Luca Brasi caught between ambition and responsibilities

Certainly not musically or creatively, but in terms of life’s responsibilities, which inevitably creep up on most people. 

Three weeks ago the Tasmanian punk heroes released the best record of their four-album career, Stay.

It’s an anthemic and melodic dose of Australian punk, influenced by reaching your 30s and facing the responsibilities generally attached to that milestone like family, career and mortgages.

Stay debuted at No.10 on the ARIA charts two weeks ago, Luca Brasi’s best performance, but there’s no plans for months of heavy national and international touring. 

Despite Luca Brasi’s progression into the top echelon of Australian rock bands, all four members have careers outside of music. 

Drummer Danny Flood and guitarist Patrick Marshall also have young daughters.

This means there’s no plans to relocate from Hobart to Melbourne or Sydney, which would provide a more advantageous base for working in the music industry. Instead, they’re more selective in booking tours.

“We were talking a little while ago and [frontman] Tyler [Richardson] said he feels like we left it a bit late,” Flood said while looking at a snowcapped Mount Wellington from his Hobart home.

 “If we were in our early 20s you could go and tour for a few months and it wouldn’t matter, but things are a bit different now.

“We’ve always tried to focus on Australia being our market for the last few years because that’s what we can obviously maintain without getting away from home.”

That’s not to say Luca Brasi aren’t ambitious.

Since forming in 2009 in the north-east Tasmanian town of St Helens, the four-piece have steadily built their profile through the albums Extended Family (2011), By A Thread (2014) and If This Is All We’re Going To Be (2016) to lead the latest Australian punk revival with acts like the Smith Street Band and The Hard Aches.

Flood, who holds the very un-rock’n’roll jobs of a personal trainer and masseur, said Luca Brasi mightn’t be leaving their day jobs in the quest of global domination anytime soon, but they have clear plans to continue producing better albums.

“It took us a while to find our sound and what we wanted to do, and I think this one and finishing the recording we were really happy where it was at,” he said.

“You never know until it finally comes out, but it feels like a progression and where we’ve been heading for a while and we’ve got the formula right.

“I still think we’ve got better music ahead of us, but this has put us in the right direction.”

Catch Luca Brasi, alongside The Jungle Giants, Ali Barter, Kingswood, Tired Lion and Trophy Eyes at Hope Estate’s FKA Festival on October 13.