Fresh off their busy tour with Mumford & Sons covering Australia and New Zealand, Australian group Folk Bitch Trio are hitting the road across the U.S. The trio, featuring members Gracie Sinclair, Jeanie Pilkington and Heide Peverelle, are returning to Houston on Monday, May 11 at White Oak Music Hall with support from Zoh Amba.
“It’s been good and kind of crazy playing arenas and also just playing with such a big act,” says Pilkington. “It is not really something we’ve done before. We’ve strictly opened for people who are much more alternative, and their fans are much more a niche whereas this feels a bit more mainstream. But it’s been fun to feel like pop stars.”
All three members agree, as they do on most things, that the whole experience was surreal as the three vocalists and guitarists played in arenas for thousands of people. When asked if they will feel sad when it’s over, they unanimously agree that it will not.
“We always just start the next tour,” says Sinclair with a smile. The three members have been singing together since high school and have a particularly deep connection to one another that shines through their songwriting.
Typically, groups with a supernatural ability to harmonize are made up of siblings, but for Folk Bitch Trio the connection is through their friendship which presents as a sisterhood.
“I think we’ve been doing it for so long now and we are best friends, I think it’s just kind of second nature now when we sing and when we are arranging new stuff. It just sort of happens very easily which is very nice it’s just the most fun,” says Pilkington.
There is something about their songs and harmonies that, though often conveying loneliness, also carry a special warmth when all three members’ vocal qualities braid together. “For us, we talk about how we are like a triangle; we are all connected,” says Sinclair.
Folk Bitch Trio released their debut album, Now Would Be A Good Time last year to positive reviews and widespread praise, garnering attention from peers like Mumford & Sons, Rufus Wainwright, M. Ward and fellow Melbourne artist Julia Jacklin, an influence on the trio.
To make the album, the trio rented Airbnbs in Auckland and spent every day and night together to focus fully on the process. “We did have separate rooms,” laughs Peverelle.
They describe what sounds like a focused yet fun slumber party moving between the studio and home until the album was done.
“We just went in with this collection of songs that we had been working on. We had the opportunity to tour a lot at that point and we just wanted to capture them as they were and make them really beautiful and polished but not pop polished,” says Pilkington.
What the trio captured was a collection of songs that feel deeply personal, touching on love, loss, and longing, while still finding moments for lighthearted jokes and references to balance the melancholy.
“I think a lot of those songs feel like they came out of a bit of a tortured time and we were all a bit lonely when we were making that record, for reasons outside of anything to do with the three of us,” says Pilkington adding that their next album, which is in the works, won’t be so “tortured.”
The three artists definitely come together as one in their songs and in conversation. When asked about the writing process for such a tightly knit trio, the response is right on track with their whole vibe.
“At this stage in our lives when we are writing songs it’ll be a Folk Bitch Trio song or nothing or kept to ourselves for a very long time,” says Pilkington. “When a song gets brought I think it is felt by all of us also through shared experiences and empathy for each other’s feelings and hearts.”
The trio uses a minimal approach to create a deceptively dominating sound. They describe playing with the occasional backing band for hometown shows or special occasions but more than not, it’s just the three of them.
“I think there’s a lot of power just being three of us on stage still rocking a room,” says Peverelle. “I think that’s the power of double guitar and the power of singing, you don’t need much to make really impactful music.”
Folk Bitch Trio will perform with Zoh Amba on Monday, May 11, at 7 p.m. at White Oak Music Hall, 2915 N. Main. $30. For more information, visit folkbitchtrio.com
