Growing Tall

Everyone has to grow up – even if you were once a Short Stack. For Shaun Diviney, that transformation is happening right now. On a crackling phone line from his home on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Diviney is in an unwound and talkative mood. He's had a year that's removed him from the spotlight, if only for a brief minute, and he's relished that time to himself; brushing up on his surfing, ghost writing for X Factor stars such as Reece Mastin and managing to co-write his forthcoming debut during a stretch over in New York City.

Now, Diviney is ready to jump back in the saddle with his new “mature dance rock” act, as he broadly defines it, and excitingly, his existing fanbase looks ready to grow with these new artistic endeavours and join the performer on his journey. “I expected a lot more people to not be into it, if that makes sense?” he queries, not expecting a reply. “But a lot of people have gotten behind it and it's a really cool feeling. It's not really something that we thought about too much, but it's been really evident, like, I don't listen to Fall Out Boy anymore, and while I love [them] I don't really listen to it much anymore. And I think it's like that [with my fans]; they've really grown with us.”

Although Diviney didn't put any emphasis on the word, saying 'us' really underlines what the 23-year-old wants from this project, for although he might be playing under the banner of his surname, his musical vehicle's strength lies in the sum of its parts. “It's sort of like I am starting from scratch in a way, but then again, the boys in the band; Tim [Commandeur – drums] was in Operator Please, Sinj [Clarke – keys] and Chris [Circosta – guitar] were in Die For You, and they were both quite well known bands – they are there too – so there's not that... it's not like it's anyone's first gig so you're not worried if they'll screw up,” he laughs.

Six months ago Diviney subtly reintroduced himself back onto the Aussie musical landscape with You're So Cool, a song that he stresses wasn't a single, but more so a video, “to let the kids know that we're making music”. But there are no secrets in the pop game, and soon the track was getting run on Channel V and receiving radio airplay nationwide.

“I think there's mixed reactions about it because it's not really in the same vein as what I was doing at one point, and that's kind of one of the reasons the band called it quits,” Diviney admits candidly. “I wasn't really into the music that I was writing and Short Stack definitely had to be one thing, where what I'm doing now can be whatever it wants to be – there's not really any rules.”

But even though the sound might be far removed from the days of black attire and teased hair, the realisations that he made during those few years of pop punk pandemonium still stand true today. “Short Stack made me [appreciate] that it's not as glamorous as people think it is from the outside, like we had platinum and gold records but I still got more joy from playing a show to a 100 people than I did playing a show to 3,000 people – for me it's always been about having fun,” he concludes. “Because it's an amazing job... actually, it's not really a job because I enjoy it so much.”

Shaun Diviney is playing the following dates:

Saturday 5 January - The Old Museum, Brisbane QLD
Saturday 12 January - The Metro Theatre, Sydney NSW
Saturday 19 January - Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne VIC