Oh my god, Bird Machine. Hello again, how are you doing?
Quite well! Especially since we are going to be published in Nexus.
It’s been almost a year since we last spoke and you’d released an EP in that time. How’s that all been for you guys?
The EP was received really well and we were pretty stoked with the outcome. We’re grateful for everyone who came to a show, for the bands who invited us to play with them, all the media features and interviews (including Nexus!), and those who helped out in any way. We went to Australia over the summer to a place called Geelong (where Luke is from) and played an intimate gig to a lot of family and friends there, which was really cool. Since the last EP, we’ve written around 15 songs and can’t wait to share them all! We’re planning the release of a second EP towards the end of the year, and have plenty of material to take us beyond that too.
They say that people’s taste in food changes over time (allegedly) and we were wondering if your snack and bevvy line-up have changed at all in these past few months?
Last time, we said Milo and Tim Tams; great trans-Tasman treats. But we gotta confess something: Luke can’t have either of those because he has Coeliac Disease. But he looks back at memories of them with great fondness. He presently enjoys chilli and chocolate. It’s actually a thing. He likes to do it with chilli-flavoured Kettle Chips and chocolate. In terms of bevvys, Luke also likes to put some apply cider vinegar into a glass of water. Its super good for you and he recommends. Jenna can’t stand it.
Something that I wanted to ask the last time was, does Hamilton inspire your sound? How so?
The environment (natural and built) definitely affects people in several ways. It can affect mood a lot, and mood is a huge influence on creativity, at least for us. In Seattle in the 80s, the punk and metal underground sound (later to be dubbed “grunge” to the disdain of the bands in that scene) was said to have been a response to boredom and depressing weather. Not that Kirikiriroa is boring per se, but the weather can get quite gloomy in winter. And we can get quite gloomy with Waikato-induced hay fever. Maybe that’s why our songs are usually pretty serious and a bit bittersweet.
In terms of musical influences, Jenna is hugely inspired by Brooke Fraser (not a Hamiltonian as far as we know, but a Kiwi nonetheless). She loves her songwriting and vocal style. Luke is a big, big fan of Waikato legends the Finn Brothers (from close enough to here). He’s also a fan of Hamiltonian Kimbra. All these artists inspire us.
It’s interesting that you should bring up the influence of place on music, since we’ve been thinking of how social media has become a kind of virtual music scene or destination. Since it has no physical characteristics, we wonder how it might be changing the way a certain “sound” is made. David Byrne suggested that the acoustics of dingy underground clubs informed the sound of Talking Heads, that music works differently in different physical settings. With even live performances shifting to virtual space, will the online music scene homogenise music?
What’s been some of your favourite gigs, where have you played that has just blown your minds?
We mostly play in dive bars and basement venues. We like the dingy atmosphere, the stale air, the myriad band posters. Those places usually have a lot of history. The Wine Cellar on K Road was really cool. It’s this archaic underground space that smells like a hundred years of cigarettes, appropriated for live music. We were super impressed with the sound in that space. A lot of times we can’t hear ourselves properly on stage because a room is reflecting frequencies unevenly, but we could play with ease at the Wine Cellar. They also have a great selection of classic amplifiers, making Luke feel like a kid in a candy store. We also played at Big Fan (Morningside) recently, which is owned by Joel Little (Goodnight Nurse, Lorde, Taylor Swift, etc.). Being a purpose-built space, it sounds awesome. Cassette Nine (Auckland CBD) probably sounded the best to our ears. We can’t wait to hit the festival scene though. We’d love to do an outdoor, afternoon slot.
You mentioned the last time that you wanted to ‘move people’ with your music as your goal. Do you think you’ve achieved that?
Yeah we think we have. We’ve received lots of feedback; in shows, after interviews, from people listening to our recordings. People have expressed that they’ve been moved in some way, or that they connect with a song. An interviewer shared with us, after the interview, that they became emotional on air while we were talking about the meaning behind a particular song. It’s really fulfilling to know that people connect with our music in a deep way. That’s the kind of music we are drawn to ourselves, because you can get more out of it than just a “good time” or “a vibe”.
Finally, what’s coming from yous? What’s going to be the BIG thing from Bird Machine?
Well, we mentioned before that we have an EP planned for release by the end of the year. It’s got five songs and we think they’re all killer. One of the singles is out already; it’s called Hellos and Frowns. You can stream it on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, etc., and it’s got a rad music video, which you’ll find on YouTube. While Hellos and Frowns gives you a good idea of the energy of the upcoming record, don’t expect every song to sound the same. They’re actually all gonna be a little different-sounding from each other. Another thing to look forward to is a song we’ll be releasing at some future point that we’ve co-written with Dave Baxter (Avalanche City). We’re super excited for that, and you should be too! Finally, we’d be endlessly appreciative if all you readers would follow us on socials and streaming platforms, share our stuff, and come out to gigs. We promise you won’t regret it, and promise that you WILL regret not checking us out! But seriously, it goes a long way to helping us get out there into the wider world.
