Opening Up

Indecision is the new single from Sydney funkcore roustabouts The SideTracked Fiasco, the latest from their EP, Enter the Motivational Sasquatch. As befits an outfit whose members don body paint and chequered full body suits on stage, the song is simply way too much fun. Interestingly, though, Indecision also represents something of a departure for the band, dealing as it does with personal and introspective matters. Frontman Ryan Miller explains the reasons for the sudden about face, and they're much more brutally honest than anything to do with musical direction.

“Lyrically it's about a bit of a messed up relationship, on both parts, but mostly myself. It's basically apologising, I guess. It probably makes it stand out from the rest of the EP. It's definitely our most mellow track – possibly the most mellow track we've ever recorded. The rest of the EP is much more manic and quite a bit heavier.”

While this was obviously the primary motivation behind the release of the track, Miller admits that his band also wanted to avoid being pigeonholed. “We also wanted to bring something out that showed another side of what we do. This is the third song we've released this year, and the other two were quite fast paced and manic. It was kind of a toss-up between this one and Squeeze The Monkey, which is a much heavier song. We just thought we'd show another side, yeah.”

But The SideTracked Fiasco are already a band that can and do surprise in the space of a song, with their music containing elements of funk, thrash, reggae and hip-hop. When Miller touches on the genealogy and philosophical underpinnings of the band, all becomes clear. “I first started the band in the garage with my brother. I grew up listening to punk and metal, basically. In the last sort of 12 years I've gotten right into hip hop. But I didn't want to make something that was either this or that. It's like 'Let's play some music. If we want to play some metal, we'll play some metal. If we want to play some reggae we'll play some reggae'. We're not trying to fit into any mould or scene or anything like that. We just play the music we feel like playing. It just makes it so much more fun for us as well.”

Talking of fun and philosophy, TSF have just completed a seventeen-show tour and are about to hit the road to do it all over again. “[Touring's] really fun,” Miller says. “We get to meet a whole lot of great bands and great people. We just want to get out on the road and tour as much as we can. What could be better? We take not taking ourselves seriously very seriously. We want to get people dancing and see them go crazy. Yeah, it's just awesome fun.”

Miller and his band are beginning their latest tour in Melbourne, and in talking about this he reveals a surprising fact that should have local punters proud of their town's status wanting to right some wrongs. “Melbourne's been a little quiet for us, in all honesty,” he says. “It hasn't been our busiest town by any means. We're hoping to change that because we've had some really good nights out in Melbourne just drinking and socialising – it's an awesome place – but as far as shows go, yeah, a little bit quiet. Part of it might be that there's such a good music scene there. Maybe there's a lot of competition, I don't know? You can go out and see really awesome bands seven nights a week in Melbourne. We'll have to see what we can do to change all that.”

The Sidetracked Fiasco will be playing the following shows: