Rounding out their east coast tour, Sun Run (Sydney/Warrang) are playing a stacked gig this Saturday with Wifecult, Apparitions, Moth Trap and Work? at the Black Box Theatre in Namba. Apparitions frontman Cam Gillard caught up with Dave, Dylan, Jacob and Camilo to discuss the band’s adventures thus far and what we can expect from the Eora supergroup. As Cam puts it, “Consider this an introduction to a band that are going to burn their shadow deep into our hearts”…

CAM: I have loved all the past bands that have led up to Sun Run, but please tell us how Sun Run came to be, and what are you doing differently this time around?

Camilo: When you meet like-minded people who have a shared love of music, but perhaps more importantly, shared philosophies of how to approach the creative process, you tend to gravitate towards each other. That’s what happened to us. We all belonged to the same community, and we just naturally came together after our bands played together a couple of times. Dave took charge of management for our bands Oslow and Yo Bag, three of us lived together for a while and because of shared interests outside of music, we spent a lot of time together.

After all that, it’s really as simple as the four of us hanging out one day when Dylan and Jacob mentioned they were keen to start a new project, and although the plan was put on hold by covid, the four of us found solace in each other’s digital company during some of the more brutal lockdowns of late-2021, swapping demos and ideas online until we were able to come out of isolation and begin rehearsing in 2022, which is when it began to feel real.

The biggest difference with this project compared to previous efforts is that all four of us have been the main songwriter in other bands, which has helped us engender a positive, collaborative process. As a result, we’ve been able to maintain momentum and write heaps of songs.

CAM: What two bands or artists do you want to see debate each other?

Camilo: Dylan says Neil Young and Eric Clapton.

CAM: How was your recent American tour and what was the best food spot you hit up?

Camilo: It was a real privilege being able to visit a different country and play music, having only been a band for a short while. We made the decision because our good friend Max Stern from Signals Midwest suggested we might be able to pull a few shows together including helping Signals celebrate their 15-year anniversary. He was instrumental in us playing awesome shows in Brooklyn, Cleveland and Philadelphia, and his parents put us up in their family home when we visited Cleveland just after thanksgiving. We really couldn’t have done any of it without him and his network of friends and family.

We took a really great group over there and ended up spending a lot of time exploring as well as playing shows and recording in Philadelphia with Ian Farmer and Zack Robbins from Slaughter Beach, Dog / Modern Baseball / Superheaven. They have this incredible studio in Philly called The Metal Shop where we spent a few days recording the three-track ‘Crossing’ we put out in April.

That experience more than any reminded us that the most important aspect of this band is to build an environment where we can be creative together without fear of judgement and it’s allowed us to really define what we want to do as a project – in short, to continue writing and recording music without any genre or style inhibitions. Our next batch has a post-hardcore flavour, but we have so many songs that don’t fit that mould we hope to put out at some point.

Food-wise it’s unanimous that Fishtown Diner in Philly is top tier – if you ever find yourself there, make sure you order the home fries extra crispy. Special shoutout to Tio’s in Brooklyn for their delicious Latin-American fare and Primo Hoagies.

CAM: Who is the loudest snorer in the band? Feel free to spill the dirt on each other’s worst habits 

Camilo: Dylan, Jacob and I have lived together, so we’re mostly used to the chaos, but it’s agreed that Dave is a loud, stinky disaster, and I admit I suffer from the spread – I’ve had belongings shipped home from three different locations so far this tour…

CAM: You seem like a band that would enjoy the sports, I know Camilo is into Soccer, how about the rest of y’all?

Camilo: Dave is a big baseball fan who lives and dies by the Sydney Blue Sox alongside his precious Yankees, while Jake and I are massive football fans on opposite sides of the Sydney divide (the mighty Sydney FC and the W*nderers), though we are united by our mutual love for Arsenal Football Club.

My love for Australian football runs deep and nothing made me happier that to see it kick off like it did when we hosted the World Cup last year, especially with Matildas having such a great run in the tournament. Seeing Kerr score that screamer at Stadium Australia will stay with me forever despite the result. One of my favourite memories of all time was seeing Australia lift the Asian Cup at that same stadium in 2015. What a night.

CAM: Favourite show you have ever played or been too?

DAVE: Emperor X @ PBC is definitely up there. As is Slaughter Beach, Dog in NYC.

DYLAN: Show Me the Body at Oxford Art Factory. Live show was impeccable, felt like the entire room was on stage with them.

JACOB: Touring with Joyce Manor and playing with Title Fight at Factory Theatre.

CAMILO: Our first show in the states was in Brooklyn in a basement below a cocktail bar – one of the most surreal experiences of my life because I had just gotten a tattoo, my adrenaline was surging, and yet it felt like we were playing just another show at home, but we were literally in Brooklyn, New York. What. It’s down to the DIY community there who were so welcoming; Max, Ruby and Andy from Friendship Quest Booking are the realest. 

Was also lucky enough to play with Title Fight at the Annandale Hotel as part of their Floral Green tour and later (with a different band) RVIVR at Black Wire Records.

In terms of attending the list is endless, but some shows that hold a very special place in my heart are:

-Carpathian’s last show at Wyndham Youth Centre

-Ceremony at Black Wire Records

-Basement at Yours & Owls/Rad bar

-Fiddlehead at Crowbar

-Have Heart at St Ives Youth Centre

-To The North/Ted Danson With Wolves at the Roxbury Hotel

-Oslow/Oxen/Seahorse Divorce at Phoenix in Canberra

CAM: You are finishing your east coast tour in Queensland, how has the rest of the tour been, and how do you feel about the current state of the Australian DIY music community?

CAMILO: The tour has been a reminder that this country has some incredible bands, venues and people running things. There are some great bands coming through all over the place, not just in Eora, and there are people dedicated to keeping the fire burning all over the place.

DYLAN: It’s kicking off man! So good seeing so many old friends and new younger bands making it happen. We’ve been lucky enough to be a small part of it over the past ten years or so.

Name five bands you would like to see or play with?

DYLAN: Nails, Full of Hell, DIIV, Neil Young, Elliott Smith

JACOB: Fiddlehead, Dinosaur Jr

CAMILO: Zulu, Gouge Away, Show Me the Body, Weezer (1992-1994), F’tang

CAM: Hailing from Eora/Sydney, how do you make ends meet in this current economic crisis, and do you have any sage words of advice for our politicians?

DYLAN: It’s shitty man. Working too much for not enough only to spend more time with your colleagues than the people you love. Hanging with these guys and doing the band makes it much easier though. Not doing it for a period of years makes this band all the sweeter.

CAMILO: We’re all lucky enough to be employed so that helps, although we obviously pay far too much rent for the spaces we live in. Not sure any of us are really qualified enough to speak any sage words to our politicians but perhaps stop creating and executing policies that make it impossible for people fleeing persecution and war to gain entry/visas and stop selling weapons to countries that are committing acts of genocide. I’m sure we’re preaching to the choir here, but those seem like a good place to start.

CAM: What does the future hold for Sun Run?

DYLAN: More songs! Records! Shows! Hopefully being able to give back to the community in a real way. There’s some real special shit happening in Aus at the moment, and it would be mad to support that.

CAMILO: We’ve been working on an album since we returned from the states in December and hoping to finish that off this year. Once that’s done, I guess we’ll just move onto the next thing and try to keep the momentum going. Would love to visit our friends Carb on Carb in NZ soon as well as do more shows around the country. More than anything, like Dylan said, we want to try and give back to the community that has supported us so well for so long, so we’ll keep doing what we can to put on shows, play shows, and hopefully provide a platform for people to express themselves.

Sun Run perform live this Saturday 15 June at 6pm with Wifecult, Apparitions, Moth Trap and Work? at the Black Box Theatre, 80 Howard Street, Nambour.

Presale tickets are $17 or $20 on the door – book here

No one turned away for lack of funds.

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