Despite some major miscommunications in the promotion leading up to their live gig this weekend, Melbourne band Chasing Alice remains totally cool. They’re all about positivity and the opportunity to showcase their fine rock and roll tunes on the amazing stage that’s waiting for them tomorrow night—that is, The Espy in Melbourne—where they’re set to battle it out in a line up of six incredible local bands in round one of Emergenza Festival Australia. Check out what they had to say to us before the show.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME CHASING ALICE?
I'd love to say it was some cool thing like chasing Alice in Wonderland down that rabbit hole to find the truth of reality behind the lies given to us. But the fact is an earlier line up of the band just thought it sounded cool and the name stuck. After a few line up changes we reviewed the name and thought that perhaps the idea of following Alice down the hole perhaps had more significance to the current line up so we stuck with that.

WHO PLAYS WHAT IN THE BAND AND WHAT KEEPS YOU INSPIRED TO PLAY MUSIC TOGETHER?
Jamie Tobias on vox/bass, Darryl Jeremy on guitars, Julian Kershaw on drums/backing vox. We love the excitement that comes with writing a new song together, even down to the fundamentals of just expressing a new idea to each other. A great story starts with the simplest idea and we love the journey that writing together takes us on.

IF YOU COULD DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND IN THREE WORDS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
Melodic. Harmonic. Iconic! Haha, oh shit, the haha doesn't count as a fourth word, does it? Just ignore that one. Cheers.

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR MAJOR MUSICAL INFLUENCES?
People keep saying we sound 90's. Well fuck it then, let's go with that if we have to. Pearl Jam's variety of dynamic is a large inspiration to Jamie. As is Aussie icons Something for Kate and INXS. Darryl is all about effect and takes inspiration from The Edge (U2) and the style of The Temper Trap. Julian is a solid-state drummer and takes inspiration from John Bonham; pretty much Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin and U2 would be close. With a little Kings of Leon mixed in?

WHAT'S THE CRAZIEST THING YOU'VE DONE TOGETHER AS A BAND?
If we told you we'd have to kill you. As it is we're banned from three major cities and The Bush Telegraph is ready to roll should we ever appear in East Gippsland again. Haha.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO MOST ABOUT YOUR SHOW AT THE ESPY?
Just getting out there and releasing some energy upon the crowd. We like to keep things moving.

WITH OTHER BATTLE OF THE BANDS COMPETITIONS AROUND, WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE EMERGENZA?
Actually I think they chose us. We try to make our mantra all about being available to do whatever, whenever. They asked us to send something in and we were very keen to oblige. We want to play, we want you to enjoy our music and in time we want to keep seeing familiar faces come back again and again to our gigs.

For more details on the show at The Espy, August 2nd, click here.