Stand Atlantic

Stand Atlantic (formerly known as What It's Worth) are an up-and-coming band from Sydney quickly capturing local listeners attention. Having recently come off a tour with New Zealand's Maybe Rave, the band has released a new single called 'Breakaway' and are currently planning the release of their debut EP later this year. Lead singer Bonnie Fraser recently took some time out to chat with us.

An easy way to kick things off, give us five words to describe Stand Atlantic for anyone that’s not familiar with the band?

Ambitious

Quirky

Easy-going

Friendly

(Always) Hungry

Stand Atlantic is in some ways both old and new - Before 2014, you guys performed together as What It’s Worth. Tell us a bit about how that transition came about?

Well, the only reason we chose that name in the first place was because we were booking a show and needed a name ASAP, and What It's Worth was the only one we could agree on. After the first EP, What It's Worth just wasn't suiting the direction we started to head in musically, and we wanted something a bit more mature that represented our sound a bit more. Plus, when you typed in What It's Worth on YouTube all that came up was the song by Buffalo Springfield! CLASSIC song, but it made it difficult for us to be found (laughs).

What’s gone down for the band since that transition?

Quite a lot actually. The first tour we did as Stand Atlantic was with NZ band, Maybe Rave, which was our first international support so that was fun! We have released a brand new single called BREAKAWAY along with a fan-made lyric video for it. We've also had some cool support slots come our way recently, namely Short Stack, which is unreal.

Less than a month ago you guys released your debut single as Stand Atlantic, ‘Breakaway.’ Now I’m sure that’s not the only song you’ve got, so what is it that made you choose ‘Breakaway’ over any other songs you guys have?

We thought it would be a cool little upbeat single to push out first. It was actually the first song we wrote since the last EP so it worked out pretty well. It's also an accurate taste of what's to come.

How have you found the response for that song so far?

People have been really digging it from what I've heard, which is awesome. We're so glad people are into it and hope they like what's next too.

Is ‘Breakaway’ more or less the first taste of an EP or an album, or some kind of a future release you guys are planning?

It is definitely a taste of the next EP. We are experimenting with some new styles and sounds at the moment too, which will show an exciting progression from this track on the next release.

Songwriting is interesting in that every band seems to have their own personal way of attacking it. How do you guys go about it?

The first EP was written mainly by Arthur and myself, but we have had a few line-up changes since then and now it is definitely a collaborative process with everyone in the band. Whether the song starts out as just a guitar riff one of us comes up with, or a chorus I've written, we will work off that and structure the instrumental side of the song all together, then I'll go off and figure out the lyrics and melody.

Are there any artists that you think have a particular influence over the music you write?

Personally, my favourite band of all time is Blink-182, so they are no doubt a huge influence on me at least. Almost every pop/punk band says they were influenced a lot by Green Day, Blink-182, All Time Low and New Found Glory, but it's true! We grew up listening to all those bands (and more) so it's inevitable that they would play a big part in influencing our musical style.

As you said, you guys have already had the chance to take your live show on tour with Maybe Rave from New Zealand a couple of months ago. How did you guys find those shows?

It was really cool, lots of fun meeting and hanging out with everyone in that band. They are so talented and lovely. We really enjoyed it and would love to tour with them again in the near future.

You’ve also got some pretty impressive supports coming up with bands like Masketta Fall and Short Stack, as well as a national tour with Double Lined Minority. Which of those are you most looking forward to and why?

We are so excited for all those shows! But we are particularly looking forward to the Short Stack show. For a couple of reasons. A few of us in the band really loved Short Stack back in the day so it's really awesome to be able to support them on their comeback tour. We also wrote a little song about wanting to support them and put it on YouTube, asking our fans to comment on their new music video for us and it worked. We were not expecting the awesome response we got and we are so grateful for their support and for Short Stack having us on. And of course, it's a sold out show at the Metro Theatre, how could we not be excited?!

There’s an absolutely huge amount of local talent in Australia’s music scene. What would you say sets Stand Atlantic apart from all of the rest?

There are tonnes of hardworking and talented bands in the local scene who are all trying to be a little different so it can be hard at times trying to stick out from the rest. I suppose on a superficial level, having a female vocalist who also plays guitar isn't that common so it may give us a bit of an edge. But the music is the main thing. We try to stray from the average and over-used pop/punk, pop/rock sound, we are quite riff-based and add our own bit of flavour, but in the end we just write music that we love to write and that we would listen to ourselves. I guess you'd have to listen to us and judge for yourself.

I might just give you a few quick ones to finish up - what have been some of your favourite albums released so far in 2014?

The new A Day To Remember album, Common Courtesy [released 2013] is awesome. We Are The In Crowd's new album Weird Kids is really cool too, and I've just recently hopped onto the Neck Deep bandwagon so I've been loving their Wishful Thinking album fas well.

If you could tour with any band in Australia, who would it be, and why?

I'm not sure if the rest of the band would agree but I'd love to tour with P!nk or Miley Cyrus. (laughs).

If you could have any musician perform a guest spot on a Stand Atlantic song, who would it be and why?

Josh Franceschi from You Me At Six. His voice is just so emotive and soothing - straight up dreamboat! It would just be so good.

What does the rest of 2014 hold for you guys?

Really hoping to get a new EP out, and obviously more shows and tours.

https://www.facebook.com/StandAtlantic