The Basics – the Melbourne trio featuring Wally De Backer, also known as Gotye – have announced their retirement from live touring.
The band made a statement on Facebook signed by all three members, noting a new “all-originals record [is] firmly in the works”, though “the days of globetrotting as a discrete unit (aka live touring) had to end eventually”.
“There are still so many places we wanted to go and people we’d like to meet, but with two young families and a medical career between us (not to mention two solo projects and a live music venue on top of this!), there’s just this sense that it was time to draw a line in the sand,” The Basics wrote.
“Plans keep getting brought up and then quickly dashed, and it just seems fair to make it clear both to you guys and to ourselves.”
The members continued, explaining why they would not play a final show or announce a “goodbye tour” to capitalise on their retirement.
“We’ve always tried to be as genuine as possible, and so with respect to our decision have no such finale to offer,” they said.
“Hopefully in years to come when all the kids are grown up we can play again. And of course we look forward to bringing you a new Basics record at some stage, plus new stuff from Wally and Kris.
“But for now, it’s a happy if melancholy goodbye to that corner of the pub that was our home for many, many years, and the memories of you who lit it up with such fiery passion.”
Read the full statement below:
It is not apparent whether the new material associated with Wally is for the Gotye moniker, or an unrelated solo project. There has not been a Gotye release since his breakout 2011 album ‘Making Mirrors’, which spawned the megahit ‘Somebody I Used To Know’ featuring Kimbra.
The Basics last studio album was the 2019 covers collection ‘B.A.S.I.C.’, playing their last live shows to promote it at the Espy in Melbourne late that year. The trio formed in 2002, releasing five albums to date.
In 2014, they formed The Basics Rock’n’Roll party to contest the Victorian state election that year, given party status by the state’s electoral commission.
Kris Schroeder and Tim Heath campaigned as upper house candidates for the northern metropolitan region, but did not win their seats. Their agenda focussed on improving Indigenous education in Victorian schools, compulsory first-aid training in high schools and having more access to music in rural areas.