INTERVIEW: The Manic on poetry, their origin story, and their upcoming single
With the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, we are excited to see live music in WA flourish again. Gigs are back, and one of the shows we are looking forward to is The Manic’s upcoming single launch at The Sewing Room on Thursday, May 12th. In anticipation of the launch, we had a chat with their guitarist, Owen Gust.
IN: Your band started out as the brainchild of two people, which then blossomed into 6 members. How did that come about?
Owen: The whole progress of the evolution of the band was quite organic and somewhat subconscious. I had just moved to Perth and had moved into a residential college for university, when I heard someone yelling “pre-drinks for Zumba, in my room!”. It made me laugh, so, naturally I went and had this weird, charismatic, energetic guy pour me a “White Russian”, which was really just a few shots of vodka and about half a cup of milk. The “White Russian” cocktail maker’s name was Johnny, who is now our keyboard man, and that partnership all just evolved through us getting to chatting, and finding out that we both enjoyed messing around on some instruments.
I had already met Jarrad (vocals) a few years prior to moving to Perth, and had taken photos for a performance of his, years before. Jarrad and I had been writing and sending poetry to each other for a few months by this point, writing stuff just for the fun of it, and to see if we had similar kind of taste in lyrics. I invited Jarrad along to jam with Johnny and me - I could tell that he thought we were shit. We persevered, learning covers and writing some simple songs for about 8 months, until I met Aidan (bass), when he gave me a lift to a party, and Karen (drums), when she played some covers with me, for a college show. Finally, Charlotte joined the band a couple of days before we played our first show, as a backup singer; it wasn’t for a month or so, that we realized how good she was at the violin. It has been a pretty entertaining, weird progression really. I like it.
Tell us about your upcoming single launch. What is “Sunday Til Sunday” about? What were your main influences on this track?
Sunday ‘til Sunday, is going to be the second track that we’ve released, it centres around summer nights, and a naïve sense of awe found in being a young adult, and exploring your sense of identity. It feels a bit like Jarrad’s own personal reflection upon the time when the band was initially forming, his own sort of love/hate relationship with that freedom, and the excitement of going out into the City. That's my interpretation of the track, at least.
One thing that I really love about our creative process, is how we are all individually inspired by different sources, when we come together to collaborate in our music. Jarrad seemed very inspired at the time to write something a bit more accessible, dancey and easy to listen to, I think he was influenced by a group like Dulcie, with their beautiful tracks and their really polished melodies. I really wanted to lean into that kind of dreamy, ethereal feeling in the track, so I probably drew inspiration from a band like The War on Drugs, maybe the track ‘Occasional Rain’; I love that song. Aidan wanted to write something with a real hook in the bassline, and he definitely nailed that. Karen gave us a really funky, minimalistic drumbeat behind the track, that gives the song a lot of space to breathe. Johnny followed along with that kind of washy, dreamy sound, in the synth department. Charlotte just went crazy on the violin and weaved in these really pretty melodies. One of those moments where the rest of us sit back, laugh and go, ‘fuck, Charlotte’s gooooood’.
You collaborated with Skye Sam from King Blue for this single. How did that happen, and what was the collaboration process like?
After we had written the first iteration of the song, we all knew that we had to have a different voice in the track, someone doing something super saucy and emotionally evocative. Jarrad already knew Skye and they were good friends, I knew King Blue and thought they were an amazing group. Jarrad got in touch, and she was really keen. I met Skye at the recording studio when she came in, and she is such a great person, she was such great fun to record with. Jarrad and Skye had been working together on how they would weave their vocals around each other, and the rest of us had no idea how it was going to sound, or what they had planned. When Skye started recording her vocals, I got so excited. When someone does something really cool, I always feel like running around the studio and jumping into the drum kit or something; it was one of those moments.
In what way does poetry influence your music/songwriting?
Our first song Rust, came from a poem that I wrote, of the same title; which Jarrad turned into lyrics, based around a riff that I had made on guitar. I think our lyrical foundations, being based in poetry, lead to moments where I can get really obsessed with the kind of subtext, and metaphor in some of our music; while Jarrad can get quite clever with his construction of imagery. In “Sunday ‘til Sunday”, I think we wanted to strip back some of that arty pretense, while keeping the poetic flow and romantic imagery; make it a bit more raw and fun. So that's what we did for this track.
What is your favourite WA venue to perform in?
Probably The Bird or The Sewing Room. We booked our next single launch at The Sewing Room, on the 12th of May, and it’s going to be great. I think it’s a great location, with really good sound, a very accepting and safe environment, it’s a really fun-sized venue, it’s got a cool LED screen thingy, and TONNES OF AIRCONS. Aircons are really comfy.
Who is your favourite WA artist/musician right now?
I don’t think we could ever come to an agreement on just one artist. So I’ll give you a few great one’s:
King Blue - They’ve just got so much energy and put on an exhaustingly exciting show.
Little Guilt - Besides having the coolest band name ever, their music is a really refreshing blend of the indie-pop Perth thing, with a bit of a folky, tasty combo and a bit of funk too. It works.
Spici Water - Super singable, really good fun, a bit of an embodiment of Perth dance Rock, really.
Julia Wallace - Creates such an amazing soundscape, I love her stuff.
Macy Rose - Is awesome.
Little Guilt, Patio Living, and Macy Rose are supporting you in this upcoming launch at The Sewing Room. Why did you ask them to join you guys for this launch?
We played our first ever gig with Little Guilt and we’ve been trying to line up a gig with them ever since, but every time, someone’s busy. This time it lined up. We couldn’t be more excited for it.
I only just heard about Patio Living recently, and checked out their music, thought it was really groovy, plus put on a huge live show, so we got them on the lineup.
Macy Rose is just criminally underrated. They have such an amazing and diverse discography, sooner or later they’re undoubtedly going to skyrocket. Such emotionally powerful music.
What’s next for you guys?
We have a huge track recorded, that is in collaboration with Olman Walley on Didgeridoo. It's super brooding, and intense, I can’t wait to share that one. We want to keep creating the best stuff we can, and collaborate with some other artists in different mediums! At this stage, we’re also looking to do a few shows outside of Perth, maybe something that is in collaboration with an art project, or something like that. I don’t know. I didn’t say anything…
Catch The Manic at the Sewing Room for their single launch on Thursday, May 12th. Click Here for details.
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