Pricey Ex-The Chats

Pricey: Nothing, not much really.

Breakbone: You just fucking play?

Pricey: Yeah, that's the whole point of it really, just to let go of everything and forget about the world.

Breakbone: What's your approach to songwriting?

Pricey: Be true, tell the truth.

Breakbone: Do you start off with a riff or it just comes to you?

Pricey: Good question, sometimes I have a riff and then the lyric will follow. I don't know, I've been writing a lot of lyrics lately and just telling the truth. I think telling the truth and just telling how your body feels. I don't even know, you don't even know how your body feels sometimes if you just try to explain it in words.

Breakbone: What are your life principles?

Pricey: Principles? Don't have chicks. Don't be a cunt.

George: I want to ask one. How did you write 'Bastards Never Change'? What was the process, anything different?

Pricey: Love that, yeah. So we were on tour with The Screamin' Jets. Paul was in, the bassist in that band, he was a great dude and he let us into his apartment. I showed him the chord progression, and he was like, 'Man, I want to help you work on that.'

We didn't really get a chance to work on it but it was inspired by the Jets tour, it was inspired by those lads. Just the way Paul was in playing every night. It's inspiring and it's cool as shit. So yeah, that song meant a lot to us at the time and it still does.

It was a great journey. We learnt a lot about ourselves, we learnt a lot about being a musician and I think it came out in the song.

George: I'd like to ask, is the photo on the single from the tour?

Pricey: Yeah, it is. The photo is actually in the venue in Richmond, at The Corner.

George: So you supported them all across Australia?

Pricey: Yeah, I think it was like 32 shows or something, over like 6 months.

Pricey: It was a hell of a run and honestly I've done a lot of stuff with the Jets over the season but nothing compares to this one. It was just like, it was just so real. It was just like music, love and just good people and just like, I felt like I was working for a band because I love them.

Breakbone: Holy, what began your entire journey with music?

Pricey: Yeah, my dad, my old man is the dude who's done all of this for me. He just put a guitar in my lap and we just jammed and we played heaps at the pubs growing up. I was playing at this pub with him a few years before the Jets took off. Yeah, we still play together today.

Breakbone: What kind of music do you together?

Pricey: We're doing like duo stuff, like just acoustic guitars playing bluegrass.

Breakbone: Your own stuff you write?

Pricey: Yeah, we do our own stuff but mainly covers. Yeah, like pub gigs. I'd love to write an EP with the old boy and do something like that because he definitely is a massive inspiration to me. We didn't play until like five o'clock yesterday. Also, as for another inspiration, I'd honestly say like, Stevie Ray Vaughan, dude. I just love the shred. I love the shred. It's all over the place.

George: From a journalistic perspective, what bands in Brisbane do you dig? It's dying off a bit Brisbane, what do you think about that? All the bloody venues closing and all that shit, what's your take on it?

Pricey: I'm sorry, I don't really know much about Brisbane.

George: Have you seen any Brisbane bands?

Pricey: There's a lot of good Brisbane bands. There's a lot of good bands everywhere.

George: True.

Pricey: The reality of it is like, people start bands and then they stop. And it's up to you how long you want to do it for.

Breakbone: What are your hobbies? What do you that enriches your life?

Pricey: I like to go to the beach. I like to hang with my mates. I love the bars, I love socialising. I'm into songwriting a lot at the moment. I'm just sort of getting away from the world and just sitting down and trying to be an artist I guess.

Breakbone: What do you think about playing at a bowls club compared to the stadiums and festivals you've played in the past?

Pricey: It makes me feel like I'm a muso again.

Breakbone: Oh yeah, returning to your roots?

Pricey: It's raw, it's cool, it's fun and that's how we all start.

George: Have you been to this place before?

Pricey: Nah, first time here. It's fun. It's fucking sick. I like how open the room is, I like how we've got it sort of now. It should be more of this sort of DIY stuff. Great sound. Best sound I've had at one of my gigs, which is fun.

Fuck the ticketing companies, like, fuck you, cunt. Like, fuck you and let the artists just be the artists. Yeah, that's it. We just want to play music.

Breakbone: Fucken oath. What do you think about your live band? Do you think they rock?

Pricey: I reckon. Feels good. I'm looking forward to playing more gigs and I'm looking forward to going overseas. I want to go overseas again.

Breakbone: What are your plans for the future?

Pricey: I want to go for a warm-up in like NZ, do like a week there, do like four gigs in I think Europe. Just do it for a month. Come back, play here. I just want to tour the world, play music.

Breakbone: Good on ya. You've inspired people like me to stop giving a fuck, and just rock and roll.

Pricey: Yeah, well, you gotta give a fuck, you gotta care about things, there's life and there's like... I don't think not giving a fuck is the right way to say it. It's more like doing things because you want to do them.

George: Being true to yourself.

Pricey: Yeah, and just like telling the truth. I reckon telling the truth, playing truthfully, wearing a heart on your sleeve. Whatever, if someone doesn't like it, it's fine. They shouldn't be saying it if they don't like it. If you've got nothing nice to say, don't say it at all. Music, it's community, it's like mateship and we're all in this together. I think it's that simple.

Breakbone: Yeah, good stuff. I think you really encompass what rock and roll's all about. You're one of my biggest inspirations.

Pricey: Cheers, mate. Hell yeah. Well done.