What is the inspiration behind the title of your debut EP “You Couldn’t Even Wait”?
We really just wanted to use a song from the EP as the title. We ended up choosing “You Couldn’t Even Wait” as it is the conclusion to the EP. We felt this title represented the feelings we all felt after listening to the EP in full.
The EP explores different perspectives on grief and loss. Could you elaborate on the process of translating these emotions into music and how it influenced the overall sound of the EP?
The demos, which were just instrumentation, were quite dark in tone and we wanted to continue this theme. After writing lyrics and vocal melodies, the songs started to take shape and become the embodiment of the emotions that we wanted to portray.
We believe each song is individual in its category of emotion whilst still greatly revolving around the feelings of grief and loss.
Mitchell mentioned that the EP reflects on a tragic accident. How did the band navigate the delicate balance between conveying the emotional weight of the subject matter and creating an engaging musical experience for listeners?
When writing for this concept, we felt it best we keep our distance from those involved for a few different reasons. The first being anonymity to the families affected by the topic matter.
The second reason was that distance enables anyone to fill the shoes or stand in the face of being affected by tragedy. We did not use any names of people, places or genders to help support both the prior mentioned points.
“You Couldn’t Even Wait” was recorded at The Brain Studios in Sydney. How did the choice of this studio contribute to capturing the specific sound and atmosphere you were aiming for in the EP?
Everyone in Goodbye, August is a huge fan of the catalogue of bands that The Brain Studios has worked on! Most notably for us however, was the EP “Slowly Dying With You” by Whatever, Forever. We all agreed that we had to go where that record was produced as it had the sound we wished for our EP to take influence from. We collectively felt that The Brain Studios would suit the best for us and we’re so thankful with not only the team as people, but the work they produced for us. Endless gratitude.
Each song on the EP seems to represent a different aspect of the grieving process. Can you walk us through the songwriting and composition process for one of the tracks, highlighting how you approached conveying specific emotions?
When creating the concept for the EP, rather than tell a story of an event, we wanted to tell a story of perspectives. We chose each song to be a different person’s perspective of the accident as a whole. Let’s use “I Let The Sorrow Fill Me” for this example. Emotionally this song was written in the form of ‘shock’ to a person. We have an upbeat chorus as in a timeline of events, the accident in question isn’t known yet. But in each verse the perspective of the song changes upon realisation of what a person is facing after witnessing the accident. Thus leading to the pre-chorus where the perspective changes to someone knowing that they are unable to help the person(s) infront of them. The bridge of the song is written to let all the emotion in upon moving on from the ‘shock’ factor. This helped us with lyrical writing and using the bridge as an ‘acceptance’ of the situation, we used the line “I Let The Sorrow Fill Me” to portray that feeling.
Mitchell and Sean originally started Goodbye, August as a duo. How has the band dynamic evolved since the addition of vocalist Andrew Taylor and bassist Josh Lund, and how has it influenced the musical direction of the band?
The evolution has been fantastic! Andrew and Josh are both great people and share the ambitions that Sean and myself (Mitchell) have set out to accomplish. The direction that Andrew and Josh gave the band helped affirm what Sean and I initially wanted to do and they helped build our ideas into something greater. Without them, “You Couldn’t Even Wait” would be a completely different record and non distinguishable to what it is now.
The band aims to fill the void between Emo Rock, Pop-Punk, and Post Hardcore. How do you navigate blending these genres to create a unique sound, and are there specific bands or influences that played a significant role in shaping your musical style?
Using the Brain Studios was key to helping us blend these genres. The guitar and bass tones help us set the stage for the genre of music we wish to portray. The drums are another example of not tonally sitting in one genre more than another. We do not wish to be a strictly ‘X’ genre band and The Brain Studios helped us sit in all genres without clear definition.
Regarding bands that played a significant role in shaping our sound and songs, Whatever, Forever, Basement and Endless Heights are major influences to us.
“Letterbox Pills” and “Where You’d Go Without Calling” were the two previous singles released before the EP. How do these singles fit into the larger narrative of “You Couldn’t Even Wait, ” and why did you choose them as precursors to the full EP?
We chose these two songs as singles because we felt that they captured the genre and sound bending we have throughout the EP. ‘Letterbox Pills’ being very broody and chord based with lots of ambience and ‘Where’d You Go Without Calling’ being very open in sound and utalising more vocal range.
There were definitely a lot of emotions and challenges faced with initially writing this EP. A band Sean and I were in had just broken up along with another band falling through. Not long after these two events I was in the Lismore floods and lost my house and job along with my possessions. I ended up writing the first iterations of the EP on my dads old work laptop from around 2012 with a pair of earphones and a cheap guitar that wasn’t too water damaged. It was a different experience as the gear I had was limited but it was also the perfect time to write music after going through previous band breakups and a natural disaster. It helped portray the emotion that eventually became “You Couldn’t Even Wait”.
The EP delves into personal experiences of grief and the aftermath of a tragedy. How do you hope listeners will connect with and interpret the stories shared in your music?
We hope that everyone can find comfort in knowing the challenges they face after a tragedy aren’t inclusive to themselves and we hope that our music can be some form of comfort for the grieving process and reflection.
Can you share any memorable moments or challenges encountered during the recording process at The Brain Studios, and how did the studio team contribute to shaping the final sound of the EP?
We had a bunch of memorable moments hanging out with Clay and Angie from The Brain Studios. I think some favourites would be seeing who could pet Squee the cat without getting scratched which I think Sean succeeded and Josh failed at! The team along with studio hand Declan from Sydney emo hardcore band Brooklyn Comic made our experience the best it could have been and we can’t wait to finish writing new songs so we can go back and see who has the worst jokes over lunch. Josh’s redemption arc for petting Squee will still probably end in defeat though!
Looking ahead, what’s next for Goodbye, August? Do you have any future plans for live performances, new music, or other projects on the horizon?
For 2024, we wish to play a bunch of shows and get some attention from radios, national and if we’re lucky enough, international acts. We’ve started writing for EP 2 but I think that will happen later down the line as we are all super stoked on “You Couldn’t Even Wait” and wish to tour it throughout the year. Our next show is January 27th at Greaser Bar in Brisbane which should be announced shortly!
Thank you and we hope you enjoy our debut EP, “You Couldn’t Even Wait”.
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