Talking Recent Success and Best Moments of the Year with Byron Bay’s Tora

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Talking Recent Success and Best Moments of the Year with Byron Bay’s Tora

Tora have very steadily climbed the indie electronic ladder in the past few years, and don’t show any signs of stopping.

The band from Byron Bay have been selling out shows across the country consistently, as well as touring with other hometown heroes Rufus on their run of shows earlier in the year. We were lucky enough to have a quick chat to them ahead of their show at Soundscape in Sydney about the best of 2016 and what success means to them as a small-town band.

SR: For those of us who don’t know Tora, tell us a little bit about the band and yourselves.

Tora (TR): We’re are a 5 piece electronic band from Byron Bay, some of us have been playing playing music together since we were in high school, but the band started almost 4 years ago. We have 3 vocalists in the band, 2 guitars, 2 keyboards, bass and drums, so there tends to be a lot of diversity in the sound as we weave those elements into our songs.

SR: You’ve got a pretty sizeable discography, does writing music come very naturally to all of you?

TR: Yes, writing songs is something we have done since the age of 13, in previous bands we had many more songs too. Writing songs are a great way to get things off our chests and express what’s on our minds, not always lyrically but in the form of the music as well. It’s a natural form of therapy.

HR: Being from Byron Bay, how has that influenced your careers? Has it nurtured or hindered it in any way? How so?

TR: Living in Byron has definitely had an impact on the music we make, it’s a very relaxed lifestyle in this part of the world. I feel that whichever environment you’re in  affects the sound of the music.

I think it has nurtured us in the sense that we have a lot of time on our hands when we’re home, to work our craft. But it can perhaps be hindering trying to draw all your inspiration from the same place. Luckily with all the touring around the globe we did last year, there was plenty of inspiration for new music, we did a lot of writing along the way.

HR: Have all of you always had music as a career in mind from a young age?

TR: Personally I have seen music as a career choice since the age of 15, myself (Jo), Toby and Shaun all dropped out of school when we were 16 to pursue musicals a career. Jai also dropped out of school last year to come and tour the world with us, so I think it’s safe to say we have all had that in mind from a young age.

HR: What have been some of your favourite shows this year? Why?

TR: It’s really hard to pinpoint particular shows because there have been so many amazing ones along the way, we played a bunch a invigorating sold out shows on our headline tour but the first show that comes to mind as a highlight was The Riverstage show we played with Rüfüs on their ‘Bloom’ tour back in May. Brisbane came down nice and early to see us play and the overall vibe was so high from the first second until the last. I don’t know why, but Brisbane crowds just tend to go crazy lately, maybe there’s something in the water up there haha.

HR: Your track Jaigantic has reached over 2.6m plays on Soundcloud – what was the creative process like behind this song?  

TR:I remember the day Toby sent us the idea in our group chat on Facebook, he said something like ‘Jai, I started this idea cause you told me to get working on the next EP’ and the track was titled ‘Jaigantor’. The initial idea had the intro vocals and the drop with the percussive hook, so from word go the song already had a pretty solid vibe. But we spent 6 months working and reworking that track until it ended up in its current form. We literally heard that song in at least 50 different structures with different samples and chords and lyrics and melodies. Then a month after we released it we noticed the track got picked up by a few solid blogs and YouTube channels which carried it a lot further than we ever imagined. A pleasant surprise.

HR: In terms of releases, moments, and shows (from yourself and other artists), what were your favourite moments of 2016?

TR: Releases, I can only speak for myself here as the musical tastes across the 5 band members are very varied, but I’d have to say James Blake’s ‘The Color In Anything’, Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’ and I know Anderson Paak’s ‘Malibu’ is a favorite among band members. Also Jordan Rakei ‘Cloak’.

Haven’t seen enough live music this year as we’ve been very busy working in the studio, but I’d have to say Rüfüs’s and Bob Moses’s live shows were both spectacular, it was such a huge learning experience sharing the stage with those guys, and spending time with the whole team. They are all kind hearted people, working at the at the top of their game.

HR: What are you looking forward to most about playing at Soundscape in Sydney this weekend?

TR: Really excited to see many of our dedicated fans and also hear Jüan Du Sol doing his thing. Also feeling sad but excited that this is likely to be the last time we play some of the songs that are currently in the live set. Can’t wait to get down to Sydney and give the crowd absolutely every bit of love we’ve got, to celebrate the end of an incredible couple of years touring the existing music.

Make sure you head down to Soundscape this Saturday in order to hear those last songs played live from Tora as well as all the other incredible acts! Tickets are still available via this link. The day kicks off at 2pm at the Factory Theatre and will run until 10pm.

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