Slumberhaze today complete their epic Rhyme, Rhythm & Reason EP trilogy release, dropping the third instalment for you all to get around! Most recently, we’ve been loving their single “Neon Demon” and as we’ve come to learn from the Sydneysiders, this conjuring of awesome sounds into some well-produced and catchy songs is very much just the beginning.
Listen to the third part of Slumberhaze’s EP trilogy below and find out some more about the band’s approach to this series as you get swept up by the music this promising Aussie band has created.
Third and final instalment of what’s been an impressive run of EP releases – how do you guys feel now you’ve reached this point?
We feel like its just the beginning. After three years of writing and recording, we have just hit our stride. The EP series was a dream we wrote three years ago and though it seems small, it was a big one for us. After this release, we are well into our next vision and release.
Would you ever embark on this kinda release schedule again?
As a group, we are definitely a theme-oriented band, with everything we do having an underlying motive or inspiration. Not to talk too far into the future however, we have roughly mapped our next three projects with thematic sketches. Roughly.
Looking back on the material you’ve formed for the trilogy now, how impressed are you with the band’s clear range of music and the way you’ve been working together?
We are in a place we’ve wanted to be in for years; we have all played in bands prior and understood how cunty the industry is and to have a band that’s writing music we are all equally in love with, is the reward in itself. Our music has changed so much over just three years, but the new music we are writing is probably years away from release; the great point is that we are prolific and work hard.
Was there any particular highlight of the recording process for this EP that you’d like to further explore on future recordings?
We worked with a gentleman on this record (Lachlan Mitchell), who has worked with great bands in the past and he really opened our minds to how DEMO-Struck we get. When you write a new cut, the whole band is excited and starts to want to reproduce the essence of the demo, which is nearly impossible. This time, we learnt to get over the concept and write a song and we will probably take that into our future projects, as it’s a good way to detach yourself from the music.
I loved “Neon Demon” – can you talk me through that song a little bit; what was about that track that’s stood out to you guys the most in terms of it being ‘single’ material?
“Neon…” was a special track to me, as the intro synth lines are reminiscent of a trance producer’s song from the early 2000’s and it instantly got me hooked. I wanted it to be an instrumental, no chord changes and just flashes of layers, like a traditional EDM track. Last year, I went to Europe for a month and laid around the beach, writing music a lot the days; this song happened to be on my laptop [and] the evening that I wrote the verses, was also an evening we spent dancing by the lake.
It was one of those nights where time flies and you smile all the way home, which gave me inspiration to lyrically cover that in the chorus. It’s about finding release in music and art.
The tour kicked off this week – how had preparation for it been coming along and how did the first show treat you?
Prepping for a tour is a prick-y part in a band’s timeline; we were jamming four times a week, stressing about getting these tracks as close to the record as possible and generally returning to our tight set we had last tour. We also had some terrible vibes try to fuck us up throughout this time, which we had to hope over. We are sweet as pie now and let the pickiness sore off into oblivion.
In terms of the band becoming a stronger touring unit, what would you put progression in this area down to? Do you think you guys are working any differently together now on the live front than you did when you first got together?
Wine, love and passion. We love our movement and the music we write. We have the sky in our eyes and always think and add cool shit to our shows. Eventually, we will have a complete Slumberhaze experience: lights, visuals, exerts, samples, jams and songs. Close, but not yet. For the album…
What are you most excited about when it comes to these shows that lay ahead?
Just being with my brothers, meeting people that support and love what we do and interacting with new faces and places. Simple pleasures, some gin, maybe a flipping of a coin.
Can you tell us a bit about what’s coming up for Slumberhaze as the rest of 2016 continues to roll out?
Apart from flipping coins, we are straight back into the studio come July, have another dual film clip to drop for the songs “SkyView” and “Carry On” and we will be flying off to harness the haze somewhere remote, quiet and spooky to record and demo our debut album.
Lots of love. DBTH.
—
Catch Slumberhaze on the road at the below venues!
June 17th | Waywards, SYDNEY
June 18th | Rad Bar, WOLLONGONG
June 24th | The Brightside, BRISBANE
June 25th | Sol Bar, MAROOCHYDORE
June 30th | Transit Bar, CANBERRA
July 1st | Baha’s, RYE
July 2nd | Northcote Social Club, MELBOURNE
———-
