A psych-garage six-piece out of Brisbane, Nice Biscuit have been on a steady rise over the last couple of years. Their polished neo-psychedelic sound has been sending the masses into a gorgeous sun-kissed daze and capturing the attention of such iconic acts as the Allah-Las, Moses Gun Collective, The Growlers, Jen Cloher and The Murlocs. It’s also landed them a deal with Inertia imprint, Break Even Recordings, a newly formed label project that aims to explore some of the more diverse, progressive and interesting sounds floating around. And for the next two nights here in Sydney, Nice Biscuit are opening for BJM. “Ben got into music because of The Brian Jonestown Massacre,” singer Grace tells me. So, this has to be kind of mind-blowing then? “It’s very cool,” Ben admits, “I’ve seen them play a bunch of times so it’s nice to be playing with them.” Not a bad feat for a band who played their first gig just two years prior in a Mullumbimby farmhouse with an 80’s Roto-tom drum kit and a bunch of mates.

So you’ve been making some great strides since getting together just two years ago. Tell me what some of the highlights have been so far?

Ben: Playing with the Brian Jonestown Massacre is a pretty big deal, obviously. This is our biggest show and the one I think we’re most excited about. Playing with the Growlers and the Allah-Las as well. Getting to play at PANAMA in Tassie earlier in the year was pretty special. We’d never been to Tasmania before and we got to see some great bands in a beautiful spot. Selling out shows outside of Brisbane on that tour was a nice little treat too. Also, it’s always satisfying to just release new music.

I think I read that you sold out that whole tour?

Nick: We sold out Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney was a free show but it was packed.

Ben: PANAMA festival sold out as well but I wouldn’t attribute that to us (laughs). Well, us or Grizzly Bear, take your pick.

Grace: That was really awesome because there was a whole different demographic getting into it.

Ben: It’s really nice playing to not the same kind of people.

You’ve also been on support duties for some solid psych acts like The Growlers, the Allah-Las, The Murlocs, and you’re opening for The Brian Jonestown Massacre tonight and tomorrow in Sydney. They’re basically pioneers – are you super pumped? How do you prep for a gig like this?

Ben: We’re very pumped, a bit nervous, mostly excited. I think we just prepare like we would any show though. It’s just about landing on a set that we feel comfortable with and that we think flows well from song to song. We like to present something that flows like that rather than just a collection of disjointed songs. We prefer to play sets that sounds really comfortable to us and not try to change it to suit what an audience might like. If we’re not comfortable with it, chances are the audience won’t be, no matter what they like listening to.

You released ‘Captain’ in February and recently followed that up with ‘Fairfield of Dreams’. How have people been responding?

Ben: The response seems good, it’s kind of hard to gauge sometimes. People have been saying some really nice stuff and they’ve been getting a fair bit of airplay, particularly in Brisbane. We’ve been playing to bigger crowds all around the place who seem to know those songs so I guess it’s going pretty well. People are buying the 7″ which is encouraging.

‘Captain’ was also the first release from Break Even Recordings. It must be exciting to be a part of such an amazing project. How did your involvement come about?

Nick: We won the Triple J Unearthed competition at Bigsound last year and then when Ryan [Saar] from Break Even heard us, we had a meeting with him.

Grace: He shot straight to number one fan. He’s watched every show.

Ben: He’s the most enthusiastic person on the planet.

Billie: Number one fan/ dad.

Nick: But yeah, they’ve been nothing but supportive.

Billie: We’ve met with all four of them and they all just bring so much to the table.

Grace: We’re all around the same age, we’re into the same music, they know what we want.

Ben: It felt like they actually wanted to help us rather than take advantage which is always the fear. They felt good from the get-go.

I read elsewhere that you recorded the single out in a rural part of South East QLD. Do you do all of your recording there?

Grace: Everything we’ve released that’s on Spotify we recorded there. That’s our mate Ali Richardson from Zefereli and The Cairos. He owns the farm and studio there and we go out for a weekend at a time and just frolick and record. It’s really fun.

What is it about recording in that idyllic environment that adds to your sound compared to where you’re based in Brisbane?

Ben: I think it’s just nice to leave the city when we can. Not that Brisbane’s unproductive at all but we can just take more time to relax at the farm, go for walks and look at some stars, drink some tea. It’s just a nicer environment to take our time in and try to get things sounding right. Generally, we all like the country better than the city.

How have you found the experience of traversing your material from the studio to a live format? Is it a challenge with six of you?

Ben: Pretty well all of the songs are worked out live by all of us sitting in a room before we try to record them. It’s probably more of a challenge going the other way for us at the moment. We know what works and what sounds good to us live so it’s usually more about trying to take that and being able to communicate it properly in a recording rather than the other way round.

As a twin femme fronted band, I’m keen to know what female lead bands you’re listening to right now.

Ben: We all like Warpaint, Aldous Harding, Julia Jacklin, Gabriella Cohen, Amyl and the Sniffers, Cate Le Bon, the Double Happiness. They’re all doing some really cool stuff and making some nice tunes.

Are you working on anything at the moment? What’s in the pipeline?

Grace: We want to release an album this year. We’re taking a bit of a break from as many live shows for now.

Nick: Yeah, we need to record. We’ve got about 8 songs done at the moment.

Billie: We want to tour later in the year, maybe around September, and hopefully do some music videos soon.

On that note, are there any directors or visual artists who you’re keen to collaborate with?

Ben: We’re always open to collaboration with people, particularly on visuals. I think we would like to have a more visual live show, work on some projections or art to accompany the performances. We tend to do a lot of stuff ourselves. Grace designed the cover of our 7” and does a lot of our posters. Previously we’ve had our mate Ben Adams from Freak Street do t-shirt designs for us which have all turned out rad. His stuff is really cool, everyone should check it out.

You can check out Freak Street here and buy a copy of Nice Biscuit’s 7″ via Bandcamp.

Photography © Dani Hansen follow her on Instagram.