Ocean Alley are a big deal.

The numbers don’t lie: the biggest Like A Version by an Aussie artist in 2018, the #5 most played artist on triple j and #2 in the listener album poll. With those kinds of figures, Ocean Alley were always going to perform well in the Hottest 100.

However, few could’ve predicted that a band whose profile was more buzzing than booming three years ago would come through with three songs in the Top 20 of the countdown. Well, anyone besides diehards of the band’s J Award nom’d second album Chiaruscuro. And there are a lot.

Skip YouTube Video FireFox NVDA users - To access the following content, press 'M' to enter the iFrame.

But why did ‘Confidence’ - rather than ‘Knees’, 'Happy Sad’, or the band’s Like A Version – take out #1?

For one, it had a head-start. Premiered on triple j on 4 February and released a month ahead of Chiaroscuro, ‘Confidence’ capitalised upon the band’s reputation as one of Sydney’s finest live bands, but more importantly it had mass appeal and lasting power.

‘Confidence’ ties together the greasy swagger of funk, the sexy simmer of soul, the scenery of summer at the beach, and the rhythmic force and attitude of rock music. None of these elements are groundbreaking, but it’s offered in a package that’s dead simple to understand and appreciate.

It’s a song that crossed a lot of boundaries, appearing across many ballots, regardless of their voters’ musical tastes. A no-nonsense jam with sleazy wah-wah pedal that’s easy to pick up, but much, much harder to put down.

The track is also the focal point of the kind of online exposure that money can’t buy, including Facebook meme groups (we see you SultanaPosting), plugs from internet celebs the Dolan Twins, and One Directioner Louis Tomlinson tweeted that ‘Confidence’ was a “banger”. As a consequence, baby, the YouTube comments for ‘Confidence’ (at 2 million views and counting) are flooded with ‘Louis sent me here’.

Skip YouTube Video FireFox NVDA users - To access the following content, press 'M' to enter the iFrame.



Thanks to Ocean Alley’s unrelenting commitment to the road (they sold over 25,000 tickets to their Chiaroscuro album tour in May last year), it’s also an anthem that likely evokes strong memories of great nights out with your mates, heading to gigs or bouncing shoulder-to-shoulder at a festival.

That ‘feel-good’ vibe goes hand-in-hand with the appeal of Ocean Alley as a band. Five sun-bleached blondes and their dreadlocked stud singer, looking and sounding like they’ve surfed right off the Northern Beaches they hail from and into your earholes.

The region has certainly bred its share of music successes (INXS, Midnight Oil, Courtney Barnett, and former Hottest 100 topper Flume, most notably) but Ocean Alley have said that making music wasn’t a planned career path so much as an adjacent hobby – Mona Vale kids who jammed together, just as they collectively hit the beach, went surfing, fishing, getting out on the yacht with some drinks and soaking up a tan without a care in the world. (Pretty much what you see in the music video for ‘Knees’ – shot by long-term visual collaborator Tyler Bell of The Sauce).

Subsequently, Ocean Alley make the kind of soundtrack that goes so well with those activities.

The Sound

Ocean Alley’s retro sound might not have stood out in any other decade, but in 2018, when rock music has fallen out of fashion in favour of hip hop, electronic, and pop sounds, ‘Confidence’ sets itself apart by drawing from decades past.

Sure, Aussie rock bands aren’t exactly a rarity these days, but Ocean Alley manage to stand out from their peers. They’re far more chill than Gang of Youths, with a sound that throws back further than DMA’S, and while there’s fan overlap with Skegss, Hockey Dad, DZ Deathrays, Sticky Fingers, Kingswood, and The Rubens, you couldn’t confidently say they share the same sonic DNA.

‘Confidence’ is a two-guitar, organs and grooves assault that’s instantly familiar to an older generation raised on the kinds of artists Ocean Alley used to cover – Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, The Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers. But for a current generation of listeners, they’re probably experiencing these kinds of slick sounds for the first time.

The stacked harmonies, the buttery bass, lingering guitar melodies - it’s all stuff that late ‘70s soul and funk bands were doing so well; tricks that ‘80s soft rock lords like Toto, Foreigner, and Chicago learned to mimic and make into radio-friendly power ballads.

It’s this era that Ocean Alley, consciously or not, are drawing from as much as the ‘psychedelic reggae’ tag that’s followed them around. It wasn’t for nothing they used Like A Version as an opportunity to do an irony-free version of Player’s 1977 hit ‘Baby Come Back’ – a perfect fit.

Skip YouTube Video FireFox NVDA users - To access the following content, press 'M' to enter the iFrame.

The Come-Up

Much like their retro sound, Ocean Alley have earned their success the old-fashioned way. There was a grassroots groundswell happening long before that One Direction tweet or them becoming a go-to festival booking. It’s the hard work they’ve been putting in for years that most haven’t seen that’s got them where they are, playing every show they could and working on their craft until the positive word-of-mouth became too good to ignore.

‘Confidence’ is probably the first Hottest 100 #1 to come from six mates who still rehearse in their sharehouse living room – itself an upgrade from the shed they used to cram themselves into back in 2011.

“We started in a garage before we had any of our own original songs,” keys-playing-vocalist Lachlan Galbraith told Richard Kingsmill on triple j’s 2018.

Those early days saw Lach, his brother Mitch Galbraith (guitar), Angus Goodwin (lead guitar), Tom O’Brien (drums), Nic Blom (bass) and frontman Baden Donegal shacking up and playing “sloppy covers” of classic rock, reggae, and roots acts until they hit upon their own groove-based, melting pot style.

“I think that’s where the chemistry came because we gelled on a close, intimate level and from there, we got along so well… We just liked playing music, we liked playing instruments together and creating something. The base thing of it all, we were enjoying building something from scratch.”

Funny thing is, there’s thousands of bands like Ocean Alley that come and go – high school hobbyists that shred together. The key difference is where others realise they don’t have the motivation or commitment for a band, Ocean Alley wouldn’t let external commitments distract from their passion for music. Not even Baden Donegal’s promising career as a professional rugby player. (A former full back for the Warringah Rats who even reached first grade!)

Following their first paid gig in 2012 (at their local, the Mona Vale Hotel), the band played everywhere they could. Those years of gigging would pay off – by the end of 2017 the sextet had become a highly-regarded live act that had toured New Zealand, Europe, and played their first sold out tour of Australia – all on their own steam.

Skip Instagram Post FireFox NVDA users - To access the following content, press 'M' to enter the iFrame.

2018 brought Stateside opportunities – playing 28 shows across 40 days in the US and Canada in May/June – and bigger festival bookings, like Groovin The Moo, Falls Festival, and Sydney City Limits.

The lasting power of ‘Confidence’ was proven in July, where it was one of the biggest singalongs from Ocean Alley’s Splendour In The Grass set. Approaching the GW McLennan stage, you could hear fans bellowing along before you could see the bodies spilling nearly 30 metres out of the tent. As we wrote at the time: “It’s unheard of for an act to command this level of interest so fast. A higher billing or a main stage slot is definitely the next wave for Ocean Alley to catch.”

There’s a Party Up The Back: Ocean Alley and The Jungle Giants now own Splendour’s G.W. McLennan Tent Ocean Alley and The Jungle Giants might as well sign a co-tenancy agreement on the G.W. McLennan Tent, because they now are more or less its legal owners and proprietors.

It's all about Confidence, baby

Ocean Alley made their Hottest 100 debut last year with their atmospheric hangover epic ‘The Comedown’, coming in at #38. The song’s success took them to an even wider audience, paving the way for ‘Confidence’.

“We knew we were on to something when we were writing that one,” Mitch Galbraith told The Herald last year. “It was different to a lot of our stuff we’d done up to that point. It felt cool for us.”

Skip YouTube Video FireFox NVDA users - To access the following content, press 'M' to enter the iFrame.

‘Confidence’ marks the point where the band levelled up in the studio and strengthened their songwriting muscles. You can hear the evolution from the playful roots-reggae of ‘Yellow Mellow’ (from the 2013 EP of the same name) and the stylish step-up from 2016 debut album Lost Tropics. Where their older work sounded better live, the more structured and dynamic songs of Chiaroscuro work just as well on a stereo as they do on stage.

Produced with Callum Howell - who’s worked with the band since their second EP, 2015’s In Purple – ‘Confidence’ has the band’s stickiest groove yet, with funkier swagger in its step thanks to some greasy wah-wah pedal and octave-hopping bass.

The guitars complement rather than crowd each other, the chords punched through and embellished with small licks and piano runs. The bass and drums offer a solid, unfussy foundation to support Baden Donegal - a singer with natural charisma who injects some powerful soul.

It’s a total earworm that needs little more than a single spin to work its magic on you. From the riffs to the lyrics, its simplicity is its greatest strength. Relatable without being specific, forcefully memorable yet nonchalant in attitude. And damn if it doesn’t sink in with Ocean Alley’s conviction and delivery.

You don’t need time for it to grow on you or hit up Genius.com for some deeper meaning. You only need read the words…

‘All that I know now/It’s all about confidence, baby’

…and you’re hearing the song on loop in your head. It’s all there, as infectious the first play as it is on the hundredth.

Check out the full Hottest 100 list here. Like Ocean Alley? Unearthed has handpicked five more arists you'll love.