Senses Are Set To Rock On Their First Australian Tour With Yours Truly…

Los Angeles’ alt rock duo Senses are heading down under for the first ever time as they hit the road this June to support Yours Truly on the ‘TOXIC’ Australian tour. A band that self-identifies as “emo-friendly, punk-curious.” With confessional lyrics, soaring hooks, and an undeniable live presence, senses have shared stages with the likes of Charlotte Sands and Boys Like Girls, recently signing to Hopeless Records as they launch their next chapter. Fronted by Madison Taylor and Nick Sampson, their music offers a soul-bearing soundtrack to navigating chaos, and finding power within it. Ahead of the tour Madison and Nick talk to Hi Fi Way about their first ever Australian tour.

You must be really looking forward and excited about your first Australian tour?
Madison: Yes! So excited. Thank you for having us. We’re really pumped, can’t wait.

Five shows in six days, that’s a pretty tough undertaking for most bands. Does anything prepare you for that tour grind?
Madison: The last couple of tours helped prepare us. We did a tour with five shows in a row, so just knowing it’s possible is reassuring. With our recent headline tour, we had more time on stage, but this one has more shows in a row, it kind of evens out. That’s how I justify it!

Do you know what to expect when you come to Australia?
Nick: I don’t know what to expect. I have ideas in my head, but honestly, I have no clue. I’m excited to find out.

Madison: Yeah, it’s nice because Australia is really high up in our Spotify listener stats. We’re excited to finally play there. No expectations, we’re just going in and riding the wave.

Do you get much of a chance to look around and experience the tourist side of things?
Madison: I would love to! We arrive a few days early, so I’m trying to figure out how to do as many Australian things as possible.

Do you know the guys from Yours Truly well? How did the tour opportunity come about?
Nick: We’ve never met them, but we’ve been fans for a while. When the offer came through, Madison and I immediately said yes. We’re excited to meet them and share this experience. It’s going to be great.

When playing in a new country, do you set goals or just see how it goes, laying the foundation for return tour later on?
Madison: The goal is to enjoy it and be present for as much as possible. This schedule is very go-go-go, so the focus is on locking in, being in the moment, and making the most of it.

For Australian fans unfamiliar with Senses, how did you two meet?
Madison: Craigslist! I put out an ad looking for band mates, and Nick was the first to respond. We blindly met up at a rehearsal space near my apartment, and it just clicked. There was never a formal decision, we just kept doing it.

Was there an immediate musical synergy when you first met?
Nick: Yeah, we just met up and started playing songs we both knew. It was fun, just like getting together with friends and making noise. That was it. It was fun, so we kept doing it.

Is Craigslist still a thing?
Nick: Yeah, very much still a thing.

Madison: I had never used it before, and I’ve never used it since. I didn’t really know much about it, so I was taking a shot in the dark. But it worked out! I’m still alive today, so that’s great.

Did you have a clear idea of what kind of music you wanted to make?
Madison: I put some influences in the ad, and Nick responded with his own. So, kind of yes and no, we did and we didn’t.

What were some of the influences that shaped the band?
Nick: Paramore, Evanescence, Fleetwood Mac, Pink, Motley Crue and Korn for me.

Madison: No Doubt, Paramore, Heart, Pat Benatar, Avril Lavigne.

Are there any Australian bands that inspired you?
Madison: Honestly, Yours Truly has been one of them. Music moves so fast now that it’s hard to tell where bands are from. I was listening to a band and only later realised they were from the UK. So, I’m sure there are Australian influences, we just don’t always realise where the bands are from.

Is that why there’s more focus on releasing singles rather than full albums?
Madison: Yeah, I think so. People’s attention spans are shorter now, music moves faster, and connecting with fans is different. It’s also about feeding the algorithm, keeping up the momentum. That’s why we’ve been releasing singles instead of dropping a full album. But a full album is something we’re excited about and want to do soon.

Does the concept of an album still feel relevant?
Madison: Definitely! I love albums, a cohesive body of work, a complete project. Albums are coming back, and they’re still very important. Bands still release full albums, but they now release more singles beforehand, maybe sixty to seventy-five percent of the album before officially dropping it. Everyone does things differently, there’s no right way. You just have to follow your gut and go for it.

Does it get really hard when people ask you questions like, “How would you describe the sound of Senses?”
Madison: Yeah, we were just talking about this today, about genres and keeping things exploratory. We don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves into one specific vibe or genre; we just go where the feeling is. It’s always difficult to answer that question, so we use funny little phrases like “emo-friendly” or “punk-curious” because we’re not quite this or that, we’re kind of floating somewhere in the middle.

What’s next for the band? More touring this year, or do you have plans to get in the studio and work on new music?
Madison: Yeah, we’re touring twice more after this Australian tour. We’re actually heading to Europe and the UK for the first time in the fall, which is really exciting. Then we have a big tour in the U.S. right before Europe, so definitely more touring. We’re also trying to stick to a schedule of releasing new music every six to eight weeks, to keep being creative and giving people more content. It’s strange that the whole year is already booked up with tours. Usually, things come together more quickly, but this has been amazing. We’re grateful, it’s a really exciting year for us.

How do you manage that, creating a new song every six to eight weeks? Do you ever get to the five-week mark and realise, “Oh shit, we don’t have something quite ready yet”?
Nick: It’s funny, we were just talking about how we line up songs and promote the new one, but while it’s coming out, we have to keep promoting the previous one, and then we realise we need to start promoting the next one. It’s a constant cycle of “Okay, promote the new song, but then promote the next new song, and then the next new song”, it’s like, oh dang. But I guess that’s just the name of the game right now. It’s exciting, though.

Madison: And it’s extra stressful because we don’t realise how early we have to submit the song, especially for artwork. The moment we always go, “Oh shit, we’re late!” is when we realise we still need the artwork. We’re like, “Wait, we got to put the artwork together! We need the full press kit!” So yeah, there’s always that fun moment right before release.

Are there any other unique Australian experiences you want to check out while you’re here?
Nick: I’d love to see the Opera House, but I’m open to anything.

Madison: I heard you can climb the bridge! [Yeah, you can] I don’t know about that, I’m a little scared of heights. But I’d be down to try. I know about Vegemite, I’m really excited to try it.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Senses on tour with Yours Truly on the following dates, tickets from Destroy All Lines…