What’s been happening recently?
It’s exciting to think we’ve actually got an answer for that question now! After years of, essentially, a hiatus through COVID and everything in between, we’ve been busy trying to regain our momentum touring and writing. We’ve played a few headliners and small festivals around the East Coast this year and have dropped our first music of the year with “Hard Times” to boot, so we’re definitely well on our way to reaching our former glory.
You’ve just released your killer new track ‘Hard Times’ what influenced the sound and songwriting?
This track was initially written between myself and Pat Byrne aka Beso Palma in his studio in Coogee. We were just jamming to be honest since we admired each other and wanted to see what we could create. We spent about an hour listening to 90’s Michael Jackson before actually doing anything so that definitely worked its way into the sound. Once I brought it to the band, we were able to imbue it with our usual cacophony of influences.
How did Hard Times come about?
Hard Times was born out of that jam with Pat. We just laid down a million layers of percussion and tried to make a danceable groove to just sit in. Lyrically, I love to delineate a funky, upbeat instrumental with a little darkness so, I did just that in the studio on the day and they flowed thick and fast.
Where and when did you record/produce/master and who with?
Once we’d rehearsed the tune as a band and made some tweaks between us to make it more unique to our sound, we headed into the studio with Pat to put down the instruments. The song was produced primarily by the band with a few naughty home sessions to build the soundscape after the main elements were put down. It was subsequently mixed by our long time collaborator and daddy, Daniel Willington.
How did you approach the recording process?
We took the elements of what we liked from the original session i.e. the percussion and guitars and built on that structure with our live instruments. We started with Bass and Drums, then horns on our studio day and vocals, along with some other auxiliary synths were done at my place using the tracks we came home with.
What or who influenced the concept for the music video?
We’ve got a bit of a reputation for funny videos, bordering on completely ridiculous so, the general consensus was to match the darker tone of this track with something a little moodier to show a different side of the band. Jesse had been doing dance lessons so was in touch with a great choreographer in Jess Innes so he had the idea to just get in a room with our instruments and some sick backing dancers to do something nice and professional for once.
Where and when did you film and who did you work with?
It was filmed earlier in the year at the Egg studios. The video was directed by Nick Allen, shot by Matty Ower and choreographed by Jess Innes. We also were lucky enough to get our hands on some custom outfits designed by my good friend Romon Yang as well as some makeup looks by Georgia Vierod. All of the crew were friends so we felt very lucky to be so close to such talented, hard working creatives.
What did you most enjoy about creating the film clip for Hard Times?
For me, personally, it was surprisingly pleasant to put down the guitar and try not to make a fool out of myself in front of the camera without my usual on stage armour. Considering I’m a notoriously awkward and uncoordinated person, I did much better than I thought I would.
Any upcoming shows/tours – When/where?
As always, we’ve got shows aplenty coming up through the year. We’ll be hitting a few festivals like Relish Festival, Jungle Love and Young Henrys Fringe Festival which we’re so excited for and will most definitely be hitting a city near you to bust out a face melting headliner.
Please tell us about any new music that’s on the horizon?
As we SPEAK we’re whipping up a jam the likes of which have never been seen. We’re aiming to release in the coming months with fame and fortune following shortly after.
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