Clews & The Buoys Interview Each Other Ahead Of 'The Collective' Launch

Emerging talent will be thrown under the spotlight as part of new Sydney-based showcase series The Collective, kicking off this Saturday at The Lansdowne Hotel with a solid line-up.

The celebrate, we had headliners Clews and The Buoys interview each other ahead of the launch this weekend.

CLEWS TO THE BUOYS

You've described your EP Split Lip as "a diary dumping ground". Has your songwriting always been autobiographical? When you play older songs like Frequently from last year has the meaning changed for you along the way, or do your songs feel more like snapshots of specific times in your life? 

Lyrically, my writing tends to be autobiographical, even if I’m writing metaphorically. I’ve always loved country, so telling a story is something I always fall back on. Frequently will always bring me back to the time I wrote it, I tend to channel how I felt at the time when we’re playing it live. 

Following on from that - songwriting and arrangement-wise - what's the creative process between the four of you? Do you have different ways of working in the studio vs working on the live set? 

A lot of the time Zoe comes to the band with the chunk of a song, or perhaps just a section and other times a whole song. If it’s incomplete we nut it out as a band. We have a few songs that we overindulge in live, haha - we add sections and solos and have a bit of fun with it on stage. 

I was deep diving your 'We Love' playlist on Spotify and noticed your love for a lot of local bands. Which band puts on your favourite live show in Australia? 

We are sooo lucky in Sydney, our local bands are next level. Johnny Hunters live set is on fire right now but outside of Sydney I can’t get enough of Moaning Lisa!

THE BUOYS TO CLEWS 

Listening to Museum, you can hear so many different genres intertwined into a tight and amazing song. What are some of your influences that come together to create this unique banger?

For Museum, we wanted to make something that sounded really Britpoppy...early Blur was an influence on this one. We also went for a '90s sound for the drums and really brought the cymbals forward in the mix. We tried to push our vocals to max capacity too, like Hole or PJ Harvey. But despite all our '90s influences we still wanted something that sounded shiny and new. So I think our producer Fletcher Matthews did a smashing job of getting the exact tones we were after; a counterpoint between scuzzy/lo-fi production paired with big, clean vocals. 

Coming from a musical family, what are some of your first memories of learning to play and sing? First instruments etc. Was it something you always did together?

We both took piano lessons when we were kids and Grace is still really good (I didn't take to it too well, haha). Our first memories of singing come much earlier; singing along to Crowded House CDs with Mum and Dad. Our parents actually run a community choir where we grew up and both have a crazy ear for harmonies. By the time I was a teenager I was just teaching myself guitar by printing out chords to songs I liked. Grace picked up guitar in the last year and a half because we needed a lead player for the band.

Random curveball here... getting signed would’ve made for a ridiculously explosive happy day. What was the first thing you two did when you got the news? What did your day look like?

Yeah, it was very exciting, and still doesn't seem real! We'd been in cahoots with Wonderlick for a little while but we had an actual dinner where we put pen to paper and signed the contract, we had champagne and everything. 

Check out theGuide for all the details.