When Easy Street rolled onto the Sydney scene back in 2016, they were quick to turn heads with their raucous live show and crafty classic rock sound. In late 2017, they dropped their debut self-titled EP, a collection of blissful psych-folk mixed with messier 60’s rock ’n’ roll, and they’re back today with ‘Sexy Draconian’, a wild blast of rollicking garage rock and the first taste of EP number two.

Following an unassuming count-in, ‘Sexy Draconian’ explodes open, full of swagger and playful charm - almost instantly, we’re hit with a wall of crunchy guitars and eerie vocals, backed by a thumping bass and swampy groove. Things cool off slightly as frontman Jesse Squire takes the reigns with his drawling vocals, and the band push the song along steadily beneath a bed of jangling minor chords. Sure enough, the calm is short lived and Easy Street strike with a stomping chorus, driven by a pounding rhythm section while guitars sizzle and burn. The frenzied performances don’t stop, and as the band ride the track out, it’s clear that the second Easy Street EP will be one that finds the band spreading their wings even further.

Ahead of their ‘Sexy Draconian’ tour, which kicks off tomorrow in Melbourne at the Grace Darling, we caught up with Jesse to find out what’s been going on.

TJ: Tell us a bit about Easy Street?

ES: There’s a lot of haze in my memory to be honest, I lived in a few big ol’ weird houses where there were strangers sleeping on the staircases and parties every night. I met a lot of people then and the members of Easy Street are some of the friends I've held onto through a lot of all that. There was this one point were Nic and I were both starting bands with pretty much the same members… so I guess it made sense to coalesce the two and yeah… there was Easy Street.

The new track’s a bit of a belter - what’s the story behind 'Sexy Draconian'?

I wrote a lot of the song when I was at art school. I was getting into a bunch of those west coast 60’s bands like Jefferson Airplane, The Doors and all that. I was also watching heaps of Jim Jarmusch - he’s a straight up story teller. Some of the scenes in his films are so vivid and well described, so a lot of that was coming into my writing and into this song.

When I later brought it to the band it got way more jangly and hard-out, which made me wanna sing it even more. I think this song exposes a bit of a darker and chaotic element of our music, which you don’t really get in anything we’ve released previously. We tried to produce it nice and real sounding, and I tried to sing it as honestly as I could.

It’s also the first single off your next EP - anything you can give away about that?

We’ve all been through a bunch of stuff over the last year and I think this EP is somehow inextricable from that. That is not to say it's all necessarily going to be dark, just probably more candid and impassioned.

You’ve also just announced you’ve joined Sunset Pig’s roster, who seem to be kicking some huge goals around the place at the moment. What’s the vibe like in the Easy Street camp at the moment?

Well it's bloody good to have some direction management-wise. The industry is like a big tank of storming confetti and I really don’t know what to make of it. I've always been better at writing and singing than making money… having really trustworthy people on your side saying “you guys play great, we believe in you, lets go do something with this” is a precious thing.

How’s the rest of 2018 shaping up for the band?

Good shapes good shapes… We’ll be in Melbourne this weekend playing and recording, then back to NSW for more of the same. I'm looking forward to having our next EP finished by the end of the year - I think the challenge is to keep new material coming, consistently recording and at the same time play as much as possible with a well oiled live show. I also intend on improving my diet and perhaps giving up cigarettes… again.