Australia is enjoying a resurgence of psych and garage rock in the wake of bands like Tame Impala, Pond and King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, but we’re not the only part of the world in the mood for swirling guitar textures and reverb. In the US, the scene centres on the annual Austin Psych Fest, where Night Beats have been regulars, performing there over the last four years.
“We’ve gotten to see it grow from a pretty intimate thing to a big festival on this ranch,” says drummer James Traeger. “I’ve never had a better experience at a festival because festivals can go so poorly, just cause the organisation is terrible; the people involved, like the staff can be very much just doing a job. But at Austin Psych Fest everyone is there to really make the scene happen, make the festival the best that it can be.”
Two-thirds of Night Beats, Traeger and frontman Danny Lee Blackwell, are Texas natives. The state has been home to many of America’s classic psych bands, like The 13th Floor Elevators and The Golden Dawn, but Traeger and Blackwell have relocated to Washington. “We met back in Dallas where we went to middle school and high school together. We started playing music, man, I must have been 15 years old, and we played all through high school.”
But after school they separated, pursuing studies and bands in different cities – Traeger in Austin and Blackwell with a prototype version of Night Beats in Washington, “but that wasn’t working out for whatever reason, whatever vision he had. We were on the phone talking and I had the same problem with my band down in Austin, and so we decided to give it another shot. If I came up to Washington – we made the deal – if we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do this and give everything we had to it. Within six months we had started touring and we had picked up Tarek [Wegner, bass], and since we started touring we haven’t stopped.”
Night Beats’ non-stop touring has included two trips to Europe and one to South Africa, captured in a documentary by Roundabout Films that shows how well received they were by ecstatic crowds in Johannesburg and Cape Town. “When we went to South Africa we had no idea what to expect,” says Traeger. “The people there just went fuckin’ crazy. It was cool. Sometimes you feel like an ambassador, you know, American rock’n’roll going to places that don’t usually get that kind of music or that kind of entertainment. Places in the States that have so much music just constantly poured into them like LA and New York and Austin, when we were first going there, they get so much of it that maybe they don’t go crazy, but nowadays when we play those places they’re some of our best shows. It’s on and off at a lot of places, but that South Africa thing specifically, that really blew me away.”
Night Beats are heading to Australia next, and it’ll be their first time here. Traeger says it’s putting him one step closer to his goal of playing every continent on Earth. “After Australia I think the only one we have left is South America before Antarctica. We might have to settle for six but I don’t think we will.” Metallica recently played at a research station in Antarctica, so it’s certainly possible. “They had a good 20 years before us and we’re working on touring for four years now and getting five of seven done, so we got a good pace goin’.”
Catch Night Beats at Oxford Art Factory on Sunday September 14, tickets available online.
