"We're Going To Put As Much Effort And Work Into This As We Can"

Tired Lion frontwoman Sophie Hopes exaggerates the "finally" when she says "Dumb Days is our very first album that we finally, just, got out there." Their debut, out this week, is something she describes as "a patchwork of stories and experiences throughout my life, and growing up, and things like that. Some songs were written three years ago, some quite recently."

It's been a long time coming for a group that have gone so hard on the touring circuit the last few years, including slots with the likes of Grinspoon, Kingswood, Luca Brasi and Gyroscope.

When asked if the extensive touring was the main reason for the delay in recording their album, drummer Ethan Darnell explains that there was a number of factors behind the wait.

"Probably, mostly, we just wanted to make sure that it was ready, because it's something that, I guess, growing up when you're listening to albums, there are so many bands releasing stuff, when you hear an album that's really well put together and really well thought-out... it hits you harder," he says. "So we came from that mentality, that we're going to put as much effort and work into this as we can. We don't want to release anything that's going to be, to us, subpar or a bit of a letdown."

"We put a lot of pressure on ourselves, basically," adds Hopes. "But I also think that, yeah, our international touring, even just touring around Australia as well did have a bit effect on how long it took us to put everything together, all the pieces. Signing to Dew Process as well. It's been like a rollercoaster of a ride, but I think it's perfect timing for us, especially if we were to release it, like, a year earlier, I don't think the songs would've been up to the same standard."

So, is it the album they always dreamed of making?

"I think that, always, as an artist, you think you can always do better. I'm really happy with the record as a whole, listening to it from start to finish. I don't think that this is, like, the next Siamese Dream or anything like that, but I'd like to hope that, in the future, we can keep writing better," says Hopes. "It was definitely an awesome time in the studio, so I think, for me personally, recording an album where it just feels like you're just hanging out with your friends and having a good time, I didn't expect that."

Hopes and Darnell joke about the difference between their debut album and their previously released EPs, with Darnell sharing that maturity was probably the biggest change in the two.

"I think those EPs were kind of like, we had five songs so we should put them on a CD," he says. "All five!" adds Hopes, laughing.

"Whereas this is more like, we had more than we needed, picked the songs we wanted," continues Darnell. "So I think it was more mature, and just our sound in general, I think, has changed as we're changing and growing. But I don't think it's noticeable to us. If you put on the EP and then the album, you'd be like, okay, you can hear it, but mentally it's not something that we tried to do or anything like that."

The growth in maturity continues through to Hopes lyrics, something she worked on closely with Violent Soho's Luke Boerdam, who sat in as producer for Dumb Days.

"I think in life, you don't realise but you're sort of pushed into a position where you have to sort of wake up to yourself and say, 'Alright, 26 now, I need to grow the fuck up,'" shares Hopes.

"And yeah, so, I'm not sure if the lyrics are more mature or anything like that, but I guess when we were workshopping those with Luke he would try to take it to a point where I wanted the song to go, and I find that sometimes super-difficult without talking it out with someone and really getting to the point of the song. And he'd sort of bring up, like, when people listen to music they sort of visualise, so he incorporated these words in there - or at least got me to think of some words - and I think that really helped with the maturity level."