Hailing from Byron, SEASIDE are an indie-rock band renowned for their gritty songwriting and fierce sound. With Darcy Dexter as the interminable presence, Seaside well and truly killed it in 2025.
Their debut album ‘Desiderata,’ which was released in 2025 is 11 tracks of punchy riffs, insightful lyrics and an energy that can’t quite be described. So, save me the effort of trying to do so, and go listen to it yourself.
Busy as they are, the crew took some time out to answer a few questions for me, and given the talent this band exudes, I can’t wait to see what they this year.
First up, tell me a little bit about SEASIDE – who are you, when did you form and what’s the kind of music you love to churn out?
SEASIDE is a four-piece indie alt rock band from Byron Bay, and we formed late 2017, early 2018, and from then until now, we have grown from a coastal indie sound, into more of a harder alt rock sound. We prefer where this progression has taken us. Faster, louder alt rock music is just more fun to play, and we love that we’re a live band first and foremost.
What or who are some of your greatest influences that come through in your music/inspire you to create?
I’m sure everyone has their own influences. One thing we all can agree on is that we love making music that gets the crowd moving or jumping around or gets them nice and sweaty – that’s what we like to do. Tom and Chris grew up loving punk music. Kento and Darcy were more emo, post punk, indie, so we feel with our debut album, ‘Desiderata’, we were able to find our feet somewhere in the middle
Have you had any memorable gigs of late? If so, what made it so amazing?
We played the River Stage in Brisbane with Ocean Alley at the end of 2023, to 5000 people. The crowd was wild and we felt so at home on that stage, playing to that many people. We are honestly forever grateful for that opportunity. That’s undoubtedly been our biggest and best gig to date.
What do you love most about making music with your band?
Striking a bit of gold when we’re writing or jamming. That moment when it all comes together, and we just look around at each other like, “Yep, we’ve found something here.” It’s cool discovering something collectively.
What does 2026 hold for SEASIDE?
In 2026, who knows? It depends on how our music can travel around and where it finds a home. We will definitely keep writing though.
When you guys aren’t making music, where can I find you?
Usually at the pub!
More about SEASIDE
‘Short and Sweet’ is your backstage pass to NSW’s Northern Rivers Music Scene, inspired by BayFM’s Ange Kent host of Northern Rivers Music Box and music journalist, Prudence Clark, from Off the Record.