POP duo Jess and Matt had their reservations about performing on the 2015 season of X Factor.
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After all, they'd seen some of their musical mates appear on The Voice, Australia's Got Talent and X Factor. And it didn't end well.
"We'd seen a lot of friends go through the TV show process and come out scarred," Matt Price said.
Being exposed to such huge TV audiences, where the stakes are inevitably over-hyped, exposes contestants to hurtful and hateful comments online, Jess Dunbar said.
"A lot of people think that it's your one and only chance to make it, and that this is the first time you've ever done music," she said.
And then there's the stigma around X Factor contestants. The resentment that contestants who do gain a public profile have taken an unfair shortcut and not earned their stripes playing gigs in the pubs and clubs of Australia.
Never mind that Jess and Matt had each been gigging for nine years before they appeared on the show.
"We were aware of all of that," Matt said.
But the husband-and-wife team is so glad they took the punt.
They introduced their lush harmony-driven folk, pop and country influences to a national television audience. And Australia loved it.
Jess and Matt became X Factor favourites, made it through to the grand final, and placed third.
But that's barely half of the story.
"Being on the show opened up all of these incredible opportunities," Matt said.
"It led to us going overseas, and to meeting and working with our idols like Guy Sebastian and Chris Isaak, and meeting Stevie Nicks was ridiculous."
Jess and Matt released their self-titled debut album in 2015, and it went to No.1 on the Aria chart. In 2018, they released their second long-player, Songs from the Village, which debuted at No.2, and featured vocals by Isaak and Rick Price on a couple tracks.
Now the duo has released a catchy new pop single, Know About You, and is heading out on tour.
"We'll be playing our favourite tracks from our past albums, and all of the new originals that we're so excited about," Jess said.
Their covers of the Bruce Springsteen anthem, Dancing in the Dark, Blondie's Heart of Glass, as well as a bunch of Bob Dylan staples, are sure to be on the set list.
The Know About You tour will open at Laycock Street Theatre, North Gosford, on Saturday, February 1. Tickets from $49.
Jess and Matt will be backed by a full band, and the show will be opened by the Central Coast's Fletcher Pilon.
Matt said $5 from the sale of each ticket would be donated to the Australian Red Cross for bushfire relief.