Sincerely, Grizzly
A big round of applause for Adelaide based Sincerely, Grizzly who released their debut album Halves in November. The band is building a solid reputation despite claiming they have no idea what they are or what they are doing. Having toured with the likes of …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Japandroids, Cloud Nothings, Bob Mould and The Presidents of the United States of America its time for the spotlight to be on Sincerely, Grizzly. Griff Farley talks to Across The Ocean about the challenges of making the album and what lies ahead.
Is it an exciting time with the new release Halves that’s about to come out?
It’s definitely an exciting time. It’s been a long time coming – over five years in the making, and just over two recording and producing. We’re stoked to be releasing a bunch of songs that we believe best represent us, and a collection of songs that we’re most proud of.
Was it a labour of love or did things go a lot better than you thought?
We’ve released a couple of EP’s over the years, and we have learnt a lot in the process through producing and releasing them. We were able to use our experiences and transcribe those into recording the album. Working with Jez and Craig from Hot House was great experience, and the whole process went smoother than I ever thought it would.
What was the biggest challenge in making the album?
Money! I’ll have to disagree with our mate Biggie Smalls on this one – no money causes just as many problems. The name of the album directly relates to the fact that we had to record the album in two ‘halves’ because of it. It was a bit of a drawn out process, though it all worked out in the end, and we got an album name out of it too.
Are there lessons that you learnt that you would take in to the next album?
I think just being smarter with our time in the studio and leading up to recording, and knowing exactly what we want out of each song. We have got a pretty good idea now of the processes involved in the lead up to getting into the studio, and I think it will serve us well for next time.
Having Brad Wood mix the album is a big coup? How did you pull that off?
We wanted to go next level on the production of the album. I’m a massive fan of Touche’ Amore and MeWithoutYou, we all had a collective look at the bands that we take influence from, most had used Brad Wood at some point in their careers. So we thought who better to work on the album, than the guy that has produced some of our favourite albums. We got in contact with Brad and explained our circumstances, he was great and it just ended up happening pretty naturally.
In your bio you claim that you still don’t know what you’re doing, will that ever change?
We’re a pretty indecisive bunch at the best of times, and I think that is reflected in our music. For example, one of us might come up with a riff, and then the other comes up with another that is completely different. The end result is us figuring out a way to mould the pieces together due to our indecisiveness of which to go with. It’s worked in the past so I don’t think it will ever change.
With the challenges of the music industry and the fact that people generally don’t buy albums did that change your thought process about making this album?
It definitely made as think in relation to the release of the album. We were tossing up different avenues, and the best way to share the album with the public. Just digital download? CD’s? Vinyl and Mp3? I think it is important to cement a special album(s) physically either through CD or vinyl or both – so you can have that keepsake later down the track. We opted for vinyl, as well as having the album available electronically to cover both bases.
Do bands get pissed off with stunt that U2 did by creating a perception that music should be free?
I think in today’s day and age where basically anything is accessible if you want it to be, it shouldn’t be taken as a surprise. I can definitely understand why some bands get pissed off with a free release, but personally I’m just happy for people to listen to our music, no matter what platform or how they get it.
Are you excited about playing some shows to launch the album?
We got pretty used to being on the road a fair bit over the last year or so. It’s been a while since we have had a trip across the border, so we’re pretty eager to get over to Melbourne and Sydney and play a couple of banger sets.
What’s the plan beyond these dates for Sincerely, Grizzly?
We have already started working on new songs and new ideas; and there is talk that we will be buying into a 40% share ownership in an alpaca farm. We’ll see what happens.
Whether it is rummaging through vinyl at record stores such as Clarity and Title finding hidden gems to scouring the internet to find that album by the next big thing or chasing bands to get that elusive autograph and photo his passion is music all the way.
- Aversions Crown - January 27, 2017
- Sick Of It All - January 19, 2017
- Refused - January 11, 2017
