Meet Second Idol, a band from Sydney who blend a unique form of alternative rock, goth, grunge, and post-punk. Beyond their sonic landscape, the band's thematic depth is apparent, drawing inspiration from feminism, queerness, and cross-cultural identity. In this interview, we delve into the intricate tapestry of Second Idol's artistry with singer/guitarist Kate Farquharson, exploring how they navigate and transcend concepts of power, gender, and otherness, making them a captivating force in the contemporary rock scene.
Second Idol first began under the name Bruise Pristine in late 2016. We kicked around the Sydney live music scene, gigged with some amazing acts like Battlesnake and Harry Howard and the NDE, and in 2017 released an EP titled Not Like You. In 2020, Covid brought things to a screeching halt, as it did to many performing artists, and resulted in a shake-up of my vision for the band. In 2021 the band re-emerged as a four-piece under the new name Second Idol, a name which reflected the evolution of the band into something more sonically expansive and exciting.
As a band we have diverse experiences and influences. Theia Joyeaux (bass) has been in the band for five years and is heavily influenced by darkwave giving a heavy yet dynamic undercurrent to many of our songs. Afeef Iqbal (drums) joined in 2020 and is a long-time friend of Theia’s and is quite involved in Sydney’s heavy/metalcore scene, he introduced blast beats to the band and injects energy and movement to our sound. Our newest member Sunny Josan (guitar) joined the band in 2023 and brings bounds of enthusiasm, a sensitivity for tone and a big love of crazy guitar pedals (which is pretty much mandatory for this band to be honest!).
I know a lot of songwriters talk about songwriting as being a type of therapy – I am one of those people! Before I was a musician, I trained as a visual artist at COFA UNSW. For me, any type of artistic expression is about scratching below the surface and making sense of yourself in the world.
Music for me is an opportunity to explore the complexity of emotion and the human condition. As a lyricist, music gives me the space and the opportunity to be more precise and honest than I can be in my everyday life, and to work through events or situations, whether they are challenging, heartbreaking or joyful.
I generally have two creative processes, one active and one passive. The former is a an explicit effort to purge feelings or construct a narrative, the latter is often a result of penning lyrics and phrases and making sense of what comes out almost subconsciously or by a train of thought. I’m not a diarist, but I am someone who likes to pen down thoughts and phrases as they pop into my head, so I’ll often jot down notes for lyric ideas in a notebook or my phone, and I’ll refer back to them when I pick up my guitar and feel the creative urge to write a song.
I’ve noticed a trend that some of our more aggressive-sounding songs have started with a goal, a specific concept and a vague idea of how I think it should sound. In these instances, I’ll construct demos that outline ideas for guitar tones, vocal hooks and drum timing. Our debut single White Noise is one of these examples. That song started with the goal of writing a commentary on misogyny, and I knew that I wanted to have a really strong guitar lead that leaned into the Post-punk revival sound.
The songs that have more of a melancholic edge tend to be songs that ‘fall out’ during a writing session and I tend to make more sense of the lyrics or form more of a concept once the song begins to have a bit more structure. Once I can feel the direction the song is taking, I’ll finesse the lyrics to be more cohesive with the sound. Sometimes it’s kind of like drawing something blind and then taking off the blindfold to see what’s in front of you, unpacking emotions and themes, and then adding in more colour and shapes to tell a story.
These themes often come out through my lyrics as they’re a part of my everyday life and experiences both positive and negative. I think us being upfront with our identities, with having openly queer and trans members, and members who have South Asian and Middle Eastern heritage is important as representation matters. You can’t be what you can’t see, and there is still a lot of inequality, stereotypes and stigmas which negatively impact women, the queer community and people of colour.
Talking about feminism and misogyny in songs such as White Noise and our new single Boxing Ring is a result of a lot of anger towards the status quo, stereotypes and inequality. For me, delving into these issues is incredibly natural, and something that I feel a gravitational pull towards. As a lyricist and vocalist, these themes and my own emotions and motivations behind them usually result in my delivery being somewhat confrontational, and when it comes to guitar, I’ll adopt a more aggressive style and lean heavily upon fuzzed-out and distorted tones.
While concepts of gender, queerness and power always have been part of Second Idol, our cross-cultural identities are something that we explored in tracks from our upcoming album. This is something that I’m quite motivated about. I mentioned my previous visual arts background; cross-cultural identity is something that I expressed in visual art, specifically my Sri Lankan/Scottish heritage and growing up in country NSW, but it’s the first time I’ve brought that part of me over to music. It’s also been incredibly empowering to explore concepts of postcolonialism and to unpack what it means to be Australian right now.
On stage, we all try to serve the core emotions of the song. For me it’s about distilling a moment in time, being in the now and tapping into the feeling of the song, whether that be sadness, anger or elation. For all of us in the band, our instruments are tools for emotional resonance to achieve a desired tone or rhythm that we hope elicits feelings in the audience. As a frontperson, I am quite stoic, but I do try to be the arrowhead of our live performance. I’ve been trying to engage with the audience more, to connect and bring them into the sonic and emotional scape that is Second Idol. I know I can tend to look quite angry and intimidating, but I am quite a shy person. The stage is absolutely my performative outlet!
Sydney is my adopted home. I moved here for university from the country town of Kempsey on the Mid North Coast of NSW and never left. When I arrived, I relished the place and couldn’t get enough of going out to art exhibition openings and seeing bands on Oxford Street. Sydney can be a crazy city to live in. It can be breakneck, but it’s a vibrant melting pot of people and culture which is pretty buzzy. I love how multifaceted the city and its inhabitants are, and for me there is an artistic sense of anarchy that underpins it all. Sydney may be the picturesque emerald city but it’s got a dark and gutsy cultural underbelly.
Sydney’s had struggles with its nightlife, and people in the live music community have fought hard for scenes and venues which means that the people in the industry are incredibly passionate and have a real never-say-die attitude. So I guess, part of what influences us as a band from Sydney, and particularly me as band leader, is that underdog mindset and fighting for art and culture. I also work in the arts for cultural and literary festivals in Sydney so I’m very engaged and proud of what people in this city produce.
Lyrically and conceptually, Boxing Ring emerged out of my experiences of being a woman in the music industry. It’s about the barriers, struggles, contradictions and pressures that I’ve encountered as well as observed. Women, non-binary and trans musicians have to work doubly as hard as our cis male peers, and we’re often treated as diversity tokens and made to compete with each other.
Working with Cameron was such a fulfilling and collaborative experience. We previously worked with him on our music video for Out Of Time from our debut EP Defence Mechanisms. I sent the track to him and he came back with a pitch that I fully embraced. It taps into the strength and anarchy of the song, as well as looks optimistically forward towards empowerment. Shooting a music video is fun but it can also be awkward, but he made us feel very comfortable and motivated us to give it our all.
We’re a band that gravitates to a strong visual identity and I think our videos play up the more dramatic parts of our personalities and the overall vibe of the band, particularly when it comes to music videos like Boxing Ring which features some energetic band performances. I’ve always felt like being in a band is like being in a gang, you want to look and feel badass! We’re always looking to emanate some strength and a bit of fuck you counter-culture energy, which is why we loved working with Cameron who leans into VHS-style retro aesthetics in balance with keeping things modern. While music videos are a marketing tool, I also see the format as an opportunity to take a track to a different medium, enhance the song, emphasise certain themes or elements, and work with fellow creatives to make something that we can all be proud of.
We’ve become more collaborative as a band over time, especially with our new material. When the band started I was the core songwriter and a bit more directive with various elements. Now it’s a balance of my ideas for songs but with enhanced input from the band which is exciting as we all bring different influences and bounce ideas off one another and it’s creatively really rewarding.
The current lineup with is strong and there is an increased sense of trust between us all which comes from having gotten some serious gigging miles under our belts, and having come out of the recording studio with tracks that we are incredibly proud of.
One of the main goals of Second Idol is to evoke emotion and spark empowerment, but art is always open to interpretation and individuals will always connect (or be repelled) as informed by their experiences. If the themes of our music resonate with the audience, I hope that they will find comfort and validation. If the concepts are perhaps more foreign or confronting, I would hope that the audience may take a moment to consider their position concerning the themes at play - whether this be feminism, misogyny or postcolonialism, that they might reconsider or reflect upon their standing and worldview and cultivate empathy.
We have a couple of launch shows for Boxing Ring in Sydney and Melbourne in April which we’re very excited about and a few more singles up our sleeve as well as our debut LP that we’re itching to put out later this year!
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