Hunt for recognition
Perth indie-grunge darlings Tired Lion promise to be on their best behaviour when they hit Singapore next week.
The exciting local quartet will play their first overseas shows in the Lion City, so no swearing, no chewing gum and no littering - just rock'n'roll.
"They want me to write out all the lyrics to every song and no swearing," 22-year-old singer/guitarist Sophie Hopes says.
The band will play five gigs in four days during Music Matters, arguably South- East Asia's premier music industry event. Tired Lion and fellow Perth rockers the Love Junkies are the only WA bands among about a dozen or so Aussie acts heading to Singapore.
Fifty local acts applied for the trip, part of the Singapore WA Music Exchange that saw three Singaporean bands play Perth during the WAM Festival in November.
Hopes says Tired Lion, currently recording their second EP with local producer Dave Parkin, look forward to the exposure in front of industry audiences.
"You're hoping to play in the right place and time and someone picks you up," she says. "There are no expectations, really, but it's just cool to get your music out to other people instead of just playing the same old venues in Perth to the same people."
Tired Lion do not have a manager or record label. Last year, they released the excellent All We Didn't Know EP on Birds of Tokyo drummer Adam Weston's label and distribution service, Firestarter.
Hopes, who writes most of the songs with lead guitarist Matt Tanner, says they will continue looking until they find the right team but are tiring of handling management duties themselves.
"I don't really mind doing it because I'm a bit of a control freak," she says. "It's good at the time but afterwards I'm like 'Oh man, I could've been writing music all day, not doing emails'."
Tired Lion were polishing up their live show at local rehearsal space the Hen House, before heading to Singapore.
Hopes is also in the process of writing songs that may end up on their debut album. "I've been writing out all my song ideas on a whiteboard today," she explains. "You've got to keep the ball rolling."
Despite building a stockpile of new tunes, Hopes says this year is too soon for an album.
"We'd rather get another EP out there and (then) we can really focus on doing what bigger bands do when they write an album. They bring in 30 or 40 songs and they go from there."
Tired Lion take inspiration from Smashing Pumpkins and Violent Soho, according to the singer, who really packs a punch at gigs.
"I guess people see a girl singer," Hopes laughs, "they don't expect me to be rocking out and have a couple of fuzz pedals on stage."
