Fresh off the stage supporting adrenaline rockers Dead Letter Circus, Brisbane's Aerials are set to unleash their sophomore EP, 'Restless'.
You're about to release your second EP, how will it compare with your debut?
Harder. Better. Faster. Stronger. Bigger riffs. Louder snares. More immediate.
What made you pick 'Restless' as the single and title track?
'Restless' was a tricky song. It definitely didn't sound like "us" when we first listened back to the demo, but the falsetto hooks were undeniably catchy. Once we started jamming it live with dirty guitars and bass, we knew it was locked in as our lead single.
The upcoming video for Restless has been describes as being David Lynch inspired and delving into an underground world of fetish, obsession and surrealism. What made you decide to put together a David Lynch-esq video?
It was basically pitched by the director Clint Lewis from Red Tape Pictures. He has a great imagination and worked with artists such as The Church and The Red Paintings. The idea of the clip was to channel the sinister themes of the lyrics and he basically built a bunch of sets including a seedy peep show. We were lucky to have a lot of volunteers stand in as extras, including a burlesque dancer (Fortuna Maxima) who was a centre piece to the clip.
What was the inspiration behind the front cover of the EP?
I didn't have anything specific in mind when I was designing the EP artwork but I liked the idea of having a 'retro' or '80's vibe' throughout this EP cycle. I didn't want the cover to be too colourful because I didn't want people to think we were an indie band or bedroom DJ so I stuck with the black background and keeping the 'glitch' artwork as the main focal point. Our first EP was working with colours as well but it consisted of a white background so I thought it'd be good to keep the colour and reverse the background. Maybe I'll go in another direction if we release an album.
Your music mixes elements of heavy rock and electronic pop. Is it hard to get the different elements to work together?
From a recording perspective, yes. My brother (and guitarist) Tristan is a perfectionist in the studio. He spends countless hours to get the song sounding right. Most of our songs have minimal synth and electronics from the start but when he gets the balance right with our instruments, it sounds huge.
You'll be playing a few shows along the east coast of Australia next month. What can fans expect from these shows?
Huge rock out riffs that make you feel dirty on the inside and out, blistering strobe lights and a good balance of old and new songs that you and your drunk mates can sing along to.
Are there any plans to release a full length album?
It's hard to say if we will. I personally would love to as it'd be a huge milestone in my life, but considering how rapidly the music industry is changing and contrasting it with where we fit in the scene, you've got to weigh up the pros and cons. Of course, the music is the most important thing and the music should speak for itself, but you've got to ask yourself... are we really in a position to fund and release/promote an album independently? Do we want to focus on touring internationally before investing in a full length? The idea of releasing an album would be a dream come true but I find it's such a tricky topic due to the current climate in the industry.
What was it like to play with Dead Letter Circus?
What can I say? It was awesome of course. We've seen those guys play hundreds of times and they're just genuinely awesome dudes. Our mates from Guards of May were also on that bill so it was just a cool night to hang out with everyone. Dead Letter Circus have one of the most loyal fan bases I've seen in Brisbane so it was good to see the rock scene in tip-top shape.
Where did the name Aerials come from?
Many beers. It took us a good month or two to think of a decent band name and I'm pretty sure an Excel spreadsheet came into play at some point. We had a lot of name ideas that began with 'The' and some tongue twisters in there but decided 'Aerials' was the best fit. There were no other bands with the name (which surprised us), so we just locked it in and deleted that Excel spreadsheet.
Do you ever listen to your own music?
Funny you say that, because yes I do. The six songs on Restless are over a year old and all three of us are well and truly over listening to these songs. However, the vinyl edition arrived last week so we've giving it a few spins on the turntable as of late and to be brutally honest, we're glad we got it pressed on vinyl because it simply sounds amazing on wax.
What other music do you listen to?
I'm really into electronic music at the moment. Gesaffelstein did the soundtrack to a movie called Maryland, which is pretty laid back and cool. A lot of European acts such as Gost, Perturbator and Carpenter Brut have grabbed my attention lately so I'm listening to them quite a bit. Check out the soundtrack to a game called Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, it's simply amazing. Other than that, I've been listening to a lot of post-rock and getting my fix of new Dead Letter Circus and Mew.
What do you plan on doing after your tour?
Straight after the tour we're gearing up as main support for Lifehouse (USA) on the QLD leg of their Australian tour. We're absolutely stoked because it's been on the bucket list to play at The Tivoli so we're pretty excited about this show. We have another very exciting international support later in the year but unfortunately we can't say too much about that one just yet. Even though I really want to!
