Sunshine Coast duo, Collidastate have been teasing their debut EP with recent singles, ‘Out Of Time’ and ‘Judge’, and now the collection of tracks that is ‘Resilience’ has arrived.

Collidastate have established themselves to be reviving the Australian Rock Songwriter sound; a sound that blends our folk and country roots, with storytelling and some rock grunt and grit. ‘Resilience’ is authentic; from the organic drum tones that show no sign of over-cooking, to the bright and deep acoustic guitar, clean lead breaks, and James Padley singing his absolute heart out. The key to this debut EP is simplicity. The songs are strong, and Collidastate have found a knack for seeping in familiar lines that give enough hints of songs past to give some nostalgia, without coming across as forceful.

Previous singles ‘Out Of Time’ and ‘Judge’ remain standouts on this EP, along with the pub-rock ready sing along, ‘Gun Shy’, all together encapsulating that Adult Contemporary Rock feel.

The Sunshine Coast-meets-Adelaide duo of James Padley and drummer/producer Graham Nisbet have been working on the project in, out, and around the lockdowns we experienced, having brought together a DIY ethos, having learned production on-the-fly to bring ‘Resilience’ to life at Graham’s home studio on the Sunshine Coast.

Graham explains how the EP was brought together.

“James and I just got together and had a jam one day and thought ‘Hey that didn’t sound terrible, why don’t we try recording it?’ I’ve always wanted to get some recording equipment to muck around with”.

Using a background in telecommunications engineering, Graham gave the project a huge head-start, creating rough mixes that lay the groundwork for their sound, using a mix of raw vocals, slightly distorted acoustic guitar, and other layers depending on the feel of the song during production.

James’s songwriting and lyrics were an honest reflection of a difficult journey over the past few years. Lyrically, each song tells a different tale – of heartbreak, loss, anger, resolution – emotional threads stitched together to tell a complete story. And prior to the self-recording process, James had only toyed with the idea of being the main vocalist.

As James tells it,

“My brothers bought me a few lessons with a vocal coach as a Christmas gift, and it went pretty well, and that feedback gave me the confidence to go for it.”

The boys had other mentorship along the way, initially inspired by listening to The Self-Recording Band Podcast, a resource for independent musicians curated by sound engineers Benedikt Hain (Germany) and Malcolm Flood (Canada). The boys got to know Benedikt as part of his online coaching program for self-recording artists https://theselfrecordingband.com/.

Benedikt is a mixing engineer, bass player and punk-rock musician with a prolific catalogue (Outback Recordings, https://benedikthain.com/) and he would eventually add his professional touch to the Resilience EP as mixing/mastering engineer.

As James says,

“Benedikt really listened to our vision, and his technical skills are amazing. We loved what he did”.

Benedikt’s impact is evident in all the songs, particularly in the sparkling pop of Brave Face Baby, the raw punch of Gun Shy, and the dark menace of Judge. His technical skills aside, his punk sensibility shines through in the way he emphasised the low end, refined the drum tracks, and kept the vocal chains simple.

On working with the boys on this project, Benedikt says,

“I loved every second of it! From the Zoom calls, discussing their vision, through helping them optimise their already existing recordings, all the way to mixing and mastering their songs, I had an absolute blast working with Graham and James! They are amazing songwriters and great musicians, as well as open-minded and straightforward communicators. I could immediately feel the special vibe and energy that came from their friendship and personal stories and I knew that if they could inject that into their songs in a way that others can feel it, too, then they would create a killer EP. And they did.”

The Resilience EP by Collidastate is the result of creative minds working together with a DIY ethos. At the end of the day, the music and lyrics had to speak for themselves, and the songs are nothing if not an authentic, heart-on-the-sleeve reflection of the boys’ journey through the ups and downs of the past few years, and their close friendship through it all.

You can stream the entire ‘Resilience’ EP now via all platforms.