown leg of Laneway Festival.
Now the indie-electro trio, who grew up around Mandurah, are gearing up to play some of America’s biggest festivals including Bonnaroo and Firefly.
Band member Leon De Baughn, who now lives in Fremantle, said performing at Bonnaroo – an annual four-day music festival in Tennessee – was like a dream come true.
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READ NOW“It’s one I’ve always wanted to do,” he said.
“It’s really surreal for us.
“When we did the last tour in the US, it was very positive but we weren’t really sure when we’d be able to come back again.
“Then our booking agent ended up landing all these festivals for us, which is huge.
“It’s really exciting to see the progress over there because you’ve got to put the hard time into the US to see any result so it’s good to see things are finally happening there.”
Before the band, which also features Philip Slabber and Liam Merrett-Park, heads overseas, the trio will hit regional towns for the Groovin’ The Moo circuit where they have scored ‘the sweet spot’ – the sunset time.
“We’re super stoked on that,” De Baughn said.
“We couldn’t believe that we got that timeslot… that’s the best time of a festival for me.”
As well as the festival shows, the lads will play a string of headline shows around the country and in New Zealand to celebrate the release of their new album Langata on May 17, coincidentally the same date they take the stage at Metropolis Fremantle.
“We’ve got to get a flight to Brisbane first thing the next morning, so we’re a bit worried about how we’re going to pull up for that flight,” De Baughn joked.
“It’s always good playing the hometown show first with all our friends and family, so it’s going to be a special day and Metros is a great venue so it’s going to be a really good vibe.”
De Baughn said they couldn’t wait to release Langata, which follows on from their debut Vera in 2017.
“It feels like a lifetime ago just because of all the touring,” he said.
“We’ve just toured so much off our last record. We played I don’t know how many shows playing those songs so we’re definitely ready for a change.”
And De Baughn hopes the new music will keep coming with plans to stay in LA after their US shows.
“We’ll stay for a couple of months and try and write a good amount of our next record if we can,” he said.
“It’s a great spot to do it and it will be winter in Australia and nice and warm there so it will be good for us.”
THE ESSENTIALS
Who: Crooked Colours Groovin’ The Moo, Bunbury: May 11 Tickets: www.moshtix.com.au Metropolis Fremantle (18+): May 17 With special guests: Nyxen and Kayex Tickets: www.oztix.com.au