Rin McArdle has made a name for herself as one of Adelaide’s most exciting up and coming singer/songwriters. It comes as no surprise that after joinging forces with The Reckless, Rin and her exciting band have been successfully catapulted into the Adelaide music scene, already playing both support and headlining shows in many of Australia’s well known venues.

Hi Rin! First off, for those who haven’t heard you yet, tell us a little about your sound and how you got started writing songs.

The sound is quite pop in some ways but at the same time the music is very emotionally driven and the content is quite a bit heavier than what you’d find in most commercial and pop songs. I’ve always been really into music, I started playing drums when I was 7 and actually always thought I would end up being a drummer. When I was 18 I started playing and writing songs on guitar not really thinking anything of it, then about a year later I played my first open mic night and things just progressed from there.

You‘ve just released your debut EP, congratulations! How did it feel to get it finished, and what has the reaction been like so far?

It was really exciting! I’d done some previous recording before this ep but only as a solo artist, being able to spend time in the studio with my band was amazing. It was such a good feeling hearing the songs back the way that I’d always imagined and wanted them to sound. The reaction has been incredible so far, we’ve had a lot positive feedback not only from friends and fans but also from people we really respect in the music industry which has meant a lot. Along with the positive feedback we’ve also had some really good constructive criticism that we’ve been able to take on board and utilize to help us keep progressing in terms of our sound and also in terms of my song writing.

You also just did your first national tour with Brisbane boys The Strums. Can you tell me how that came about, and what the tour was like? What was the most reckless thing you got up to?

We actually randomly got chosen as one of the local supports for The Strums the first time they came and played in Adelaide. They ended up really liking our music and at the end of the night the singer of The Strums and I were talking and he told me he was going to take my band on national tour with him. I thought he was just drunk and full of shit but it actually ended up happening and it was one of the best experiences of my life. The first night we played I got so excited and drank so much that I missed most of The Strums set because I was vomiting in the bathroom, that basically set bar for the rest of the tour. The boys in my band weren’t really too reckless they just did really weird shit when they were drunk like sticking post it notes on cars that just said things like “think before you act”. We all definitely drank too much, by the second to last show of the tour in Byron Bay I was vomiting blood, that’s when I knew I’d maybe gone a bit too hard.

You’ve been described as ‘a tough Missy Higgins with the soul of Johnny Cash’, which sounds about right to me. If you had to choose, would you rather be rich and win a heap of ARIAs, or be broke and play a prison gig that goes down in history?

Definitely rich and heaps of ARIAs. Nahhh, prison for sure.

Your hometown Adelaide has produced some amazing bands in its time. How do you rate the current music scene there, and are there any new bands you think deserve a shout-out?

I’ve always personally found the music scene here quite hardcore dominated and in the past have found it hard to find local acts that work really well with our sound as a band, that being said though there are some great acts kicking around here that I have a lot of respect for. Dangerous! are a cool act from Adelaide that have done quite well here and internationally, I also really rate Hightime, God God Dammit Dammit, Baker’s Digest and Dr. Piffle & The Burlap Band. All those guys go off at their live shows.

What’s next for Rin and The Reckless? Any shows or recordings in the pipeline?

Yeah definitely, I’m about to head off to Brisbane to play a string of solo shows at the beginning of September and then I’ll be going back up there in October with the band. While I’m in Brisbane I’m playing a really cool show on the 8th of September at The End with Jack Carty and Thelma Plum which I’m super excited about. We’re just about to record some new material that we’ve been working on and once we’ve done that we’ll get a producer on board to help us get a couple of songs ready for release early next year, I’m really excited about that too!

If you could share a stage with any artist, living or dead, who would it be and why?

Amy Winehouse, because I love her.

And finally, an AAA tradition, if you could be any animal, what would you be and why?

Bubbles, the chimp that belonged to Michael Jackson. So many reasons.