Brisbane four piece Future Haunts have just put out their latest sing;e 'Make Time'. Tomatrax caught up with the band's frontman Ben Speight to ask a few questions.
How did the band form?
Future Haunts started off as a bunch of demos in the bedroom of a Taringa share house where Ben and Dan lived, until we decided to get off the couch and start playing gigs. Soon after we recruited Tom and Stu to complete the line up. We actually all grew up in the same small town but are different ages, so we didn't really know each other until we met through the scene in Brisbane.
Where did the name Future Haunts come from?
A couple of mates had an idea for a record label that never fully got off the ground. We needed a name so we could start playing shows and they were total legends and let us use that.
You've just released your latest single, how's it feel to have it out?
It feels really good, a definite breath of fresh air. My home studio flooded towards the end of the recording process, so it was a bit of a challenge to get things finished off. We're just glad we could finally get it out there for people to hear.
You recently played a few shows to launch the single, how did they go?
Both shows were really good. It's always great to head down to Sydney for a show and we met some great people and had a good time. The Brissy show was a lot of fun also. I think I'm still hungover.
What was the inspiration behind the rail station cover for 'Make time'?
It was really just the result of a few of us getting together over beers and working something out as quick as we could. Our mate Robbie Atkin is really great with photography and art and he had some great ideas we bounced around. We liked the idea of changing it up and getting something hand drawn this time as we've mostly had photos for our previous releases.
Are there any plans for a follow up EP or LP?
Tom and Stu are touring pretty heavily with their other band over the next couple of months, so it's a good time for us to really bunker down and write a whole bunch of new material, which we're excited about. We'll definitely be releasing some new material later this year.
When writing what comes first, the words or the music?
Generally music comes first for us. Our approach is pretty organic in the sense of getting in a room together with a bunch of riffs and ideas, playing them out and constructing the songs that way. Vocal melodies and some key phrases get developed in those early stages but the lyrics tend to come fairly late in the process.
Do you ever listen to your own music?
Not unless we have to. Generally there's a lot of listening during recording or listening back to mixes/masters. Sometimes we forget how to play an older song so we might listen back to it for a refresher.
What music do you listen to?
We've all got slightly different tastes but there's some common stuff that we're all into. Stuff along the lines of Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Gold Class, Grizzly Bear, Parquet Courts The Drones, Bad Dreems, DIIV.
Now that the single is out what do you have planned next?
Play a couple more shows, keep our heads down and write as much material as we can. Probably head back into the studio mid year and cook something up for another release. Tour and play some more shows. Then do it all again.
