Australia Decides 2022: Getting to know Voyager

Five-piece rock act, Voyager, became one of the last four artists revealed for 'Eurovision - Australia Decides 2022' with a shot at representing Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Italy.

Hailing from Perth, Western Australia, Voyager will bring their unique 80's infused progressive rock sound to the Australia Decides stage on the Gold Coast in February.

Who is Voyager?

Voyager formed back in 1999 in Perth, Western Australia. It was not until 2004 when Voyager recorded their first album 'Element V' which was released through Dutch label DVS Records Holland. The album was released in both Australia and Europe where they started to gain a following.

In 2006 Voyager travelled overseas to tour and participate in Progpower Europe, a progressive metal festival held annually in the Netherlands since 1999. Following their trip the band's second album 'Univers' was released in a record deal with a German label. 'Univers' was voted as the seventh best Full Metal Racket album of 2007 by Triple J and also received acclaim overseas, including Belgium and Finland.

Voyager released a further five studio albums 'I Am the Revolution' in 2009, 'The Meaning of I' in 2011, 'V' in 2014, 'Ghost Mile' in 2017, and the most recently 'Colours in the Sun' in 2019. Their latest album was released worldwide by the French-American metal record label, Season of Mist.

Their 2017 song 'Ascension' from 'Ghost Mile' recently hit a 1 million stream milestone on Spotify.

Since their formation, the group has seen multiple line ups, but have kept the same vocalist. The current line up is Daniel Estrin (lead vocals, keys), Simone Dow (guitar), Scott Kay (guitar), Ashley Doodkorte (drums) and Alex Canion (bass, vocals). One noticeable thing about Voyager is the use of the keytar!

Voyager have toured both nationally and internationally and have been a support act for big names including the Deftones, Opeth, Nightwish, Children of Bodom, and Coheed and Cambria. Unable to do much touring over the last two years because of the pandemic, Voyager held a livestream concert for fans 'A Voyage Through Time' in September 2021.

Voyager's music style

Voyager's musical style spans across multiple genres. They have been likened to the American progressive metal group Dream Theatre. In the SBS Australia Decides announcement video Danny from the band revealed their style as electro progressive power metal. On their website they describe themselves as:

"The genre-transfiguring act blend new-romantic and 80’s infused vocals, keytar solos, technical yet melodic fretwork, groovy bass and bombastic drumming efforts."

In an interview with Louder Sound in 2017, Voyager talked about their constantly evolving sound through almost two decades worth of music:

"But one thing that will never change is the catchy choruses, the big anthemic poppy top that Voyager is used to. We’ve combined that more with the heavy grooves and complex riffage underneath, to appease the prog fans and to make it more fun to play because otherwise you’d just be playing boring pop songs, and who wants to do that?”

During lockdown earlier in the year, Voyager covered the Presets' 'This Boy's in Love'. This cover gives you a bit of an idea of the band's musical talent and diversity.

'Eurovision - Australia Decides' 2022

Keen admirers of Australia Decides may have noticed Voyager before. The band were shortlisted for Australia Decides 2020. A short clip of their entry 'Runaway' was played during the show. Vocalist Daniel Estrin is a long-time fan of the Contest.

"Growing up in Germany, Eurovision was part of my lifeblood when it came to writing music and performing. What started out in jest back in 2015 when some of our fans made a joke that we should contend for ‘Eurovision – Australia Decides’, has made a transition to a pretty odd reality for us. Each year we’ve submitted a track to Eurovision via the Song Portal, never imagining we’d ever get a look in as a metal band."