What have The Buckleys been up to lately? OR The four children of The Radiators' Mick Buckley are showing us how it's done!!

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Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians

Sarah Buckley's effervescent energy radiates through every moment of our conversation about The Buckleys, the dynamic sibling band that's breathing fresh life into Australian country music. Growing up in the Byron hinterland with a father who drummed for The Radiators before exploring big band, rockabilly, and boogie-woogie piano, music was always destined to be their path.

"Dad was always playing," Sarah reminisces, explaining how their father deliberately steered them toward country music as a more wholesome alternative to the rock world he knew. This musical upbringing included learning guitar from James T of Canned Heat fame and performing at local festivals from a young age. The journey from competing in the BluesFest busking competition as children to returning as official performers years later represents a full-circle moment that clearly still resonates with Sarah.

The conversation takes an exciting turn when Sarah details her songwriting collaboration with Alexander Lasker from Kingswood. Unlike the structured Nashville writing sessions she was accustomed to, their creative process flowed organically into the early morning hours after breaks for dinner and drinks. This rock and roll approach yielded their previous single "See You Folks Again" and their new release "What Were Your Dreams Made Of" during one particularly inspired night. The latter track showcases Sarah's powerful vocals alongside a fierce mandolin solo in what she describes as "a high energy anthem built for dance floors, festival stages, and country playlists alike."

The family dynamic adds another fascinating layer to The Buckleys' story. Recently, youngest brother Dylan has joined the band after earning his stripes and completing his "band probation," as Sarah jokingly puts it. When asked about playing with siblings, she candidly admits it's "a mixed bag" with moments that are "explosive and very short" before everyone moves on professionally. 

This authenticity extends to their annual "Buckleys and Friends" jam session at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, where they strip back to the spontaneous energy of their musical upbringing.

Discover the infectious blend of honky-tonk heart and rockabilly rebellion that's made The Buckleys one of Australia's most exciting young bands. From their #1 debut single to festival stages across two continents, they're proving country music's resurgence is in capable hands. Give their new single a listen and experience pure Buckley magic for yourself!

What have The Buckleys been up to lately?  Let's find out!

Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!

Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au

Episode Transcript

Cheryl Lee (00:00):
That Radio Chick, cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rockin itpodcast, where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians and artists.
The Buckleys have firmlyestablished themselves as one of
Australia's most exciting youngbands and dynamic live
performers, known for theirinfectious charm and

(00:20):
consistently fresh take oncountry music, which has seen
them achieve five top fivecharting singles.
Consisting of siblings, SarahGrace, Molly, Lachlan and now
the youngest Buckley Dylan, whohas taken over drumming duties
from dad Mick Buckley ofRadiators, the band have taken

(00:42):
their electrifying show tostages across Australia and the
US, from Blues Fest to Tamworth,to Mundi Mundi, the Gimpy
Muster, Nashville's iconicBluebird Cafe and Music City
Roots, and much, much more.
Today we're lucky enough tocatch up with Sarah to chat
about the great new single.
To catch up on podcasts fromother favourite artists, simply

(01:05):
go to thatradiochick.
com.
au.
You're with Cheryl Lee thatRadio Chick and I'd like to
welcome into our Zoom room todaySarah Buckley from the Buckleys
.
Thanks so much for having me.
Oh, thank you for coming andspending some time with us and
sharing some of your excitingnews.
The first time I saw you guysperform, my hubby and I rode the

(01:30):
Harley to Blues Fest fromAdelaide to Blues Fest to see
you Wow that's amazing.

Sarah Buckley (01:36):
Far out, what a story.
That's very cool.
Yeah, Blues Fest one of myfavourite shows we've played, so
that's a good one.

Cheryl Lee (01:42):
It was our first Blues Fest, so have you done it
before then?

Sarah Buckley (01:47):
I had done the Blues Fest busking competition a
couple of times growing upbecause we're from the Byron
hinterland.
So I had done the buskingcompetition back when I was
maybe 11 years old by myself,didn't win, but got invited to
come and play at the festival onthe busking stage.
And then a year or two afterthat we went in as the Buckleys
to the busking competition aswell.

(02:07):
We didn't win, but we gotinvited to play on the busking
stage.
So, yeah, that was awesome.
And then, yeah, that year wasthe first year that we had been
on the proper official lineup,so huge milestone for us.
So we were yeah, we're very,very excited about.
It was a big show.

Cheryl Lee (02:21):
It was awesome.
We were at the front and weabsolutely blew having an eye
away.
We thought these guys are greatoh man, thank you.

Sarah Buckley (02:32):
You actually do look a little bit familiar.
I will say we put a lot of workinto that show and we're like
we're gonna make this one, likeyou know, one of the best you
know we've ever played and did alot of work and a lot of
rehearsing in the lead up andhad some really special moments
in that set.
We did this like tribute toChris Murphy, our former manager
, who passed away.
His favorite song was With aLittle Help from my Friends, so

(02:54):
I think we ended the show onthat, the Joe Cocker version,
with the horn section and somebackup singers.
It was like just like one ofthe best moments ever that I've
had on stage.
And, yeah, such an amazing timewe had because the year before
we actually rode to Blues Fest2021.

Cheryl Lee (03:11):
I don't know if you guys were due to play on that
one, but we got within half anhour.
We were half an hour away andremember it got COVID cancelled,
oh you're kidding that year?

Sarah Buckley (03:22):
Oh no, actually we were booked on that festival.
So frustrating.
Yeah, we were booked on thatone.
Oh damn that sucked.

Cheryl Lee (03:29):
We knew we could do it then.
So when it came about, we justwent again.
True, it was a good little testWarm up.
I actually saw your dad in thecrowd and I gave him my card and
I said I'd like to interviewyour kids.
Oh, really, it happenedovernight, but it's now happened
Finally.
Yeah, the long way around.

Sarah Buckley (03:51):
That's awesome.

Cheryl Lee (03:52):
Yeah, it's so good.
Now, one of the questions Inormally ask artists is you know
, is music in their DNA and, ofcourse, Dad was a drummer in the
Radiators from 84 to 87, so Iguess he's been a massive
influence on you guys.

Sarah Buckley (04:08):
Yeah, definitely huge.
Yeah, we grew up listening toso much music just because we
were around it, going to gigs.
Dad was always playing yeah,obviously he was in the rads
throughout the 80s but thensince then was in like a big
band, like a 12-piece big band,doing like swing and rock.
It was in a rockabilly bandthen now it's like a piano
player doing like lots of likeboogie woogie and honky tonk

(04:29):
piano.
So we've had like so much musicaround us and so many musicians
like I learned how to playguitar and like the blues from a
guy called James T who playedin Canned Heat and like Canned
Heat played at Woodstock back inthe 60s and yeah, Going Up The
Country was their big song andyeah, that was like James was
such a big influence on me andyeah, so many great musos around
, it was inevitable, wasn't it?

(04:50):
Some would say, yeah, totallyhard not to fall in love with it
.

Cheryl Lee (04:55):
I don't know if it's just me, but do you think
country's having this realresurgence at the moment?

Sarah Buckley (05:00):
Definitely, yeah, huge in a huge way.
I think it's so exciting.
I grew up when no one,especially like no one my age
likes or listen to country music.
It was like you had to go tothe 10 months country music
festival to find into it.
People were like at school, belike, oh, you listen to country,
um, very cool.
So it's um, yeah, it's so funnyto see it come back around like
that where did the passion forcountry music come from?

(05:24):
from you, well, well like I said, we grew up listening to like
every genre under the sun.
But I think dad especiallyreally like wanted us to be
influenced by country music ashe came from like the rock and
roll industry, which is a bit,you know, hardcore sex, drugs
and rock and roll.
So when his kids were growingup he was like let's get them
into country music.
It seems a bit more wholesomeLittle, did he know, not too far

(05:46):
from rock and roll.
I would say that was a bigreason why.
Yeah, we got into countrythrough that influence.

Cheryl Lee (05:51):
Obviously, you've stayed with it, so you guys must
love it.

Sarah Buckley (05:56):
Yeah, oh, I love country music.
It truly is.
It feels like home.
You know, when we listen to itWe've got a new single to talk
about.

Cheryl Lee (06:03):
But before we do that, I noticed here that you
wrote a song with Alex LaskaAlexander.

Sarah Buckley (06:11):
Lasker.
Yeah, so Kingswood we did abunch of touring with Kingswood
last year and yeah like to geton so well with the boys.
They're like brothers to us atthis stage.
Yeah, me and Al started writingso I went to melbourne and we
wrote a bunch of new songs andthen he ended up producing them
as well.
So so exciting, such a differentway of recording than what I'd

(06:32):
been and writing that what I'dbeen used to like I was always
very much part of.
Like the nashville scene, whichI love as well.
But like writing with al waslike in nashville.
It's kind of more like youstart at nine o'clock and then
finish the first session at oneand then go to like another
session until 5 30 and then kindof clock off, whereas Al was
like would get into the studioat like three o'clock, write a

(06:52):
bit of a song and go out fordinner and then come back to the
studio and like go back out,have some drinks and come back
like four in the morning.
So it was like rock and roll,yeah, yeah, very much.
So, yeah, actually it was funny.
The song, our previous single,see you folks again and what
were your dreams made of our newsingle they were both written
in the same night.

Cheryl Lee (07:12):
We wrote a third song that night as well, but I
don't know if that one will everbe heard it's just coincidental
because I met alex in the zoomroom last tuesday, so it's fine,
I get to speak to you bothwithin a week's time.

Sarah Buckley (07:27):
Yes, that's classic.
Yeah, well, we just saw theboys the day before yesterday.
They just played Gimpy Master,which we just played as well.
Yeah, I got to catch up withthem there, which was great.
You are listening to StillRockin it, the podcast with
Cheryl Lee.

Cheryl Lee (07:42):
So we'll save the new song until a little bit
later.
Let's have the song Sarah,co-wrote with last week's Zoom
Room guest, Alexander Luska fromKingswood.
See You Folks Again.
And then we're back to speaksome more to the effervescent
young Sarah Buckley from theBuckleys.

(08:11):
After the Gimpy Master, you'vegot Out Back by the Sea, and
then Tamworth, tamworth being abig equal each year.
Yeah, Tamworth.

Sarah Buckley (08:20):
So we actually have Groundwater Country Music
Festival as well, which iscoming up in I think it's
October, so that'll be reallyfun.
We've never played that one.
And then, yeah, and then we goto Tamworth Country Music
Festival, which we do every year.
That's like our annual familyholiday and we do a Buckley's
and Friends show.
We get Buckley's and Friendsshow, we get like all of our
mates and just yeah, we werelike we kind of made the

(08:41):
decision.
We've always done that kind ofjam session show.
But yeah, we were kind of likeour favorite part of Tamworth is
the music one, but also justall of our mates are there and
getting to catch up with all ourfriends and have a good time.
And so we kind of bring it backto just like that old I don't
know the way we kind of grew upin, like pubs and jams and
things like that.
It's like such a great way toplay music, which is very

(09:02):
different from like a fullyproduced show, which we also
love doing on big festivalstages, but kind of stripping it
back to just like a good oldfashioned, you know, rowdy,
loose jam.
See what happens, you don'treally know where it's going to
end up.

Cheryl Lee (09:19):
Yeah, but yeah, it's a very special time and place
when you get to do that, I feellike.
Is there any dates to come toour little town soon in Adelaide
?

Sarah Buckley (09:25):
I would love to.
Molly is actually her boyfriendis from Adelaide and so they
have a bunch of friends, hisfamily, up there, so it's been
spoken about.
Definitely, yeah, I'd love tocome to Adelaide.
I've never been there.
I want to come to the wineriesthey spoken about.
Definitely, yeah, I'd love tocome to adelaide.

Cheryl Lee (09:45):
I've never been there.
I want to come to the wineries.
They look great, we're famous.
I've heard great things, so I'mkeen to come for a gig and the
winery tour.
Brand new song what were yourdreams made of?
Had a nice listen to that, loveit.
Oh.
Thank you so much.
So the four siblings now playin the.
But which wasn't just three at?

Sarah Buckley (09:59):
yes oh, you're right.
Yeah, yeah, just the three ofus.
It's always it's been so far.
Well, actually, originally dadwas the drummer and we had the
buckley's family band was thefirst iteration a long time ago
and then dad sacked himself toodifficult to work with,
apparently.
But then we made a trio for themost part and then our little

(10:23):
brother has always been a youngrat bag.
He, when he was like 16, 15,started really like picking up
the drums, always played drumsand played music.
Oh, yeah, actually he, yeah, healways played drums.
But he really kind of got intoit, wanted to really do it
properly and potentially jointhe band, so earned his stripes
and then we put him on, we puthim on band probation for a
while, but I don't know, workexperience boy.

(10:44):
Yeah, exactly, there we go.
So, yeah, and then when heturned 18, we're like, okay,
probably time to let him in theband properly.
Yeah, exactly, join the familymafia.
Do you think you'll keep him?
Yeah, yeah, I think so.
Yeah, he's pretty good, it'scheap too.

Cheryl Lee (11:02):
Can't get rid of him now anyway, exactly, yeah.
Another thing that reallypiqued my interest that I hadn't
known was that there's anaward-winning doco on your
band's Meteoric Rise, producedby Oscar-winning producer
christopher jenkins, directed bygrant james, and it's called
take it as it comes.

(11:23):
How can we watch that?

Sarah Buckley (11:25):
I know it would be so good.
It's kind of caught up in likeit's kind of boring stuff but
because it's owned by ourprevious record label like kind
of not out officially to thepublic.
We went out to some filmfestivals, which was really cool
, but it's not.
Yeah, I need to talk to themand see if we can maybe get the
rights to it or something so wecan put it out.
There's another littledocumentary that Chris made.

(11:46):
It's so funny.
We're like it's so weird havingthese documentaries about us,
especially because we're so new,like we're not new to the
industry.
We've been in it for a longtime.
We've been quite young.
Why anyone would want to make adocumentary on us is very
strange.
But Chris Murphy, our previousmanager, he uh made another
documentary which is on youtubeand that's called meet the
buckley's when we first kind ofgot signed and covers the first
um record.
So you can look at that one,meet the buckley's.

(12:07):
It's on our youtube channel.
Three shorts, short episodes,but then there's the full length
one there and that's reallygood too.
But yeah, the take it as itcomes.
One when we did our EP over inthe US.
But hopefully one day it comesout.
That would be really cool.

Cheryl Lee (12:20):
In 2019, your debut single off your debut album,
daydream, went to Australiannumber one on the country radio.
Well done, fantastic, or like adebut single with a rocket.

Sarah Buckley (12:35):
Totally Pretty.
Yeah, no one was expecting that.
When we put it out, we, yeah,the record label everything
everyone was like what's goingon here?
So, yeah, it was very cool thatthat happened, yeah, so quickly
.
I mean, that was our debutsingle after signing with our
like our first major label dealwith petrol records and
universal music.
We had previously had releasedother music and other songs, but
that was like the official, youknow big starter.

Cheryl Lee (12:57):
So yeah, it was pretty wild, that's for sure
still rocking the podcast withthat radio chick cheryl lee.
Let's have the title track fromthat debut album from 2020 that
went to number one with arocket day dream.
And then we're back to saygoodbye to sarah from the
buckley's.

(13:24):
What is this new single about?

Sarah Buckley (13:26):
Well, I wrote this song.
It was kind of inspired.
It was a festival hanging outwith this guy and I think he was
kind of.
Some people, I think, havedifferent ideas before they
maybe spend time with you ormeet you properly, as to like
what you would be like, and meand Molly definitely can hold
our own when it comes to, yeah,having a good time.

(13:47):
've heard that yeah.
I won't say I drank him under the table, but
maybe I did.
So this song is kind ofinspired in a funny way about
that.
Yeah, it's just yeah.

Cheryl Lee (13:59):
Yeah, it's a good little boogie and kind of like a
light-hearted, I would sayanthem like a good anthem yeah,
yeah, exactly, and another one,that of yours, that I really
liked, that I play on the radioall the time, by the way, is
your song Woodstock 69.
Yeah, oh, thank you so much.

Sarah Buckley (14:19):
Yeah, that's a, that's an oldie kind of it's uh,
yeah, debut record that wasyeah, I wrote that with some
friends over in Nashville andit's a good reminiscent song on.
Yeah, imagine being atWoodstock.

Cheryl Lee (14:30):
God I know oh yeah, I don't think there's been
anything like it really ever,since it's a blues fest, of
course I was gonna say bluesfest is the closest.

Sarah Buckley (14:40):
Yeah, I love Blues Fest.
Yeah, it has that kind ofsimilar, real like real good
music and you know a lot of soul.

Cheryl Lee (14:46):
Yeah, I've got five children, so I can just imagine
is it tricky playing with yoursiblings and those four of you,
or do you?
You know know, get along likehouse on board yeah, it's a
mixed bag.

Sarah Buckley (15:01):
No, most of the time it's like we definitely get
on and we have a great time.
I love touring with the family.
There's definitely alwaysmoments like any sibling yeah,
any siblings we are.

Cheryl Lee (15:11):
Yeah, it's usually very explosive and very short
and then everyone moves on fiveminutes later of course, if you
have to go on stage, well, youjust, you're professional and
you go on stage, and then youexactly over their head later
exactly yeah, we've got to stayprofessional as much as we can I
just couldn't imagine my phonedoing that, so I take my hat off

(15:33):
to you.
That is, oh god, thank you.
No, I agree with it.
But what a compliment is thisfor your documentary that we
can't see yet won a gold awardat the independent short awards
in la.
Did you know?

Sarah Buckley (15:49):
that I do.
That's pretty crazy.

Cheryl Lee (15:50):
Yeah, I know that's like wild and you had dedicated
that doco to the chairman ofPetrol Records, who was the
long-time manager of INXS andsigned you in 2019, who we sadly
lost in 2021, aged only 66.
He said Sarah is one of thebest songwriters to come out of

(16:15):
Australia ever.

Sarah Buckley (16:17):
oh my god, oh, this is such a wild quote.

Cheryl Lee (16:21):
Yeah, gosh, yeah that's a huge accolade, a huge
compliment yeah, pretty anamazing thing to say.
Gotta try and live up to thatone that better be good from now
on, and I just love your styleof songwriting.
It's oh, thank you.
Yeah, I love playing on theradio.
I've played it a lot.

(16:41):
I've played it a lot.
I can't wait to start playingwhat Were Your Dreams Made Of,
and we can't wait to come to ourlittle town and we can see you
sing it live.

Sarah Buckley (16:53):
Yes, absolutely, count me in.
I'm going to start working onthat ASAP.
Yeah, thank you so much.
Thanks for all the support aswell.

Cheryl Lee (17:02):
It means a lot.
Thank you, it's a pleasure, andthank you for spending some
time with us chatting abouteverything the Buckleys today.

Sarah Buckley (17:06):
Thank you Anytime .
Yeah, hopefully I'll see you inAdelaide soon or somewhere
around the Traps otherwise.

Cheryl Lee (17:12):
Well, we will get over to Tamworth as well.
That's on the bucket list too.
Have you guys ever done Rockthe Boat or the Country?

Sarah Buckley (17:20):
Dad goes on Rock the Boat all the time.
I think he's on it this year aswell.
Yeah, yeah, dad's on it everyyear we do.
We've done Cruising Country acouple of times, which is the
country one, but yeah, haven'tdone Rock the Boat yet.

Cheryl Lee (17:29):
That would be awesome though year because we
can't do everything, even asmuch as you'd like to.
Yeah, yeah, totally, we mightsee him next year.
Had you seen him on another onebefore?
When did we go?

(17:49):
The year that Barnsey was sick,2023, and we also went in 2015
when Barnsey played.

Sarah Buckley (17:57):
I'm pretty sure he was there.

Cheryl Lee (17:59):
It's pretty.
You know long to remember.

Sarah Buckley (18:03):
Yeah, I can vouch for that.
Yeah, totally, who knows whathappened?

Cheryl Lee (18:07):
We might even see you there, Sarah.
Was there anything else thatyou particularly wanted to touch
on before we say goodbye?

Sarah Buckley (18:13):
No, in particular .
No, I think that was great.
It was a great little chat.
Thank you so much.

Cheryl Lee (18:17):
I'll let you get on with your day chat.
Thank you so much.

Sarah Buckley (18:21):
I'll let you get on with your day and again,
thanks for your time.
Thanks so much.
You are listening to stillrocking it the podcast with
cheryl lee here it is, aspromised.

Cheryl Lee (18:29):
The new single what were your dreams made of?
An infectious cocktail ofhonky-tonk, heart, rockabilly,
rebellion and pure buckley magic.
The track is a high energyanthem built for dance floors,
festival stages and countryplaylists alike.
Front woman Sarah Buckleydelivers powerhouse velvet,
smooth vocals alongside a fiercemandolin solo that refuses to

(18:54):
be ignored.
You're with Cheryl Lee, thatradio chick.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the Still Rockin it
podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can supportAussie music and I'll see you

(19:16):
down the front.