Photo – Samuel Graves

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Have you always wanted to be a musician? When did you get the song writing bug?
Always! Ever since I was kid dressing up like John Mellencamp or playing air-guitar to Fall Out Boy with a cardboard cut-out guitar I made, I thought it was the coolest thing! I started writing songs when some of the most traumatic parts of my life happened haha, my parents moved away when I was 18 and I started to realise I had something to say about my life and where I came from.

How would you describe your sound? Why do you think people resonate with your music?
Very sad and very gay haha. I’m definitely influenced by bands like MUNA & The 1975. I write about a lot of things that are pretty clearly relatable, themes of rejection and trauma, but there’s a lot of my own little “isms” in there that make it personal for me. And I don’t pull punches when I’m honest about how I feel and I always seem to learn something about  myself from the songs I write.

Which artist’s music and/or performance, past or present, inspires you today? 
There’s so many I can think of! Teenage Joans played a show at The Gov last year and it totally floored me, they inspire me so much, there’s just something so special about them as a force in the Australian music scene.

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Your new single ‘Just Friends’ was just released! Describe its origin and evolution. 
I started writing ‘Just Friends’ in mid-2019 stemming from an experience I had earlier that year. I stayed out way too late one night with a guy, singing sad songs on his bed till 6am and he had a poster of the ‘Call Me By Your Name’ movie on his wall, so that’s where some of the main lines came from. It had a different form and it was super folk-y at the time. I tried playing it with my band a few times over 2019/early 2020 but I ended up re-writing and re-producing it over lockdown and adding a new chorus, which it took it to a whole new level. But lyrically I liked how it ended up being bigger than just one situation, and more about a collection of rejection trauma and relationships on the internet in queer spaces that I’d experienced from both perspectives, and I think that adds value to that conversation.

Is there an EP or Album on the drawing board?
Definitely! ‘Just Friends’ forms a part of a larger narrative of my life experiences from a particular window of time. This song really sparked a creative framework for me to start breaking down particular narratives into a bunch of different songs that tell a story I’m really proud of.

Any tours or events coming up soon? What are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
Yeah for sure! We’ve got some shows coming up that I’m super looking forward to playing. I took a big break from playing live with a band and that’s kind of where I feel most at home so that’s going to be nice. We have some cool surprises that I feel really tie the release together, some merch on the way and having some special guests join me on stage.

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How has COVID affected you to date? What have you introduced to balance the losses from missed events?
I think immediately I took lockdown(s) as an opportunity, both to recognise my privilege in the world and to take the time re-evaluate my relationship with myself, other people, and capitalism too. It’s evolved in such a strange way over time. South Australia definitely had it better than so many other places in the world originally, but it’s really sad, but ultimately not surprising to see a lack support from our leaders of a dominating sect of politics, and I dream a lot about a new system of living or at least trying to provide a critique and live in defiance of the current systems that are just really emblematic of my disappointment and malaise.
I took some up some other work over the past year as live performances really dried up, but I found it to be largely unfulfilling and really detrimental to my mental and physical health. So I’m trying to really maintain a strong positive relationship to music and my local music scene has been the thing that’s kept me going during this time.

If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why? 
I don’t think I could choose between Phoebe Bridgers or The 1975! Phoebe just has this perfect voice that I would love to sing with, on like the saddest, gayest song you’ve ever heard haha. Or I’ve always dreamed that one day I’d be at a 1975 concert and Matty would lose his voice and they’d need someone to replace him and I’d come up and be able to sing the whole the set from memory haha.
I think both of them just have their artistic vision as performers totally perfected, my brain just wouldn’t be able to decide between strumming an acoustic guitar with Phoebe or screaming at the top of my lungs with The 1975!

Do you have any long-term aspirations as a music artist? 
Totally! I wanna spend my entire life completely devoted to being as creative as I possibly can. And with music that’s always been writing songs and playing in bands because I love doing it. It’s so hard to reconcile that with our capitalist system of productivity and exploitation, but I’d rather struggle and know I’m building something beautiful despite being trained to view everything I do as facilitating the perpetuation of that system.

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What is the best thing about performing to a live audience? What’s been the career highlight so far?
I think it’s knowing that when I play live, that’s my space to create and fulfil my narrative as a creative person in that moment. I get so inspired by seeing so many of my friends be able to do that, while knowing I can offer something of myself like that because I don’t see a lot of myself being represented on a stage.
I try not to over-romanticise or over-narrativise my music “career”, I’ve played so many gigs and had so many great music experiences, but I try and just live in the moment and whether it was amazing or not it’s gone once it’s over. The thing I’m always looking forward to is the next adventure.   

Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:
Album – Saves the World – MUNA
Artist – The 1975
Movie – The Green Mile
Place to visit – A friend’s gig
Venue to play – Cranker (The Crown and Anchor)
Food – Honey Soy Chicken chips or a big sprinkled donut
Drink – Lemon Lime Bitters
Person in History – Don’t have one
Tattoo – If I had one would it be something extremely meaningful or meaningless depending on the day.  

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Photo – Samuel Graves

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