I've got to give credit where credit is due and credit DKFM for grabbing my ears with these guys. I mean, what the fuck is going on in Melbourne? This same question was asked of Thrupence during a streaming of bandcamp weekly, who's from there but couldn't or wouldn't say! Two unrelated music genres getting the same spotlight.
Last month they released their self-titled 5-track EP which demanded my attention right from the get go. Everything else I was listening to got swept off to the side.
The EP opens up with the haunting Solipsism's bell-like guitar tone and their very X-mal Deutschland styled vocals. The atmosphere floods in like a rolling fog.
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My personal favorite has to be Undone because it reminds me of early Mazzy Star and I'm not afraid to make those comparisons because I don't think it corners these guys at all. I love it when they go 'surf' on the guitar towards the end. By the third track until the end, the EP isn't showy. Their style of dreamwave might be meticulously designed and if so, they caught me off guard. I mean, check out the poppy chorus in Devolution!? And then they pull that New Order thing on us in the middle of the track... these guys are seriously under great music influences.
Um... wow!
So I says to myself, what's two epic sized bodies of water between me and these guys?
Zoe Dune: What do you think about when you think of Hideous Towns?Ryan: I think of the sea of houses that exist in many of Melbourne's outer suburbs, they don't differ in character or appearance. Urban sprawl is a Hideous Town. I also think of hanging out and playing music, but this is a more recent thought.[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny_NU4OFxDE[/embed]
Ashley: To me it means living in a town where nothing is going on that appeals to me
Chris: I think of good times with the rest of the band and also a heap of places around where I grew up that I just got sick of and wanted to get away from.
Alana: I think of the special bond between the four of us and the different aspects we each offer to create our sound.
Zoe Dune: Is there any relation to the song by The Sundays? Looks like you guys might have something in common with what Harriet Wheeler is singing about?
Hideous Towns: We do like the Sundays, it's more of a unknown influence though. Hideous towns by the Sundays is a lovely song, we didn't mean to name our band after it though. I hope we bring something new musically.
Zoe Dune: You have a real sense or a good grasp of pop music writing which is always something I see a lot of bands have a problem creating. Like in your "Joy" track, does everyone agree as to what your sound is going to be or is someone always leading the way to get there?
Ashley: Joy was a really fun track to write and was one of the first songs we wrote. We knew it would turn into a fairly pop based track because of the tempo and the initially chord progression. When writing we usually come with a few ideas first then discuss what kind of sound or direction we want the song to form. Something we try to focus on as a group is try to use different sounds and elements to hopefully try and create interesting songs. Even though a song like Joy is predominantly a pop tune it still has that kind of dreamy section at the end. On the new Ep there are some tracks that start of a little more simple, then ascend and build into a larger sound.
Zoe Dune: What's the music scene like in Melbourne?
Ashley: The music scene in Melbourne right now is thriving, there are so many good bands. We have found recently more and more bands from interstate and other parts of Australia are moving down to Melbourne. There are a lot of venues and there is live music on every night of the week. Bands like VHS_Dream, Contrast, Bad Family, Miniatures, Breve, Luna Ghost are super good.
Zoe Dune: Are any of you guys "gear heads" at all?
Ashley: I don't know about "gear heads", but we're all definitely interested in experimenting with different sounds sonically. We use numerous guitar pedals to develop certain textures and tonalities. These can also contribute to various emotions felt throughout a song. It's also just fun to play with sounds that may not even be used in a song, for example synthesisers and drum machines.
Zoe Dune. This is just me but, your music goes well with vintage photographs of fading memories. Is that sad?
Ashley; Thank you. Funnily enough your not the first one to say this. Drawing on that kind of emotion isn't really something we consciously think about when writing or performing. However, I guess certain emotions are triggered through the use of different chord patterns, how the melody interacts within those chords and even the rhythmic dynamics.
Alana: There are various contextual themes within Hideous Towns that don't solely come from the lyrics. It is important to us that the music and lyrics speak with equal importance. We are all free to express individual concepts throughout the compositional process and while performing. My lyrical themes are mostly inspired by personal experience. When writing I mainly talk about the idea of brief yet powerful encounters with people. I tend to be immensely impacted by short lived romance and thrive in the excitement of learning about others and therefore learning about myself. It's quite self involved but I believe that if I sing about my experiences then I can connect with people through a resonance that hopefully vibrates with them physically, spiritually and mentally. Other themes that I like to explore lyrically are historical figures such as King Louis XIV, Jacques-Louise David and Cleopatra.
Zoe Dune: What about when you get upset or enraged with your political system? will Hideous Towns save the day?
Chris: I think it's safe to say all of us get enraged at some point with the bitchiness and incompetence inherent in politics, there is so much shit going on all the time that kind of makes you sick you know? I personally can't feeling pretty helpless about it all though. I don't know if we'd 'save the day' as you say haha, by writing a straightforward political protest song or anything like that. Maybe the way we live our lives and how we treat other people would be more our way of dealing with things in a positive way, I'd like to hope so anyway.
Zoe Dune: What about your old people? What do they think of your music? Do they still say today's music is a sign of the end times?
Chris: Funnily enough a fair amount of older people talk to us at shows with kind words that often surprise us, also they contact us online with the same sort of praise which is really cool. I wouldn't say they mention phrases like end of the times or anything, but I suppose they'll bring up groups from back in their day that they might think we have channelled somewhat, which we probably have. That's cool though I think, because a lot of our favourite bands are from eras past and it's always flattering for someone to mention them in relation to us. If you mean really old people, the only evidence I have is from my Nana who heard the whole of Joy and then asked whether there was any singing in it, don't think she dug it too much.
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Zoe Dune: You have a few singles and the one EP on bandcamp, what does the future hold for you and your listeners?
Chris: We're doing a show at Boney in Melbourne on the 22nd of November for the EP which we've worked on a lot so it's cool that it's coming out now. Then we've been discussing recording a single soon as a proper big single that we'd really push as it's a great song to hopefully reach some more ears and then who knows! We're always getting ideas together so over the next few months we'll surely be adding almost a whole new set of songs for shows and just playing/kicking back over summer. I'd like to think we'll record more than just a single as well but it's hard to say, we're poor man. Thanks for the interview!
The show is unfortunately passed at this point. Sorry guys, but... check their Facebook page for all of the going's on and stuff! Also, while Hideous Towns rewrite the book on the Melbourne music scene, check out this document of past glories.
