The Eternal Optimist

Turin Brakes are underrated. Let's be clear: that's not an opinion. That's straight-up science, Mr White. Just ask, uh, any Turin Brakes fan. “Oh, man. Yeah. That's like an everyday occurrence on Twitter, someone bemoaning the fact that Turin Brakes are underrated,” laughs Olly Knights, who with childhood friend Gale Paridjanian formed Turin Brakes as a two-piece in 1999. “I mean, I agree. I agree with them – of course I would! But I don't know – I think our time might still be in front of us, if you know what I mean.

“That's the great thing about things like Twitter: when we first started in a band, there was a million miles between us and the fanbase. You could never really directly have a conversation with them; it was just too difficult. Now that's all changed, and I have conversations daily with Turin Brakes fans, and it makes the whole thing a lot more real, and healthy, I think.”

Of course, the bemoaners among those conversations may have a point. Considering their place in time relative to the actual arrival of the indie folk explosion, Turin Brakes have inarguably helped shape the British landscape of that scene. “We were definitely kind of right in front of the crest of the wave with that whole thing,” Knights says. “We meet a lot of bands, a lot of young guys now. There's a guy called Benjamin Francis Leftwich, who is kind of blowing up over here, and he tweeted me the other day and we had a phone conversation; he was telling me how he got into Turin Brakes when he was 11, because of his mum, and stuff like this, and now he's growing up and citing us as an influence, so there's definitely an undercurrent of Turin Brakes-influenced music going on. I think we're just one of those bands that clung on and carried on making good records, and, eventually, hopefully we'll saturate and kick up a notch again.”

If the intention is to kick it up a notch (bam), then Knights and Paridjanian, with live members Rob Allum and Eddie Myer, are off to a pretty good start. Having recently finished tracking their sixth studio full-length, due in August, they're preparing for their first journey to the antipodes in almost a decade. “Man, it's been ten years since we've been to Oz, so I'm like a baby with a minute brain waiting to have lots of information planted in it,” Knights says of their visit, sounding a little awe-struck. “The whole thing was pretty amazing. It was very glamorous, to us, the fact that we could go all the way to the other side of the world and still play music to people and be appreciated. That blew our minds, and I'm sure it will blow our minds again.”

Knights says there will hopefully be a shorter gap between future visits, but there will be future visits – frankly, he doesn't know anything else. “We are like cockrocaches; we just survive,” he says. “I don't know any more than Turin Brakes, or any less. It's what I've been doing for most of my adult life. It's the same with Gale. To be in this life without it would be weird and scary, and I just can't imagine us stopping. I think we'll probably be two old guys doing a jazz set in a pub one day.”

Turin Brakes will be playing the following dates:

Wednesday 24 April - The Zoo, Fortitude Valley QLD
Thursday 25 April - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney NSW
Friday 26 April - Gumball Festival, Hunter Valley NSW
Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 April - Apollo Music Bay Festival VIC
Wednesday 1 May - Northcote Social Club, Melbourne VIC
Thursday 2 May - Northcote Social Club, Melbourne VIC 
Wednesday 8 May - The Governor Hindmarsh, Adelaide SA