Bradie Webb – Short Stack “That ‘Popular Niche Band’ Back For A Revival”

Posted on October 24, 2023 by ghaskins13

In 2009, Short Stack took over the Australian music scene with their captivatingly haunting aura and luscious straightened locks. Fast forward to 2023, mazing through the hiatus, breaks, and disruptions, Stack is back and better than ever.

With new music, a new sound, and an appearance at Good Things Festival closing off the year, the three-piece band has proven that age and time hold no limits on flourishing creativity, positive communication, and the home fostered in Australian music culture.

We spoke to Bradie Webb about all things post-revival!

The main thing I really wanted to start with, and I think the main thing on everyone’s lips, is your upcoming performance at Good Things Festival. How does it feel to be on one of Australia’s largest growing alternative festivals? Considering the journey back you’ve made last and this year, how does it feel to be at this stage again?

I think we’ve always wanted to become a festival band, and we’re definitely not at the top of everyone’s choice, I think, out of all of Australia at the moment. But we’re on our way. And I think that’s just what’s most exciting, is that everyone’s seeing this new Short Stack that are a little bit older and wiser and maybe slightly less annoying, with more sensible haircuts.

In some ways, I think Short Stack has always been that pivotal Australian cultural moment. I remember seeing you guys on Channel [V] and stuff like that. Do you consider yourselves, on the down low, a bit of that pinnacle Australian kind of niche emo band?

Yeah. It’s funny because we’ve always felt like a popular niche band, which is really weird to say, but now I’m older and I appreciate the new things that we did for the Australian music industry. I didn’t really see it as a novelty at the time, but now I look back and we were the first to do a lot of things, so I’m really proud of that and I’m proud of what we’re still able to do.

Absolutely! I think when you guys did come back, it was a lot of fanfare for a lot of people, a bit jarring for everyone. I remember going to some of the first shows back and obviously, that was post-COVID. I know for my one, we were still in seats! It was very different. What was that like, coming back to it, being in seats and this whole completely different environment?

Firstly, thank you for coming! So we had at least one fan there. The rest are paid actors. But, yeah, the seat thing, I mean, everyone feels like this with COVID right? It was such a weird emotional time and we’re all trying to be normal again and we’re back to semi-normal now, so we take it for granted. But the seat thing was weird because I don’t really care too much as I’m behind a drum kit at the back of the stage and I’m just doing my thing, but I know that the other two really don’t. Like it because there’s that awkwardness. And it was just another reminder that we all want to wear masks and get back to normal as quickly as possible.

For you, everyone was just taking a step in your shoes in the seats for a bit. Didn’t hurt too much! You had those shows that were seated and then you did another little run, and now you’re doing all these upcoming appearances. Has being in, maybe not so much for you, but do you reckon for the other guys as well, being in these rooms with that alive and thrashing atmosphere, do you think that really resolidified that people wanted to come and see you again? They wanted this energy from way back when again.

Yeah. It’s funny, because I feel like even though we’re obviously a little bit older and we’ve got some extra pains now that we’re in our thirties and we have children, we still feel as energetic as ever with our music and our live performance. And I think even the people that are still enjoying what we’re doing, they feel as energetic as ever and they’re kind of reverting back to their teenage years. At first, I was really self-conscious about that, and I didn’t want to be this old dad band who’s, like, doing a reunion tour or something. And now I realize it’s not really like that at all. And it’s okay to just want to revert back to the days where things were a little bit easier. And yeah, I’m really glad we’re able to bring that to people and give them that feeling again.

I think there’s a comfort to be found in nostalgia but like you said, it’s definitely not a reunion thing! You can see that you guys have really reevaluated what you’re doing and revamped yourselves! What was the most grappling change for you to deal with upon your rearrival back into everything?

I think having a family makes things more tricky. So we’re definitely not as keen to go overseas and sleep on floors for lots of weeks at a time. But it’s more about just making sure we’re communicating with each other so that we don’t break up every week. And I think creatively, we still care way too much about every note on our singles and every note that we’re playing live. So as much as we care, more than ever, we have to let some things go and just try and get along. Otherwise there will be no Short Stack and everyone will cry.

I agree! Even on that note, you’ve come back at a time where it’s very important for bands to be social media present and a lot of bands getting forced to know and do TikTok reels and do stuff they aren’t really familiar with. How have you guys been dealing with that?

Shaun is definitely the king of content as I think Andy and I, we turn into little turtles and we would choose to hide absolutely everything about our lives until tour so that’s hard for me. But I enjoy some content sometimes when it’s natural, I just can’t really do the fake stuff. But Shaun’s really good at pushing us to do things and coming up with ideas. I think it was his idea to put out the fake photos of ourselves that were edited, and I was like, I think people are going to presume these photos are real, dude. And he was like, no, everyone can obviously tell it’s fake. And then there’s like, millions of views later and everyone thinks that we’ve aged horribly.

He did you dirty with those.

Honestly, it was funny, though.

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It was. I got a good laugh. I guess there’s all this whirlwind of change and differences. But what from your earlier career have you taken with you the most? How has that shaped you now?

I guess it’s a good question, because what we went through when we were teenagers was not natural. And it would scare me if my son went through a similar thing because I would be worried at how it might affect his head and his mental health. So, yeah, I look back now and I definitely took it for granted sometimes. It was silly then and it’s still kind of silly now how much we blew up. But I think I’m just so thankful to make any kind of living out of music because I know how hard it is now that I’m older, and I’m just really grateful to be in the position I’m in now. And looking back, I’m just so grateful that we ever got anywhere and we had people wanting to come to our shows.

Do you think that’s made you a bit cautious and overprotective of younger Australian bands coming through the scene? Considering what you know, from back then.

We had some disgustingly bad management in the early days. They wronged us very badly. But that would be my concern. If anyone talks to me about signing things, I’m like, well, you really have to take that seriously. But I think my advice to other younger musicians would just be make sure you’re having fun and you’re not taking it too seriously. It just won’t last if you do.

Yeah, absolutely. I guess with the whole not taking it too seriously thing, did you guys have some expectations set for when you came back? And do you think you’ve exceeded them or what’s it been like, considering what you had in your head and now what you’ve seen?

We always doubt anyone will come to a show or listen to our new single. So the fact that more than three people came to a show or listened to a single, we’re impressed. But I think our expectations were, let’s not look ridiculous doing this, because we feel like 60 years old. So I think we’ve beat our expectations and now it’s just about hopefully keeping up the quality. I think as soon as it starts to sound horrible and look horrible, we won’t do it, but, yeah, so far it’s working.

I find it interesting how you keep reflecting on all this self-thought, like, oh, no one’s going to come, and all that, but I think, personally, for me, I can only anticipate how the crowd at Good Things Festival is going to go off during songs like ‘Planets’ and ‘Sway, Sway Baby’. I think they are pivotal Australian tunes. What’s it like for you, seeing the crossover of this younger generation and then the older generation intertwining to enjoy the music? What is that like for you?

It’s a little bit weird. Things have changed so quickly. Again, sounds so old. But, yeah, I don’t know. I think at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether you’re my son’s age, who is five or you’re 58, I think people still like live music and they like it to be mostly live, it has to be pretty real. And so it doesn’t matter what kind of genre of music you’re playing. If we’re at Good Things and we’re having fun and it sounds real, I think it doesn’t matter what age they are, I think they’re going to like it. But, yeah, we’re at this weird point where there are some ten year olds at our concerts and there’s also mums of 30 something year olds who have been listening for a very long time.

Do you guys ever have a similar situation to these bands who’ve had hits that they’re so sick of playing? Do you have any songs that you’re sick of playing at this stage?

Oh, I was thinking about this the other day. It’s one of the best things about our band, because our songs are so sincere and we’ve been playing them for so long. Like, I think it’s coming up to nearly half my life I have been playing these songs. Oh, my gosh, yeah. Such a long time. And they’re so fun. They’re just boppy, quick, dancy songs. So it’s not like we get to a certain song and I’m like, I hate ‘Are You Afraid Of The Dark’ or something. They’re all just so energetic and fun. So we all have heaps of fun doing them.

Well, that’s good to hear, because I am keen to hear some of the throwbacks along with the new stuff at these shows and it’s always a really good time! Heading back to Good Things Festival, there are a few bands on the lineup who are far older than you, so maybe that’s a bit of a comforting thing. But who are you most excited to see alongside you on that? Do you have anyone you’re going to sneak out of the side wings to see?

I think Fall Out Boy is a must, as they have influenced us three so much. And also, Patrick Stump does the theme song for ‘Spidey and his Amazing Friends’. My son will love the fact that I’m seeing them. So, yeah, Fall Out Boy and Limp Bizkit, obviously. And then Eskimo Joe I’ve always loved I’ve never actually seen them live. And Bullet For My Valentine would be another one.

Yeah, good answers! And there’s a really good mix of Australian people and international people, so it’s good to see a good mix there! As well as Good Things, you have some more regional shows coming up and regional as in, like, you’re playing at Penrith, which is down the road from me, which is insane. But what can we expect from those shows?

You can expect that we’re trying to mix it up as much as possible! We sold a lot of tickets last year, which we’re so grateful for, so a lot of people saw our tour last year, so we’re trying to make it as different as possible this year. Andy put up a post the other day about whether I should do a drum solo and pretty much everyone demanded that I do this Mario drum solo I did 13 years ago. So I think I’ll be doing that. So that’s exciting.

I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be there cheering you on! With your live performances as well, you used to have such a persona. Is it weird that not coming on with the eyeliner or the heavy makeup or the straightened hair? Is it weird dropping that identity a little bit and just coming on as yourselves?

It feels weird. One of the only good things our very old manager used to say was, like, “you should never turn up to a gig in clothes and wear the same clothes on stage”. You should feel like you kind of become a stage person. And I completely agree with that. I think that’s very good, simple advice. So we like to dress up a little bit, but I think it would be more weird if we were getting the eyeliner out. Not that we probably should, but I just would feel a little bit faking it at this point. I think it’s cool to be a little bit more natural now.

Toning it down a little bit, but everyone knows deep down what it was and what it will always be! With all the throwback talk, you also have released a new album, a new single just dropped as well. But with so many years off, do you guys have tons of tunes in the vault? How is the release process of those going?

I have a huge folder of crappy songs that we couldn’t make sound good, so it’s always worth going back. But I don’t think we ever go back to a song. There’s maybe like one or two that we’ve scrapped and then gone back to and made it work. But normally we just chuck them down in logic and never see them again. So it’s normally Shaun sending through a horrible iPhone recording and then I add a lot more to it and it’s normally always new ideas that we work on.

And what was the process of releasing the very first single like? Coming back, how nerve-wracking was that for you guys?

It was only scary because we liked I think it was ‘Burn You Down’, we released first. We liked it so much and I’m still so proud of that song. And it was just terrifying if everyone was like… no. So, yeah, that was the only scary thing. If everyone thought it was really average. But thankfully everyone was pretty excited.

I think it had a really good mix of this old style and then showcasing who you are now, and I think that’s why it took off so much. I know I had it on repeat for so long and I think it just felt like a really concrete moment of you guys coming back. To date, what’s been your favorite body of Short Stack work so far?

I’m most proud of our last album. I think that’s a really good album and it was a little bit tricky to make during COVID Lockdowns as well. So I think it could have been a little bit disastrous with all the breaks in between songs and there was a lot of pickups from home over zoom calls. Everyone obviously went through it. But yeah, I think that whole album I’m just really proud of.

Interview by Georgia Haskins @ghaskins2002

Catch the Stack on Tour!