That takes the cake
IT has been a breakout year for Sydney band Winston Surfshirt, and they are set to ride the wave of success all the way to Tasmania for the first time — not once, but twice.
The band will bring their unique blend of soul and hip-hop to The Waratah Hotel in Hobart on Saturday, and will return to the state next month to perform at the Falls Festival at Marion Bay.
It has been a massive year for Winston Surfshirt, which began with them supporting RUFUS on their Australian tour, and iconic Aussie rockers Midnight Oil at their comeback show. They then released two critically acclaimed singles, Be About You and Ali
D, which both gained significant air time on Triple J.
Winston Surfshirt went on to sell out their debut national tour and nab a coveted spot on the Splendour in the Grass bill, before releasing their 16-track first album, Sponge Cake, in September.
Winston (aka Brett Ramson), who started the band about six years ago as a solo project before recruiting more members, is understated in his take on the group’s 2017 ahead of their second national tour of the year — and first ever visit to Tasmania.
“It’s trucking along, we’re doing all right,” Winston told Pulse.
Sponge Cake was as good as completed for about two years before it was released, and Winston said it was a “relief” more than anything to finally put it out.
“I had it sort of written and done, and then about two years ago we got signed to a label ... we ended up just fixing it up, there were samples in it and songs that had to get cut, and there were songs that were put in,” he said.
Winston’s standout song from the album is Be About You. The band’s fans agree — since its release it has racked up more than six million streams on Spotify.
“I think I wrote that about three or four years ago now, and I started playing it almost as soon as I had the chorus,” he said.
“It took a while to get the verse there, but it always had such a good reaction live, people seem to gravitate toward that song.”
Winston Surfshirt play at The Waratah Hotel from 8pm on Saturday. Tickets are $28.60, available from oztix.com.au