How rising muso Indee Elphick went from never touching a guitar to selling out gigs and blowing up online

From having barely even touched a guitar to packing out gigs, radio airtime and blowing up on streaming services — it has been a whirlwind two years for this emerging Bunbury muso. Indee Elphick, who was a talented hockey player representing WA on the national stage throughout his teenage years, started teaching himself to play guitar by watching YouTube tutorials as a way to pass the time when the State went into lockdown during COVID-19 in 2020 and his favourite sport came to a halt. What began as a hobby born out of boredom has turned into a deep passion that has propelled the 20-year-old to the forefront of the WA music scene — and this youngster is just getting started. Elphick, who fittingly has the middle name Zeplin, has spent the past two years performing gigs around WA with his two separate bands, as well as writing and recording solo singles that have made their way on to radio and attracted tens of thousands of plays on streaming services. The former Bunbury Senior High School student, who was born and grew up in the South West, has hundreds of thousands of streams across Spotify and Apple Music as his popularity continues to surge, including more than 50,000 plays of his hit Wonderful. He has spent the better part of the last month in the recording studio with his Sunny Tracks band, who are on the cusp of launching their first original album, just months after his second group, Gimme Ghanda, released their debut single. Elphick, who is now getting calls to play gigs across the nation, said he had never seen music as the career for him but had now fallen deeply in love with what he did. “I never really got around music, I was more into my sport — hockey was huge for me,” he said. “When sport started dropping off it was a big hit for me and COVID was a crap time for everyone, so a good emotional and creative outlet for me became music. “I had barely even played guitar before and it was all self-taught through YouTube and playing around, then started adding my vocals to it, which were breaking at first and not great, but managed to teach myself to sing as well. “It instantly became a big passion of mine and I knew I would have to head up to Perth to make it happen. I just love music and how it becomes a way of reflecting and knowing other people go through similar experiences — it’s beautiful.” Elphick joined the band Gimme Ghanda as a vocalist and rhythm guitarist shortly after moving up to the city. They are a group he describes as old-school pop/alternative rock with a “summery vibe”. After starting his advanced diploma in music and performing, the 20-year-old then formed Sunny Tracks with his cousin and friends. The band last month hit the studio to record their first album, with debut single The City released next Saturday. In between gigs and practice, Elphick has also branched out into writing solo tracks, which he says provides an outlet to share his own experiences on a more personal and deeper level. Elphick said being a band member and solo artist was like having the best of both worlds. “I definitely love playing the band stuff more. It’s way more fun, you’re writing with your bandmates and making crowds go crazy, but I also like being grounded and writing my solo stuff,” he said. “When I’m on my own I branch out into different genres, I can be a bit more vulnerable and write about my experiences rather than being upbeat and playing to drunk crowds. “I’ve written about past relationships, my love for being out in the environment, the beautiful WA coastline, then the upbeat stuff like going out and having a big night. “Having my solo stuff play on radio was really cool. I’ve had my stuff added to Spotify playlists and get thousands and thousands of plays — it’s constantly growing for me.” Elphick said there had never been a better time to be an upcoming artist in WA and he could not wait for what the future held. “Because big bands haven’t been able to tour, it opened the door for a lot of us upcoming artists and bands,” he said. “I’ve pretty much been playing every weekend. Everyone wants live music and it’s great. “I’m sticking to music because I love it. I’m really keen to see where it goes and can definitely see it being my career.” Elphick can be found on streaming services as Indee Z Elphick, with his bands Gimme Ghanda and Sunny Tracks also available on all platforms.