Seabellies

After storming onto the Australian music scene in 2007 with a win in the Garage to V competition, Newcastle’s finest “ The SeaBellies” return with their debut LP “ By Limbo Lake” and a National tour to boot. Guitarist/Keyboardist/percussionist Kyle Grenell takes time out from Uni to chat to AAA Editor David Holleran.
“ Yeah I’m studying communications and Media, I really get into the editing/ producing side of things” Grenell explains. Asked how he fit’s a band and Uni into the schedule he explains, “ Man the band has always been the priority, University is my back up plan‘. Its this kind of determination and commitment that gives The Bellies music an honest sincerity. It also helps that the band swap musical instruments at will showing their talents off. “ When we play the new single Trans ending” live our drummer actually gets up and plays horn on the track, Trent our singer has to get up and play drums! Grenfell continues“ We really love playing live its our bread and butter and its what we love doing, so we cant wait to get on the road.
And a massive national tour is on the cards throughout September and October with dates at Festival of The Sun in Port Macquarie and home town shows in Newcastle. “ We’re stoked that we’ll have a few shows under our belt before we play at home”, “ We really want to pull out all the stops at our hometown gig”. “ Port Macquarie is just up the road from Newie too so really looking forward to that show!”. When asked who he’s looking forward to on the bill, “ Honestly man I’m pumped to see Regurgitator, I loved old school ’ gurge’ Blubber boy and that kinda gear, they were my heroes so really pumped!.
The bellies record “By Limbo Lake” is slated for an August 20 release and already has been given the big thumbs up by Rolling Stone magazine, which Kyle and the band are pretty happy about“ Yeah we were really stoked with getting such a good review”. “ But to be honest we are just really happy to finally have a record that we can give to our friends and family and our fans” “ You know like an actual recorded finished piece of work’ “ So its quite exciting that critics are really liking it”.
I agree, I love The SeaBellies and you will too. If you like Broken Social Scene you’ll love The Seabellies new record out in stores on August 20. And with a live show that sees its members swap instruments at will, The Bellies will be your new favourite festival band!
For SeaBellies tour dates hit and everything else ....hit up their Myspace here... www.myspace.com/theseabellies - AAA

THE SEABELLIES – By Limbo Lake (Albert Music/Hub) Sydney-through-Newcastle indie prodigies deliver in spades on long- awaited debut LP
Moving to Sydney in search of inspira- tion/recognition is both a time-honoured Novocastrian tradition (see: Purplene, Firekites) and ultimate band test that The Seabellies have nailed with flying colours. Led by brothers Trent (frontman) and Kyle (guitarist) Grenell, the sextet started back in 2005 and attained considerable clout during the next few years on the strength of their explosive live shows and 2007’s Wave Your Fingers To Make The Winters EP. Last year’s surging Orange X – included on the CD in all its sweeping glory – show- cased the combo’s impressive songwriting growth, which they duly expand and solidi- fy on their maiden full-length. With veteran producer Wayne Connolly at the controls, By Limbo Lake sounds like the first truly great Australian indie-rock record of the current decade. The opening mini-epic Ices (Death & Love) is every bit as gorgeous andwidescreen as Dappled Cities’ Granddance while the most recent single Young Cubs and road-tested tunes Paper Flames and Sleepwell are similarly killer. Trent Grenell’s remarkable voice and the soaring string ar- rangements add to the songs’ melodic rich- ness; there are echoes of The Church’s oce- anic serenity on the wistful 2571 and when the sunny horns appear out of nowhere on the magnificent Trans Ending, earlier single Feel It Leave and the closing Smokestar, The Seabellies better The John Steel Sing- ers at their own game. Summarily fantastic and whimsy-free. - RAVE

Sydney's precocious indie pop darling Seabellies are finally set to release their debut long- player and will tour the country this September/October in celebration. Entitled By Limbo Lake, the record 50 minutes of unbridled anthemic pop goodness (we've had a sneak listen here at RIU and trust us, it's awesome).
Unlike some of their contemporaries, Seabellies haven't had the easiest of times getting to this point. Theirs has been a story of graft and grit, inching their way ever closer to that esteemed prize of the debut album. The past four years has seen Seabellies honing their craft, with many-a subtle divergences and sonic twinges along the way. But now they emerge with By Limbo Lake in hand, ready to take on the world. The first step in their plans for world domination will be a national album launch tour, which hits Adelaide in October. Keep your ears peeled for the soft indie sirens of Seabellies over the next few months. - RIP IT UP

The Seabellies continue to edge their way to greatness. They’re not there yet, but they’re not far away. Through a flurry of singles and a couple of EPs this Sydney collective have demonstrated a thorough understanding of the art of catchiness. Their melodies develop in your head like some sort of musical foetus until fighting it consumes all your energy and you give birth to the words of The Seabellies in an unhinged rendition of their finest work...it’s happened to all of us, right But they’re not quite there yet, and that’s probably because it’s hard to appreciate a band like The Seabellies through individual songs. Enough of this singles business, let’s hear an album already! - RIP IT UP TOP 50

The Seabellies continue to edge their way to greatness. They’re not there yet, but they’re not far away. Through a flurry of singles and a couple of EPs this Sydney collective have demonstrated a thorough understanding of the art of catchiness. Their melodies develop in your head like some sort of musical foetus until fighting it consumes all your energy and you give birth to the words of The Seabellies in an unhinged rendition of their finest work...it’s happened to all of us, right But they’re not quite there yet, and that’s probably because it’s hard to appreciate a band like The Seabellies through individual songs. Enough of this singles business, let’s hear an album already! - RIP IT UP TOP 50

"There aren't enough superlatives to describe these guys show, but with five multi-instrumentalists, they quite literally owned the stage. The band created gorgeous soundscapes and some stunning harmonies that translated just as well live, the crowd were utterly enraptured." - Brag Magazine

Neither ambition nor a sense of wonder comes easily to Australian bands, despite a limitless landscape and a comparative sense of social freedom that should cut the guy ropes of stolid professionalism. But The Seabellies, a six-piece outfit from Sydney, are clearly not going to humour such dictums: their six-track EP is impressive but never daunting, involved but never less than engaging. Vocalist Trent Grenell has an airy, insinuative voice that can be swept up on strings of Hold Off The Night or anchored by the glimmering guitar that illuminates Drain The Lake. For a young band who cover a serious breadth of terrain, Seabellies have an assurance that is both exciting and worrying. Whether by intent or good fortune, these songs will not easily be bettered.

Maybe their strength is derived from numbers. This is sextet as a gentle force, with instrumentalists veering in and out of the narrative. Songs make canny transitions that set your emotions at odd. Songs We Don't Speak Of, for example, opens with keyboard lullabies and layers on the Cinemascope sound, but instead of peaking the song falls into melancholy as Steph Setzs vocals answer Grenells, then surges into triumph with an unexpected coda of biting guitar and tambourine. These progressions are organic, not schematic, and even when you know to expect them they still catch you out. Listening to The Seabellies and fellow travelers like Melbournes Plastic Palace Alice, you understand the true importance of a movement like New Rock it was the scorched earth policy that endured just long enough to burn out expectations and imaginations, leaving the way clear for a subsequent generation of true artists to germinate and flower. Who knows where this will end? - Mess & Noise

Before all six of The Seabellies even stride on stage, there's a mini civilisation constructed at the front of The Troubadour, comprised of three keyboards, multiple drums, five guitars, an electronic sampler, melodica, trumpet, sax, viola, accordion, well over 20 different instruments to feature in the Newcastle band's set. Playing songs from their debut EP, aural comparisons to a jollier Dappled Cities Fly are deserved. However, as all except the drummer continually trade places and musical roles without pausing, the focus is only partly on the tunes, with the streamlined routine looking more like a choreographed travelling festival than a just-starting indie band. When vocal and charismatic frontman Trent Grenell subs onto drums halfway through a song, so the drummer can finish up on trumpet, it's a spectacle to watch; as is the extraordinary transition the Seabellies make to a six-piece drumming troupe. Eclectic indie-rock with great handfuls of pop sensibility is a winner, but add in tonight's inadvertent stage show, and you've got a treasure. - Rave Magazine

They have that ethereal, evanescent quality about them that makes for quintessential, truly timeless pop, in the way that, say The Go-Betweens circa 16 Lovers Lane, very early Genesis or anything by the UK's Blue Nile had. Beautifully crafted melodies tastefully arranged, layers of sound shimmering behind wistful vocals that deliver lyrics at once limpid and dreamy, occasionally contrasted by some vaguely progressive part unobtrusively appearing from nowhere, a truly wonderful musical mystery tour. - Drum Media

There's a big buzz around Newcastle band The Seabellies at the moment and tonights effervescent show proved why. Trent Grenell's an amazingly charasmatic front-man and his band have already developed an impressive setlist, with newbie 'Heart Heart Heart Out' a highlight with a great key-shift, a typically infectious chorus and a nice finish on Roland keys. And the moodier 'Paper Flames' saw Stephanie Selz switch seamlessly between accordian and xylophone. Actually each of the 6 Seabellies played about 5 instruments tonight, the multi-talented scamps. Big things surely beckon... - Beat Magazine Melbourne