A new country rock band will preview the original songs from their forthcoming debut album at a gig in Armidale next week.
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With a lead singer who comes from a blues background, a fiddle player who loves rock bands, and a hardcore folk and country fan on the mandolin, The Quick & The Dead was formed by six University of New England students, who all either sing or play music and write songs.
While their influences are varied, they discovered their shared love of playing music while living together last year.
"We all have a history of music, so we naturally just played instruments and experimented," Sophie, a law student and ukulele player explained.
"Then about six months ago we went 'wait a minute, if we all do this thing, why don't we do it together'."
The girls started writing songs together, and in December they recorded an album, titled Dirt Roads, at Beechwood Studios, 15 minutes out of Armidale, with record producer Colin Bale.
"It was so nice to do it in Armidale," guitar player and history student, Charlotte said.
"Colin was absolutely amazing.
"We've been getting little drafts back from him, which has been really exciting to hear it," she said.
Collectively, the band said the group's influences include Johnny Cash, the Dixie Chicks, the current top male artist in the US Luke Combs, as well as Wagons, an alt country band from Melbourne.
"They're all bands who have had a big influence on who we have become as a band," mandolin player Finlay said.
"We're not confined to current country and we're not confined to older country music, or even country in general."
The band's first single will be Shoot First, which they are in the process of shooting a video clip for.
With the Dirt Roads album coming to fruition at the end of last year, the band approached Impies about playing an album launch, which saw them booked to perform on Saturday, February 29.
"We're super excited to get to play a gig in Armidale," Finlay said. "(Especially) for the people in Armidale who have become our fans and who we have connected with.
"We're hoping to play a lot of music that gets people up and dancing and having a good time."
Another local band, Sons of Autumn, will be the opening act for next week's gig at Impies.
The concert starts at 8pm.
- Tickets cost $15 and are available online from The Quick & The Dead's website, thequickandthedead.com.au.