Cassie Sutton & Darcy Handley – Terra ‘Feeling Confident’

Posted on August 2, 2019 by Tamara May

Australian pop punk is killing it this year (both on and offshore!), and the next bunch of kids you should definitely keep an eye on is Melbourne five-piece, Terra. Since the release of their Wasted Days EP in 2017, the band have gone through a few line-up changes and have just recently released their brand new single ‘Confidence’ featuring David De La Hoz (of Wither and Belle Haven).

This month, Terra are heading out on the road with Yours Truly and The Dead Love for the Afterglow tour, so we decided to grab frontwoman Cassie Sutton and drummer Darcy Handley to chat about life in Terra, what’s next for these legends and how fucking stoked they are about going on tour with Yours Truly…

You guys have gone through some line-up changes since your last EP, Wasted Days. How confident do you feel in the band now in the band’s abilities?

Cassie: I think we’re stronger now with this lineup, mostly because we worked with Steve Cannatelli (Future Artist Development) on live performance coaching, and that really helped us in upping our game in the band.

Darcy: It was really interesting. He brought out our performance, our live show up, but he also helped us unify our approach to the band. It was a real bonding experience, of why we wanted to be in Terra and what we wanted to do, which was super cool.

Cassie: Yeah, we didn’t really have that with the old lineup. We didn’t even really get to that kind of level. We probably could have, but it was really Steve that helped us get there. We’ve also done more with this lineup. We went on our first tour, and we’re in the process of writing our next release, and so I feel like, we’ve just had more bonding experiences.

Well, hopefully you guys continue to bond and connect because it’s definitely paying off! Especially with your latest single ‘Confidence’, which features David De La Hoz. Tell us how that collab all come about?

Cassie: We had the song written for a while, and I was doing singing lessons with David at the time, and I showed him the song and he just really loved it. I think getting him to feature on the song worked really well with the story and everything because he’s almost like a brother to me, and that really fit in with what the song was about, which is looking up to the people around you.

I gotta say the music video is pretty well done too, and you guys portrayed your roles well. Great acting! What was that whole filming experience like?

Cassie: Thank you! I don’t really pride myself on acting, it was kind of a scary experience, I’m not very good but I’m glad it came across well!

Darcy: With every music video, in Terra and our other band, we’ve done a few music videos but every single time we notice something different each time.

Cassie: It gets easier as well. In the beginning, the first music video Terra ever did, we did a cover of A Thousand Miles (by Vanessa Carlton) and we were so nervous, we definitely took a lot longer for that one and that was just a performance shot video.

And how stoked are you guys to head out on the road with Yours Truly next month?

Cassie/Darcy: OMG yes we are so excited!

Cassie: It’s going to be awesome! We were such fans of the band before we met them…

Darcy: Like embarrassing fans, shh don’t tell them!

Cassie: Then we ended up meeting Teddy, their guitarist, now we’re all good mates and so I think it would have been a cool opportunity anyway, but because we’re all friends it’s going to be the funnest time ever. Our first tour with Storm the Sky was like the funnest time ever and we didn’t know those guys. So I can only imagine that this tour will be even better!

Darcy: It’s one thing to build instant rapport with a new band, but already having a friendship and doing something like this is rad. I was thinking about it last night and couldn’t sleep just thinking about it.

What are you hoping to achieve as a band in the next 6-12 months?

Darcy: Working on new music is our main goal after the tour. Write the best music we’ve ever written. The response to Confidence has been really cool, seeing heaps of people that have been waiting for new music from Terra, since before I was even in the band. We all just want the next release to be miles ahead of Confidence, and I think we’re pretty confident about that.

We’ve got a few shows coming up later on in the year, nothing that we can confirm just yet though. And working on the best music we can.

Well I’m sure I speak on behalf of everyone when I say that I’m pretty fucking stoked for the next phase of Terra! So when you’re writing for the next release, what is Terra’s sound inspired by?

Cassie: Well, we all have really different influences. I’m really into pop music, Sean is really into classic rock, Joey’s the emo kid that just listens to My Chemical Romance.

Darcy: I’m just a pop punk fiend. I kinda go all over the place. I’ve been listening to a lot of heavier music, as I’ve been recording some heavy bands as well and into that stuff, but I’m definitely a pop punk fan.

Cassie: Our bassist listens to prog metal. We listen to completely different things, but we do have that commonality of pop punk. We might actually start a Spotify playlist of a bunch of different stuff that the band listens to while we’re on tour! We’re also into alot of the local bands that are inspiring us at the moment… like Yours Truly and Stand Atlantic. And not-so-local anymore but Tonight Alive.

I think we’re about as excited as you guys are for everything coming up! All the best guys!

Interview by Tamara May (@citylightsTAM)

Catch Terra live on the Afterglow Tour this month!