Hailing from the inner Brisbane suburb of West End, Kurilpa Reach have forged their own path in Australia’s music scene.
Known for their pulsating grooves and high-energy live sets, Kurilpa Reach infuse dub and reggae with psychedelic rock and contemporary roots to create an eclectic sound difficult to pigeon-hole into a single genre.
Consisting of singer/saxophonist Luke Miskimmin, guitarists Loughlin Craig and Will Murphy, along with brothers Pablo Burdell on bass and Vicente Burdell as singer/drummer, Kurilpa Reach evolved from a shared love of classic reggae, blues and indie rock. Additions of Curtis Scibilia on trumpet and Joel Aspinall on keys and saxophone have filled out this 7 piece to create the huge sound that KR puts out in its exciting live shows.
Though all five original members went to high school together in 4101, it wasn’t until a year after graduating that they started connecting over music. Coming across Vicente at a West End house party, Will showed him a voice memo of ‘Under the Bridge’ he had recorded with Luke on sax that afternoon. With that initial voice memo and some drunken enthusiasm, a drummer was secured. Vicente’s brother Pablo was up next, agreeing to teach himself the bass in order to join the jams happening next to his room. Will invited the elusive Loughie they’d all been hearing about over for a jam and finally Kurilpa Reach was born. 2021 saw the permanent addition of Curtis Scibilia and Joel Aspinall to the band.
Since their initial formation in early 2017, Kurilpa Reach have solidified themselves not only in Brisbane but also throughout Australia’s music scene. 2018 saw the release of their Debut EP ‘Fools Fall’, and a number 4 spot on the Triple J Unearthed Charts with single ‘Intermittent Healing’. In 2019 Kurilpa Reach undertook two tours of East Coast Australia celebrating the release of their two singles ‘Best End’ and ‘Mystery Girl’. ‘Mystery Girl’ featured a run of 9 shows beginning at Nimbin Roots Festival, with appearances at OffBeat Festival, Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers, Hidden Lanes, Peregian Originals, ending with a Tijuana Cartel support at The Triffid. Both songs received regular 4zzz airplay, with ‘Mystery Girl’ also receiving Triple J airplay. Kurilpa Reach ended 2019 and began 2020 the best way possible with a 6-show run at Woodford Folk Festival, followed up with a packed to the rafters appearance at Mountain Goat Valley Crawl just in time for lockdown. Kurilpa Reach used lockdown to finalise their sophomore EP ‘Can’t Put Us Out Easy’, which was released late 2020. Lead single ‘Sweet Release’ reached no. 11 on the 4zzz Hot 100. The beginning of 2021 has seen the KR boys tour the east coast with Drop Legs as well as perform at Airlie Beach. Although affected by the Covid Pandemic, the band was able to play a considerable amount of shows in Queensland, with festival highlights including Caloundra Music Festival, Happy Daze and Wallaby Creek. The band is set to release their debut album in August 2023.
Connections to Kurilpa
Traditional home of Jagera/Yuggera owners, West End has become known as a melting pot of ethnic communities and artists, carving out a distinct identity and attitude that sets it apart from surrounding areas. Kurilpa Reach can be seen as a reflection of this identity, with members from Aboriginal and migrant backgrounds. ‘Kurilpa’ is the traditional name for the South Brisbane/West End peninsula, meaning ‘place of the water rat’, while ‘Reach’ refers to the Brisbane River that surrounds the area on three sides. When approaching music, Kurilpa Reach have utilised their own interpretation of West End’s melting pot attitude, following in the footsteps of other genre-blending Westenders such as KOOII, Kingfisha and Laneous.