Interview: Bella Rafflyn of Coast Arcade

Radio BurgerFuel (RBF): Let's take it right back to start. You seem to really be all in on music, where did this love come from?

Bella Rafflyn (BR): Yeah, I started playing guitar when I was about seven. My parents aren't musical but they are music enjoyers, and I think I just showed an interest in music and they thought, you know, that's a great thing to just get into. My dad's a creative so I think it just made sense to them.

I started in lessons, but it pretty quickly became me teaching myself. Once I got the bug, I just couldn't shake it. Then, when I was about 11 I got put into my first band in primary school and we competed in Bandquest. That's when I knew I had to be in bands. I just love playing on stage with a group of people. Since then, I’ve competed in like three Bandquests and six Rockquests. Now I’ve got two bands and I’m loving it.

RBF: Were there other instruments, or was it just guitar for you?

BR: Not to the same degree. I did choir in primary and high school, but only because I was in the band and kind of had to. I wasn’t a good singer — I wanted to be a guitarist. I also played a little bit of drums, keyboard, and bass at home. We had them around because my dad would get them from cash converters for cheap so the band could use them. I also played tenor saxophone for about three years, but I never turned up to my lessons. I was probably the most awful saxophone student ever.

It's funny, I despised the idea of being front and centre in a band. I fell into singing when I was about 15 because the singer in my band left and there were no others. So that’s why I started singing.

RBF: Do you feel differently about singing and being front and centre now?

BR: I'm in two minds. I’ve become used to it, so the shock factor isn’t there anymore. I still don’t think my singing is what I’d imagined it would be. But I enjoy being up on stage and singing songs I’ve written. I’d prefer that to writing songs and having someone else sing them. That’s why I love being in a band — you’re kind of front and centre but also not. You can share the love.

I was no prodigy at singing. It wasn’t until I came across artists who sang in their natural accent — like The Beths, The Strokes, Courtney Barnett, Ruby Fields — that I thought, oh, that sounds like me. Up until then I’d only really listened to Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. They didn’t sound like me.

After that, I couldn’t shake the accent. I remember thinking, why would I sing in an American accent? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Some people love it, some people hate it. But you get that with any voice - some people like it, some people don’t. That’s what’s cool about people singing.

RBF: So let's get into Coast Arcade, that started in high school right?

BR: Yeah, Coast Arcade has been around for about four years. It was my last year of high school and I’d had a band who did Rockquest for four years, but it split. I wanted one more year of Rockquest, so I put Coast together. We had two months of practice and went straight into a regional final — and won. We got to the national final that year, but it was cancelled because of COVID.

It was weird, but we didn’t know any different, so we just learned to deal with it. We were in high school, doing six hours a day of Zoom classes and preparing for final exams. I think it was good for me because I had to learn to write properly. But it was hard when the rest of the country freed up and we still couldn’t practice.

RBF: What's changed in the last four years then as you've grown up. Do you still write and record the same way?

BR: It used to be pretty me-focused. I’d write everything because I was the only one who really wanted to be writing. But Coast Arcade has had a bit of a line-up change and now everyone really loves songwriting. We all bring different ideas and write collaboratively. You can hear it in the music.

RBF: Is that why you also have your (self-titled) solo project? So you can keep your me-time going?

BR: Haha yeah. But actually, the solo project has been around since before Coast. It just wasn’t public facing. I entered Rockquest solo/duos and all the feedback was, 'you should get a band.' Even thought I was already doing that too. But the solo project is purely me - my sound, my voice, my words. I’ve always just wanted to run them side by side. It’s just two outlets to express myself.

With a band, you’ve got different personalities and perspectives coming together. With the solo stuff, it’s just unapologetically me.

RBF: As well as the band, you've dived full on into the music industry as well, right?

BR: I didn’t go to uni - well, I did for six months and dropped out. I went straight into interning in the music industry after that. I do contract work, which is great because I feel like I’m being paid to learn the business side and I’m really lucky to have a good support network. A lot of my work is music now, so it all kind of merges into one thing.

RBF: And as part of that work you're a promoter. Does that show you a different side of the music industry in NZ?

BR: Completely. The music industry has cycles, and the current struggle is live event ticketing. People don’t want to buy tickets, so acts make tickets cheaper, which means no one can make money. There are fewer smaller-scale international acts coming through and when they do, there’s not much local support. It’s an interesting space right now, but I’m a big believer in live music.

RBF: Why do you think Kiwis struggle with buying tickets early?

BR: Oh, that's my biggest gripe. They turn up late or buy late. That’s why we have early bird tickets to try and incentivise sales! It's so stressful. Last year we had two shows at the Tuning Fork, 400-cap venues. Tickets weren’t where we wanted until the week of the event, and then suddenly we sold heaps. Everyone knew they were coming, but they just waited. I can understand, because people have been stung before when acts have cancelled, but it's still hard to manage.

RBF: So what’s next for Coast Arcade?

BR: We’re super busy, getting ready to record and release a lot more music. We’ve all committed to hopefully making the band our full-time job. And we want to release an album one day.

There's a lot of goals in our one-year and five-year plans, even though timing is so changeable! We’d love to go overseas as we've got a pretty good international fan base growing. We'd also love to play more regional areas in NZ, play more festivals, support an epic band around the world. And our drummer’s top goal is to play the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. Pretty sure we can tick that one off in the next six months!