‘In it for the ride’: who are Voyager, the synth-metal band representing Australia at Eurovision?

Tue, 7 Mar 2023 18:26:39 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/feb/22/in-it-for-the-ride-who-are-voyager-the-synth-metal-band-representing-australia-at-eurovision>

"“Synth-metal” is the short name for the genre of music played by the Perth
band Voyager, who have been chosen to represent Australia at this year’s
Eurovision contest.

But the quintet’s lead singer, Daniel Estrin, prefers to describe it as “epic
progressive powerpop metal”.

Think melodic 80s pop with a heavy edge, climactic guitars and keytar solos.

“When people think of metal they think of Slayer, Metallica, Pantera,” Estrin
says. “They don’t really think of melody.”

He thinks the niche sound will appeal to Eurovision’s audience.

“Our kind of melodic metal makes the charts [in Europe], when it doesn’t
necessarily in Australia.”

Voyager will take their song Promise to the international music competition in
Liverpool this May, becoming the first group to represent Australia.

Promise required “a different kind of writing process”, Estrin says. Made
specifically for Eurovision, Voyager were not just producing a great song but
also devising a performance that would work seamlessly from a staging
perspective.

After testing a handful of initial melodies, the group’s bassist, Alex Canion,
fixated on what is now the song’s theme.

“Our bass player said: ‘This is something, let’s latch on to this’.”

The quintet wanted Promise to emulate the feeling of a journey."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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