Folk Bitch Trio, Like You Don’t Already KNOw

Portraits courtesy of Folk Bitch Trio.

Folk Bitch Trio are exactly what the name implies: a folk trio of best friends Gracie Sinclair, Jeanie Pilkington, and Heide Peverelle.  

Over the past few months they’ve been extremely busy. Releasing their debut album, Now Would Be a Good Time, in July, a brilliant ten song display of their beautiful vocals, echoing almost haunting harmonies, and poetic almost diary-like lyrics telling stories throughout each song. The trio, truly a trio, leaves no one in the shadows, the three of them playing as big of a role as each other in the band, writing songs, swapping between lead vocals, and playing guitar – the only instrument used to accompany their vocals. 

Since the album's release they’ve been going non stop, touring North America with Whitney and headlining a tour of Europe back to back. After the winter abroad they’re back in Australia, touring their home nation. I caught the trio over zoom, each in their own Melbourne bedrooms, only suburbs apart but still the furthest away they’ve been from each other in months. 

See Folk Bitch Trio at Harvest Rock, October 25th-26th.

Could you guys quickly say your names, so I know who's who?

Heide: I’m Heide.

Jeane: I’m Jeanie.

Gracie: I’m Gracie.

Jeanie: I wish you the best of luck with that because not only do we talk over each other, I now struggle to tell who is talking or who is singing between Gracie and I when listening back to a recording. I think our brainwaves and voices have entered some scary space in the universe where we are a part of one being.   

Do you guys feel like you’ve gotten even closer since you’ve been touring so much together?

Heide: Close doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Jeanie: I feel like we’ve reached a ceiling a year and a half ago, and now anytime we push it further I don’t even know what you would call that.

Heide: I feel a bit out of sorts because I’m still recovering from coming home, being busy, going away, and being back in Melbourne but I also think it’s because we’re not together I am like, ‘What is going on’.

Gracie: Definitely, I lose my capacity for talking to other people because usually when we are together there’s not much need. People are asking me detailed questions about my life where I’m supposed to give a detailed answer and I’m just a bit out of practice with talking.

Heide: Yep [Laughs]

Do you feel like you are all so dependent on each other where it’s like ‘What is going on, I need you guys here right now.’

Gracie: Sometimes and in some ways yes, but it's more I’m used to the telepathy of being in the bubble.

Jeanie: And maybe deep down we are co-dependent in some way but I also think we are very independent, stubborn people so I don’t think it’s in our nature to become co-dependent on each other, but it is weird now being in my bedroom being like, ‘I’m alone, I don’t have my compadre’s here to riff off, I have a problem to solve and I have to solve it without narrating it to Gracie and Heide.’ I guess that is co-dependency in some way.

Heide: It doesn’t feel toxic though.

Jeanie: Yeah, it feels clean and pure.

Yeah, and when you guys are such close friends already it makes sense.

Heide: Yeah, it’s just a natural progression of things.

So, the origins of the bands name was Jeanie, you messaged Heide and Gracie asking if you wanted to start a “Folk Bitch Trio”, was there any other discussion of what the band would be called or was it instant like ‘This is the name of the band’? 

Jeanie: No, there wasn’t. There was a little bit of discussion where it was like maybe we shouldn’t call it that, but we just didn’t really have time, my mum was like ‘Folk Bitch Trio could play at this show’ and I was like ‘What are you talking about Folk Bitch Trio is just Heide, Gracie, and me being stupid we can’t play a show.’ Then we just did it, we didn’t have time to change the name or what we were doing, and I thank her for that because we didn’t over think it and it just was what it was.

Gracie: I also couldn’t think of a worse task than having to come up with a band name.

Jeanie: I think that would’ve killed the vibe there and then

Heide: We’re lucky in that way where we’ve never had to come up with a shit band name.

Jeanie: And if people think our band name is shit it’s like, okay, it’s just calling it what it is so jokes on you because if you think a folk bitch trio is shit then you’re probably not going to like it anyway so there’s no point in you liking the band name.

Heide: Boom.

What was that first show you played?

Jeanie: There is this venue in Melbourne called the Merri Creek Tavern. It's a fifty-person band room inside a pub and my mum was putting on these shows where she was using the stage to platform women and gender non-conforming artists who are just starting out their project. It was probably only 35 people who were entirely friends and family, we sang four songs and one of those was a Paul Kelly cover, but they still hyped us up and made that room feel a lot bigger.

Heide: Still got heckled, my mum heckled [laughs]. Day one heckler.

What did she say?

Heide: She was like ‘Play ‘Lust’.’ But she knows not to do that anymore [laughs].

Do you think touring has added a new depth to your songwriting, as it's already so emotionally charged and there are so many other emotions that come with touring that you wouldn't feel otherwise.

Gracie: I’d say it’s added depth to us as people first and foremost which will hopefully add depth to our music, but a lot of this record was written before we ever toured as hectically as we have. 

Jeanie: It’s a weird life touring, there’s a lot there to draw from and it’s definitely something we will continue to draw from. There are songs on the record that are inspired by being on the road, but it is more about the impact it has on your life and your interpersonal relationships rather than being on tour.

Heide: The songs that we play live have definitely transformed from playing them live so many times and that changes them which wouldn’t happen without touring. There are some songs we play that don’t sound the same as they do on the record, but we bring a different energy and different vibe to them live which is really fun.

Gracie: I also think touring, music, and writing more music is something that we are having to learn to work around in a different way, there is so much creative strength in not touring, or never having toured before and you get bands who have this massive creative energy, and well of song writing because they’ve been doing nothing but working their day jobs and hanging out with each other at home. That’s kind of the dream for the creative side because touring is really busy and really hard to even get a moment by yourself when you’re not in the bathroom brushing your teeth. Let alone sitting down and being alone by yourself with your thoughts, tapping into whatever stream of consciousness thoughts you have more than, I have to get up, set my alarm and go, go, go.

Yeah, one of the things I read about you guys is that you are workshopping your songs on the road. How does that work when you’re so busy all the time?

Jeanie: It can get boring though and I think that’s when we start writing and arranging something new, when we’re bored and when we’re getting restless playing the same songs every single night. I think you hit this point where everything is very tiring and busy and then you push past that threshold and you’re ready to do something that’s going to stimulate your brain like arranging a new song. It does happen, but it’s rare.

For sure. All three of you are writing songs, do you have each other’s parts and backing vocals in mind when you’re writing them?

Gracie: Not necessarily, that’s something we love to do together, maybe someone will come with some ideas but that’s one of the pleasures we get out of getting together and arranging, is that we respect each other so much musically. It’s like I like whatever song I’ve written but I want to hear what Jeanie and Heide have to say about it, what they think about it and what their arrangement ideas are. The idea that we are writing with each other in mind anyway is totally true, they’re always there, they’re an omnipresence in my brain that stops me from writing anything bad.

I’m sure it’s gone away a bit now, but your songs are all so vulnerable. Does it ever feel like ‘Hey, I’ve got this song, what do you guys think?’ almost scared to bring it to the group?  

Gracie: I don’t think that’ll ever go away [laughs].

Heide: It’s there all the time. 

Jeanie: It’s really scary, the closer you get with somebody and the more you respect them the scarier that will be, and the pressure has continuously grown, and the stakes have gotten higher than what it was when we showed the whole first record to each other, because a lot of those songs had been cooking for years. It’s definitely really scary to show each other songs because what does that mean if you don’t like it. It also isn't a big deal if it’s not your best work and we’re open to telling each other that.

Being so personal too, it’s basically a diary entry being read out loud.

Gracie: And yeah, it’s like I hope you guys like it enough to sing it and call it your own.

The band, while it’s a band, has a lot of the same elements of a solo project in the way where the band is called ‘Trio’ is in the name, the album cover is a picture of you three. It’s very much a project of you all, there’s no one in the shadows, likewise to how a lead singer of a solo project is presented. How is being so connected to the band visually as well as musically?

Jeanie: It's not thought about in the sense that it’s something we have to work at, it comes naturally with the three of us being singers, all singing lead vocals and playing guitar. We’re all equally involved and always have been. That is the point.  

Heide: It’s always felt like it’s just us. It does feel like a “solo project” together.

To wrap this up, you started the band just after you finished high school. What’s your advice to anyone who’s wanting to start a band but is a bit scared?

Jeanie: Experimentation when you’re a teenager is very necessary and if you’re afraid of writing songs, something like this will be your friend.

Heide: Just do it, it’s literally the most fun. A band with your best friends it’s the most fun ever.

Gracie: Do it with no expectation, work hard, have fun, give it your all, and see what happens.

See Folk Bitch Trio live at Harvest Rock, next month, October 25th-26th.