NeuFutur Magazine / neufutur.com: Chasing Claire Interview

Today, we sit down with Adelaide, Australia’s own Chasing Claire . What songs of yours are favorites and what about them makes them so?

Our newest song ‘’Headless Horseman” is currently our favourite to play live, it’s the fastest song we’ve written to date. Otherwise a song from the Options EP; MTMH is a favourite with its weaving dynamics and high energy, heavy riffs with mellow verses that flow nicely. Structure wise it’s just a fun song to play live as it changes up from start to finish.

Deadbeat is your current single from the Options EP, which is to be released later this year. What else should fans expect from the release?

Exhilarating riffs, pounding drums! A song to mosh to, scream to, a song to chill to, have a good ol’ time & make sweet love to! So a bit of everything haha. There will be five tracks on the EP.

Child – Which is the first song we played together as a band so it’s fitting that it opens our first EP.

Deadbeat – Which is the first single off the EP but is also special because it grew from an older song’s riff that we wrote years ago back in high school. At the time Dylan & Todd were in a band called Static.

MTMH – So the name of this song can be taken many ways, we don’t want to say too much because it’s all in the lyrics. People can take it on surface value or look deeper into it when they hear the song, it’s a song that as a band made us a tighter more powerful force!

Fuck You – Again lyrics are important as there are links through the songs from characters & their perspectives on the world. This is also the second song as a band that we worked on following “Child”.

Options – An important change of pace as the vibes change up & the song goes into a different place from anything else on the EP. Musically it’s a point we didn’t see ourselves going but when the song happened it felt right.

What are the biggest influences that shine through on Options?

We don’t really have any direct influences on the EP. Everything we do is just what feels natural for us or there wouldn’t be any point doing it so when people say we sound like something we take it as a compliment but don’t generally hear it ourselves haha. Guess a big thing for us as well is that we are two guitars and drums, so there is no bass. Through that alone we’ve formed a sound that is ours and the Options EP shows that.

What sort of setup (instruments, studios) did the band employ during your recording process?

Well we went to a place called “Fish Shop Studios” which is a rehearsal space but Nesta the guy who runs it also does recording there too. We went in last Christmas Eve & recorded a couple of demos which can be heard on Soundcloud “Shy” & “Cuss”. So it felt natural & comfortable for us to record the EP there. All the instruments were set up in the same room & we tracked it all pretty much live just going back to dub extra guitars and put vocals on. For instruments the drum kit was a pearl kit that Nesta has at his studio so Todd just took in his own snare which has an Evans skin & his own cymbals which were Zildjian. For guitars Dyl & Stu used a Fender Squier, Gibson SG. We also run a few pedals so there’s fuzz, distortion, overdrive, chorus, phase shifters and delay pedals on there. Guess the trick with the pedals is that it shouldn’t be too obvious, we use them to serve the song not control it. All up we went in for two days to record then went back afterwards to sit with Nesta & work on the mix. 10422082_715394715243602_364237151490479216_n

Chasing Claire’s music blends intricate arrangements, employing a number of disparate elements. What process of song-writing and arranging does the band employ?

Do it on the day as we say! Dyl brings in a song which will kind of be the “skeleton” of a song then we all jam on it & it evolves from there but there’s no set way sometimes it’s just a jam that a song may come from or like with “Options” Todd had a melody on the guitar which he showed Dyl which is what turned into the guitar you can hear throughout the verses. Stuart came up with the leads which flow over that & Todd already had an idea for the drums to go with it so it just all worked out on its own. You can’t force a song, it’s hard to pin it but you just know when you’re all playing and it all locks in that it’s right.

Which sort of social media website have you had the best successes with? What about these online services are different from the traditional face to face meeting that musicians traditionally utilize?

The modern conventions of music has kind of made it different to what it would have been like once, there are a lot of different sites you can use to get your music out there & connect with people. We have a Facebook page which seems to be the best way to get the word out about things and keep you connected to those interested in your music. We also use Soundcloud to get songs out there and Triple J Unearthed, which is really useful because people can listen to your music and review it too which is a great way for us to get feedback and for people to let us know what they think of our music.

How can individuals find samples of your music?

Like us on Facebook! Follow us & see what we’re putting out there!

We keep links to Soundcloud & Triple J Unearthed on our Facebook page or people can go straight to those sites and search Chasing Claire. We currently have three songs up, two demo tracks & the Deadbeat single.

What does the rest of 2015 hold for Chasing Claire? What are your next dates, and what can listeners to do help you out?

Keep gigging! Play as much as we can, our next gigs are in Adelaide the 25^th & 26^th June at the Crown and Anchor then the Producers Hotel, also in July on the 25^th at the Enigma Bar. More dates soon though!

We’ll release the EP within the next couple of months and near the end of the year head to Melbourne to play the circuit there.

Maybe even go in at the end of the year to record some more songs, we’re always coming up with new stuff and we like to think of the Options EP as the stepping stone, it starts there but it’s just the beginning of what’s to come from us.

Listeners show us love and we will return it! What they can do is support the music play it as loud as they can in their cars, house, backyard or office! Tell all their friends and play them the music. Head over to Soundcloud and Triple J Unearthed write us a review, let us know what you think? Feedback is always important!

Come out to one of our live shows, you won’t regret it! Feel free to have a drink and chat with us too. 11040930_852167804851835_770098373974244944_n