Tell us about your bass/pedal/amp setup?

My main gigging bass and the one that I tour with in Hiatus Kaiyote is a Lakland Skyline 5 String.  It’s pretty cool but I’m exploring my options. Currently… we’re in a complicated relationship: it’s always reliable but it’s just not that interesting. When I’m in the studio I barely use it and track a lot with my 70’s Jazz Bass, Gretsch Electromatic, P-Bass…more flavour for those situations when you get to really hear the detail of the bass (i.e. no loud gig ever).  I’ll use anything in the studio if it works for that section though.  Pedal wise my most important pieces are definitely a tuner (because you just definitely always need a tuner, unless you like living dangerously), the MXR sub octave pedal, the RE-20 Space Echo pedal and the ZFEX Box of Rock.  I also have a Digitech Synth Wah pedal whose key feature is the ability to replicate that “Yeah” bass sound from Pony by Ginuine, which would be awesome if I ever played a gig where we played  Pony by Ginuine, however some things are just not meant to be.

How important is social media and music streaming sites in promotion?

If you’re not getting your online content happening then feggedaboudit.  Seriously, the amazing bands I know who have little to no stuff on YouTube…good luck to you, but you’re insane.  When we did our first shows in the US, we were playing to packed rooms, sold out shows full of people singing along to songs that weren’t even on our record.  When people went to check us out online, there were an absolute shit ton of videos and stuff to check out.  We still have only one actual  “proper” music video (for Nakamarra), but so many live versions where we got a decent desk mix and a bunch of cameras.  To be honest, we usually cringe when we hear the live stuff back and hate all the things that we invariably fucked up, but we soon realised that no one else cares and they dig the vibe and the songs.  Not to say you shouldn’t have quality control, but you also have to walk the line between being a perfectionist and sharing your music with others.  And if we hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have had a nearly sold out tour first time overseas.

What is the best advice you can give to independent Melbourne musicians?

Develop multiple skill sets.  Dabble in lots of things continuously until all those things you kind of sucked at a long time become a whole bunch of things you are good at, or at least understand.  Know how to record things.  Even if your project is beyond your capabilities to record yourself, the experience you have from doing any recording work will greatly enhance your understanding of the craft.  Myself and the other members of Hiatus Kaiyote are in the final stages of mixing our second record and I can’t imagine achieving the thing we have if we had completely left it up to someone else to get the music from our instruments to the mastered version coming out of your speakers.  We aren’t the most experienced or the fastest, but we eventually get there and the result is of our own doing and is all the more unique for it.  Nobody will ever take more care of your vision and your art than you.

To keep updated with all things Hiatus, head to https://www.facebook.com/hiatuskaiyote