How did a Lismore folk band almost knock Minecraft off the top of an international app chart?
Hussy Hicks launched the EP Same Boat, along with its eponymous lead single, with a distinctly retro video game bearing the same title.
On the day of the game's release it hit number two on the Apple App Store charts, beating Grand Theft Auto and nearly sending Minecraft overboard.
The 1980s style game depicts the band chugging along in the tour bus, but it soon breaks down.
The four are then forced into a boat and proceed to face obstacles like sharks, crocodiles, hang-gliders, birds and a massive waterfall, which tips them out of the boat.
A disastrous coincidence
During development the band never imagined the game would come to echo their experience.
Earlier this year floods forced the members into a kayak as they paddled for their lives.
The single Same Boat was due for release on February 28 this year — the day devastating floods hit the New South Wales North Coast.
"As the single was going live we were literally sitting in our studio on a kayak trying to stay alive," guitarist Julz Parker said.
Parker also used the kayak to rescue her elderly neighbour.
What should have been a date to celebrate the long-awaited release of the single became a tragic reminder of loss.
Parker said it was "weird" timing because the song and game had been in development before the flood hit.
'Etched into your psyche'
But now the band is able to reflect on and enjoy the success of the EP and the game.
"The idea of the game had been something that I had been talking with [game creator Monkey Noise] about for years," Parker said.
"I always liked the idea of when you are playing a video game and there's a song playing [that] ends up getting etched into your psyche.
"Same Boat is such a fun, '80s-style track, [I thought] it might be great to try the video game idea."
Parker said the song was reminiscent of the Divinyls, Pat Benatar and Cyndi Lauper.
She said her ranking in the game was dropping as the band's real-life activity ramped up.
"I was doing pretty well," Parker said.
"I think I was in the top three, but since the app has been released we've been on tour.
"Being a bit distracted by gigs, I think I've lost my ranking a bit."
Hussy Hicks will be touring nationally from now until April next year.
"We are just looking forward to going everywhere and making up for lost time these last few years," Parker said.
