Q and A: Austin Mileto (Sisters Doll)

By BRIAN GIFFIN

FIFTEEN years ago three brothers from the Western Australian town of Collie formed a rock n’ roll band. As Sisters Doll, the Mileto lads – Brennan, Bryce and Austin, are now three albums deep into a musical career that has taken them to stages around the globe and on quite a few boats. Since hitting the waves with the KISS Kruise in 2023, they’ve done Rock The Boat last year (have been invited back for it again this year) and just returned from a US jaunt where they played on the Monsters Of Rock Cruise with Tesla, Winger, Extreme, Vixen, Lynch Mob, Rose Tattoo and more. We caught up with Austen prior to their US visit last month.

“We don’t really want to be known as a boat band!” he declares with a chuckle, and nor should they. With another sibling Sage now locked in to their long-vacant bass role, Sisters Doll pulled off a remarkable feat in January when their third album Scars debuted on the ARIA chart at #11.

Hot Metal: Congratulations on the chart success. Given how tough it’s been for Australian artists to make an impact on the charts lately, how did you manage to pull that off?
Austin Mileto: “That’s a good question. It’s been a long time coming for us to make an album, because the last album we made was All Dolled Up in 2017 or ’18. We did a single or two since then before this album, so there was a long wait and I think people we really excited to hear what we had in the pipeline. All those years, we were working on music just privately and demoing stuff here in our studio. It had been a long enough wait for people to see what we’re like now, to hear what our music’s like now. We had a big pre-order process as well. We put a lot of effort into our merchandising as well, with different versions of the vinyls and we had albums with us individually on the cover – one has me, one has the singer, one has the drummer – so that helped towards it.”

HM: That long wait certainly wasn’t planned that way was it?
AM: “No, we didn’t want to wait that long. Life gets in the way, and we’re independent as well and money plays a big role in music. The whole thing we funded ourselves and we thought, well, we’ve waited long enough, let’s just do it.”

HM: Being independent is even tougher from every angle to make an impact on the charts. Even bands that have labels behind them are finding it hard to do, so congratulations on achieving that.
AM: “We didn’t expect it to do so well. I think the album spoke for itself, and all the response has been incredible, so we’re happy.”

HM: You really seem to be quiet achievers.
AM: “We’ve just never stopped. When some bands have been around as long as we have, we’ve been around 15 years now – even before 15 years, some bands call it quits and they’re done because they’re not hitting the goals they wanted to achieve, or sometimes the band gets disheartened because the money just isn’t right doing the band. That’s where, for us, we just enjoy doing it, we just love so whatever offers or great opportunities we get from it, are just bonuses. We’d still do it, because we just genuinely enjoy playing music together.”

HM: How tough is it for a rock band these days? We hear so much talk about how there’s no longer a market for it. You’ve been doing this for 15 years now. Obviously somebody’s being paying attention to Sisters Doll, so how is it getting shows and finding work when people keep saying rock isn’t a thing anymore?
AM: “I don’t think it’s completely dead, I just think it’s overshadowed by what is really popular these days. There’s a new generation of kids and people out there with genres that are just more popular like hip hop and rap, and I think rock and roll is just a little overshadowed. It’s what we grew up listening to, and it’s in our blood, so that’s why we do it. It’s a good question – we’re just doing what we enjoy and with the hard work and dedication, we’ve just been doing the same thing for 15 years now, so people tend to catch on. It happens for some bands – bands like Greta Van Fleet and Maneskin are rock and roll bands and there’s huge crowds for them. There’s festivals in Europe that pack out thousands and thousands of people, and they’re full rock festivals. I think it’s become a niche genre now that’s overshadowed by what’s popular. It’s like it’s own little world now.”

HM: Do you think that in some ways, that’s better?
AM: “Maybe. I’d like it to still be as big as it used to be, when at first that’s all there was. There was rock and roll, and then disco came along and then whatever… I don’t think it’s dead. I just don’t think it’s as popular.”

HM: Being part of a niche can often be a great help because you know who your fans are and who you want to project your music to.
AM: “We don’t write songs to try to make a hit for the global masses. We just do what we do and hope that people can relate to it or enjoy it the same way we do.”

HM: Having been together for so long with the family chemistry it must feel completely natural to get out there and perform live.
AM: “That’s the part we enjoy the most. The four of us just really enjoy being on stage. Because we grew up listening to KISS and watching KISS, we grew up with that mindset of wanting to put on a show that we wished we could see ourselves. That’s what we try and do, engage with people and help them forget about their troubles for a couple of hours.”

HM: What are the plans now for the rest of year?
AM: “We’re back in Australia in April, and we’ve already got a sold out show in Melbourne and we had to add a second show because it sold so well. Then we’re off to the UK in May, touring with an American band called Kickin’ Valentina and then we’re playing a big festival over there called the Call Of The Wild Festival. So it’s a pretty brutal schedule. There’s so many shows. When I look at the tour poster I just get tired looking at it!”

HM: I know it’s not being done anymore and that’s unfortunate, but what was it like getting up at Glamfest, because that was something that hadn’t been done in Australia with that type of format?
AM: “We did the first Glamfest and the reaction and response to it was great, especially for us! For the second Glamfest, the touring company that put it on got some good bands out here – they had Lynch Mob and Slaughter, and people have been craving that. We had a great response! It was a great festival. That was when we were still a three-piece. We’re a four piece now with our younger brother on bass so that’s grown the show even more and we sound tougher on stage with the live bass.”

HM: Not that it lost anything before, but it did look a little strange seeing a band like yours without a bass player.
AM: “We look back at footage of us now and think how weird it looks. Now we’ve got Sage up there we feel like a full band, like there’s a new lease on life for the band. We used to get asked all the time, Where’s your bass player? Why isn’t he up there?’ and we were like, We’re working on that. Now no one can say anything! And there’s nothing better for a rock band than four dudes being up there.”

TICKETS FOR SISTERS DOLL’S SHOW ON APRIL 27 ARE HERE.