Australia’s rich track history of producing sit-up-and-take-notice bands shows no sign of letting up with the emergence of dreamy psychedelic pop quartet The Lazy Eyes.
With just two singles under their belts, young Sydney pals Harvey Geraghty, Itay Shachar, Noah Martin and Blake Wise are heavily-tipped to make waves in 2020 thanks to their sun-soaked brand of rock and psychedelia formed through a mutual love of The Flaming Lips and the Beach Boys.
Their first single Cheesy Love Song, released in January, was a charming introduction; instantly dazzling with its gorgeous piano melody, ethereal vocals, and woozy guitar lines.
Follow-up track Tangerine, premiered by Matt Wilkinson on his Beats 1 show, is another sonic wonder that this time cranks up the tempo before erupting into a psych-rock blitz.
Both tracks combined have already notched up nearly 400,000 streams on Spotify.
The band were due to head to the UK to perform at the Great Escape in Brighton next month but the Covid-19 pandemic saw an unfortunate end to those plans for this year at least.
They quickly generated a buzz back home by being one of the breakout acts of 2019's Big Sound – Australia's equivalent of SXSW – receiving plaudits from the likes of tastemaker radio station triple j and Happy Bag.
It won't be long until The Lazy Eyes are the band on everybody's lips.
Daily Star Online caught up with vocalist and guitarist Itay Shachar them to find out about their fledgling career so far, their influences, goals, and if we'll see an EP any time soon.
Firstly, who are The Lazy Eyes? When did you form?
"The Lazy Eyes are Harvey, Itay, Blake and Noah. We formed the band in late 2015."
You’re from Sydney, Australia. How has the city moulded you as musicians and as a band? What’s the music scene like there?
"The city of Sydney has been fertile ground for us to build our chops in a live setting as well as being inspiration for us to write songs and play music together in general.
"Shoutout to Newtown, where we met and went to high school. The music scene there is especially colourful, even on a Monday night you can stumble into loads of bands from all the different scenes."
You’ve recently released Cheesy Love Song. How was the writing process? What inspired you guys to write it?
"Cheesy Love Song was a product of songwriting sessions that Harvey and I used to tee up one day a week in the piano rooms after school in our senior year.
"We would sit face to face and try to squeeze something out. Sometimes when we would struggle, we would write joke songs just to alleviate the tension of an unfruitful writing session, so we came away with lots of bits and pieces by the time school was over.
"One day I came to Harvey with the first three chords and we went from there bouncing off each other until we fleshed it out to the point of being closer to having a song than not.
"We kinda forgot about it until a half year later when we remembered and finished it off (thankfully).
"I think our friendship inspired us to write it together, the song isn't really about a 'boy meets girl' situation, it's more to do with the love you have for the people who mean the most to you."
What’s the reaction been like to Cheesy Love Song?
"A lot better than we thought!"
Its video is seemingly inspired by hazy, psychedelic music videos from the 1970s. Is this the aesthetic you were looking for?
"A little bit, yeah! The director Alex Smith helped our vision come to life, also adding great ideas we would have never thought of.
"We wanted to showcase the band in a live setting and put faces to the music really.
"The aesthetic we aimed for was a clean and vintage colour palette with a burst of VHS tones at the end. We think the video achieved a bit of an insular feeling, like it's in a bubble."
Who are you influenced by? Is there anyone inspiring you currently?
"We like The Flaming Lips, The Beach Boys, Andy Shauf and Air."
Australian bands have enjoyed breakout success in the UK over the last few years. Are there any other Australian bands we should know about?
"You should check out this band called Tim and Paula, heard they are blowing up."
How would you describe your sound?
"Pop songwriting at the core of it, played a little rocky to get the crowd going and sprinkled with psychedelic moments in the recordings and in a live setting."
Since forming, you’ve played various gigs and at festivals. Have there been any stand out moments? What can fans expect from a Lazy Eyes show?
"There have been a handful of highlights and definitely a few lowlights to say the least, haha!
"Playing the Enmore Theatre on our first national support tour as well as performing at Sydney Laneway Festival were 'dreams do come true' moments for us.
"Those shows have been in our bucket list from the beginning. On the other hand, we have played our fair share of only the sound guy/mums in the audience type gigs."
Do you have plans to release an EP or album soon?
"Maybe..."
What’s the ultimate goal for The Lazy Eyes?
"To spread peace and love, dude."
