Recent Grammy award winners Punch Brothers have their sights set for Down Under as their Aussie tour looms in July.
The band have had a steady and loyal following since they first came onto the bluegrass and folk scene in 2006 but were thrust even further into the spotlight when they became Grammy winners in February this year.
The band’s banjoist Noam Pikelny admits that taking out the title for the Best Folk Album with All Ashore at the 2019 awards was an unexpected win.
“We were completely blindsighted by the victory; we were fairly certain that that was not going to happen,” says Pikelny. “We were completely honoured to be nominated and we were totally expecting that Joan Baez was going to win. It was first the feeling of shock and then joy to discover that we actually won the Grammy.”
It’s all too fitting the band would return to the place the title track of the album began to first take shape – during a soundcheck in Sydney on their 2016 tour.
“If we’ve been doing an album release tour for around a year and a half, as we get super comfortable with our material, the soundchecks almost become writing sessions,” Pikelny notes.
During this particular soundcheck, Pikelny plucked the starting notes to ‘All Ashore’, and the rest of the band jumped on board to create a harmony.
“There’s something in the DNA of all of our material that it came to fruition with everyone in the room,” the banjoist explains. Such togetherness is getting harder as they evolve away from carefree mid 20 years olds towards time-poor parents with responsibilities. This evolution has translated in their music as well.
“I think on the instrumental side of things, how things have changed lyrically is that a lot of the songs back in the early days reflect the lifestyle and the experiences of young single people in their mid 20s: fancy free. Nowadays we’re grappling with things that are much heavier, being parents and also grappling with how the world has changed,” Pikelny explains.
No matter what comes their way, nothing will interrupt the band’s creative appetite and their desire to make new music.
“One of the reasons this band continues to pursue making music with each other is that we have this common background coming out of the bluegrass and folk music world,” Pikelny says.
That interest in all walks of musical life means that the more Punch Brothers write and make music, the harder they are to put into a musical box.
“The idea of genre is kind of lost on us at this point,” Pikelny muses. ‘It would be unfair to say that one genre has influenced us more than any other genre. We’re just trying to make good music.”
Hitting selected Australian capital cities live next month, not only will the band be able to spend quality time with each other, but also enjoy the fruits of Australia – which Pikelny tells us the band is pretty excited about.
“We have such fond memories from our last time in Australia,” he says. “The shows were so enjoyable, the audiences were great and we really made the most of the days before making it to the concert halls with really great food, coffee and wine. And so, everything about Australia is really kind of alluring to us.”
Punch Brothers come to Arts Centre Melbourne on Tuesday July 16. Tickets and more information can be found at the venue website.
