Features / Music

We suss out the musical tastes and then some of High Tension's Karina Utomo.

"I sometimes think that it’s a little bit like how some of us have to go through life, otherwise I’d get dragged down by every fucking thing that tugged at my heart. I just try and drive on through, and I find it part and parcel of my lyrical exploration."

"I think Sleepy Tea is very much about beautiful things and trying to make beautiful sounds – trying to create warm, dreamy tones.”

“I didn’t know that so much of the album was going to be about Detroit when I starred recording it and started writing it, but after it was finished that was how it had turned out.”

"The reaction you have is a physical, organic, visceral experience that is occurring from soundwaves and you’re changed for it. And you’re spinning out because of it – it’s a beautiful thing that keeps this music business world spinning around. It still is mystical to me and I fucking love the shit out of it!”

"We don’t even limit ourselves to what traditional, seafaring pirates do. We take to the skies, we harpoon the sun, we drink till we die. We can do whatever we want."

“Australia was where we got our Beatlemania moments in; running for a car, barricades collapsing under the weight of the fans, or engineering getting safely from the hotel to the gig and stuff like that."

“We stick fairly close to [what you hear on the record], but there is, obviously, an element of improvisation; I think when we’re going through the whole gamut of the record [on stage] the three of us all do improvise at times."

“I mean, people’s attention spans – people are just so fickle at the moment. You can release an album one week, and the next week someone else releases something and their attention goes straight to that."

"At the core it’s still the [constant] elements of the band, they’re not going to change, but we’ve got a new thing going on and I can tell you from our side it’s so exciting, it’s fucking so cool.”

“When we can just play a place that is kind of the same ethics as attitudes that we have, it just makes it better. It just so happens that our views align in a more DIY, independent-minded scene."

"We’ve grown as musicians and it’s a different show now. It’s not five kids jumping around and climbing on everything. It’s just one killer rock‘n’roll show.”