Hans Zimmer took home the award for Best Original Score at the 2022 Oscars last night. His work on Denis Villeneuve’s Dune remake beat out a field that included Nicholas Britell for Don’t Look Up, Germaine Franco for Encanto, Alberto Iglesias for Parallel Mothers, and Jonny Greenwood for The Power of the Dog. Zimmer was not in attendance at the ceremony this year due to being on a concert tour in Europe. Upon receiving the news, Zimmer posted a photo of himself in a hotel bathrobe holding the award, writing, “It’s 2am in Amsterdam, and my daughter Zoë woke me up to go to the hotel bar. Wow!! #Oscars.”
This marks Zimmer’s second Academy Award win; he won Best Original Score for The Lion King back at in 1995. He has 10 other nominations for his work on films including Gladiator, Rain Man, As Good as It Gets, Dunkirk, Inception, and more.
In addition to Best Original Score, Dune won for Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Achievement in Sound, and Best Film Editing.
Maren Morris was the musical guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night (March 25), delivering a performance of her recent single ‘Circles Around This Town’. The Nashville songwriter also sat down for an interview, where she talked about having a child during the pandemic. Watch clips from the appearance below.
‘Circles Around This Town’ is taken from Maren Morris’ new album Humble Quest, which came out yesterday. The LP also includes the promotional singles ‘Nervous’ and ‘Background Music’.
Alivenique has shared a new song, ‘Vanguards’, the latest track from her forthcoming album Year of the Statement. Listen to it below.
“The idea of the mythological wolf calls during the intro and chorus was inspired by both my time spent in nature and as a student of wilderness survival, where I would literally spend hours daily in nature observing animal patterns and ecology as well as the incredibly inspired and poetic book by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype,” Ali Beletic explained in a statement. “If you don’t know her work, she is a really fascinating author and scholar, a Mestiza Latina author who was raised in now nearly vanished oral and ethnic traditions. In the honor of these two inspirations, a portion of the proceeds of this song will be donated to both protecting the wolves and indigenous women’s causes.”
Year of the Statement is due for release on September 22 via Lightning Studios. So far, Alivenique has previewed it with the single ‘Rain’ and the title track.
Taylor Hawkins, the longtime drummer for Foo Fighters, has died. The band were on tour in South America at the time of Hawkins’ death and were scheduled to perform at Festival Estéreo Picnic in Bogotá, Colombia. No cause of death has been revealed. Hawkins was 50 years old.
“The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins,” a statement from the band reads. “His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live with us forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children, and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time.”
Born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1972, Hawkins relocated to Laguna Beach, California with his family four years later. He got his start in music in the mid-1990s, playing drums for the band Sylvia and the rock singer Sass Jordan before becoming the touring drummer for Alanis Morissette from 1995-1997 during her tour supporting Jagged Little Pill.
Hawkins joined Foo Fighters at Dave Grohl’s request in 1997, following the departure of original drummer William Goldsmith during the recording sessions for the album The Colour and the Shape. Grohl had contacted Hawkins seeking recommendations for a new drummer, under the impression that he would not leave Morissette’s band, but was surprised when Hawkins volunteered to join the band himself. “I think it had more to do with our personal relationship than anything musical,” Grohl said in a recent interview with 95.5 KLOS. “And to be honest, it still does. Our musical relationship, the foundation of that is our friendship, and that’s why when we jump on stage and play, we’re so connected because we’re like best friends.”
In his 2021 autobiography, The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music, Grohl referred to Hawkins as his “best friend and partner in crime,” writing: “During his stint as Alanis Morissette’s drummer, long before he became a Foo Fighter, we would bump into each other backstage at festivals all over the world, and our chemistry was so obvious that even Alanis herself once asked him, ‘What are you going to do when Dave asks you to be his drummer?’ Part Beavis and Butthead, part Dumb and Dumber, we were a hyperactive blur of Parliament Lights and air drumming wherever we went.”
In addition to playing drums on every Foo Fighters album starting with 1999’s There Is Nothing Left to Lose, Hawkins occasionally provided vocals, guitar, and piano. He sang lead on ‘Cold Day in the Sun’, a single from 2005’s In Your Honour, and ‘Sunday Rain’, from 2017’s Concrete and Gold. He also co-starred with his bandmates in the Foo Fighters’ horror-comedy film, Studio 666, which came out last month.
During his time with Foo Fighters, Hawkins played in various side projects, including Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, Chevy Metal, and the Birds of Satan. More recently, he teamed up with Jane’s Addiction members Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney for the supergroup NHC, which formed during pandemic jam sessions at Hawkins’ home studio in Los Angeles and released an EP last month.
As a member of Foo Fighters, Hawkins was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Paul McCartney last year. Earlier this week, the band was announced as one of the performers for the April 3 Grammy Awards.
Hawkins is survived by his wife, Alison Hawkins, and their three children, Oliver, Annabelle, and Everleigh.
Cassandra Jenkins and Wednesday have shared new songs as part of the ongoing celebration surrounding Secretly Canadian’s 25th anniversary. Listen to Jenkins’ ‘Pygmalion’ and Wednesday’s ‘Feast of Snakes’ below.
Jenkins recorded ‘Pygmalion’ at Abbey Road, with backing from members of the Scottish band Lylo. “The lyrics in this song revisit the story of Pygmalion, the Greek mythological figure who, scornful towards women, falls in love with an ivory statue of his own making,” Jenkins explained in a statement. “When the sculpture comes to life, they live happily ever after. Through today’s lens, we might view this as a tale of an incel who falls for his ivory sex doll, and one that lacks any trace of the female voice. I wanted to give the statue a chance to speak, and to address Pygmalion directly as he begins to carve her likeness according to his vision.”
She continued: “The result is short & bittersweet, expressing part menace, sarcasm, and exhaustion, and part lucidity. I wrote it in a moment when I was frustrated by a relationship, and recorded it while I was on tour (at Abbey Road Studios). I was thinking about how easy it is to box each other into molds, and to impose our solipsistic ideals upon other people, only to be disappointed when they exhibit their true character. In that equation, everyone misses out, and there’s so much more to be gained from burning down ancient ideals. This song aims to strike the match.”
Elaborating on ‘Feast of Snakes’, Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman explained:
I 100% ripped off the chords for this song from Jason Molina’s ‘Almost Was Good Enough’. When I wrote it I had just finished reading his biography Riding With The Ghost which has a ton of information about Molina’s music and by extension the beginnings of Secretly. I thought channeling his music for our contribution to SC25 would be fitting!
The lyrics are inspired by Harry Crews’ novel Feast Of Snakes. So much of the darkness in that book is reminiscent of Molina lyrics. We wanted to keep the instrumentation pretty sparse and scary so it’s just me on vocals and guitar and Xandy [Chelmis] on steel and banjo.
Cassandra Jenkins and Wednesday both released their sophomore albums last year: An Overview of Phenomenal Nature and Twin Plagues, respectively. More recently, Wednesday issued the covers collection Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling ‘Em Up.
The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn has announced a new solo album titled A LEGACY OF RENTALS. The follow-up to 2020’s All These Perfect Crosses is set for release on May 20 via Positive Jams/Thirty Tigers. Along with the announcement, Finn has shared a new song called ‘Messing With the Settings’. Check it out and find a trailer for the album below.
A LEGACY OF RENTALS was produced by Finn’s longtime collaborator Josh Kaufman and engineered by D. James Goodwin. “The title A LEGACY OF RENTALS acknowledges that we can never completely hold any of our possessions, and that our bodies are merely a temporary residence for our souls,” Finn explained in a statement. “All moments are fleeting. After the destruction of the past few years, I believe that there is joy in each and every living action, however mundane — walking to the kitchen, missing a train, spilling coffee, cleaning it up, meeting a friend for a meal. We all want to be remembered. We all want our time here to be consequential. In taking these daily actions, we engage in hope, and we guarantee our unique place in history.”
Speaking about ‘Messing With the Settings’, he added: “Memory is a major theme through A LEGACY OF RENTALS, and I wanted the first song on the record to open on that note. This song is literally a eulogy. It’s delivered by someone who has lost touch with the recently deceased but still finds them important. Musically, it really explores the line between talking and singing, which was something we leaned into on this record. We wanted to make this song an incantation of sorts. It also features the beautiful 14-piece string section that played on a lot of these songs. I wanted to it have a cinematic feel, like Gone With The Wind or something like that.”
The Hold Steady’s most recent album, Open Door Policy, came out last year.
LEGACY OF RENTALS Cover Artwork:
LEGACY OF RENTALS Tracklist:
1. Messing With The Settings
2. The Amarillo Kid
3. Birthdays
4. The Year We Fell Behind
5. Due To Depart
6. Curtis & Shepard
7. Never Any Horses
8. Jessamine
9. A Break From The Barrage
10. This Is What It Looks Like
Atlanta rapper Latto’s new album 777 has dropped today (via RCA). The LP includes a new collaboration with Lil Wayne and Childish Gambino called ‘Sunshine’. Check it out below.
777 is the follow-up to Latto’s 2020 debut Queen of da Souf. Ahead of the album’s release, she shared the singles ‘Big Energy’, ‘Soufside’, and ‘Wheelie’. In addition to Lil Wayne and Childish Gambino, the record features guest appearances from 21 Savage, Lil Durk, Nardo Wick, and Kodak Black.
Entrepreneurs realize how much time it takes to manage their businesses. You wouldn’t trade it for anything, yet there are moments when you wish you could enjoy the benefits of the fantastic options that are available. Successful people combine the characteristic traits that appear in their way of thinking and actions. Is it possible to encourage and develop these qualities on your own? In the method of studying biographies of those young and social purpose-driven entrepreneurs, you will find that every successful person has been told by someone that he is a failure, or had a few tough conditions, however, they in no way surrender and maintain to comply with their dreams. It’s important to learn about business hacks, so let’s have a look at some examples. Consider carefully what your main demographic is searching for when developing successful company tactics. In addition, you must examine what is financially feasible for you as a company owner while making decisions. A few minutes spent contemplating the following smart business hacks will have an enormous impact on how your company runs on a daily basis.
SEO Tips and Tricks
In order to operate a successful company in 2022, you must become well-versed in all things SEO. SEO (search engine optimization) will help your company rank higher in the search in Google. If you’re strategic with your SEO, you’ll have an advantage over your competition and be able to promptly and efficiently reach your intended audience. Keywords and backlinks on your blog are just a few of the many components that make up search engine optimization. If SEO is a challenge for you, you may want to enlist professional help for these services. You’ll notice progress in your SEO efforts if you keep at it.
Blogging
Blogging is highly effective for companies and works hand in hand with SEO. Producing more free material can help establish your authority in your sector. You should really consider starting a business blog if you don’t currently have one. To stay consistent with weekly or monthly blog entries, you could hire freelance writers. Starting a company blog establishes you and builds trust with your target audience.
Budgeting and Financial Planning
A financial planner is incredibly vital for many people all around the globe. They provide a wide range of products and services. They can assist you with everything relating to your financial situation. They are quite knowledgeable in a wide range of subjects ranging from estate planning and saving to retirement, investments, taxes, and insurance. Their areas of competence are vast and varied. Considering that money is a major cause of worry for many people, this might be a helpful approach to alleviate some of the burden.
What are the advantages of having a financial plan?
Do you actually have the time to organize your business finances? Leaving it in the hands of a professional may help to alleviate pressure. Don’t forget how big of a job this can be. Because of the fast-paced nature of today’s business world, it might be difficult to devote the necessary time to properly managing your funds. Moreover, rushing will only result in missed advantages.
Finding opportunity – You will be shown the finest prospects, particularly in investment management, if you seek professional assistance. This is why financial advisors are so crucial. To guarantee you get the most out of your investments, they have the connections, expertise, and industry knowledge.
Minimize risk and maximize benefit – Early financial preparation is best. If you wait too long, achieving your objectives will be tough and costly. When it comes to your investments, you’ll be able to reap the benefits of patience. In the financial world, there is no place for haste.
Self-awareness – Financial planning may go astray if individuals underestimate or overestimate their present financial condition. This is when an unbiased viewpoint comes in handy.
Experience in the field – There is no one better to provide you with the knowledge you want than someone with years of experience and understanding. You can count on them to be completely open and honest with you. They will advise you on insurance coverage. They’ll tell you where you’re going wrong right now. If you’re looking for an honest assessment of your financial status, they’ll be able to help. This will ensure the success of your financial planning.
Accountability – The professionals hold you responsible. This helps to guarantee that you stick to the goals they’ve set for you. But, they are also responsible to you, which guarantees that you get the highest possible quality of service. It’s a win-win. If you’re struggling with debt, they’ll be able to help you with resources like a credit card calculator and a detailed strategy that will make it much simpler for you to stick to your budget.
If you do decide to hire or outsource a financial planner, you can also maximize their efforts by providing them with tools and resources to make their work even more effective. Things like an underwriting workbench and scheduling software to keep them organized with your finances. Don’t underestimate how important your finances are when it comes to business. Once small slip or mistake could break or break a business, and this is something you want to indefinitely avoid.
Networking
Networking is vital in business. You don’t have to meet individuals in your field in person to network; you can also do a lot of it virtually. This is a great form of contact if you are already active on social media and want to expand your reach while also collaborating with other professionals. Start by writing a blog article for their website, or give them a demo version of your products in exchange for internet publicity. Explore your possibilities for collaborating with other industry experts now.
If you find satisfaction in face-to-face interactions and genuine discussions within your field, you can construct a strong network by actively engaging in business gatherings and conferences. It’s essential to communicate effectively and adapt your way of speaking to suit the formality level your audience requires.
For example, individuals such as speakers, executives, and entrepreneurs frequently turn to TED-style talk coaching and guidance to improve their speaking abilities. Delivering a TED-style talk includes presenting your business with a conceived and well-delivered speech, combining both relaxed and formal approaches.
Planning
Starting a company without a strategy is like going into combat without a helmet or shield to protect you. In the absence of a well-thought-out strategy, how can you hope to succeed? Without precise objectives and strategies, your company will not be able to succeed. Make sure your marketing strategy, target audience information, and budget are included in your company plan as soon as possible. It is easier to be self-assured about your company if you have a well-thought-out strategy in place.
Branding
Your company brand communicates to your target audience who you are. Your brand has to be consistent from your advertising efforts to your website’s color design. There are many specialists that can help you with your branding requirements, so contact them if you need assistance. Just make sure your message is always abundantly clear when it comes to your brand’s identity.
Website Refinement
It is necessary to have a company website in today’s world; but, do you have a website that is optimized and that people would want to spend time on? After briefly discussing SEO, it’s critical that your website be optimized in other ways as well. Is your website simple to use and fast to load? Having the right keywords is one thing, but is your website user-friendly and easy to navigate? If you don’t implement these changes, you could lose a lot of customers. If you’re unsure where to begin, web designers can help. Paying a professional often increases sales as a consequence.
It is possible to take your company to the next level by assessing your strengths and limitations. However, you should be aware that you won’t see any improvements straight away; you’ll need to be constant in your efforts to do so. There are a variety of methods to improve your company, such as establishing a blog, enhancing your branding, or learning more about your tax obligations. It’s best to get started sooner rather than later, since your competition may have already figured out these techniques. Hopefully, these suggestions will assist you in strengthening the weak areas of your business so that you can achieve your objectives and make more money in the future.
Ever since forming in 2015, Camp Cope have embraced openness and vulnerability as tools of empowerment. The Australian trio’s first two albums, 2016’s self-titled debut and 2018’s How to Socialise and Make Friends, are captivating records marked by a unique emotional and social awareness, with vocalist-guitarist Georgia Maq’s honest, biting lyrics bursting with both anger and empathy as they weave the personal and the political. They also serve as documents of the band’s growth – as musicians, as friends, as people – learning how to navigate and find peace in the world around them. It’s clear that this has been the goal from the start: “It all comes down to the knowledge that we’re gonna die/ Find comfort in that or be scared for the rest of your life,” Maq sang on Camp Cope’s ‘West Side Story’. “So I sing and I scream and I strum and I try to help out.”
The band’s third LP, Running With the Hurricane, out today, is the closest they’ve come to reaching that place of comfort, one that truly feels like home. It’s also their richest and most rewarding effort to date. Although it opens with the lines “I’ve been seeing my own death, I’ve been laying down, I’ve been going down giving strangers head,” it takes you on a journey that ends with tremendous optimism – as bassist Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich puts it, “it’s like holding your hand through the uncomfortableness.” A lot of that confidence comes down to the group becoming more attuned to their dynamic capabilities, expanding their palette and incorporating more harmonies while sounding more relaxed – and together – than ever before. Not only does Maq play piano and sing on the closing track, she encourages everyone else to do the same, and the moment’s resonance is suddenly amplified: “You can change and so can I,” she repeats as the music builds to a cathartic finale. What you’d expect to be a slow, quiet conclusion suddenly feels like a bright new start.
We caught up with Camp Cope’s Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich to talk about how Philadelphia, seeing Florence and the Machine live, A Star Is Born, climate change, and more inspired their new album.
Philadelphia
Can you talk about what Philadelphia means to you and its relationship to the album?
It’s been an important part of our band from the beginning. The first big shows we did was with Modern Baseball who are from Philadelphia, and that introduced us to the audience there but also a lot of other bands. When we first started, one of our main influences was Cayetana, who were a band from Philadelphia. They’re three women, and I can’t find a lot of bands I can compare our sound to, but they’re one. When we got there and played our first shows there, it honestly felt like going home. And that’s such an important feeling when you’re on tour because you are so far away from home, especially when you’re in Australia and you travel across the other side of the world from our island. Philadelphia became somewhere that felt more like our music scene than Australia did – we’ve always felt maybe a bit out of place or like we didn’t quite fit in with a lot of bands in Australia, but to go across the other side of the world and fit in there and feel like we’re a Philadelphia band, even though we grew up so far away. That’s why originally we wanted to do the album there because we had done the other two in Melbourne and we wanted it to be completely different, and it really holds an important part in all of our hearts. But it didn’t work out that way. I feel like there’s still Philadelphia in the album though, and we’re really excited to eventually bring it there again.
In what ways do you feel like there’s still Philadelphia in the album?
I think how much we’ve grown as a band we owe a lot to our mentors in Philadelphia. There’s been lots of them who have homed us and and made us believe in ourselves as musicians. We’re more sure of ourselves and that’s all to these group of people who mentored us and believed in us. And then also, there’s one song, ‘The Screaming Planet’, and at the end, you say, “I always come back,” and that’s about Melbourne. “I’ve been around the world, and I always come back here.” I feel like it’s like because you find home in other places, but then you come back to like your real home. I think of America a lot in that song.
Seeing Florence and the Machine Live at Laneway Festival in 2018
I feel like the confidence that you’re talking about ties into the next inspiration, which is seeing Florence and the Machine live at Laneway Festival in New Zealand.
Yeah, it was our second time playing Laneway Festival. The first time we were very young and it was our first-ever festival, so the second time we had a bit more confidence but we were still trying to find where we fit in and who we were. We were still developing our sound at that point – we knew we want it to be more than what we already were. We’re so close, the three of us, musically we’re really tapped into each other, but also emotionally we’re like sisters, we’re family. And it was a very scary [collaborating with] other people in the writing process and playing live. We’re so scared to break out of that. I remember Georgia and I were standing on the side watching Florence and the Machine, and I don’t know if you’ve ever had the opportunity to watch them – it’s honestly a band I was aware of but never sought out to go see live or listen to much, but the production was so gorgeous. You see all these rock bands in a day and then this, like, performance art. The lead singer just completely transforms the stage into a different world. Her vocal range is phenomenal, but her confidence in the way that she controls the stage and the sound was so big – it just didn’t feel like a rock concert. And we were just like, “Wow, we want a bigger sound.”
We were so nervous to play music. It’s so funny, I was on anxiety medication for most of the time we had to go play, and to watch someone just go up there and like, they made their own world on the stage. It was really inspiring. And I know that that was a big turning point for like, why can’t we do a big production? Why can’t we expand? Not maybe to that level where we’ve got like a harp and fireworks or whatever [laughs], but just that maybe we should expand, maybe we should grow and move a bit out of our comfort zone so we can create something a bit bigger.
Vocally, I also see Georgia stretching her vocals more on this album. Did you see her taking inspiration from Florence in that way as well?
Yeah, Florence was a huge part. I know that she’s really inspired by them. During the second album, Georgia got nodules on her vocal cords. She had to get surgery and there was a point where we actually didn’t know if she was going to be able to sing again. It was very emotional, very scary. The surgery worked, but she had to learn to sing a different way because she was damaging her vocal cords. So she did, she went to vocal training and just completely changed the way that she sings, and you can hear the difference from the past albums to the new ones. And I reckon every night on our last American tour, she would sing Florence and the Machine in the shower. [laughs] You could hear her listening to her on her phone, and she would just be belting. And you can hear her working it out, and at first it wasn’t as perfect as was but then towards the end she really got there. And you can hear the inspiration I think vocally in the album, definitely.
One moment I wanted to single out is the closer, ‘Sing Your Heart Out’. Especially because so much of the album revolves around the feeling of isolation, that feels like such a moment of connection to me. Did it feel like that when you were bringing the song to life?
Yeah. I remember the first time Georgia sent it, I was just like, “Oh, wow.” [laughs] I was driving with my partner and she sent the demo of her on piano. And it’s always very special when Georgia plays piano – she’s done it since she was a child, but she just never brought it to the band until this album. I remember the growth of that song, she always wanted it to be a really big finish. A big criticism from other people but also us was that our last two albums were just not very dynamic, and so we took that on board. The other two albums finished with a song Georgia just by herself, so that one, we wanted it to maybe be like, “Oh, here’s another song Georgia just by herself,” and then boom, it’s different. [laughs]
But lyrically, I think it’s the full stop of the album: you can do things that make you uncomfortable, you can do things that you might think are wrong, that maybe are wrong, but that doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. And it’s also commentary on a lot of stuff that’s going on in the world as well. Does doing bad things make you a bad person? Is there room to grow? Can someone change? If you don’t believe that someone can change, what’s the point? We’ve changed a lot from the last album to where we’re at now, and you can hear that. And I think there was a bit of fear of like, people saw this as this one thing, is it going to be jarring for them to see us as this other? So there’s lots of themes about change – it’s personal and musical, I guess.
Double Texting
Double texting is specifically referenced in two separate songs [‘Blue’ and ‘Jealous’]. Was there a moment where you realized it’s a recurring thing that’s related to bigger themes on the album?
Well, it’s extremely Georgia, and it’s actually a big theme of our band. Me and Georgia are pretty bad – Georgia’s the worst, like she will text you constantly and if you don’t reply, her world will crumble. But Thomo [bassist Sarah Thompson] is always like, “Can you guys put what you want to say in one big text?” And it’s also just a metaphor for, like, not being certain, right? Not being certain about yourself, about a situation, which I think is what a few of the songs nod towards. Not sure if you’re doing the right thing, not sure if you’re doing something that will make other people like you. And then also being vulnerable and being like, it’s okay to double text. Because why is that a rule? [laughs] You know, that’s a thing that you shouldn’t do because it makes you look a certain way, but if you want to say it, just say it. If you want to send another text, just do it. But yeah, we noticed when it came up a couple of times. [laughs] We’re like, “Oh, the double texting album.”
A Star Is Born
What are your memories of watching the film with Georgia?
We were living together at the time. We used to live in Georgia’s apartment. It’s a really small apartment, it was us and our cat. And the movie came out, we went and saw it, and we bawled our eyes out. And then we watched it another two or three times in the cinema, we could not get enough of it. We didn’t cry so much for the love story of it, it’s just that journey of loving music, wanting it to be your whole life, the absolute high of music being your whole life and finding success in music, and then the low, when you stop or when it doesn’t go in a way that’s healthy for you. And that question of, is it healthy for you? Because we watched the demise of their relationship and their life, and when you’re a musician or I’m sure any artist would watch that and be like, it’s so true: something that gives you the biggest high will give you the biggest low.
And then the songs – Lady Gaga is another huge influence to Georgia’s vocals. I remember the first night, I think we listened to the soundtrack in the car, we went straight home and I heard her the rest of the night playing songs on our keyboard. So I think that she was super inspired by that soundtrack as well.
You said that it’s not often that she will write on the keyboard.
When people would find out that she played piano, like if there was a piano at a venue and she just hopped on for fun, we’d be like, “Yeah, she’s a way better piano player than she is a guitarist.” [laughs] Because she’s been playing since she was a child. But we were stuck in that guitar, bass, and drums – if she gets on piano, who’s going to play guitar, what are we going to do? That doesn’t work. But then she branched out and she was starting to write songs on piano. There were discussions about the album for the two years or so we worked on it, which was, “Maybe we get this person to come in and play piano,” and we’re like, “Why don’t you do it? You’re really good at it.” And you can hear that, I think, especially in ‘Running With the Hurricane’, because she sang and played that at the same time, and it’s phenomenal. The piano is crazy in that in that song. But I think that’s my first memory of Georgia kind of busting out the piano and writing, which is why I wanted to put that in there.
You obviously had an emotional reaction to the film, but was it also something that you also discussed in relation to your own lives or the band?
Absolutely, we talked about it at length, for weeks if not months. I mean, we are people who have had relationships on the road, whether it’s having a relationship with someone back home or having relationships with other musicians, so it does hit in that way. But also, just how hard it is to navigate care when you are a travelling musician, and I think that’s what really hit us – care for yourself and the people around you that you love. Because it’s a very hard career in that sense. You have to make a lot of sacrifices, and I think the biggest is relationships, and not just romantic ones.
Hugh McDonald
The album is named after a song Georgia’s late father, Hugh McDonald, wrote for his band Redgum. How did you reach that decision?
I think when she wrote the song ‘Running With the Hurricane’, she brought it to us and she was like, “My dad has a song called ‘Running With the Hurricane’, and I never really liked that song very much, but I really liked the title.” She’s like, “To me, running with the hurricane feels like such an emotional phrase. It stirs up this feeling.” So she wanted to write that song, and then the song, we knew from the very beginning that it was always going to be the main single. When we were discussing album titles, we were just like, “Let’s name it Running With the Hurricane.” It’s something I think that describes our whole experience being in a band, and it’s that nod to Hugh, which was really important.
He was in the studio for our first album, and he really supported us all. It wasn’t just about his daughter being in the band. He would message Thomo, like, “This is why I think you’re a great drummer, this thing you do stylistically,” and then he’d come to me and he’d be like, “These things that you do as a bass player, they’re amazing.” And he just really believed in what we’re fighting for as well. I think my last memory of Hugh, I think the last time I saw him – he was sick in the hospital, but they’d let him come out to watch us win a music award in Melbourne. So he got all dressed up and he came and watched us win this music award. And not long after, he passed away. He’s very important to us as a band and as people. We wouldn’t be here without him, definitely.
Climate Change
What kind of conversations did you have about climate change, and how did it inform the album?
It was pre-COVID that we had these feelings of like, the world is ending and we’re making music. I think a lot of people have alluded it to the band playing music as the Titanic sinks. You get very in your head, like, “The world is ending, what are we doing to make it better? I’m just making music, is this doing anything that’s worth anything?” That was something that we talked about a lot. I mean, we tried to do small things, like no one of our touring party has disposable drink bottles, everyone has a drink bottle or there’s a jug of water and cups. Going to venues and being like, “Just don’t put straws out.” And most people were like, “Okay, so no straws tonight at the venue.” We’re always trying to think about this. And then I think ‘The Screaming Planet’ is a song that feels very influenced by climate change, but not only just in the title, but the overall feel of the song. Also, running with the hurricane, that phrase is all being like: Everything around you is uncontrollable, what can you do? You should make art, and just try and do small, tiny changes, you know, like Frightened Rabbit, make small, tiny changes within the mess and the hurricane and you’re on the screaming planet and all these things are happening – let’s try and find the beauty in that. And then COVID happened and it became even more real. It’s kind of crazy to listen back, especially to ‘The Screaming Planet’, and think about how it was written before COVID.
Gang of Youths’ Dave Le’aupepe
He’s a very charismatic frontman, and I can see how he would have been an inspiration in wanting to take things in a more theatrical direction.
Yeah, definitely. He gets on a stage and he completely transforms it, just in that way that Florence does. But we did get to know him on a personal level. The first time I met Dave was at our first-ever festival, the first day of our first-ever festival, and I was sitting there eating lunch with our guitar tech. And he walked over and he said, “Hey, I was listening to –” I think our first album had just come out – “I was listening to your stuff since the first song came out on Bandcamp. And I just wanted to say I’m a really big fan.” And I was like, “Oh, thanks! Who are you?” I didn’t know if he was crew or – I was like, “What do you do?” And he’s like, “Oh, look, that’s not important. I just wanted to come say that I love your band.” And I was like, “Oh, cool. Thanks, man. That’s really nice.” And then he walked away and our guitar tech was like, “That was the singer of Gang of Youths!” And I was like, “Who’s that?” And then he was like, “You need to go watch them, they’re really good.” And then we went and watched them, and obviously, they were amazing. That was our first introduction to Dave. But from that, he just would always send us messages and support. At that point, we were really young and we didn’t have that many people like that in our lives. That’s why we’re really grateful for the ones who were there from the beginning.
And then Go Farther in Lightness, that album changed my life. It’s so beautiful. And it’s that thing: it talks about uncomfortable things, but it holds your hand through it. You feel like you’re going through these painful, uncomfortable things, but then they’re like, there’s beauty in that, there’s growth in that, and we’re gonna bring you through it. [laughs] And we’re gonna feel it together. Me and Georgia were really inspired by that album. We wanted to make an album that makes you feel like that.
We went and saw them at the Forum and that’s when the piano comes back in. We were sitting up at the top, and it was us and and some of the guys’ wives, we had our own platform. And he just gets out there with the piano by himself, and you could feel the emotion of a couple of thousand people and a piano and someone with a very powerful voice and a really important story to tell. We were really inspired by that, and I think you can hear that in little moments in the album too.
I remember once I sold my guitar for a bus ticket or something, and he was like, “Don’t sell your guitars, they’re gonna be in a museum one day. You guys, you don’t understand how important your band is.” And to hear that from someone that writes music that I’m such a fan of…
Have you had any interactions around this album or their album that just came out?
No, we haven’t seen them since – they were on that Laneway tour when we saw Florence, they were on our first-ever Laneway and then on our second one as well. But because Dave moved to London and then COVID, and he’s not really on social media at all. He’s a very big recluse. But I’m interested to see what he thinks of it. But yeah, because of COVID we lost touch with a lot of our friends who live internationally. It’s been hard.
My partner is Samoan, and so I introduced him to Gang of Youths because obviously there’s so much about culture and his father in the latest album. And I remember hearing Dave talk about – the death of his father was around, I think it must have been one of the last times we all hang out as bands. They were doing a show in Sydney the same night we were playing the Opera House, and I remember that was a really hard time. To hear that worked out in the album is classic Dave, and I love how he does that. I know him and Georgia relate on that level too, they really work out their own trauma through the music. And it helps others, too.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
FINNEAS has unveiled a new track called ‘Naked’, his first new music since the release of his debut album, Optimist, last year. The single comes with an accompanying video filmed in New York City and directed by Sam Bennett. Watch and listen below.
FINNEAS is up for Best New Artist at the 2022 Grammy Awards, where he’s also nominated for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year for his work on Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever. Earlier this month, he shared a cover of Bon Iver’s ‘Flume’.
