What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
Zac: Can’t remember making a decision. Stumbled upon it. Accidents can happen.
Mel: From childhood. I loved the ebb and flow of words and rhythm – everyday noises. With my body and my voice, I liked to harmonise with fridges, the sound of the sea. At 10 I was given a guitar and just started experimenting. I was a dreadful student and an avid musical explorer.
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
Z: Don’t know, don’t care. We’re doing this for our collective sanity.
M: Connecting and spending time creating with Zac is sanity. Makes sense of time and meaning.
What are the next steps you plan to take as a band to reach the next level?
Z: There’s a next level? Sounds a bit intense. Not sure about that.
M: We don’t make plans. We just make music. Plans tempt fate.
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
Z: It’s our way of escaping. Whatever feels a bit much at the moment.
M: The new album is an organic creation. Tells the chronology of the last 18 months or so. Fleeting thoughts come and go. Songs stay and change shape over time.
What was the recording process like?
Z: In most cases, Mel comes up with a song idea mainly on guitar. Then I try to put a virtual band around it. Sometimes I come up with something and we bounce it back and forth online until we get there.
M: I love digging out strange broken instruments along with guitar. Stuff picked up at boot fairs. Odd percussion. An occasional accordion. An old sample box…. We bat music back and forth from Bulgaria to Cornwall. Mainly putting the world to rights along the way on video call Zac is diligent and committed to detail and completion… I’m often struck by an idea that’s there in the moment… he builds and moulds them until we have a lovely sound painting
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
Z: With me it’s mostly been technical stuff. Doing virtual instruments etc. I got pretty good at pencilling in pedal steel guitar lines on my computer. Learning a lot about arranging, mixing and mastering. It’s been fun.
M: With me – it’s turning up as ritual. Not walking off if I get stuck. Personal development, I guess.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
Z: I’m too scared to have another listen now that we’ve sent it off. I’ll probably think I need to redo the whole thing from scratch.
M: Zac is so tuned in to the production… for me it’s done, and I can’t wait for the next song to appear from the ether. We are two halves of one creature.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
Z: Everybody, calm the fuck down. All this screaming is making things worse.
M: I can only concur. Look out for each other. We do and it makes life a shit load better.
FOLLOW THEM HERE
MORE TOP BANDS COMING OUT OF LONDON HERE