Toby Sussex: The Transcript

This interview was recorded on the 28th of September, 2024

I caught up with Toby Sussex to see how his music is going and find out how he manages 3 different music projects at once. Check out our conversation below:

Where are you from, how old are you, what high school did you go to?

Okay, um, I'm from Nelson, I am 22 years old, and I went to Nayland College.

What did you study at Massey?

I did a Bachelor of Commercial Music, majoring in Music Practice at Massey University. It was a great degree, very much enjoyed it, and I met loads of cool people who have formed some very valuable connections moving forward with my musical endeavours.

How did you decide on that path?

Well, okay, to start off with I, I knew I wanted to pursue music and I wanted to do it at a university. And then I really liked the idea of coming to Wellington. I was planning on the Vic music degree and then I heard from my cousin who went to the Massey Open Day that he really liked the sound of this degree specifically, um, so I checked out a live stream sort of talking about the degree and what it is and how it differs from other music degrees, and it just talked about how sort of modern and contemporary and a bit different this course is, and it really appealed to me so I decided to enrol. I did a little audition over Zoom and got in.

Was that hard to get into? What was your audition like?

Yeah, we had to audition to, uh, for it just because it's more of like the performance sort of major. I don't think it was too hard to get into, to be honest, but I did think I did a good audition.

Can you tell me about the first performance that you can remember doing?

Okay. Um, I would say this was when I was maybe 10 or 11 at a primary school talent show. My mate Johnny and I decided to do a musical duo and we did Happy by Pharrell Williams.

He was a drummer. I was a ukulelist at the time. Um, and I was too shy to sing. So I, uh, sung into a kazoo instead, the tune of the song while playing the ukulele. And then he, uh, got up from the drums and and he had these diabolos, which are like a circus toy. It's like, like juggling a little bit. It's this like plastic thing. There's a string between two sticks. Yeah. So he got up and was doing that and then I hopped on the drums and then we swapped back to our instruments. So, yeah, we won that talent show. It was pretty exciting, but yeah, I was super nervous, but it was so much fun and I wanted to do more of it after that.

How about your first time performing like under your own brand?

Uh, yeah. Um, I guess that would have to be, um, 2018 Rock Quest in Nelson. I performed as Toby Sussex with my original song for the first time I think, and that was really nerve wracking. Um, I wanted to use my loop pedal for that, I think one of the first public looping performances I had done, and I think it went pretty wrong from memory.

Um, I might've blocked it out. I don't know. But yeah, the, the stress of like recording something live and having it playback combined with my pedal malfunctioning a little bit, from me probably hitting it too hard over the years. Of course, it had to happen on stage. I think I remember it being a little rough and then I got through it and had a great time.

And I knew I wanted to do more. Um, but yeah, that was my first taste of it and the taste of performing my own music under my own name. And I just started writing more songs from there and getting better at my craft, buying a better pedal as well. Yeah.

How did your show at Moon Bar go on Thursday?

Um, yes, it went really well. It was really cool because I got to perform in front of a bunch of people I, like, had never met before.

Shows at Moon are always fun. This is my, I think, third time performing there. Yeah, it's a great way of getting to know really cool musicians, but also, showing your music to just people that want to come along and hear some original music. It was an evening of a bunch of singer songwriters and, um, it was, it was a pleasure playing with some really talented people as well.

But yeah, it felt nice and intimate. I could hear like the silence in the room when I was playing in between stuff and yeah, everyone was really attentive and yeah, great time.

You’re also in two other bands? How do you juggle that?

That's a great question. Um, I, I just kind of do it because I don't want to give anything up.

So, there's the solo project, um, which I always have no matter what, which I'm really stoked to be a songwriter in that respect.

Then there's My Cosmic Girl which is the band that I, um, joined and formed at uni. We all came from the same cohort and degree. And, um, yeah, we're kind of spread across a few cities right now. So that one's a little bit more on the back burner, but there are some really exciting things coming up, um, soon, which I'm stoked to announce soon. Um, and we've been releasing some music as well, which has been going really well, actually. Um, super stoked. We've put out a new song and a music video to go with that.

And then I'm also in a band called Fine Wine Social Club, which I've only just joined this year. Um, but we're performing at Rogue and Vagabond tonight too. So that's pretty fun. We practice like twice a week in the evenings and I'm on bass in that band. Normally I play guitar

Are they all kind of the same genre, or are you hopping between different genres?

Nah, yeah, definitely hopping between genres. Fine Wine Social Club, is much more of a funk, jazz, fusion band, I would say. I think that's how they describe themselves. They've been a band for a while, and I'm a new member, so I'm hopping in. But, um, yeah, they're really fun to play with. Very tricky stuff at times, but I think I'm getting there.

And then My Cosmic Girl is more of Americana indie folk rock, I would say.

And then my stuff is kind of much more in the indie folk sing songwriter, you know, indie pop world.

Did your degree influence the way you approach making music?

I'd say so. Yeah. In a way, yes. And in a way, no. I mean, I've got my own songwriting process. and the way I do things which hasn't changed so much.

I think the degree just really motivated me to do more, and showed me ways I can be a little more creative and do things a little differently. And the degree was very much into encouraging collaboration. And so I think that was the biggest impact. Just like writing with other people all the time, working with other people, um, showing other people your stuff and just being willing to talk about it.

What's on the horizon or where would you like to go?

I would like to get to the point where I can, I guess, sustain myself more with my music so that I have more time for it.

Because right now I'm trying to do three projects and I'm trying to work in a cafe because I need to pay the bills, but I don't want to give anything up in my passion projects. So I'm, I'm burning myself out a little bit, to be honest. Um, but that's just kind of how it goes. And you kind of hear stories about other musicians doing a similar thing. I'd love to be able to put more time into the music so that I can give it everything I want to give it.

That's the dream really. And then if more people get to hear my music as well, or the music of the bands that I'm in, then that's amazing as well. Because it's just so much fun playing, playing to people and recording and showing people stuff. Um, yeah. And if that takes me somewhere other than Wellington, I'm very much open to that as well.

Have you done any festivals?

I have done CubaDupa with My Cosmic Girl, um, in 2023. And I've done Newtown Festival solo and also with My Cosmic Girl. I got to do Gardens Magic, which is the city council run festival of sorts that happens sort of every, every week in summer, um, they have like two acts on in, in the botanic gardens and it's beautiful. Like that was such a highlight of last year for me, uh, um, this year, that was this year.

So yeah, I would love to do more festivals. Well, more actual festivals, I guess. Not that those aren't actual festivals, but like, you know, there's a bit of a difference. Like a paid event. Yeah. There's like, there's like the festivals where people pay to get in and the ones where they don't.

I love the ones where they don't pay to get in because you get more all ages stuff. Like you get more families and I feel like families do enjoy my music, but, um, it'd be fun to see like what other festivals can offer and see how I would fit into that in whatever project I'm doing.

Any new releases or anything coming up?

Yeah, my band My Cosmic Girl has, we will have another single, um, Exclusively Lonely, from our upcoming EP. Um, that's, that should be coming out. The plan was October. We'll see if it actually happens in October, but it'll definitely be before the end of the year. Um, so yeah, new music through, through that band, uh, Fine Wine Social Club. I wasn't a part of making this song, but I play it live. Um, they have a single coming up soon. I don't know what the date is, uh, should be also before the end of the year.

And for me, I'm very excited to start recording my next little EP, body of work, and release a few singles from that. Um, I haven't started recording them yet, so that's a little bit later, uh, compared to the other two. But, yeah, I'm really stoked about those new songs, so, yeah, lots more to come, for sure.