CMW Artist Profile: Aussie Avant-Pop act, Ghyti
Throughout Canadian Music Week, Riffyou.com will be introducing you to some of this year’s amazing lineup. Today, here’s a look at Ghyti, an Avant-pop act from Australia. Catch them on Thursday May 7 at Johnny Jackson (8pm) and Friday, May 8 at The Horseshoe Tavern (2:15pm.)
Band Name: Ghyti
Band Members: Matthew Hill (vocals, bass), Nicholas Pipe (guitar),Luke Eygenraam (guitars, backing vocals – filling in on tour for Sam Henderson), and Travis Duke (drums).
Years Active: 4
City of Origin: Adelaide, South Australia
Latest Release:
Fluorescent Lights (EP, released October 2014.)
Who are you and what do you do?
“I am Matt. I sing and play bass guitar in Ghyti, a four-piece rock band from Adelaide. We’ve been described as Avant-pop, which is as good a description as any.”
In 20 words or less, how would you describe yourself/your band?
“Ghyti plays memorably catchy alternative music, with a touch of melancholy and menace. We also wear good shirts.”
Why should people care about your band?
“Everybody should care about everybody else. That’s just good advice. More specifically, we have written a good many of your new favourite songs, and we aren’t bad looking – especially Travis – so music fans really should get around that.”
If someone comes to your show at CMW, what could they expect to see?
“They could expect to see feats of human endurance performed in a shallow pool of whipped cream, but they would probably be disappointed. It is infinitely more sensible to expect a set of quirky guitar songs to be stuck in your head, placed there by four charming Australians. Feats of human endurance aren’t out of the question, of course.”
How vital is CMW to a band in your position?
“It is pretty important. We have done okay getting our music out to audiences in Australia, but with so many bands around, it is a bigger challenge to tell people internationally who we are. So something like CMW is a great chance to show off our stuff to people who are keen to find new sounds, especially since it is focusing on Australia this year.”
What do you hope to achieve at CMW?
“We always hope to entertain people, as that is ultimately our job. If we do that well, other things can follow. Generally speaking, we’re all pretty rubbish at networking and shaking hands, but we’re always keen to meet good people and to get in touch with bands who would be cool to work with. So, meeting some people like that would be great, especially if it means we will be able to play to even more people in the future.”
Lots of CMW shows will be attended by music industry professionals – how does knowing that impact the way you approach these performances?
“It’s a great opportunity, and we hope whoever sees us likes what we do, but we’ll play for whoever is there instead of thinking about who they are. We’ll approach it like we normally do, which works because every gig is worth playing well. But if ‘music industry professionals’ were to be interested, it is better to have that if the crowd likes rather than because we winked at the important people.”
How much sleep do you anticipate having during CMW?
“We would anticipate an average of 91 hours per person, over the course of the 13 days we are in Toronto. Or 364 Sleep-Hours-In-Total. Whether, in actual fact, that sleep is distributed equally between the four of us, remains to be seen.”
During your stay, where will you and your band be sleeping, showering, or taking groupies?
“We are yet to decide which of those activities will be the focus of our down time. Neglecting the wrong ones probably makes the others unlikely anyway. All offers are considered carefully, but let’s be honest, the place with the best shower pressure probably wins.”
At CMW we will mostly consume…
“Salted peanuts. We went shopping for provisions when we first arrived and Nick wanted unsalted peanuts, but inadvertently bought a giant box of salted ones. So now the rest of us have to eat them. Hey, you couldn’t make up crazy rock stories like that!”
CMW for us will be a failure if…
“All our showcases are cancelled and/or any of us contract the disease Rinderpest, which would be especially disappointing as it was completely eradicated five years ago. In reality, being able to play to people on the other side of the world is an achievement, so complete cancellation is really all there is.”
CMW for us will be a success if…
“We come away having entertained new audiences, with the opportunity to do it again somewhere soon. What we really want is for Canadians to make some room in their hearts for Ghyti and say, ‘Hey Ghyti, come on in. Sit down by the fire, and have a cup of tea.’ We’d say, ‘Thank you Canadians, we will. Just a little milk, thanks. But no sugar. Hell, we’re not philistines.’”
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