Nashville is famous for its Hot Chicken, so when there is a newcomer in town it’s tradition to take them to try the famous dish. Seaforth had the pleasure of having that experience recently when they joined Neighborhood Eats, and the Aussie duo was not so enthralled with their experience at Hattie B’s, one of Nashville’s numerous hot chicken hot spots that has several degrees of hot with their chicken.
Nevertheless, Tom Jordan and Mitch Thompson are thrilled to be in Nashville, watching their current radio single, “Breakups,” earn nearly 20 million on-demand streams. The song, written with Liz Rose and Cameron Bedell, is one of their most personal songs they have shared with their fans, who have embraced the tune as many find they have experienced the emotions the wordsmiths instill in the lyrics.
“For us Nashville was our first, immediate decision. We fell in love with country music and we wanted to see what it was all about, we wanted to see what it was like,” says Jordan. “We came here for our first writing trip and fell in love with the town, the people and the music, and how things work here. We were writing music every day and were just shocked. We did everything we could to move out here.”
The two were friends back in Australia and say they couldn’t have moved to Nashville alone. They take their name from the town they grew up in outside of Sydney, Seaforth. “It is really special to have someone who has same passions and dreams,” says Thompson. “It would be lonely to leave our country without my best friend and brother.
“We didn’t collaborate together at first; there was friendly rivalry, I think I was jealous of Tom and I wanted to do that (songwriting) too so I did. We performed together at a parent-teacher cocktail evening, so that was the pinnacle of the dream. It wasn’t until we finished high school that we sent demos back and forth. Tom was in Los Angeles, and when he came back to Australia and we wrote a song and it immediately clicked that what we did solo was so much better when we combined. Growing up together has been a synergy for us.”
Radio in Australia is a little different from the states, as Jordan explains. “In Australia we grew up on all kinds of music. You turn on terrestrial radio and it was top 40 and classic rock. We listened to bands like Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, and that is where we learned to play instruments. We then discovered country music and it was like the stories were things we were trying to do. Keith Urban was our intro to country. He was the first one that opened the door and then moving to Nashville and seeing the whole thing and build a unique footprint of what we do is our version of country music.”
Jordan and Thompson produced their single, “Breakups,” for the first time without any outside producers as they worked through the quarantine, and they found it to be an exciting experience. “We worked with amazing producers since moving out here, through doing that you learn how it works in Nashville,” Jordan explains. “We’ve always been musically inclined, and things got more difficult to work with anyone. ‘Breakups’ was the first one we did ourselves, but now we are probably going to do it all ourselves. You have creative control, what it sounds like, but you don’t know what it is all like, the actual nitty gritty of making the song. It is fun, it is rewarding and a unique thing to do I guess.”
“Breakups” was an immediate attention getter for music fans. Jordan says they put the video up on TikTok and it got a bunch of comments. “It was our first song with a storyline, and it was one that stuck out to people who heard it. It was special. It was the first one to be like, stars were aligning with the song. Tiktok gets you in front of new people and new ears, not just your fans. We try to post different songs and see which one gets 1,000 views.”
The duo received their first RIAA Gold record for “Anything She Says,” the duo’s collaboration with two-time Platinum-selling artist and Sony Music Nashville labelmate Mitchell Tenpenny. It has so far earned them more than 90 million on-demand streams.
Jordan says they knew it was close to that point, but we didn’t know it had gone Gold. Then they got a great surprise. “We had this thing on the calendar, it said it was a CMT interview, and come camera ready. We walk into the writing room, and all the gold plaques were there. That song was a song that took a life of its own. It was great, that whole experience of getting to be such mates with Mitchell and to say we have a gold record as upcoming artist.”
Thompson says there may be future collaborations for the duo. “We have songs that would be perfect with other people. We have a couple ideas, nothing locked in yet, just random things in works. We would like to collaborate with a female artist that we think would be amazing. We have a few dream collabs, couple things we are working on.”
Jordan adds that they like the subtle features, like Urban playing guitar on John Mayer’s single. “We could do something cool with the Brothers Osborne. They are different from us but the same. They have started producing their own stuff. There is so much talent here – just throw a dart.”
Seaforth will go out on Jordan Davis’ Buy Dirt Tour beginning September 9 in Minneapolis, MN. In the meantime, they have been going out and headlining solo concerts.
“It’s been a year and a half since we played,” Thompson recalls. “We did four rehearsals with the band, learned five new songs and thought we were ready. You don’t properly test your show unless you play live. The first two or three shows we kept making changes. You just don’t know until you see how the crowd sees it. Those shows felt like part of rehearsals. But now I think we’re ready to go.”
“We have good time on our show, we have a great time,” Jordan says. “Like Jordan Davis we love performing live, it the coolest thing.”
The Buy Dirt Tour continues from its September 9 date on through December 19, ending in Boston. Seaforth and MacKenzie Porter join him on the tour.