‘DUA LIPA OWNS POP AT THE MOMENT’ – BRIT
With the launch of their blistering new EP ‘Fatalist’ Melbourne’s very own hardcore pop/rock outfit Future Static took time out of their self isolation to chat to Black of Hearts.
‘Fatalist’ EP is available now to stream and purchase at all good online outlets and streaming platforms!
Official EP Artwork above
How did you guys get together and what made you start a band?
‘It started with Bri and Kira in late 2015, who have been friends since high school, starting to play around with songwriting and putting the call out on facebook for friends who’d be interested in jamming them and starting something bigger. Ryan jumped on from there, as well as our first drummer Shay, and we wrote Crawling Back pretty much in one practice. From there we’ve gained a lot of experience, had a bit of a change of sound and swapped around some members with Jack and Jackson joining late last year.’
How did the name Future Static come about?
‘At the start we bounced through a few ideas, but it was Bri who pulled together a list of dynamic names that we eventually chose Future Static from. Initially it was just because we thought it sounded cool, but over the years we’ve pulled a lot of meaning from the concept of the future and the static, looking forward while feeling stuck in place.’
What’s your writing process like?
‘It’s developed over the years, but usually it starts with Ryan bringing us a riff or a chord progression in practice and building from there. That being said, with Fatalist we had a record basically written and threw the whole thing out to start fresh a week out from pre-production. Somehow from phone recording demos, and the help of Christopher Vernon, we were able to turn that into a much stronger record that we’re so proud of.’
What was the inspiration behind your new single Dead End?
‘Lyrically it is about being in a dark place and not knowing if there’s ever a way out of it. It’s about the anger that can come along with hopelessness and depression. Although we wrote it last year, it seems like a very relevant song for the turbulent times the world is in right now.’
How would you describe your sound?
‘We recently had someone call it “Pop-Hardcore”, which is probably the best way to look at Fatalist. It’s definitely a much heavier sound than anything we’d released previously, but the overarching melodies and vocal lines create a lighter contrast that hopefully gets stuck in peoples’ heads.’
Is there a song you wish you had written and why?
‘There’s a few songs we listen to and wish we’d written, one that really sticks out at the moment is the track “Gone With The Wind” by Architects. The song transitions seamlessly between cacophonous fury and emotional clean sections. Range is something we always try to showcase in our music, whether that be emotional or instrumental contrast, and Gone With The Wind plays with range so beautifully.’
What bands did you grow up listening to?
JT – ‘I was listening to bands like blink-182, August Burns Red, Parkway Drive and Pierce the Veil (rawr) uwu’
BM – ‘I grew up listening to bands like My Chem, All Time Low, Black Veil Brides, Pierce The Veil and Paramore. I was also a big Musical Theatre kid, so you have to know that while I was listening to these bands, I was also listening to the cast of Wicked.’
KN – ‘I was late to the scene, so at 17/18 I was getting into My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Pierce the Veil, Bring Me the Horizon, P!ATD and the like, and always a lot of Ball Park Music. Growing up it was more what my dad played me, so a lot of T-Rex and Ben Folds Five.’
RQ – ‘Growing up, I was listening to Metallica, Darkest Hour, Blink 182, Parkway Drive and Silverchair.’
Listen to EP ‘Want’ here:
Do you have an all time favourite album and if so why?
BM – ‘Either Chemical Miracle by Trophy Eyes or Hotel Diablo by Machine Gun Kelly. Both are catchy as hell, have a huge variety of styles on them and hit pretty hard lyrically.’
KN – ‘This is a mean question.’
RQ – ‘Stage Four by Touche Amore. The main thing I look for in a good album is the utilisation of all of the songs in the record to take the listener on a journey, and Stage Four is the textbook definition of that kind of album. Every track builds toward a mood so well, in such an emotionally powerful way.’
What other musicians are you excited about at the moment?
JT – ‘Reside, Weighbridge and Loose End’
BM – ‘She’s already huge, but Dua Lipa owns pop at the moment. Future Nostalgia is going to be the album she takes over the world with.’
RQ – ‘Terra, Loose End, Better Half, Rumours, Weighbridge and Bridge The Border.’
Do you guys have a favourite track you like performing live?
BM – ‘For me it’s Dead End. It’s the final song for our set and the crowd went crazy for it at our most recent show, even though the song hadn’t been released yet. It’s one of those songs where you leave every single bit of energy you have on the stage.’
RQ – ‘Dead End goes off.’
JT – ‘Dead-set, Dead End. It’s my absolute favourite track to perform live. I’m a hardcore kid at heart and Dead End scratches that itch with it’s dark and edgy sound’
KN –‘Yeah, it has to be Dead End. The last couple of minutes of dirty breakdowns kills me every time in the best way.’
What has been your most memorable gig so far and why?
‘Definitely our sold out single release show for Choke, just before the lockdown. We pulled together an incredible line-up with Stand Tall, Furious George and Excuse for an Exit, had an amazing audience of familiar faces and new supporters, and it honestly felt like our strongest show yet. Not knowing how serious the lock down would be at that point, we’re incredibly lucky to have that show be such a high point, and selling it out was the cherry on top of what’s turned out to be an awesome release cycle.’
You must be excited about the release of your new EP Fatalist. How has it been received so far and how can we get our hands on it?
‘The record has received a lot of love from Publications and listeners alike, more so than we could have expected, and that’s really heartwarming. Fatalist is currently available on all major streaming services, (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.). Keep an eye out for physical copies coming soon.’
How far away is a full length album?
‘I think it’s at least another two years away. At this point I feel the level of energy required to produce a full length album would be wasted if we were to release one any time soon. We need to focus on increasing our audience and presence in the Australian music scene before releasing a full length album.’
Watch new single ‘Dead End’ below:
With Covid 19 putting a stop to live performances for the time being are you guys itching to hit the road?
‘Absolutely! One of our big goals for this year was to start playing interstate and getting our music out there, and unfortunately it’s looking more and more like that’ll have to wait til next year.’
What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
‘To work with people who are genuinely excited and interested in what you’re creating. It’s very easy for your hard work to be overlooked if it doesn’t fit a trend, or for people to want to work with you just for the money. But if you can get a good team around you who genuinely enjoys what you’re making and working on stuff with you, as we’ve found with producing the record with Christopher Vernon and Darcy Handley, and making music videos with Ariel Johnson and Liam Davidson (Lord Media), you’ll end up with a much better product and have a better time making it.’
What plans does Future Static have for the rest of the year?
‘We’re going to continue working on new material and follow this new sound we’ve found. We already have a few rough drafts for some songs, so we’ll be working on refining them into demos while we have this extra downtime on our hands.’
Where do you see Future Static in 5 years?
JT – ‘Touring Europe and the US, playing metal festivals like Unify’
RQ – ‘On the road in places like Europe, Asia and the US.’
KN – ‘Festivals are definitely the big one for me. We’re getting to a stage where mates like Reside and Terra are starting to hit that level, and I can’t wait to be up there with them!’
If you weren’t in a band what would you be doing today?
JT – ‘I think I’d be working as a sound engineer or as a venue manager. I knew I wanted to be involved in the music scene to some extent if I wasn’t going to be in a band.’
BM – ‘Had I stuck with my original university plans, I’d be living in California and finishing up a Musical Theatre degree, so either that or something to do with my other love, fashion.’
KN – ‘Definitely something in the arts. When I finished school I started a film degree and went from that to a sound production degree, and I grew up dancing and performing. My life very much revolves around the band at this point though, so I don’t know which of those paths I would’ve chosen without it.’
RQ – ‘I would probably be in the music industry regardless of being in a band or not.’