Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: What type of artist are you?
L: Starting as a pretty straight up and down grunge band, our songwriting sensibilities started to get into a broader sense of alternative rock, taking cues from different genres outside of bands like Nirvana and Violent Soho, and looking at mature sounds of bands like Basement and Balance & Composure. Each member has a fairly different music taste from each other, and little details always end up in the melting pot that becomes a song or EP or album, all tied together as the Larsen sound we’ve cultivated over the years.
PD: Tell us the brief history of yourself.
L: Larsen began when frontman and rhythm guitarist Liam Christensen approached high school friend and lead guitarist Sam Massacci about forming a grunge band. They found drummer Alex Andrews on the internet through what essentially amounted to a dating service but for finding band mates, and Sam asked his cousin Steven if he wanted to play bass. The four lads met at a rehearsal space in August 2014, and all four members remain to this day, almost 6 years on from the bands formation.
We played our first gig in February 2015, released our first EP later that year, and have been playing gigs and releasing music ever since, evolving the bands sound to a more mature brand of alternative rock, but still with those original grunge and post grunge flavours.
PD: Who are your musical and non-musical influences?
L: The Seattle grunge scene is obviously a big influence, with that explosion of angsty, heavy and melodic rock from the early 90s paving the way for a new breed of rock band. Nirvana and early Silverchair were big influences when we started, but we now look to more contemporary bands such as Violent Soho, Superheaven and Basement for inspiration. We all have very different and broad music tastes amongst each other though, so every little difference there is what makes up Larsen’s music.
PD: What are your dreams and goals?
L: I mean, the ultimate dream is to be living comfortably off of writing and producing and playing the music that we make as a band, as I’m sure can be said for any new band. We understand that’s a pretty big ask though, so we’re content with doing what we’re doing because we love it, and getting into the ears of as many people as possible while we do it.
PD: Who writes your songs, what are they about?
L: Musically, everyone has a hand in the construction of our songs. A riff here, a jam there, a full completed song or a brief idea, everyone brings what they have to the table and from there we see what sticks. Lyrically, Liam and I (Alex) do the lions share of lyric writing, but the final product is always 
agreed upon by every band member. We’ve always been pretty democratic about the creative process, which helps keep individual ego out of the equation (mostly)
PD: How do you promote your band and shows?
L: These days social media is king. Without solid social media pages and and strong engagement, no one can make it as an artist in this culture. The pro of that reality is that you can reach so many more people than every before, really easily. The con is that whatever you’re trying to promote can be just as easily ignored. So it comes down to how you navigate those waters that can determine how successful a band can be.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online?
L: It’s an inevitable thing. But these days steaming is far and away the method in which people consume their music, so artists have to play that game because that’s the way it’s played these days. For indie artists, steaming is a pretty raw deal in terms of what steaming services pay, but if you do it right you can reach a lot of people pretty easily, particular in international markets where we would normally have no way of distributing music there.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
L: That list is far too long to pick one answer, but that’s what inspiration is.
PD: What are some of your pet peeves?
L: As a band, when other artists act unprofessionally, which can range from not putting the time in to effectively promote gigs, to not supporting the scene by not watching other bands on the same line up. It is mutually beneficial for everyone to support everyone else, and it’s frustrating that artists still don’t quite understand that.
PD: What is your proudest moment in music?
L: We’ve had a bunch of highlights in our bands time, but off the top of my head are playing a sold out single launch at one of our favourite venues to a crowd full of both friends and strangers, and our first international support show supporting Moose Blood (UK).
PD: So what are you working on at the moment?
L: We’re in the process of prepping our EP release. We’ve already dropped the first single called “Eating Me Alive”, with the next single due out in July, and the EP to be released in August. It’s a collection of 5 songs that we’re super proud of and confident in, so we’re excited to share it with everyone!
PD: What music have you available online and where can we buy it from?
L: Best place is right here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3AsxWrzz2cyspxhNVIkaGV?si=CLn9UUpJSUSySwO3mF24FA
Larsen links:
Band/Artist location – Adelaide, Australia
Website – Facebook – You Tube – Soundcloud – Bandcamp – Merch –
Instagram – Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – Links – Linktree
Check our page for Larsen
