Project Description
Interview with
MIDDLE KIDS
Interviewer: Georgia Dickinson
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The meteoric rise to fame of Sydney trio Middle Kids is a rare feat in modern music. From tours with Aussie rock luminaries Gang of Youths, folk-rock legend Ryan Adams and grammy-award winning indie-rockers The War on Drugs, the Sydney band have already proven their mettle on the local and international stage. Georgia Dickinson caught up with the band recently for an update.
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First of all, I’ve had a listen to the new album Lost Friends and it’s absolutely beautiful! Do you or any of the other members have any personal favourites off the album?
We each have our favourites – at the moment mine is Tell Me Something. A lot of the record is quite thick in texture with a lot of colours and parts layered on top of each other, so comparatively I find that this song is more sparse and has a lot of space to it. Coming at the back of the record I think it creates a nice moment to breathe. A lot of the sounds we used are quite exposed so only things that were really necessary made it. That groove in the last chorus is also a pretty unique moment on the album as far as the drum parts go and was really fun to record.
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You guys wrote and recorded Lost Friends yourselves, much like you did with your debut EP. Is there a reason behind why you guys decided to record the album yourselves?
Mostly it just felt right. We actually tried going into a studio and doing a song all together but it kind of cramped our style and we felt that we’d lost something crucial. We’d never done that before so we didn’t really know how to do it. The EP came together piece by piece and that was what we felt comfortable doing, the songs are all built around Hannah’s voice so they all began with that in a demo form and then the parts were added (or in some cases taken away) one by one till it all sounded right.
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Your self-titled EP received a lot of praise from fans and critics alike. Was it difficult to go back into writing and recording the new album with those expectations in mind?
I think it actually gave us a lot of energy as we went into making the new record. It was so nice to hear people connecting with the music, it makes you want to keep delivering on that. It makes the project seem real and that it is impacting people’s lives.
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Do you think you guys will continue down the “Do It Yourself” route or attempt to collaborate with other producers for future albums to come?
I think that will always be a part of our process but we are definitely open to working with other people as we keep discovering our sound and find new directions to go in.
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Recently, you guys released a music video for “On My Knees”. Tell me a little bit about the concept behind the music video and how it all came to be.
That clip comes from the frustrating feeling of giving something your all but nobody noticing. Doing something bold or creative requires courage and it can be crushing when nothing comes of it. We got to work with a great director out of LA named Meg Sutton but we couldn’t be there to be involved. It would have been cool if we’d had a cameo doing something funny.
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Your previous video from “Mistake” was quite different in that the music video focused on you all as a band, whereas “On My Knees” doesn’t include you guys at all. Was the process for “Mistake” different to that of “On My Knees”?
For Mistake we wanted to make a really energetic performance video that captured us as a group. It was the first thing we’d released in a while so we wanted to connect it to us as people. We were a lot more involved with the shooting and were there on the ground so it was fun to be a part of.
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You guys have been fortunate enough to achieve so much in a small amount of time, like playing some of the biggest festivals in the world to supporting some of the biggest names in music like Paul Kelly and The War On Drugs. What would say is the biggest highlight for you from the past year and a half?
All of the great artists that we’ve been able to play with other the past 18 months has been a high light for sure, they were all really generous to us and it was very inspiring to get to know them and watch them play. But with our first album about to come out I’ve been thinking about when we recorded that in the middle of last year, and you only get to make your first album once, so that was actually a really special time.
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Speaking of achievements, you guys will be performing at Sydney Opera House in June as a part of VIVID Live. How excited are you guys to be performing at such an iconic Australian venue?
Yeah we were pinching ourselves when we were invited to play there for Vivid. That has been such a good festival since its beginning and has always brought so many great artists to Sydney, so to be on the bill is very exciting. But to be asked to play at the Opera House was unreal – I’ve seen some of my favourite artists there like Sufjan Stevens and Damon Albarn, so to get to be on the stage and play our music in our home town will be all time.
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So, what the plan for rest of 2018 once Lost Friends come out? Can we expect more amazing music videos and live shows?
Yes we will keep pumping them out! We are touring in Australia in May and in the US in June, and have some more dates in Europe planned for later in the year.
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Connect with MIDDLE KIDS!
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