News Splashh: ‘We Must Be Doing Something Right’

On the sweatiest evening of the year so far, London’s Old Blue Last was packed for a DIY Presents show. The number of fans turning out to see Japandroids, a celebrated punk band with two albums under their belt, and Splashh, virtual unknowns with a few mp3s to their name, was just about equal. Throughout the past few months, whispering cliques of industry people have huddled together, passing around the word “Splashh” like a bunch of school kids sharing a cigarette. And yet detached from these packs of wolves is a vast majority of people who have yet to hear a single track from the Australia-bred band, now residing in this country’s capital.

“I hope it’s not going to go on like this for too much longer,” admits singer Toto, as the majority of our conversation with him and bandmate Sasha centres around industry plaudits and showcase gigs. Splashh have become the current hype band, but they’re focused on spreading their name beyond current circles. “It’s hard to focus on the music aspect while doing all that other stuff.’

It’s not as if Splashh weren’t ready for the circuit of hype to come streaming in, but they’re keen to focus on other things, like refining a live show that began haphazardly, as drummer Tom had to be flown in from Australia two days ahead of the band’s first gig together. While they call their home of Byron Bay, New South Wales “paradise”, it seems these guys are staying put in England, “where summer never ever comes…” It began when Toto’s brother Skype-ed him in his final year of high school; “he called me going ‘man, so many hot girls, so many great parties!’ So before I even finished school I’d decided I was moving to London straight away.” Sasha joined him late last year, and both members took to the bedroom to practice songs that would later become the founding pieces of their first two releases.

It’s worth ignoring the buzz surrounding this band and just grasping why they’ve made such an impression in the first place. David West, co-founder of label Art Is Hard, was the first to truly expose Splashh to the blogs: “When a band comes out of nowhere with a debut track as great as ‘All I Wanna Do’, you know that they are going to be pretty special,” he tells us. “It’s been really exciting to watch their rapid ascent. It’s a nice reassurance that we must be doing something right.”

The “rapid ascent” shows no signs of coming to a halt. I ask Toto if he feels like all of this is going to his head, or whether he truly enjoys playing gigs to a crowd of A&Rs. “I don’t really think about it”, he replies. “When I’m on stage I completely forget about it. That makes me feel like we’re doing it for the right purposes.”

Splashh’s new single ‘Need It’ will be released is out now via Luv Luv Luv.

Taken from the August 2012 issue of DIY, available now. For more details click here.