Boorloo/Perth six-piece Calico City released their debut EP Second In Line recently. We loved this six track alt rock meets reggae grooves inspired record so we had a few questions for the band about their journey so far.
This is your debut EP. Can you tell us the story of Calico City so far?
We formed in high school so we’ve really grown into our friendship first and then became Calico City. We’ve been gigging around since 2023 here and there but didn’t start putting out music until about a year ago with our debut single Ghost! From there we released out next two singles Back in the Before and Gotta Go to now releasing our debut EP! We absolutely cannot believe that we’ve finally put out our first big project, we were so grateful for the love and support we received on our first few tracks so we quickly got around to releasing more music for our listeners!
Six people is quite a lot to have in a band. How do you navigate ensuring everyone gets their say about things? And is it difficult getting all six people to agree sometimes?
It is definitely a big number to work with which is both a great and conflicting thing when it comes to making certain creative decisions. Sometimes it can seem like too many brains all chiming in at once but I think over the past year we’ve figured out how to work around each other and evenly distribute our tasks. Also at the end of the day we all want to hear each other’s ideas, so we welcome anything and everything!
Back to the EP, can you tell me more about the key themes or issues ‘Second In Line’ covers?
Second in Line is about the different ways a friendship can grow or deteriorate. Each song is meant to take you down those different avenues and tells the stories of our personal experiences with our own friendships
And can you talk a little about the writing process for the EP?
We started writing the EP towards the end of high school and going into the years straight after graduating. I think this was a really pivotal time for us especially concerning friendships as we were all navigating who we were outside of school and how that affected our relationships. Ghost and Marigold & Cosmos were the first two songs we wrote in Year 12 which came about with our guitarist Max just playing around. He presented them both to us and we jammed it out for a bit, wrote up some lyrics and kind of just kept it in our corner for a bit. We didn’t record Ghost until a whole 2 years later, a long time in between for sure but definitely beneficial as the song improved immensely over time.
Who are some of your musical influences or inspirations?
We look up to so many Aussie acts like Ocean Alley and South Summit especially! We love the reggae vibes which we really took a lot of inspiration from in our early stages of writing and developing our sound!
Is there a track on Second In Line that you’re most proud of and why?
I would personally choose How Could You Say It since it’s something a little out of our comfort zone in terms of sound. Writing this song was a very intimate experience where both vocalists had to really reflect and share their personal experiences. The whole creative process of this track, from writing and recording to listening to the final mix was an experience that brought so much closure whilst being heartwrenching at the same time. We really hope we can stir up a similar listening experience for our audience with this track!
And finally, I always end every interview with this question. Who are a few up and coming artists you’re enjoying who you think deserve a bit more love?
We are absolutely loving Navy June and Dune Cartel recently!! They’ve both got quite different sounds to us which makes their music so fun to listen to. Especially loving Navy June’s track ‘routine avoidance’ and Dune Cartel’s track ‘Fall Down’.