Get to know Turtle Bay Television and their just-released debut EP, Rest Well In Your Shell

Perth outfit Turtle Bay Television have just unleashed their debut EP, Rest Well In Your Shell, and we reckon it's pretty great. Kind of post-punk lite, it drifts across a variety of genres including dream-pop, shoegaze, alt-rock and more. It's an intriguing collection of songs, one they'll be launching this Thursday at The Bird, so we sent them a few questions to find out more, which you can check out along with answers from frontman Tom Cockram, below:

Tell us about about yourselves?

We’ve been playing together for a few years now after meeting when we were all in our mid-teens. We used to be called Turtle Island (after the Beach House song) but changed it about two years ago after finding out there were quite a few bands around the world with the same name – we even saw it on a Glastonbury poster so shared it on our page but then felt pretty bad when people thought we were serious and started congratulating us! The band set up was a bit all over the place back then but has become pretty set in the last few years, with the
recent addition of our sax player, Tom.

What kinda tunes we talkin’?

The kinda stuff we play has changed quite a bit since we started out. Originally, we were ripping off Foals quite shamelessly but that got reigned in quickly! Now I’d say our main influences are bands like The National, Sonic Youth, The Pixies; mostly post-punk kind of stuff. At the same time though, I definitely like to refer back to classic pop stuff like The Walker Brothers and The Beach Boys and the bands that took on those vibes and really messed them around, like The Jesus And The Mary Chain or Pulp. There are a few songs where I really try to do that, try and write a pop song and then make it sound really rough.

Production/writing process:

It really depends on the song. For most of my stuff I tend to write the song in full and will sometimes even bring in a completed demo for the band so it’s more like we’re covering it to begin with. Over time though, everyone starts adding their own parts. When our other guitarist, Jarrah, writes stuff, there tends to be more collaborating, especially between him and his brother, Lyric, who plays bass for us. When it comes to recording, we tend to be quite DIY, either doing it with our synth player, Jeremy, who has quite a good home set up, or sometimes I’ll record stuff on my own at my place.

Can you tell us about your new EP, Rest Well In Your Shell?

This EP has been in the works for a while now – we recorded most of it with Jeremy at his house so sessions tended to be quite sporadic and dependant on when we all had work and study. In terms of the sound, I think it’s definitely got a summery vibe which is strange because I wouldn’t say we were necessarily going for that, it just kind of happened because a lot of the songs were written after I met my girlfriend, Andrea. That being said, there are definitely songs that deal with issues like stress and anxiety and how that can affect relationships. Accountant was one of those - I was in a job that I really wasn’t enjoying and it took its toll. Playing those songs now that I’m not doing that feels very cathartic.

Any shows coming up?

Yes! We’ve got a launch coming up at The Bird on Thursday November 16 with Segue Safari, ABACAXUVA, and Web Rumours (Em Burrows’ sick new band).

What’s the rest of the year have in store?

We’ve got a second EP pretty much recorded that we just need to mix and master so hopefully we’ll have something ready to put out in the first half of next year. In the meantime I think we’re going to start recording some album material and just see what happens from there.

Where can we hear more of your music?

FACEBOOK / BANDCAMP / SOUNDCLOUD / INSTAGRAM / TWITTER