It all began in a hole really, Dan and I both played in bands that we had no love for, it really sucks your soul away to love music so much but not actually have love for the band you’re in. One night Dan was house sitting a mates place that had a mini home studio in it, and whilst fairly marinated (drunk), he went in the studio and wrote a really catchy little chorus! About a week later we were getting marinated together and he showed me the song and said “wtf are we doing? Let’s quit our bands and make music like this”. We then moved in together, built our own studio and started writing and producing a bunch of tracks together, we later called this collaboration – The Griswolds
What had you first interested in music?
when i was really young, i wanted to be a rapper, i used to love 2pac and Coolio. My eldest brother is 5 years older than me, he bought himself a guitar and started teaching himself, i knew at that point i wanted to do the same, he also introduced me to rock music. I was probably 13 when i had my first dream of starting a band. My best friend in high school was also in love with music (he later became the drummer for Boy & Bear), we pushed each other’s passion for music into full blown insatiable lust.
Who motivates or influences your quest to make great music?
Dan and I heavily motivate each other to never settle when we create. We’re constantly pushing each other to get the best idea, or the best melody or part for the song and we won’t settle until we are both stoked. We haven’t written anything so far that we both haven’t been 100% sold on and/or stoked with.
Do you have any planned tours coming up?
as a matter of fact we do! We are just about to hit the road for “The Courtship Of Summer Preasley” Tour in April and May. We will be visiting Byron, Brizzy, Melbs, Radelaide, Perth and Sydney before jetting overseas to America, UK and Europe! Pretty chuffed
What are some of your biggest goals you hope to accomplish as an artist?
We just wanna write honest, integrous music for the rest of our lives, music that we love and connect with and can share with our fans and hopefully they’ll also love and connect with it. We’d also love to play Coachella and/or Glastonbury one day, that would be a pretty massive dream come true for us.
What can fans expect from you in the coming months?
We’re gonna have a new film clip out in the coming weeks, we haven’t been more excited about any of releases as we are about this clip. It’s quite controversial, lots of references to drugs, sex, sac-religion etc. We’ll also be releasing another single around mid-year, it’s the first song Dan and I ever wrote together about a year ago and we’ve always had really high hopes for it. I personally think it’s one of the best songs we’ve written together.
Success is about realistic goals, great advice and guidance and above all else a F*#k tonne of hard work. Nothing that is worth having comes without hard work. Big Day Out was a huge highlight for us, so much history that we were all of sudden apart of. We’ve been to so many BDO festivals over the years, never really dreamed we’d get to play at it, the crowd was also the most amazing crowd we’ve played to so far even in 45 Degree heat.
Which stars of the music industry do you find inspiring?
Devendra Banhart, Johnny Cash, Dave Grohl, Jimmy Page, Mike Patton
How would you best describe you and your music to your fans?
We’re a bunch of best friends creating music without rules or borders, we’ll try anything if it works. The music is quite upbeat, light hearted and mostly about good times, much like ourselves.
What can you tell us about your latest album?
Well we only have a 4 track EP out so far, we are currently writing our debut album, it’s pretty exciting because we’ve never had the chance to write a full collection of 12 or more songs together. We’re listening to artists like Frank Ocean, Alt-J, Foals, MGMT, Foster The People, Tame Impala and Devendra for influences, we’re hoping that a lot of these influences come through on the album.
Are there any new exciting projects in the works?
Yeah, I’m creating a lude cartoon about sea creatures who don’t quite live in harmony with each other, and Dan and I working on a menu for a restaurant that we’re hoping to open one day.
The music industry is huge, where do you see yourself a few years from now?
I’ll be in Mexico, nude on the beach, cocktail in hand. Dan and I will have a really nice studio where we will write and produce music for ourselves as well as other artists, we’ve even spoken about starting our own label one day down the track.
Name a few of your favourite Aussie artists.
The shape of the music industry has changed significantly over the years, including the use of social media, how do you feel about the industry as a whole and what does it mean to you in getting your records out into the public eye?
I might be really ignorant, but i really love the industry a lot at the moment, I think bands and musicians can hold their own without the help of labels and i think labels are being forced to offer better deals to bands because of it. Social media is awesome, we love being able to chat to fans on a daily basis and it’s encouraging to us as well because fans can easily express that they “love the EP” or “last night’s show was amazing”.
Thank you for the interview! What can you leave fans of theaussieword.com with here today? Come drink with us at our next show 😉
Great posting about a great group! https://www.facebook.com/thegriswolds.
Loved it! Showed the rawness of them and how talented they are.