Growing up with the likes of Missy Higgins, Dido and Pearl Jam simmering through their childhood homes, Grace and Sam shared a similar connection to music and eventually came together to form STAHR, creating a beautiful alt rock sound.

They have just released their new single, MHI which is a symbol of identity crisis and feeling stuck in your own head. I had a great chat with the pair about the new track, connections to creativity and more.

Can you tell me a bit about STAHR?

Sam: It happened quite organically. We were together for two years and then I had a solo thing, and Grace had a solo thing and then I ended up playing in Grace’s solo thing and then we wrote a song one day which was the first song that we ended up releasing under STAHR. People had dropped hints along the way, like it’s pretty obvious what was going to happen, we were kind of the last to find out that we wanted to do that. That was a year ago almost to the day. 

Congratulations on the new track, it’s called MHI, can you tell us the concept and inspiration behind the song?

Grace: We have a really good friend of ours, Chell from Sixth Of The Sun and we’ve been doing some writing with her. When we sat down to write, I really wanted to write something that captures that feeling when you’re stuck in your room, and you can’t get out of your own head and you’re fighting a demon inside of you. It came about to be this mistake heartbreak identity, it’s a metaphor for identity crisis. 

I have also been loving the visuals for MHI on Instagram and TikTok, who came up with that idea, I’d love to know more about that concept!

Grace: I had the clown idea from the very start, I wanted to use mirrors and go into a cemetery. Sam made the idea a bit more manageable. We also have a really good creative team, our photographer and videographer we’ve worked with the whole way through. We have a solid meeting and tell them what we want, usually it comes from both of us, then our photographer for example, she reads our mind, she’ll know what I want more than I do by the end, which is amazing. 

Sam: It would be safe to say she goes beyond knowing what we want. It’s very collaborative, I certainly wouldn’t say we are the sole creatives of STAHR, it is really a collaborative effort between our musical and creative community. 

Being creative people, what was your connection to creativity and music growing up?

Sam: The best mornings were the mornings where I wake up and my stepdad or mum would have Pearl Jam or White Snake playing. Then my first concert was Michael Bublé in Melbourne at Rod Laver Arena, although he looked like an ant from where we were sat. I think I always gravitated towards that crooner stylistic songwriting and performance especially. The connection properly sunk in when it became the only outlet. Pych’s and councilors weren’t really a common concept at the age of 10-15 when I was growing up. I was a writer before I was a song writer, and music answered a lot of questions for me. 

Grace: I think our mums have similar things… my mum always had music playing but it was more Dido and Missy Higgins, and I always loved it. I’ve always performed, and my mum put me in musicals really young. I always wanted to do drama and write theatre, and I thought music was the part that went with that skill. I did a lot of stuff with music because I loved it but also because I thought it was going to go with acting, and I did a whole bachelor’s degree at QUT in drama. I was always writing as well, but I just found music was easier and came more fluidly to me.

I have spoken to a few other Brisbane musos recently, like JUNO and RYELLE, who also gave you a shoutout in both of their interviews so that a nice full circle moment. What is your favorite part about the Brisbane music scene and that collaborative aspect?

Grace: I came into the music industry a bit later than Sam and other people; I came in and was welcomed so nicely.  Everyone is just so willing to give information, willing to help, willing to see everyone succeed and grow which I really love. The guys from JUNO help us so much and RYELLLE is so supportive. All of these people give so much and don’t expect anything back and I think it’s beautiful.

Sam: Yeah, we’re really lucky, it hasn’t always been this way. It feels like yesterday that I was the one watching stories of these bands trying to figure out how the hell I could wedge my way into that kind of thing. It’s really positive and I’ve never felt like I really belonged to a scene like I do now. We’re just lucky. We’re not musicians to each other before the person, which I think can be what goes wrong for some people, where the clout can get in the way of the real shit.

You have a show coming up at Blackbear Lodge on the 8th of November with Jacob Fitzgerald and Lily Grace. What can we expect from this show?

Grace: If anyone’s ever seen us, this one’s going to be very fresh. I think if you just listen to the songs we’ve already put out then listen to MHI, it’s enough to say we’re changing, we’re shifting. It’s very fun, the most excited we’ve felt.

Sam: We’ve found our thing I think.

Grace: I think what you can expect is good energy, we really want people to hear what we’re saying, to be able to take something from the words that we’re singing. 

Sam: We just want people to hear us properly. We’ve really crossed our t’s and dotted our i’s with all the technical sides of things. Sam from JUNO is our musical director and he’s running our ears on the night, he’s a wizard and a massive help, whenever he’s involved it’s usually pretty good. 

Do you have any big goals or plans for next year?

Sam: More songs in the vein of what we’re writing now and just spending more time not being in such a hurry. This year has been such a formative year, and we’ve had to divert our attention to so many things.

Grace: We started our year like “we’re a folk-rock band” and on the night of our first show we get told we’re opening for Boy & Bear as a stripped back set and its crazy… this whole year has been insane.

Sam: We made ourselves pretty malleable I think for the occasion, we’re definitely more on side of sinking our teeth into what we want to do and what we want to be and give people a sick show.

Catch STAHR at their next show

Nov 8th | Blackbear Lodge | Tickets here