San Cisco are back.
More than a decade after the Fremantle favourites first won us over with their signature indie-pop sound, Jordi Davieson, Josh Biondillo and Scarlett Stevens have returned with their first new music since 2024’s Under the Light.
Their new single “Miles Away” delivers everything we’ve come to love about the band, with an infectious melody, bittersweet lyrics and that unmistakable knack for making complicated feelings sound breezy.
As Davieson tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ in a new interview, the song marks something of a return to the band’s roots, stripping things back to the basics and letting the music speak for itself.
In saying that, of course, plenty has changed since San Cisco first burst onto the scene. The trio have grown up together, navigated their fair share of personal milestones – including Stevens becoming a new mum – and watched the Australian music industry transform around them. But through it all, their love of making music together has remained.
Now, with a new chapter underway, they’re preparing to hit the road for their first regional tour in more than two years, swapping the big-city stages for the intimate, sweaty venues they know and love.
Here, Davieson talks about finding inspiration in life’s uncertainties, why writing happy songs doesn’t come naturally, the challenges of touring in Australia and what the future holds for San Cisco.
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Rolling Stone AU/NZ: “Miles Away” explores the feeling of being physically close to someone but emotionally disconnected. What inspired you to write about that, was it something you found difficult to put into words?
Jordi Davieson: Yeah! I think I feel like that about a lot of our songs. It does my head in when I have to write something explaining the meaning of a song. It’s like I’ve spent so much time meticulously picking the words, melody and the delivery to portray how I feel about a certain situation, and now I’ve gotta boil it down even further into a few sentences!
I think a lot of my songs aren’t really complete thoughts. They’re often questions I’m exploring through writing. But yes, I did have these feelings very early on in my current relationship, and I struggled with them a little. In fact, the second verse of “Miles Away” is part of an unrecorded song I wrote around that time 7 years ago.
I’ve always found that there’s an interesting contrast in a lot of your music — there’s bright melodies matched with quite melancholic lyrics. Is that something you’ve consciously leaned into over the years?
I love that juxtaposition in music. Lots of people do it, but Lily Allen was a real influence for me. I also just find it hard to write happy songs. When I’m feeling on top of the world, I don’t want to grab that feeling and turn it into a song, I just want to keep feeling great! Maybe writing is more useful to me when there’s something I haven’t quite figured out yet.
“Miles Away” is your first release since Under The Light. How has your approach to songwriting and creating music evolved since 2024?
For the writing of this record, I used a technique I coined ‘Nick Cave-ing it’. I’m not sure how familiar you are with Mr Cave’s work ethic, but I found a space away from home that I would go to every day, block all the distracting apps and lock myself in that room to work. I think I’ve abandoned the idea of waiting for inspiration to strike and adopted a much more ‘work your ass off until good stuff starts coming out’ approach. It’s painful at times, but I think the results are much stronger.
Inspiration is great when it shows up, but I don’t really trust it to turn up on time anymore.
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You’ve each experienced different personal milestones and changes outside the band over the years. How have those individual experiences influenced the music you’re making together now?
I can’t speak for the other two, but from what I’ve felt happening in all of our personal lives, there’s a real sense of the rubber hitting the road. We aren’t just kids playing music and floating around anymore. Life is demanding some bigger, harder decisions. The lyrics in this song, and the songs to come, are acutely about that.
The Australian live music landscape has changed considerably since San Cisco first emerged, particularly when it comes to regional touring and the challenges facing smaller venues. How different does touring feel now compared to your early days?
Well, it’s really expensive to tour, and tickets just don’t sell like they used to. I put a lot of that down to the cost-of-living crisis in Australia and those couple of years of Covid that really sucked the life out of live music.
We were fortunate enough to be one of triple j’s darlings, which helped us a lot early on. But now that so much of the power of music discovery has moved to social media platforms, I think things are much more skewed towards international acts. It’s a very different landscape to the one we came up in.
Your upcoming regional tour marks your first run outside the major cities in more than two years. Why is it important for you to keep returning to those places?
Because it’s fun! We love our fans and we love playing rock shows, especially if it’s in a small, sweaty regional pub. I love the intimacy and rawness of shows like that. I also feel a lot more at home in a small town than a big city.
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You’ve built a catalogue of songs that have soundtracked different moments in people’s lives. How has your relationship with any of your older music changed, do certain ones take on new meanings?
Well, I gotta say, I think that’s my favourite part of the job. It’s an absolute honour to provide the soundtrack for a period in someone’s life.
I don’t think the meanings of the songs themselves have necessarily changed, but when I play or listen to older tracks, they take me straight back to the time we were writing them and whatever was going on in our lives.
You’ve been making music together for well over a decade, which is no small feat. What’s kept San Cisco creatively exciting?
I think we just love making music. It’s kind of all we’ve ever known. Initially, the thought of making a new record can be daunting, but once I get into it, I get obsessed. There’s something very special about making something out of nothing and then sharing it with people.
Do you ever find yourself falling into familiar patterns or ruts? How do you avoid that?
God, all the time! I find the best way out of it is to come up with a plan and stick to it almost religiously. Consistency is key for me.
With “Miles Away” marking the beginning of a new chapter, what have you been experimenting with sonically? Are there any sounds, influences or ideas you’re exploring that might surprise longtime San Cisco fans?
Our main goal was to make the song sound like a band, which sounds silly considering we are a band! But I think it’s easy to get sucked down the ‘production hole’ and overproduce a track. We really just wanted drums, bass, guitar and a minimal amount of sprinklings on top. If anything, I see “Miles Away” as us coming back to our roots.
What are you most proud of with where San Cisco is today? And what still feels unfinished or exciting about the band’s future?
I’m most proud of the fact that we’re all still doing it! It’s no easy feat to get three people to move in the same general direction for this long. I’m also proud of how we work as a team and how we take turns picking up the slack when need be. I think that’s probably a big part of why we’re still here. You can’t all be firing on all cylinders all of the time, so you learn when to carry each other a little.
What else can fans look forward to? Are there plans for more shows in the cities, or perhaps a new album on the horizon?
Yeah, there is heeeaps to look forward to!
San Cisco’s “Miles Away” is out now.
