One-On-One With The Triffid’s 2023 QLD Album Of The Year Nominees

The Triffid’s hotly anticipated QLD Album Of The Year celebration is almost upon us – the 2023 winner will be crowned at a special event going down at the iconic Meanjin/Brisbane venue on Tuesday November 2.

Free to attend, the ceremony will see the winning album splayed across The Triffid’s coveted ‘Hero Wall’ (joining other local legends like The Go-Betweens, Regurgitator, Violent Soho and Powderfinger). The winner will also receive a marketing package from The Music valued at $2,500, plus a rehearsal day in The Triffid Live Room.

Public voting is open now – head here to make your voice count – with ballots being taken and counted until 5pm on Friday October 27. There are six acts up for this year’s QLD Album Of The Year title: Hope D (in the running with her stellar debut album, Clash Of The Substance), Beddy Rays (with their self-titled effort), The Butterfly Effect (IV), Cub Sport (Jesus At The Gay Bar), Felivand (Ties) and Full Flower Moon Band (Diesel Forever).

Ahead of the big night, we caught up with all six nominees to hear their takes on the most vital moments in music history, their own musical tastes, and their tastes in general. Read on to see what they all had to say, then head here to learn more about The Triffid’s 2023 QLD Album Of The Year celebrations.

What artist or musician, dead or alive, would you want to have the Splendour experience with?

Hope D: King Princess – she would know who to see and what to do. But also Hozier, because I assume he’d know the same but in a chiller state.

Beddy Rays: The Stones would be cool to cruise with in their prime, but someone fun to chill out with would be Jack Black from Tenacious D! He would be a bloody laugh.

The Butterfly Effect: Bowie or Hendrix.

Cub Sport: Sam from Cub Sport and Mallrat... Preferably both alive.

Felivand: I’m not sure if this question means attending Splendour together or performing alongside them, so I feel like my answer that would work for both would be Mac Miller. I imagine he’d be so fun to attend shows with and also incredible to perform alongside.

Full Flower Moon Band: This is a huge question – firstly, I love the question because I’m going to focus on the ‘dead musician’ bit. If we’re bringing an artist that’s dead back to life, there’s a few things involved. Firstly, are they going back to their timeline with memories of the experience? Or is it more of a revival from the afterlife? I’m going to focus on the afterlife scenario – assuming you’d get them back at the point from which they died, right? So with that in mind, I’m not going to take Elvis, ‘cause I think he’d be a bit of a diva. I think I’d take Jimi Hendrix ‘cause he would be chill, and I don’t want to be with someone that needs a lot of babying. Like if we brought Kurt Cobain back, there’s a lot of baggage involved. Plus Jimi has been to Woodstock.

Looking back on the album you’ve been nominated for, what’s your personal favourite thing about it?

Hope D: I love that it’s lighthearted, although the songs still mean so much to me. It’s a collection of songs I’ve been playing for over five years, so another thing I love is that they’re all together on this album – and I am so glad there are fun interludes on it too!

Beddy Rays: There’s a lot of things. Probably the thing I like the most about it is that it’s an honest record that means a lot to us. It’s pretty cool to play it around the world – Dune Rats took us on tour just as we came out with the album and we got to take it overseas.

The Butterfly Effect: The intro (IV). One of the best pieces of music we've crafted together.

Cub Sport: I love how much it slaps but it’s also really beautiful and comforting.

Felivand: I think how dynamic it is and that it carries so many different sides to me and my musicality, and in those sonic and lyrical dynamics I can feel and revisit who I was at that point in time.

Full Flower Moon Band: The song Hurt Nobody – I think it’s the clearest-written song on the album and translates best to a live show in my opinion. And it is the centre of gravity for all of those songs, for me.

What are three songs you’d include on the soundtrack of your life?

Hope D: The SpongeBob theme song, Ceilings by Lizzy McAlpine and Liquor Store by Remi Wolf.

Beddy Rays: Why Don’t You Get A Job by The Offspring – that was the first song I used to crank at my cousin’s house when I was a little kid. What’s My Scene by Hoodoo Gurus. And the classic that got me into guitar – Basket Case by Green Day.

The Butterfly Effect: Heroes by David Bowie, Nutshell by Alice In Chains, and the Pavarotti version of Nessun Dorma.

Cub Sport: Solo by Frank Ocean – Blonde came out just after Sam and I got together and it feels like it became our album. Solo is our fave [track from Blonde] and it was our first dance song. We gave each other matching Solo tattoos, too. Everytime by Britney Spears – I love Britney so much and this is my all-time fave. And This Must Be The Place by Talking Heads – this song always reminds me of parties with my friends in Brisbane. It also played at our wedding when Sam and I walked back down the aisle at the end of the ceremony.

Felivand: Like A Tattoo by Sade – this was one of my earliest memories of music as a child and is one of those songs I know every lyric, dip and turn to. It reminds me of my family and my internal world as a child. ADULTHOOD by Jon Batiste – This song is just so me and I can’t explain why. And Better Off by Ariana Grande – I come back to this song every year and it brings me back to myself and my sense of independence. There’s something so special in it that feels so accepting.

Full Flower Moon Band: Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin, Four Seasons by Vivaldi, and Juicy by Doja Cat.

If your hometown was a food, what food would it be?

Hope D: The most layered burger that is almost inedible because of its girth. And it’s also available in vegan. And it’s two-for-one on Monday nights and always 30 percent off on EatClub. It doesn’t come with fries, though.

Beddy Rays: We always go out in the tinnie to chuck mud crab pots out, so I reckon it’s good old Redland Bay mud crabs.

The Butterfly Effect: A pineapple!

Cub Sport: Pawpaw.

Felivand: Brisbane would be a fresh sandwich. Convenient, simple and homey, with so much potential to be as abundant as you make it.

Full Flower Moon Band: I grew up in Gympie, so it’s the Bunya nut. It’s seasonal, hard to crack open and hard to cook, but nourishing.

What pop culture moment do you think about too often?

Hope D: Bread Gang interviewing two lit girls in Melbourne (I think) and one of them saying, “Ye ye ye spaghetti bolognaise.” Either that or that scene from that show where that woman tries to do a Jamaican accent.

Beddy Rays: Has to be that bloke that’s talking about “the succulent Chinese meal” that’s in The Chats’ music video for Dine N Dash.

The Butterfly Effect: The release of Pulp Fiction.

Cub Sport: Charli XCX pretending to be Lorde in an interview when the interviewer asked her about the song Royals.

Felivand: When RuPaul was interviewed on Jimmy Fallon for Vanity Fair. “A DRAG QUEEN!?” And Jimmy practically could’ve been pronounced dead for a couple of seconds!

Full Flower Moon Band: “Are you sure about that?” It’s a quote from the comedy series I Think You Should Leave that I say too often.

If you could time travel to any point in music history, when and where would you go?

Hope D: The first Dark Mofo – even though I still haven’t been to one, I would love to. OR when The Beatles played any football stadium. Or when Kanye intercepted with “Beyoncé was better” during Taylor Swift’s award.

Beddy Rays: I just watched Bohemian Rhapsody over the weekend, so I reckon Live Aid in 1985 would be pretty cool.

The Butterfly Effect: Woodstock.

Felivand: The early ’90s. I actually would've loved to have been able to see Rage Against The Machine, Silverchair, System Of A Down, Oasis and Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Full Flower Moon Band: I would go to Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975, and try to hang on within the tour as long as possible. There were so many people on that tour I’d love to meet, so hopefully my time travel experience can stretch out to two years.

What topic could you give a 30 minute presentation on, with no preparation time?

Hope D: I’ve thought about this a lot. It would be why Broad City is the best show in the world and should be studied in schools for every subject. Or why you should always get 40 chicken nuggets if you’re getting chicken nuggets anyway, and then a presentation with graphs showing value for money and real life air-fryer photos and reviews proving they’re still good the next day, etcetera, etcetera.

Beddy Rays: Lately I’ve been getting into smoking some briskets on the old Webber, so I feel like I’m a master at it already. Tune into Beddy, Steady, Cook and see what it’s all about!

The Butterfly Effect: The book Ready Player One.

Cub Sport: ‘90s and ‘00s pop music, specialising in Britney Spears.

Felivand: Probably anxiety and how it works in the body.

Full Flower Moon Band: APRA and PPCA reporting rights and how to structure them. I’ve actually had to do a 30-minute presentation to my band about it, so that’s why it came to mind. I might even still have the PowerPoint.

What would winning The Triffid QLD Album Of The Year mean to you?

Hope D: I went to a show at The Triffid with my friends when I was 16. We were in the underaged area and I fell in love with the venue and live music from then. I knew I’d want to be there all the time when I turned 18. Fast forward to playing headline shows here and being nominated for QLD Album Of The Year, with the chance of having my name on the wall... It’s so surreal to me. It would mean more than I could possibly express!

Beddy Rays: It’s a pretty special thing. We’ve been going to The Triffid for years and seen all the Brissy bands up on the wall, so it would be a huge honour for us boys to be up there. There will definitely be a few beers on the night if we win – but we’ll probably have a few if we don’t, too, just to be safe.

The Butterfly Effect: It would be bloody unreal! To even get a nomination is plenty enough for us, though!

Cub Sport: So much amazing music comes out of Meanjin/Brisbane and we’re so proud to be part of that, so winning would be an honour.

Felivand: It was such an honour to be thought of and nominated for this in the first place, so winning it would mean so much to me and be really special to have that body of work recognised in an industry setting.

Full Flower Moon Band: LEGACY, BABY! It’s all legacy. It’s your name up in paint, it’s better than lights.