Kabi Kabi/Sunshine Coast indie-rock act High Tropics has put a smile on my face this morning with their cool new single “Girlfriends.” With gritty guitars, easy vocals, and an infectious melody, I know you’re going to dig it too.
“‘Girlfriends’ is a down-and-out love song that doubles as a love letter to the green queen Mary Jane,” explained the band’s creator, Josh Stewart. “Written during the healing process of a six-year relationship ending, it’s a song about picking yourself up and moving on.”
This track sounds effortless, but Josh has recently been candid about the struggles he faces with Crohn’s disease.
“I first got into music for all the wrong reasons, eventually completed a bachelor of audio engineering and got really ill in my final year of the degree,” he shared. “I ended up getting diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2013, which altered the course of my life. Ironically though, it was the thing that made me fall in love with and develop my songwriting, as it became my way of escaping reality. It’s my therapy.”
“As I’ve seen a bit of the stigma around disabilities lessen in society over the last few years, it’s helped me reflect and embrace my own struggles and experiences, and see it as part of my story, not something to be ashamed of. I want to be a force for good, and hiding my condition from the world doesn’t help anyone. Our industry has made some great headway with diversity over the last few years, but disabled artists are still extremely underrepresented, and my silence certainly hasn’t helped. I’d like to see more support for people living with disabilities, specifically within the music industry. It’s time to lose the stigma, let’s show the world everybody can rock.”
You can see Josh and his friends rock out when High Tropics hits cities around Queensland to promote this single in the coming months. Catch them at the following venues near you:
31 March 2023 – Solbar, Gubbi Gubbi/Maroochydore
21 April 2023 – Ole Bar, Kabi Kabi/Noosa
12 May 2023 – Tomcat, Meeanjin/Brisbane
Image used with permission from Good Intent