It’s been a massive year and a half for Sydney rockers The Buoys.

Their debut album, Lustre, was released last July, following energetic singles and EPs that grew their popularity and earned them festival slots – including at Party In The Paddock – and sharing the stage with artists such as Violent Soho, Eliza & The Delusionals, DZ Deathrays, and more.

Lustre was a hugely successful release for The Buoys, debuting at #7 on the ARIA Australian Albums Chart and was named triple j’s feature album upon its release. In August, The Buoys returned with the cathartic new single Bitch. The band also announced an Australian tour for this November and December, but not before they perform at Qld Music Trails’ The Long Sunset event.

As part of Qld Music Trails: The Long Sunset, The Buoys will perform from Friday 31 October to Sunday 2 November alongside fellow Aussie acts Boy & Bear, Vera Blue, Gretta Ray, Jem Cassar-Daley, Tjaka, Bunny Racket, and Playlunch.

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“You will find me at Gilly’s Line Dancing, trying my best not to accidentally elbow my dancefloor neighbours,” lead singer Zoe Catterall tells The Music, excited to be a part of the thrilling Qld Music Trails program. Of course, The Long Sunset isn’t only home to live music, it also features pop-up stalls and events.

Reflecting on the line-up, Catterall remarks that it’s “epic” and says she’s “so excited” to feature on the line-up.

“Plus, I think I’ll lose my gosh darn mind watching Jem Cassar-Daley and Tjaka for the first time!” she adds, “If you see me, eyes closed and spinning in circles during their sets, just know I’m deep in it.”

Since forming in Sydney over nine years ago, The Buoys have travelled across Australia and toured in places they never imagined across the globe. Despite being frequent flyers these days, The Buoys still hold home close – including their second home of Brisbane.

“We’ve toured around Australia extensively since we formed, which was over nine years ago now! And Queensland is home to some lifelong friends of ours,” Catterall notes. “Friends we met through music and touring, who we catch up with whenever we’re in town, and vice versa. We call Brisbane our second home! And it really is. Nothing beats escaping a chilly winter for a weekend in warm Brissy with close friends.”

Catterall admits that being on the road is influencing the band’s writing “a whole heap,” explaining that writing songs while on tour captures those “in-between moments” and hanging in liminal spaces.

“Don’t even get me started about aeroplanes and long drives,” she chuckles, revealing that she gets terrible motion sickness and struggles to use her phone or laptop while travelling.

“I have a lot of time to think, or sleep, but so, so much time to think,” Catterall shares. “It really makes you zoom out on your life and tackle ideas you might not see when you’re in the thick of it back home.”

The Buoys have zoomed out of their own lives, taking introspective thoughts and memories and blending them with the bigger picture on Bitch. Not only is the new single extremely catchy, but it also features important messaging.

Acknowledging just how meaningful the song has been so far, and how it’s connected with audiences, Catterall ponders, “In the moment, it was clear that this song was really important to me. 

“I was working through a lot of feelings around this, and writing it was extremely cathartic,” she tells.

“Songwriting has always been a release for me, and once I got to the other side of what motivated me to write it, and got ready to show it to the band, I started to think about all the women in the same boat as me who might benefit from the song, who might benefit from turning it up really loud and yelling the words ‘GO ON, SAY IT!’ I had a good mischievous giggle at the thought of that.”

Unfortunately, many women would understand the exact stories outlined in Bitch, with Catterall noting that they often start “at such a young age.” Such a universal experience has resonated with many of the band’s fans—a special feeling they won’t soon forget.

“It’s such a common experience, hey?” she says, “and it starts at such a young age. Women have been passing the torch for millennia, sharing knowledge and strength to help each other push back against this idea that the ‘perfectly quiet and sensible’ girl or woman is praised, while anyone who shows emotion, takes up space, or steps outside someone else’s idea of femininity is branded a ‘bitch.’

“Because of this, I knew Bitch would resonate, and I love hearing from people how it has made them feel seen!”

Reflecting on the success of their debut album and love for the band’s fans, Catterall shares, “It’s absolutely unreal to even see Lustre and ARIA uttered in the same sentence! I’ll never forget sitting in my car before band rehearsal and getting the news.

“Straight away, you think of the people who care enough to buy the album or come to a show, because they’re the reason we’re able to do any of this. I know they’re just as stoked as we are about how Lustre charted. It felt like one huge collective win for all of us.”

The Buoys will perform at this year’s The Long Sunset. First and second release tickets are sold out, with the final release available here. Qld Music Trails is also offering a Ticket & Transport bundle, featuring a $99 three-day event ticket plus a return transport bus ticket for Saturday from key locations across Brisbane and the Gold Coast.