Premiere: Meet Santa Fe Driving Range and their new song, Paper Walls

Despite only having one song under their belt, it's clear that Santa Fe Driving Range are on the cusp of something special. With their debut single, February's Careless Hands, the five-strong Melbourne group debuted this jangly, guitar-backed pop sound which feels built more-so around strong hooks and this sense of catchiness, with earworming vocals making themselves loud and clear amongst the indie-tuned instrumental that lays around them. They then played Victorian festival institution By The Meadow - known for giving those smaller bands a brilliant leg-up early on in their careers - while today, they follow it up with something just as special.

Paper Walls is their second track and it only solidifies their vision for crafting accessible indie-pop that feels like a gaze into the future. It's half-indie-folk, half-pop, with subtle guitar melodies and even a touch of clarinet swirling amongst vocals that add to the single's lushness, while vocals over the top cut through the instrumental layers underneath with that aforementioned catchiness. It's a touch left-of-centre but it's also an obvious pop song, bridging two cliffs together in a way that's hard to find a comparable to in 2019. They're launching the track at Melbourne's B-EAST on October 4th, but in the meantime, dive into Paper Walls below, and better introduce yourself to Santa Fe Driving Range while you're at it:

Tell us about yourself?

Santa Fe Driving Range is a five-piece band on the verge of having its first birthday. It's the product of a bunch of friends who use to play rock being thrown into a 2.5m by 3m rehearsal shed where the use anything other than the lightest, flimsiest drumsticks would result in us all going deaf. Based in Melbourne’s inner-north, originating from the Surfcoast of Victoria + others.

What’s the vibe music-wise?

We slot neatly into the very vast and accepting world of pop. Pop, except your feet are still sandy from the beach and the guitars jangle a little more like the iconic dollwave of Melbourne. And there’s a clarinet…

It’s simple, even if it doesn’t quite sound like it. It doesn’t take a-million pronouns to tie it all in, instead just a lil-visual representation.

What are your production and writing processes like?

Writing is mostly done by me (Ben), at least the skeleton of most songs is. All our tracks were written in a bunch of different places, for a bunch of different reasons. A lot of it is from a stint in the Netherlands where I was band-less, playing music on a crummy (but equally brilliant) nylon string guitar, while others are spill-over from years of writing music for other projects.

It’s trial by fire for all fresh songs at band practice. The jury (band), fiercer than former master chef judge Matt Preston’s taste buds at 7.30pm on Channel Ten four nights a week. Recording is all done with our main man Zac Barter (Didirri, Life Is Better Blonde, Canary) and our latest songs are being mixed by Sam Swain (RAT!Hammock, KILNS, Josh Cashman) which has been an unreal change.

Can you tell us about your new single, Paper Walls?

Paper Walls is one of the spill-over songs. It was always too nice for a rock band and so here it is, in a pop band. the chorus and lyrics are all new, which tied it all together earlier this year. It’s a big kick up the butt to me in the form of a song, to be a little less hesitant with taking on something new, which perhaps others will resonate with. if not, the girlfriend of our mix engineer (Sam) said she liked it and thought it was real adventure of a track, so there’s that too.

Any tour dates coming up?

YES! August 31st (this weekend) at Winter Wild Festival, Apollo Bay, then October 4th at B EAST with support from Forever Son.

What does the rest of 2019 have in store for you?

We’ll finish up the little EP we’ve been working on arduously. We’ll put that out when we can think of title (the worst part of making music). Thinking this will be early in the new year however.

This is our second single for the year, on the fence as to whether we’ll do a third or just drop the EP. We’ve got a few support shows coming up with some very cool bands before we take this EP on a bit of a tour in summer!

Where can we find more of your music?

Spotify is the easiest go-to now-days or check our Linktree

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