INTERVIEW: Tired Lion

Tired Lion have released only a handful of songs in the UK, but I was keen to know more about the band who had flown half way across the globe to play a free gig at The Old Blue Last on a Tuesday evening. They’re fairly established on their home ground in Perth, Australia, but to me they’re brand new, and I was excited to hear what the alternative four-piece had to say about their music and their travels. I shook hands with Ethan, Matt, Nick and Sophie before we made our way upstairs to the dressing room to have a chat. We quickly realised we were locked out of said room, and laughed as we also realised the light bulb on the small landing had given up on us too. We joked that the situation was like the beginning of every horror film, but we (they) eventually got the door open, and there was light – and a fridge full of beer – so everything seemed less horrifying.

I spent most of the interview nodding in agreement with the band, because they’re funny, open, and I was chuffed that their music tastes seemed to align with mine. I was also dazzled by their lovely Australian accents (I’ve been watching Home & Away since I was a toddler) and was immensely flattered when they returned the compliment about my Essex twang. I thanked them profusely after they bestowed a free beer upon me at the end of the chat, and made my way back downstairs, ready to tell anyone who’d listen just how much I love this band.

 

Hello Tired Lion! You’re back in the UK for a headline show at Old Blue Last tonight. How are you feeling about the show? Have you had any time to explore the city?

Nick: I’m feeling jetlagged (laughs) We arrived on Sunday, so it’s not too bad now.

Sophie: I feel alright at the moment, I go in and out of jet-lag. It really hits me in the mornings. I wake up at 4am and I can’t get back to sleep, so by the time we have to go and do things, I’m super anxious because I haven’t been able to sleep. I’m like – “what is  life?!” – but then I get back in to the swing of things.

Matt: We came to London just under a year ago, so we did all of our fun tourist-y stuff last time.

Cool, where did you go?

The band hesitate and laugh because they can’t name places.

M: We drove past Stonehenge…twice.

N: That’s not even in London…

Ethan: We played in Liverpool…

S: We played The Lexington in London!

It’s cool guys, we’ll just go for ‘The UK’ rather then ‘London’…

N: We nearly drove past Buckingham Palace on the way to our accommodation, but then the driver went a different way.

S: We went to a rehearsal studio today in town, what town?

E: Hackney.

What did you make of Hackney?

S: We took a picture of a cool cat…

Sounds very Hackney. I’ve just seen on your social media that you’re filming a music video on April 5th. Can you tell me more about that?

S: That’s pretty soon. We should probably organise that. It’s for our new single which is being released tomorrow (29th March) in Australia, and here as well I think. We’re still confirming ideas and stuff, so I can’t really tell you too much at the moment.

E: I haven’t even read the treatment that we’ve been given.

You’ll be fine, just wing it on the day? Makes it more authentic.

N: We’ve started using the same studio and the same director, so we’re comfortable with videos now.

S: We might even show some skin this time…you can quote that.

That’s a bold quote, but I’ll take it. You’re playing The Great Escape in Brighton in May. What are you looking forward to most about the new music festival, and are there any bands in particular you want to catch?

S: I’m gonna say something silly. When we first got offered The Great Escape, I was really excited because there’s this place in Perth called The Great Escape, and it’s a water-slide adventure park. So I got excited, but then I realised it was actually in the UK, and then I got more excited. So the level of expectation just went from there, to there (laughs). There’s heaps of cool bands we want to see on the line-up…

E: I want to see Slaves.

I love Slaves! Have you seen them before?

E: No I haven’t.

You are in for a treat!

M: There’s a band that popped up on my Spotify ‘discover’ called Fazerdaze who are from Australia…

I know of them! I thought they were from New Zealand?

M: Oh man, I was just going to try and check out the Australian acts but she’s not even Australian!

They announced more additions to the line-up, so now it includes Blood Red Shoes, have you heard of them?

E: The sick drummer? There’s two of them, the guy’s on the drums and the girl’s on guitar?

Yes! They’ve been given their own stage to curate. Definitely check them out if you get time.

This one’s specifically for Sophie. You wrote about your favourite female musician Kim Gordon for Triple J Mag for International Women’s Day. You also spoke out about some of the sexism you’ve faced as a female musician. Do you think things are getting better for women in the industry? Is it sometimes exhausting  having to combat sexist remarks and attitudes?

S: I think they way you’ve worded this question is perfect. When people ask “so what’s it like being a girl in a band?” or whatever, that’s when you’re like “ugh, can the interview be finished now?” because it’s ridiculous, and that’s what’s wrong with sexism in the industry in the first place. I think talking about it is really liberating, because you realise how stupid and dumb some of the things that happen really are. It’s something that does happen, and if we were to turn a blind eye to that all the time, then nothing would progress.

I found that when I was talking about that stuff with the people at Triple J, it was interesting because our publicist in Australia called me the next day after he’d heard some sound bites, and he was really interested in doing an article-based piece on the struggles that I’ve experienced.

I remember playing guitar at school, and there was this jock dude, that was super weird. He sort of gave me shit all the time for playing guitar and not doing other stuff like dancing. I remember him giving me this note in class when I was sitting down, and it smelt really weird. I opened it up, and it was written in blood and it said something like “you’re an emo, go play your guitar and cut your wrists” or something similar.

Wait, a guy who wrote you a note in his own blood is calling you an emo?!

S: Exactly! He did it during class. He picked a scab apparently, and it smelt foul. He always teased me about investing my time and energy in to guitar and music, and he thought that was strange – because I was a girl – and there was a couple of dudes that played guitar but I happened to be a bit better than them, and I guess he just didn’t like it. I don’t know what he was trying to achieve with that note. But yeah, stuff like that happened and it’s funny, because now he’s contacted me after we’ve had quite a bit of airplay. He was like “Oh I’m so happy for you, I knew you’d get to this point!”, and I’m like “are you a psycho?!”

I think the answer to that is “yes!”

S: Exactly! But yeah, to answer your question, I think that the more people talk about it the better it’s going to get. At the end of the day, there really shouldn’t be such a massive difference between a female or a male musician on stage playing music. It should be exactly the same.

E: I think from a male perspective as well, looking in, it’s good to hear girls talk about it. We don’t treat Sophie differently because she’s a girl, or any other girls who we meet who are in bands, so we don’t really know what’s going on – unless someone tells us. It’s really good to be able to read about it and be like “oh fuck, that shit’s happening and that’s not cool”.

Exactly. I think that’s a fair point. I don’t know about you, but I’m still weirded out by the scab-note guy…

Moving on! I’ve noticed that your track names ‘Agoraphobia’ and ‘I Don’t Think You Like Me’ are both anxiety based. Would you say anxiety is useful when it comes to song writing?

S: I would definitely say “useful” is the worst word you could use when it comes to anxiety (laughs)

Oh God. I didn’t mean it like that! I worded the last question so well, and now I’ve gone and totally fucked this one!

S: It’s okay. It’s definitely not useful though. The only time that I ever feel normal is when I’m playing music, I’m just a very anxious person. Music is a massive release and it just so happens that the stuff that I write is influenced by anxiety. I’m definitely not stoked with being able to write music because of that (laughs).

No of course not. I apologise, I didn’t mean that to sound insensitive. Thanks for setting the record straight!

You’re heading over to Paris at the end of this week. How excited are you, and what do you plan to do when you get there?

E: I hate Paris

The band laugh

S: Only because you lost your dream girl in Paris that time…

E: I did not!

S: You did. You saw her, you made out under the Eifel Tower, and then she disappeared.

N: No, that was me & Ethan. We took a picture (laughs)

M: The first time we went to Paris it was really hectic and we were really jetlagged, so it was all a bit of a blur. And it was really hot! We’re from Australia, and we thought Paris was too hot.

N: I think it will be cool to go back. We’re getting the train there this time, and the weather’s going to be cooler.

S: Do you know what, I really love the weather here! It makes me feel so happy and creative.

Not so much when it’s raining though?

 S: I love it when it rains!

I like the rain as well, but to an extent…

M: Australian rain is different to London rain though.

S: Rain is rain man. Rain is rain. (laughs)

You’ve been busy in the studio recording your debut album. Rolling Stone Australia named you in their 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2017. Does that crank the pressure up, or reaffirm to you that you’re on the right track?

M: Yes to the pressure.

E: I hadn’t even noticed that had happened (laughs)

S: I think it’s pretty cool. I like how it’s specifically for 2017, so no matter what, we have to release it this year – right? Which is what I really wanna do. I think we’ve been wanting to release an album our whole lives. We can gladly say that it’s tracked and ready to go, just needs a bit of mixing and mastering. A bit of artwork…

M: I mean, it might be  one of Rolling Stone’s most anticipated albums, but we’ve been anticipating this album for fucking ages (laughs).

N: We’re all super proud of the record.

S: In terms of pressure though, we had two days left to record a tonne of vocals and I was thinking about this trip – we literally flew out on the last day of tracking at 1am – so I knew that if we didn’t finish it, we were fucked. I was like “Oh my God, I’m gonna lose my voice, or something’s gonna happen” and you build up all this stuff in your head, but once you get in there – it just happens and it’s what you want. I don’t think the pressure was from Rolling Stone, I think it comes from yourself.

I think that’s the thing that stops me most in life sometimes. I hate doing a half-arsed job, I want it to be all or nothing. So if I don’t think I can get to that point, I don’t even try. But we did it – I’m stoked!

N: I think for a band in our position, who have only got a few singles out, but we’ve toured loads internationally, to not even have a record out just yet is pretty spun out.

It is! I’ve only heard two of your songs, but I’m excited to hear more.

You spend a lot of time travelling with your current touring schedule, so what have you been listening to in order to pass the time?

S: I’ve been listening to Heatmiser, which is the band Elliott Smith was in before he went solo.

M: I’m struggling to find new music that I like, so I’m just going back. What I’m listening to on the plane is a band called Dakota Ring from Australia, who wrote a soundtrack for a movie called Summer Soul. And Weezer’s Pinkerton.

N: On the flight over here I was listening to the rough mixes of our album tracks…

E: Ohhh, arrogant!

It’s fine, I would do the same.

N: I listened to a lot of Mogwai on the plane as well. That chills me out.

E: I’ve been listening to a lot of Sleaford Mods at the moment.

S: And you’ve been drinking a lot of Singapore Slings on the plane. Twelve, was it?

E: I didn’t feel drunk though! King Gizzard and The Wizard Lizard. I’m one of those people that, if I like an album, I’ll listen to it again and again for like, a month.

Finally, what are your tips for surviving jet lag?

S: I make sure I have one of those water-spray cans for the plane. Your skin gets very dry. A Vicks sniffer that I shove up my nose whenever I want some fresh air on a plane. Usually I read, but this time I forgot a book…

M: I don’t have much to say about jetlag because I over-analyse it, but…

S: You just play games! You spend like, 4 hours on your Nintendo Switch…

M: Apparently, that’s what I do (laughs). I always think about time back at home, and the time here, and then I kind of mediate everything in between.

N: With jetlag, there’s no fighting it. You just kind of have to persevere!

E: Jetlag? I don’t believe in it…live in the moment you know? If you’re tired, sleep. If you’re not, stay awake.

But what if you’re tired when you’re on stage?

E: Sleep!

Thanks to Ethan, Matt, Nick & Sophie for answering my questions. You can catch Tired Lion at The Great Escape Festival in May. Follow the band on Facebook for more updates.

Photo Credit: Matsu Photography

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

Kate Crudgington

Kate Crudgington

Assistant Editor for Gigslutz (2015-2017) Now Co-Founder, Co-Host & Features Editor for @getinherears