Claemus has been together for five years and are based in the Hutt Valley which is a largely suburban area located outside of Wellington. The experience of growing up in a small town, with an uncultured stereotype attached to it, has served as serious musical inspiration. Instead of adhering to the stereotype ascribed by outsiders, the band aims to encourage youth to pursue creative outlets and be proud of their roots. Pursuing a creative outlet has enabled Claemus to slowly become an exciting band on the rise within the Wellington scene.
Check out our catch-up with Taylor (Vocalist/Guitarist) below:
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1. Happy NZ Music Month! How did you initially get into creating music?
Happy NZ Music Month to you too! It’s very hard to pinpoint how I got into creating music generally. Before the age of 15, I had never written my own music. I started writing a lot of my own guitar parts in one of the first bands I was in, but I struggled with writing vocal lines and lyrics. Everytime I tried to, it felt extremely forced, and I would constantly second guess myself and dismiss a lot of what I was writing as quite meaningless. Looking back I think that a lot of that has to do with the fact that I was basically still a kid and hadn’t had enough experience with real life to form my own opinions and theories on any subjects, so I felt that I couldn’t write anything particularly of note or that meant something to me. When I first started playing music with Kit (who plays drums for Claemus) he opened up a lot of doors for me rhythmically which bled into how I structured and wrote my vocal lines and melodies, which in turn made me start getting much more creative with my guitar playing. When Kerry and Dan joined the band, I finally felt from that point that we were creating songs that were different from anything else that I had heard. It was music that I truly enjoyed and music that I could finally feel connected to personally.
2. Tell us about your inspirations & motivations?
For me at least, the people who are close to me are the most inspirational and motivational. That’s inclusive of friends, family, my partner, my dog aswell to a certain extent (probably a big extent actually) and although they aren’t all necessarily musical themselves, having yourself surrounded by a good network of people is the only thing that keeps me moving forward, figuring out the next goal and what steps I need to take to get there. We constantly inspire and motivate each other in the band too, and I personally really rely on that. Once you’ve been playing music together long enough you become a pseudo-family of sorts.
3. What have you been up to in this lockdown and how has it affected you?
Different is probably the best way to put it. It’s hugely unprecedented, but I think now the vast majority of musicians have realised that we are all in the same boat on this. It has been a massive kick in the teeth when it comes to some of our 2020 plans as a band, so we’re focusing more on what we actually can do, such as writing more music, recording and bouncing ideas off each other online, rather than what we can’t do under the circumstances. Hopefully normalcy will resume at some point in the foreseeable future!
4. What do you think of the NZ music scene?
In recent years I’ve really felt that some massive steps have been made in at least the metal/prog scene. We’ve had some crazy good tours brought to our tiny country, almost always due to the hard work by Ben from Valhalla Touring or Angie from Third Eye Music NZ, and a few that we’ve had an awesome time playing support slots with. Promoters like the aforementioned are such a key part of why it’s really kicked off, and at a time like this we need to help them as much as we can. Another obvious key part is the insanely underrated, dare I say ‘underground’ bands, that have been making waves such as Crooked Royals, DRXNES, Banks Arcade, and Seas of Conflict. All these bands (and more) are the result of putting in the hours and care into their music, shattering the ‘little New Zealand band’ stigma. To quote every Facebook post from every band ever, ‘Big things coming soon’.
5. Goal board time – where would you like to see yourself in a years time?
Ideally playing some shows again! We honestly can’t wait to get back out there, especially after our latest single release “Nomad”. We miss the the energy, we miss the people, we miss the music, and we will be playing the best shows we have ever played once we get through this. We can promise you that!
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Claemus released their first single of 2020 last month. Check out the single & video below!
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