The Tullamarines were “very, very scared” to cover Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain”

The Tullamarines walked into their Like A Version debut with explicit nerves. Vocalist Angus Purvis told triple j, “We had a lot of songs that we were thinking about. The Chain came up as an option, and we were very, very scared,” adding that “they were thinking we couldn’t do that justice.”

That sounds like the setup to a risky decision, and it was. The band ultimately did it anyway, and their session delivered exactly what scared artists and anxious executives hope for: a confident arrangement that honors the original while still letting the performers breathe. In the triple j studio, The Tullamarines leaned into “The Chain’s” dynamics, trading harmonies in the quieter passages before spotlighting the iconic bass-driven breakdown and building into a full-blown closing jam. They also performed their original track “Running On Empty” as part of the session, turning one high-pressure cover moment into a broader statement of range.

Co-vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Lucinda Machin explained how they landed on the song. The duo-level conversation inside the band ended with a simple permission slip: “give it a go, see what happens.” Machin also described the track’s lyrical themes and construction as “very angsty,” while Purvis noted that “The Chain” feels like it has been around “forever.” That “forever” quality matters, because Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” is not just famous. It’s anchored in the cultural ballast of Rumours. The song comes from Rumours (1977), the album that spent 31 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making it one of the longest-running chart-toppers in the chart’s history. Rumours has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and remains one of the best-selling albums ever recorded.

Industry translation: when a track is that embedded, audiences bring expectations that are hard to outproduce. And “The Chain” never released as a standalone single, yet it’s one of the most recognized songs in Fleetwood Mac’s catalogue, widely used in film, television and sport, and covered extensively in the decades since. For The Tullamarines, the challenge was not just musical accuracy. It was audience psychology. Fans might forgive imperfections if the performance communicates ownership, but they also notice when a cover feels like a copy. The Tullamarines’ approach, as described in the session recap, splits the difference. They stayed faithful to the spirit of the original, but they still carved out room for the band’s own four-part vocal blend to take centre stage. That means the “does justice” concern Purvis raised was addressed in the only way that counts: by making their sound audible inside the borrowed structure.

There’s another layer here, one that executives, labels, and investor-types should care about even if they never touch a guitar. The band is on an upward trajectory in the Australian independent music scene, and this cover is the kind of visibility catalyst that can compound momentum. Their 2025 sophomore EP Safety Blanket has been nominated for Best Independent Pop Album or EP at this year’s AIR Awards, with winners to be announced at an invite-only ceremony at Adelaide Town Hall on July 30. Before that nomination was even formally “validated” by an awards body, The Tullamarines had been building for momentum: sold-out headline shows, festival appearances, and achieving full triple j rotation. They’ve also supported international acts including The Vaccines and Everything Everything.

Why this matters beyond music fandom is because the economics of indie scenes are increasingly tied to attention funnels that reward consistency. triple j rotation is effectively an amplifier in Australia’s music ecosystem, and Like A Version functions as a high-stakes proof-of-work platform. A cover can be entertainment, but it also acts like a brand signal: it shows how artists handle pressure, how they interpret canon, and whether they can convert surprise into repeat listening.

Second-order implications for boards and leadership teams: a band that can take on a culturally loaded song like “The Chain” and make it feel both respectful and distinctly theirs is demonstrating the exact capability that scaling requires. They can execute under scrutiny. They can keep their identity visible. And they can translate earned attention into longer-term assets like nominations and headline sales. In a market where attention is the scarce input and credibility is the compounding asset, The Tullamarines’ “very, very scared” moment is less a throwaway anecdote and more a case study in how risk can be managed, staged, and then cashed in. For peers chasing growth, the strategic stake is clear: the safest choice is sometimes staying quiet, but the biggest upside comes from stepping into the room where expectations are highest and performing well enough to earn the right to be remembered.