Cicada is just getting geared up to hit the stage at The Factory Theatre for the semi-finals of the Emergenza Festival, where they plan to lay it all out on the line to get to the finals. And they have some pretty strong things to say about the nature of music and the importance of performing live. From the hilarious anecdote about the band’s name, to the source of their musical inspirations, and their song writing processes, Cicada tells all in this pre-show interview.

CAN YOU INTRODUCE US TO YOUR BAND CICADA? HOW DID THE NAME COME ABOUT?
Cicada is Daniel Kelly on vocals and guitar, Clint Jones on drums, and Steve Palmier on Bass. The name came from something that happened to me when I was a kid actually. I saved a cicada from drowning in my pool, and put it in the sun to bring it back to life. It recovered and I set it free from my balcony. Straight away a bird flew down and ate it. I thought that was a pretty good metaphor for life.

WHERE DO YOU DRAW YOUR MUSICAL INSPIRATION FROM?
We all love the same kind of music but our influences are also all different, which all combine to form our sound. Inspiration usually comes at the most unexpected time. It can be anything. A song, a drum beat, something someone says that starts an idea, nature, an emotion, or a reaction we want from an audience. Our inspiration is constantly evolving, which is the coolest part of it.

YOU'VE RELEASED A FEW DEMO TRACKS SO FAR. CAN YOU TALK TO US ABOUT THOSE?
We did four demo tracks earlier in the year. A friend, Matt Nelson, who was starting up his own recording business offered to record us for free, so we did live tracks in Clint’s bedroom and threw them up for people to listen to for free. Because we made them for free, we wanted people to have them for free. The reaction was awesome and people seemed to really dig the songs. We wish we could have spent more time doing them (as they were all done in a day) but that’s what our debut EP is for. That will be our official release worldwide.

WHAT DOES PERFORMING MEAN TO YOU?
Performing live is everything for us. The way a band plays live is the only way to tell if they are worth their weight as musicians. We love recording, that’s exciting but it’s playing in front of people live that really drives us. If you bring power, emotion and energy to your live performance and show something to people they haven’t seen before, then that’s music and we have done our job.

WHAT WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE FIRST ROUND FOR YOU?
The first round was an awesome experience for us. Seeing people moshing out and singing to our original music was cool and The Metro is just one of Sydney’s great live venues. That and actually getting sound checked properly.

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO BETWEEN GIGS AND WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO PREPARE FOR THE NEXT PHASE OF THE COMPETITION?
Between gigs we are always just jamming and writing new material and adding little things to older songs to make the live show better. For this gig at The Factory Theatre, we pretty much have an entire new set list of songs that people wouldn’t have heard before including one we wrote last night. We haven’t done anything special to prepare for it that we wouldn’t normally do in the garage. Playing through the songs, choosing the set list, making sure we have a good balance of music to give a good cross section of the band. When we play live it’s just like what we do at home. We just go out there and do what we do. It just happens to be that people will be watching.

IN WHAT WAY DO YOU THINK YOU'VE GROWN AS A BAND SINCE YOU FIRST ENROLLED IN THE FESTIVAL?
We haven’t just evolved as a band since the festival. We have been evolving every week since we started doing this. We have a new bass player Steve who is awesome and brings a new dynamic to the band, that’s powerful. We really feel we are a combustible entity now. A band is a living breathing things that’s separate to the sum of its parts. It’s always changing and getting better.

SO HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE EMERGENZA FINALS?
The finals would be cool but that’s not what we are really worried about. The main thing for us is to go out there, play a killer gig and show people why Cicada is a great live band. Everything else will come.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MOST ABOUT THIS ROUND IN THE SEMI-FINALS?
Having never played The Factory Theatre before, we are stoked to get up there. I have heard a lot about it being a great venue and one that we can add to our list. It’s always good to play an Emergenza venue. The organisation is good and it’s all professionally run so we are honored to be part of the semifinals. It should be a lot of fun.

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO ENROLL IN THE FESTIVAL IN THE FIRST PLACE?
After we had played a few gigs as a band I thought it was time for us to start playing some more serious stuff so I threw us in the deep end as a very young band and enrolled. We had to rise to meet the occasion and do justice to The Metro. And I think we did. Ultimately, we would love to tour the world with our music, and if this festival can bring us closer to that, then that’s a good thing.