Melbourne seven-piece
Red Berry Plum write the soundtrack to warm summer afternoons. Their folk pop tunes are wrapped up in silky smooth vocals that drift along on a torrent of colourful guitar melodies, sturdy bass, drums and flourishes of glockenspiel, ukulele and maracas. It's humble and heartfelt stuff that has garnered the band a loyal following and landed them gigs at numerous venues around Melbourne. Everguide recently caught up with vocalist and guitarist Pete Baxter to get the lowdown on how the Red Berry Plum seed was first planted.
Red Berry Plum's story began about a year and a half ago when Pete Baxter's friend Rhys Mitchell suggested something profound out of the blue. "Rhys and myself were just driving along and he said, 'Let's start a band and call it Red Berry Plum',
and I said, 'Alright'," Baxter explains. And that was it. The seed was planted. The pair started writing together and were soon joined by Mitchell's friend, Rhia Taranto, on vocals and tambourine. "The three of us started writing little acoustic folky pop tunes and played them to our friends," Baxter says. "And then other friends liked it and it grew".
About six months later, multi-instrumentalist Max Turner joined the band, along with guitarist Nick Mulhall, bassist Josh Delaney and drummer Liam Gough. Baxter says the current lineup came together seamlessly. "It happened really organically. We never really thought about it as being anything more than what we played to our friends".
This year, Red Berry Plum poured their collective talents together and emerged with two slices of sickly sweet pop: 'Moon Owl' and 'Seaweed & A Feather', which were celebrated with a launch at Prince Bandroom in August. With the momentum rolling, Baxter says they're now aiming to release a full-length early next year. "As far as a proper release goes, we're aiming to do that in January, which will be really exciting because it's been a long time coming," Baxter says. "I mean, the time that we've spent not having a release means that we've got a lot more material now and hopefully the material is stronger and more enjoyable, and something that we can be really proud of". Pete says they're planning on recording up to 12 songs and aim to produce the LP themselves at a home studio.
So how does the songwriting process take place with seven members in the band? Although Baxter admits that organising band practice with this many people can sometimes be a 'fucking nightmare', he says they work well when they get together. "Everyone has a say," Baxter explains. "We work on a song-by-song basis. A lot of the time Rhys or myself will come in with an idea and then (the others) will give an opinion or add a part or an embellishment and it kind of grows from there. There are a couple of songs that we've written spontaneously through rehearsal or just jamming".
While his keen ear for melody can be heard in Red Berry Plum's music, Pete Baxter's ability to write collaboratively was nurtured long before he ever formed the band. "My dad was a pastor and as long as I can remember I was playing in the church band, playing guitar, drums, piano and singing. So I guess that was kind of where it started," he says.
Growing up, Baxter was encouraged to play music, but when it came to listening to bands, his Christian upbringing meant that certain music was out of bounds. "My parents were really quite strict about it," Baxter says. "So I was only really allowed to listen to Christian bands or bands that no one knows, kind of like '90s Christian pop... most of which is atrocious". Despite some limitations, he discovered his first real musical love in Bob Dylan, because his dad approved of the biblical references in his music, and from there it was the Beatles and so on. "I guess it was kind of my own journey where I was slowly catching up on everything that a lot of people had just grown up with".
Baxter's musical journey has led him to Red Berry Plum and a promising future within the local music scene. While the band is still relatively in their infancy, he's happy to speak at length about some of their highlights, including supporting Girls at the Corner Hotel ("that was fucking awesome. We ended up hanging out with them all weekend"). In addition to their debut release, he also says there are plans for an east coast tour next year and a few other things which he is remaining tight-lipped about: "We've got a couple of cool things coming up in January and February but I just don't think that I can talk about them just yet... they're going to be good". Looks like we'll just have to enjoy their music and wait patiently for this plum to ripen in the meantime.
Red Berry Plum play the Everguide Christmas party this Friday at Revolver.
WORDS: Jack Pilven