Songs For The Planet

In 2011, as part of a project to raise awareness of coastal environmental issues, Band Of Frequencies spent 23 days travelling the coast of Southern California. Sailing in tandem kayaks, the band and a collection of pro surfers, artists, directors and musicians tracked the migration pattern of the Californian gray and blue whale from Santa Barbara to San Diego, talking to conservationists and performing concerts. Every day they were also hard at work writing and recording a new song, and by the end had 23 tracks inspired by the trip. Director Justin Krumb was one of the others involved and his documentary of the trip, The TransparentSea Voyage, starring pro surfer Dave Rastovich and Band Of Frequencies, is making its Queensland debut at the Gold Coast Bleach* festival. Shannon Sol Carroll is enjoying the opportunity to revisit the adventure. 

“We were writing a song and recording a demo version, and uploading that every day. As well as doing that, we had to launch the kayaks each morning and work out what was going on with the weather. And then we had to pack up the camps and then move them with a whole series of RVs, find the next caravan park and work out where we were going to stop. And because it all depended on the weather we couldn't really book things in advance. The whole thing was really on the fly. There were a lot of people to move, a lot of gear and a lot of stuff. It was a really intense trip. And trying to write music in the midst of that was…” Carroll pauses to reflect. “It was classic actually, it was really fun. But challenging. We haven't actually seen the final cut of the film ourselves yet, so it's going to be good to see how it turns out; I'm really excited to check it out.”

Carroll has recently been touring as part of Bernard Fanning's backing band. He says it's been a great experience, but is looking forward to getting back to his own smaller shows. “It's definitely a lot more relaxing,” he says about supporting Fanning, “And there's not really anything else you have to worry about. Literally just check out your run sheet and be in the right place at the right time and everything should go smoothly.

“But it's really good to be back doing what we're doing at the moment – the grass roots level. Because there's more interaction with the community and there's more involvement with the people who are really making everything happen for us. I think that for an independent band it takes a lot of people with a lot of passion in the places where they live, to invite us and bring us and host us, and it just feels really good to meet and hang out with people all around the country and the world who are driven by the same passions – to support live, original, independent music and art.”