FRAN Keaney describes his band Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever as a "little burning project."
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That's an understatement. The Melbourne indie-rock five-piece have caught fire in recent years through the release of their impressive EP French Press (2017) and acclaimed debut album Hope Downs (2018) through the iconic US label Sub Pop (Nirvana, The Shins).
It's seen Rolling Blackouts C.F play Coachella, receive glowing reviews in US taste-master Pitchfork and tour North America and Europe extensively.
The buzz has only continued to grow around the band with the release of their second album Sideways To New Italy last week.
It's been an incredible turnaround for an act that was a glorified hobby band for years, that Keaney says was "honestly pretty lazy."
Keaney (vocals, rhythm guitar), his cousin Joe White (vocals, lead guitar) and Tom Russo (vocals, lead guitar) first played together in 2009 when they formed the band Sports Club. It would eventually morph into Rolling Blackouts C.F when Russo's brother Joe Russo (bass) and Marcel Tussie (drums) joined in 2013.
"We'd play a show every six months or so and someone might be travelling and then we'd get to together for a practice every three weeks," Keaney says. "We did that for years and years just chipping away at songs and the band.
"Then when we put out the first EP [Talk Tight in 2015] it started to get a bit of radio play and people were coming to the shows and then we got a record deal. We've never taken it for granted, as honestly a bit of luck happens with bands. We had a bit of luck, so let's make the most of it."
At the heart of Rolling Blackouts C.F is the songwriting trio of Keaney, White and Tom Russo, who provide their own distinct voices to the band's jangly guitar sound.
On Hope Downs the individual songwriters work-shopped their compositions with each other, but on Sideways To New Italy it was even more collaborative.
"It's always been very collaborative, but this time we were determinedly so," Keaney says.
"We consciously didn't overwrite the songs, then we took them into the band room and ripped ideas apart and stuck things on other things and totally changed the rhythm of the song until it felt good and had our own chemistry finger-printed all over it.
"They're the most exciting songs we've done in the past, so we wanted to really harness that on this album."
There was also a common theme emanating through the songs the three respective writers were developing; that of dislocation.
Two solid years of touring overseas had left the band longing for home, family and friends and an environment to anchor themselves.
"We talk about the themes of the songs," Keaney says. "It's not like we all write in quarantine and come back and hear for the first time the lyrics someone is going to sing.
"We're always talking about the worlds in which the songs live and the ideas for the songs."
All members of Rolling Blackouts C.F maintain jobs outside music, which has become a complicated juggling act as their international touring commitments increased prior to COVID-19.
However, Keaney has no desire to quit work to become a full-time musician.
"It's never been something that's entered the realm of possibility for us," he says. "I don't think we necessarily yearn for it. There's pros and cons, but there's something healthy about not having it as something you rely on for a livelihood.
"Business and art aren't great mixes, I don't think. Not to denigrate the whole music industry. But personally if you're trying to write and there's any sense of commercial viability of it that can really corrupt what you're trying to write.
"That thankfully, for better or worse, has never been an issue for us. To an extent I think it's better to pay your rent some other way and work on this little burning project."
The coronavirus pandemic means the touring options for Sideways To New Italy are limited. The band are hopeful of touring Australia later this year.
In the meantime, Rolling Blackouts C.F are making do with performing with Stella Donnelly at an empty MCG for online series The State Of Music.
"[It] was a bizarre experience." Keaney says. "My sister said we probably hold some record attendance at the MCG for the lowest amount of people. You've got to start somewhere."
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
