Photo Credit: Elliott Sauvage
Following the release of their incredible new single ABSENCE, Shelley caught up with Liam to chat all things Infinite Illusion. . .and New Zealand! It’s a long one but a good one!
So me being in NZ, I am very new to your band and it feels like I’m honestly discovering a new Australian band every week. So can you tell me about Infinite Illusion?
It’s a bit of an interesting one. We only really started as a band in 2019. Everyone except our drummer were all friends since we were like 14/15. All grew up together and liked the same kind of music. It kind of started as joke. Sam has always been a phenomenal guitarist and he was writing all these tracks. We went off and did our own things for a while then about mid-2018 he was like “hey you remember those tracks I wrote when I was 15?” And I said yes. Then he said “maybe we should do something with them”. So yeah we just did something with them, not expecting anything, just a bit of fun. Out of nowhere it because a more pronounced part of our lives.
.
How has the release/response of ‘Absence’ and response been for you?
It’s mind-blowing. It’s something I honestly never imagined. ‘Ill Intent’ was received well, but looking back on it, it wasn’t bad, it was nothing special for us. Those songs were old, they sounded old and it was just a bit of fun. But to actually release something we wrote with the intention of being taken seriously and to have it received so well.We’re sitting at 60,000 streams/views in less than a fortnight. We’re just a bunch of kids so this is incredible for us.
.
Did it make you wonder like how did this happen?
I mean we know how it happened, we did put a lot of time & effort into it. It was more of a thing like “when did we get good?”. “When did we get to a point that people actually pay attention to us?”. It wasn’t until the video dropped and we started doing really well on Dreambound compared to a lot of the bands that were already on there. We sat back and were like okay people actually like this.
.
Where did the idea for the music video come from? It’s so simple but also so strong.
Originally we had a bigger budget and were going to do something more extravagant. But unfortunately there was certain global pandemics that made that increasingly difficult. So through the narrative, it’s a reflection of breaking free from the demons and stuff. That’s kind of where it came from, the thing of letting yourself out of these dark places and really fighting. If you actually watch the video start to finish, it’s a narrative of the character being covered in these paints and being weighed down and super frail. Then by the end he’s all cleaned up, looks more human, has a bit of a smile and seems a bit shocked. It was an intentional and physical embodiment of what the song is about.
.
How long has this track been finished for? Because it seems to timely with what 2020 has been and the way mental health has essentially peaked during all of this.
We actually recorded the song in January. We finished just before Unify because we were showing people at Unify like “hey this is next!”. We had the music video booked in for March. By that point we had used Elliott Sauvage who is based in Brisbane. But the borders were closed between the 2 states so we had to reschedule. We got this really weird window of about 2 weeks when the borders weren’t closed so we just got it done when we could, otherwise it was just not going to happen. So we ended up doing it in August.
.
.
How did you come up with the single artwork? Where did that idea come from?
We do a lot of it in-house. Between our guitarist and drummer, they planned this idea of a mirrored face. A lot of people think it’s an astronaut. It’s like a mirrored face that you hide behind to the world. And it’s a world of colour and really amazing things that you’re just mirroring out to the world. People don’t actually see you. You’re mirroring the world back so people don’t see you as broken or whatever else it might be.
.
Okay because it was floating around the place for a while and obviously people turned into memes etc and I didn’t link it back to you guys until the track actually came out.
Yeah so we dropped it without any attachment to us on purpose. We’ve been very silent for a long time. We kind of needed to make sure people were interested in a single before they knew it was us. It was like a genuine concern that if we just dropped it and there was no interest around it, people wouldn’t look at it twice. But considering the support we got in the early stages, it worked in our favour.
.
Do you think the pandemic helped? Do you think people are consuming music more?
It’s hard to tell, I think as a while maybe. In other genres I’ve worked in I think that is absolutely the case. People are exploring more things they aren’t as passionate about. But with music, everyone likes it but it’s a back burner or time-filler for people. In metal, especially local, people are really dedicated to their scene and the bands that exist within those scenes. I’ve always felt so supported and it’s such a supportive community to be in. I know the sentiment is shared with other bands, but it;’s just given bands times to reflect more than anything else. So I’ll go with no but it’s hard to say.
.
I feel like the Australian local scene is epic compared to NZ. I feel like your industry has it sorted to be honest.
Depends what way you look at it. I feel like there’s a lot of talent lost very early on. Again, I’m not really a metal musician. I haven’t spent a lot of time in the heavy community. It’s been really nice seeing the support that the heavy community put out. In other genres, it’s a lot harder to break through that mould. As a band in the heavier genre I’ve always seen it as, if you put the work in and you look like you’re doing the work, people tend to notice that. Which is really cool.
.
Can we expect more from you guys in 2020?
We’ve got a clear plan ahead. Obviously Covid changed a lot of that. By this point we were meant to have 3 singles out. That was the plan we set last December but it hasn’t happened. ‘Absence’ is the first instalment. It’s not a record or EP but an instalment of songs that will be evenly spaced out lets say. We have 2 singles coming, not too sure on release dates at the moment, but they will all tie together and we’re working on a pretty cool project at the moment.
.
And the wait begins!
Pretty much. We’re really exploring with the next 2 singles. ‘Absence’ was a start for us but it doesn’t define everything about the band. It touches on everything, heavy breakdowns, clean vocals, screaming, a fucking guitar solo I never saw coming that just appeared which is cool, but yeah. The next one is a lot heavier, which I am scared about. Because I’m not really a heavy music fan but that’s okay. The next one after that will be a blend. So we’re really exploring and showing what we can do.
.
I love that. I think it’s great when bands create what they want rather than trying to fit a mould.
It’s really tough when you’re starting out. Speaking form experience. It’s really hard as a musician, we found this with ‘Absence’ as well, it’s really hard to tell if something is good or not if you haven’t heard it before. For me, I’m a massive Architects fan, them and Bring Me The Horizon are the only bands I consistently listen too. I guess for me, referencing back, did I hear this in an Architects album? No I didn’t. It makes it very difficult, as a smaller band, trust yourself and what you’re putting out is good content and good music.
.
.
Okay some fun ones!
Overused words or phrases?
I have the worst potty mouth in history. I have a real bad thing of calling people a fucking donkey all the time. I don’t know what it is, it’s just a natural response.
.
Why Donkey though?
I don’t know it just flows and it just sticks. Then there’s another one that I say all the time that’s “nah couldn’t be me” which I say when I do something questionable or a bit dum. I say that all the time. I’m sure my band has a thousand more but those are definitely the 2 that stick to mind.
.
When I say New Zealand what is the first thing you think of? Though I probably know the answer.
Queenstown & snow (We had a conversation earlier about how he had been here before).
.
What is a song or artist you listen to that may surprise people?
One Direction. 100 percent. I hated that band back in the day and thought “these guys are crap” but I only ever heard the singles. I can’t tell you why but I thought, you know what I’m going to listen to their discography start to finish and there’s some real good songs in there. So lets go with that.
.
Favourite or go-to snack?
I’m a gym junkie. So I tend to go to beef jerky, salami sticks or something like that. A bit lame.
.
Anything to add?
I think above anything, thanks. It’s honestly breathtaking for us. I have no recollection of ever feeling the way I have over the last 3 weeks, since ‘Absence’ has been released. I honestly feel it hasn’t even done what it’s supposed to do yet. We are all so so so grateful to anyone who has given us the time of day let alone listen to a song. Anyone that’s just supported us over the last few weeks. It’s been honestly one of the most heart-filling moments of my entire life. So yeah just thanks!
.
He also told me there is a New Zealand show in the works!
.
