About

Honesty is the best policy for Launceston band Invisible Boy.

It’s a simple philosophy, but it’s something that resonates loudly from the acoustic folk-pop outfit, as the group’s Daniel Townsend explains.

“Whatever we do, we seek to be genuine and honest. Sometimes that can be confronting, sometimes it can be inspiring.”

Consider the meaning behind the band’s name.

“We take our name from a severely disabled boy we knew who was unable to feed, dress or care for himself, or even speak,” he says.

“I spent some time with him just crawling around on the floor, and I looked into his eyes and I could tell that he knew what was going on. Even though his body was broken, his spirit and mind were fine.

“To me, that was haunting, because he probably saw more clearly than most of us ever see. It helps me to slow down and take the blinkers off my eyes and look around and realise there are other people that can help me probably more than I can help them.”

Invisible Boy has had many forms, starting life as a two-piece band and then growing to five.

Essentially now, as they state on their MySpace page, the band is made up of Daniel Townsend, Ben McKinnon and associates.

The EP, which is called Such a Time As This, contains three songs from the forthcoming album When Beggars Die, and three previously unreleased tracks, two of them from live performances.

It was released as part of their innovative 2010 Living Room Tour, which saw the band playing in people’s lounge rooms and back yards.

“It’s essentially fans that have asked us to their houses and they invite their friends over, and we perform for them,” Townsend says.

“The Living Room Concerts have been some of the best and some of the most difficult we’ve done, because we are in someone else’s territory.

“It’s a very different environment to a pub, where if you don’t like someone you can just turn around and talk to someone else. In a living room, there’s nowhere to hide! They can ask questions like ‘what did you mean by that,’ or ‘can you play this song’? It’s the best place for art to be born.”

And it’s the type of show that really suits the group.

“That’s what we’re all about, encouraging people to be real and open up to each other.”

“What better place to do that than in your living room?”

The EP Such a Time As This is available exclusively at live performances. The debut album, We’re Going To Hang Your Picture High is available on iTunes or in hard copy from the band’s MySpace.

Written by Alex Fair, X-Static, March 26, 2010