A Lazy Sunday Arvo with The Pleasures

The Pleasures are Catherine Britt and Lachlan Bryan. It’s a collaboration that began with a few late-night texts and quickly spiralled into a feverish week of writing and recording in Melbourne, where the pair would dream up songs into the early hours, then head to the studio next morning to lay them down.



Catherine and Lachlan’s have vastly different musical backstories. Country-loving parents steered Catherine towards Hank Williams and Jimmie Rogers, and by the time she was 16 the twang of her debut record had reached the ears of Sir Elton John. The rock legend not only decided to record a duet with the young singer, but also introduced her to RCA Records in Nashville, to whom she was immediately signed. Over the next decade she toured America and the world with the likes of Chris Isaak, Dolly Parton, Brooks and Dunn, Alan Jackson and Kenny Chesney and won the CMA International Artist of the Year Award, before returning to Australia where she not only got married and had children, but also fought and defeated breast cancer.



Meanwhile Lachlan, who grew up amongst ballet dancers, orchestra conductors and maths teachers, was forging a respected career on the sticky carpets of the Melbourne rock’n’roll and alt-country scenes, earning a reputation as a songwriter’s-songwriter and witty storyteller with his band of misfits The Wildes. He and the band began to make international dive-bar tours – mostly in the UK and USA – and it was on one such escapade that Lachlan met Catherine (in Austin, Texas, no -less) and a drunken, debaucherous night spawned a now decade-long friendship of sibling-like proportions.



“Lachlan and I have always clicked in life and in song” explains Catherine, “and



since we first met, we’ve had an unspoken understanding and respect for one another”.



A musical partnership was, perhaps, inevitable – but neither party anticipated the ease with which they would write and work together – supported by the stellar rhythm section of Catherine’s new husband Brad Bergen on drums and Lachlan’s right-hand-Wilde Damian Cafarella on bass.



Debut record The Beginning of the End appeared to pull together the best elements of both Lachlan and Catherine’s worlds, blending rock’n’roll and classic country together in a manner that led the folks at Apple music to describe The Pleasures as “a match made in Americana heaven”. It led the band to major festival stages across Australia, official showcases at both Folk Alliance and AMERICANAFEST in the US– as well as debut UK appearances at Maverick Festival and Shrewsbury Folk Festival and a tour of Scandinavia – all in 2024. In just three short years they’ve been nominated for three Australian Country Music Awards (Golden Guitars) and reached the Top 10 of the Australian Albums Chart AND Top 40 in the Americana Association Official Albums Chart – thanks to widespread support across the USA’s vast Americana radio network.



Now The Pleasures are back with album number 2 – the provocatively titled Enemy of my Enemy. These songs bristle with fuzzy but instantly-memorable guitar riffs, soulful basslines, Gospel-tinged Hammond organ and joyous melodic hooks. Lyrically, they swing wildly from mischief and mayhem to heartbreak and true romance. The pair have a way with words, and the blend of their voices seems to make each turn of phrase hit even harder.



Ahead of the album, The Pleasures are releasing ‘Was it Something I Said?’ - a country duet seen through a 90s alt-rock lens – with discernible shades of Sheryl Crow and even Tom Petty in its mid-tempo swagger.



“It’s a conversation of sorts” explains Lachlan, “two ex-lovers that are still trying to prove something. They’re throwing so much shade and sass each other’s way that you just know they’re meant to be together. It’s a concept many of us are familiar with”.



You can sing like an angel/lie like a dog



You were so unfaithful but I still got off



We were held together, by a needle and thread



Where you going now honey? Was it something I Said?



The single is available for streaming from July 4 and the album, Enemy of my Enemy, will be available on August 15 through Uber Savvy Music/MGM.



This is a fully seated show with allocated seating. If you have specific seating requests, please contact the venue directly via info@camdenhotel.com.au with "The Pleasures" as the subject. For groups wishing to sit together, we recommend booking all tickets under the same name to ensure seating arrangements can be accommodated.