Fantastic beats and where to find them
Leading ladies of Sydney band Phantastic Ferniture – singer Julia Jacklin and lead guitarist Liz Hughes – have known each other since they were kids at the same dance school. The bandmates (and housemates) let us in on the method behind their musical madn
JULIA JACKLIN: I remember being in awe of Liz at dance school because she wore rainbow hoop earrings and choreographed a dance to “Young Hearts Run Free” for a competition.
LIZ HUGHES: I used to see Julia around a lot, but it wasn’t until I saw her at The Great Escape Festival [in Brighton, England] dancing drunkenly in a field wearing knee-high yellow Dr Martens that I thought: “I’d like to be her friend.”
JJ: The band formed on my birthday. A big group of us went to [Sydney bar] Frankie’s Pizza and drank a lot. I just remember a big group hug where someone said, “We will start a band and it will be called Phantastic Ferniture.” It started with the name and went from there.
LH: We’ve done a few Christmas covers, like “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and “Last Christmas”. We’ve also covered “The Voice” by John Farnham, which goes off. Every time we play it we say, “This is the last time we are playing this,” truly believing it will be. But we always play it again because it’s so much fun.
JJ: With so much going on, there needs to be certain level of enthusiasm and willingness to make [the band] work. Even if it’s inconvenient and you just want to sleep. Even if we can only get together occasionally we make sure that time counts – no slacking!
LH: One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt in music – it being a pretty challenging industry – is that you really have to want to do it in order to find it rewarding. You have to enjoy practicing for hours, booking shows, and spending a ton of time and money on all the logistics, for those few magical moments on stage. But those moments are really worth all the work.
JJ: Phantastic Ferniture started a year before I made my first solo album, so we established the sound of the band before I established mine. The original line-up was made up of four people with solo projects [including Ryan K. Brennan and former member Tom Stephens], so there were four different styles coming into the rehearsal room every night. That made it special, because we had to put our individual tastes aside to make something new.
LH: Julia and I are both very forgiving. We’ve both fucked up and let each other down, but we say sorry and move on. Our friendship and our kinship within music are too important to give up over unwashed dishes or lost belongings.
Phantastic Ferniture’s self-titled debut album is out July 27. Catch them on tour from August 17; phantasticferniture.com