An unforgettable debut for The Tortured Souls
Perth collective The Tortured Souls will celebrate the release of their debut album, Unforgettable Days, with a launch show at Freo.Social on Thursday, November 26, with tickets on sale now. Led by singer-songwriter Justin Davies, the group combines classic pop, soulful rock, country and orchestral arrangements, brought to life by an all-star cast of Perth musicians, including members of The Sleepy Jackson, The Waifs, Eskimo Joe and more. Joining them on the lineup are NSW singer-songwriter Kim Churchill, Adelaide band The Audreys and local legend Greg Dear, making for a big night of live music. BRAYDEN EDWARDS caught up with Justin Davies to find out the story behind the record and what we can look forward to when the eight-piece ensemble takes it to the stage.
Congrats on your first abum release! Was making a record always the plan for you, or did it come about organically?
It wasn’t planned. The songs came about after I wrote the first one, which was really just a way of reflecting on something that had happened in my life that I was struggling to get past. After I wrote that song, which was a lovely experience, I wrote another and then another. Before too long, I had 11 songs.
I went down to see Rob Grant, who recorded them for me. When I played them to him, he said, in his lovely way, “Justin, I don’t think you should just keep these songs for yourself. I reckon we could get some people in. The songs deserve more.”
Around the same time, I bumped into Jay Cortez, who had been playing bass with Rob Snarski. I went to see one of Rob’s shows and afterwards, I was sitting outside having a drink when Nigel [Harford] walked past. He was with my brother, so we sat down and started talking about what I was doing. He said he’d love to be involved.
Rob then organised Jay Cortez and Nigel, along with Malcolm Clark on drums, and that’s how it all started.
Can you tell us a bit about how you approached writing the songs? Did you write them on guitar first and then let them grow once you took them to the others?
I play guitar, but not very well. That’s a bit of another story. I just move my hand around the neck until I find the sound I want. Afterwards, I’ve sometimes had to Google the chords to work out what I’m actually playing.
I have no real guitar knowledge at all, and the structure of the songs isn’t particularly traditional. They’re not necessarily built around conventional verses and choruses. Some of them just move as they move.
When I first went down to record the songs, I wasn’t expecting anything more than an afternoon of recording. My sister knew Rob from her days in art school when Rob was in art school, 30 or 40 years ago. So I actually went to a party of Rob’s when I was really young, but that was all the connection I really had.
What was lovely about meeting the other musicians was that nothing was planned. There were no expectations about how the songs had to sound or what style they should take. When I originally wrote them, they were relatively conservative, ballad-type songs, but the guys brought an element that made them sound more reminiscent of a record put together a few decades ago.
They gave the songs a beautiful sound, something that felt more like the 1970s than where we are now. They really took them somewhere I hadn’t anticipated.
Jay Cortez seems to have played a big part in shaping the sound of the record, particularly with the keyboards and melodies?
Absolutely. Jay is just an amazing musician. He’s played keyboards, electric guitar, slide guitar and piano. He’s a musical dynamo, but more than that, he’s incredibly creative.
So many of those songs came together because of what Jay brought to them. When you write songs, it’s hard to judge how good they are, but Jay made those songs beautiful. He layered so many wonderful melodies over them.
He had a lot to do with how the songs came together and the way they sound now.
Can you take us back to the beginning? What was the process of writing that first song, and when did you realise it might become something more?
My life has had its ups and downs over the past decade, and writing music became an opportunity to put all the emotions of those difficult times into songs.
It wasn’t that I could suddenly sit down and write music with ease. It was more that I seemed to tap into feelings that had been with me for a long time and find a way to let them out through the music.
The first song was called Take You Back. When I was writing that song, and many of the others, I’d often find myself overwhelmed with emotion. But within that, and still now, I find my truest sense of peace.
It’s difficult to explain to people how important music is to me. The other day, I was thinking about how people feel when they meditate or pray. They’re filled with something that gives them a sense of wholeness and peace. That’s what music does for me.
It’s become this thing that gives me peace and makes me feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be. I don’t think you can fully understand how potent that is until you experience it yourself.
That’s what happened when I first started writing. I’d never experienced those feelings before. Even though I could become sad about the things I was writing about, there was this wonderful sense of peace that came with it.
By the second or third song, I started to feel there was something more happening than simply writing songs or having something to give me a bit of peace while working through things. I didn’t want to let it go. I still didn’t imagine it would become what it has, but I knew I wanted to keep going.
I love the album, not necessarily because of the song structures, melodies or lyrics, but because of what everybody has helped those songs become. That’s what I love about it.
Was there a particular song that was the most difficult to finish?
From a songwriting perspective, it would be Gold-Lined Melancholy, which is the third track on the album.
The song reflects on life and those days that can feel beautiful and sad at the same time. That’s how my life feels. I’m incredibly grateful for everything I have, but I can also be overwhelmed by sadness quite easily.
At the same time, I can also feel overwhelmed when I see the sun shining on the leaves. It’s that feeling of being moved by things, and the song is about all of that.
I wanted to finish it in a way that didn’t leave things feeling completely up and down. I needed to find words that reflected those emotions but also offered some hope and resolution. The resolution needed to be positive, pure and beautiful.
Finding that last verse took me ages. I have this thing where, if I can’t pick up a piece of paper, read the words to somebody and feel completely comfortable with them, I don’t want them in the song.
Sometimes you can hide words in a song because of everything else that’s going on around them. But if there’s even one word that doesn’t feel completely right, I’m not happy with it.
Have you performed much as a band before, or have most of your performances been acoustic?
I love playing acoustically, but I also love playing with the other guys in the band. I don’t want to track things or just have the songs sitting there as recordings. I want to perform them.
When Ron Sexsmith was touring, I got in contact with the touring company and asked about supporting him when he played here. We hadn’t released the album at that stage, but they were really lovely. They explained that Ron wouldn’t let anyone support him without hearing their music and getting to know it.
I sent them the band’s private link, they passed it on to Ron, and the next day he emailed back saying he was happy for us to play. We ended up supporting him at the Rosemount.
That doesn’t happen very often, so it was a wonderful opportunity.
I guess we never really thought we’d become a band that went out and played gigs regularly. We’ve been waiting for the right opportunity and the right time to put on a show, which is now, given we’re releasing the album.
I’m not sure when the next gig will be. It would have to be something special rather than just playing the songs at a venue where people might not necessarily want to hear them.
There’s a definite sense of melancholy running through the album, but also themes of nostalgia and hope. Is there an overall theme that ties all this together?
I think the theme is really about how I move through the days and months of my life. There’s nostalgia and regret, and even though you experience sad things, sometimes you look back on them and they feel beautiful in a sad way.
Life has been difficult for quite a few years, and I guess some of those feelings have found their way into the songs.
But there isn’t this overwhelming sense of doom, either within me or within the songs. There’s always hope, and even in the sadness there’s an underlying presence of love and beauty.
The lyrics can be sad and regretful, but there’s also love, beauty and hope in there. I guess that’s just me.
You’ve brought together a great mix of artists for the album launch, including Kim Churchill and The Audreys. How did that lineup come about?
We wanted to put together a really good night. We had lots of ideas for the launch, but we never wanted it to just be us.
Initially, we thought about having five or six bands that were completely different in terms of their styles and age demographics. We wanted to put on a crazy, eclectic night with all sorts of music. Eventually, we thought that might be a bit silly, so we scaled it back.
But we still wanted to cover a broader range of musical styles and appeal to a wider demographic.
Kim’s great. He’s a brilliant player, and The Audreys are unreal. They’re quite different from what we do, but they’ve got their own style. A bunch of those guys just felt right for the night, and when we approached them and found out they were available, it was wonderful.
It’s going to be a big show. People will get the vinyl as part of the experience, too. We really want people to come along and enjoy the whole thing.
What’s next after the album launch? Can you see yourself doing more live shows, or are you already thinking about writing another record?
We’re already five songs into the next album. The 12 songs have been written, and we’ve started recording the first five.
We’ve got Tony [Bourke] from The Waifs and Eskimo Joe involved on the new album, along with Sorcha [Albuquerque] who’s an amazing musician, originally a jazz guitarist and has toured with the Rockwiz show. She’s incredible. Mal’s on drums, Nigel is on bass, and I’m sure we’ll have Jay involved as well, although he’s currently broken his finger.
The new album has a slightly different feel. At this stage, it doesn’t sound as theatrical as the first one. It’s got more of a Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Faces and 1970s folk-country feel.
It’s funny because I don’t know whether it’s just that we’ve been playing the same songs for a couple of years, but all the new songs seem so much more fun.
We’ll get that finished as soon as we can. We’ve got a follow-up album to make, but ideally, I’d love to be performing as much as possible.
I’d love to play at venues where people want to listen and enjoy what we’ve got to offer. If that meant playing here, heading over to the eastern states or even playing overseas next year, that would be a dream.
I don’t think the goal is simply to make the album and then stop. The goal is to make the album and then play wherever we can, wherever people want to listen.
The Tortured Souls launch their debut album Unforgettable Days at Freo.Social on Thursday, November 26, 2026. Unforgettable Days is out on Friday, November 27. Ticket and vinyl packages are available now from thetorturedsouls.net
