Ahead of These Four Walls new album ‘This Is Not A Future’ coming out this Friday, Shelley called Steve in Australia to have a chat about the album, the lockdown and the good ol’ Kings Arms days!
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Hey Steve!
How are you doing during quarantine?
Only work-wise. You can’t hang out anymore. They’ve kind of put the bus kill on everything. No bar, no venues, no casinos or anything people can get together. You’re only allowed to be out in groups of 2 at the same time. Business’ can stay open and keep trading. You’re only allowed to go out if you need something. When you put restrictions like that on people, everyone needs something all the time. We’re so busy at work. I work at a guitar store.We’re just crazy busy and busier than we would be normally.
What has this album process been like? How long has this been worked on for because obviously it was crowdfunded to finish it right?
Yeah. I would say we’ve been working on this since 2017. So it’s been about 3 years. We released our first single ‘Bravery’ in Australia. We moved here in 2013 and it took us a while to release our first official single because we were touring our previous albums. So we put those out in Australia and kind of considered them new albums here. So in 2017 when we released ‘Bravery’ we had this plan of putting out a single, every 6 months to a year. About 8 months later we released our next single ‘Over & Over’. That was kind of the point where we kind of backtracked on ourselves and wanted to do something a bit more. So we recorded an additional 4 songs to release an EP. But by the time we finished those 6 songs we just decided look, we’re halfway there, we may as well do an album and that’s when the crowd funding started. So the whole process started in 2017 but I think early 2019 is when we buckled down and said we’re finishing this thing.
Wow so it wasn’t even going to be an album at all.
See that’s the thing. The way the new media works, everyone’s streaming. Everyone’s on Spotify, iTunes and all that kind of stuff. Albums themselves somewhat fall into the ether these days because so many people listen to things on shuffle and playlists. So they find a band that they like but it’s more that they find a song that they like. That doesn’t translate into album. Because that was the model we were going to be chasing, just singles. But we’re a band and we’re old as. We started in the later 2000’s, back when albums were still a big thing. That’s the kind of band that we are. We love a physical album, we love a CD and we love having a bunch of songs in one place. So yeah by the time we got to 6 we were half way there and we had to finish it.
With the release essentially coming out during quarantine time, did you have much planned? How has this affected your plans for this release?
Yeah of course. It’s affected us like it has affected every other band. We had gigs booked here and abroad. We had New Zealand shows booked, we had Australian shows booked, we had several tours in talks for after the album as well. We had all these plans to get traction and keep the traction. Which obviously has all come to a grinding halt. We’ve had to really change the mould. We’re going to be doing a lot of livestream events on our Facebook page and we’re also working on a few different ideas. But yeah we’ve just had to bring our show online, like everyone has.
Has this affected how you feel about the upcoming release? Like has there been any second thoughts on the release?
No, not at all. Most of the people that will be listening to the music, will be doing it in the confines of their own home anyway. I don’t think it’s going to change the listening experience for people. There’s still the audience that has pre-ordered it and the crowdfunded that have made the album happen. So for us to turn around and say he we’re not going to put this album out is bad form on us towards the people that actually funded it. There’s been no second thoughts on it. The game plan has been in place for a long time. Unfortunately now the goal posts have moved so we’ve just had to change things up a bit.
Did you have the album name before recording CHAOS? Because the album title obviously comes up in that track quite a bit.
Our albums have always been named after lyrics in the album. So the first album ‘Down falls an empire’ was the first lyric on that album. Then our second album ‘Living to write the End’ is the last lyric on that album. This one we really just scoured it for what was very topical at the moment and ‘This is not a future’ really kind of saw where the world was when we picked it. Now 4 months later, it’s even more topical. It’s kind of ridiculous how this whole album is a theme for the quarantine.
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Does that almost worry you or weird you out in any way?
Not really. This is kind of the morbid curiosity of myself. My favourite genre of movie is kind of dystopian future, apocalyptic times kind-of-things. So I think there’s always an element of that in my songwriting anyway. There’s a sing on the album called ‘Fire Away’ which is literally about a meteor coming to earth. This whole album was originally, this is going back to 2017, we were talking about the songs we talking about writing being themed and it being a concept group of end-of-the-world songs. While it didn’t end up that way, I think the feeling is still there. So yeah ‘This is not a future’ really summed up where we were at 4 months ago with climate change discussions and all that kind of stuff, the fires in Australia and the crazy times. And now here we are April 24th, when the album comes out, it couldn’t be more apt.
I have listened to the album and I love it. But when I listened to it, I noticed it almost seems personal but I don’t know if that was because of where things are now.
The people that I’ve played it to have had the same thing and I really kind of strive for that with my lyric writing. It’s very personal. This is very much a “me” album. I don’t like writing about myself and I don’t talk about myself very often if I’m honest. I’m pretty introverted. But when it came to writing this album, I really did want to turn the pen around and focus on my issues and issues that I’ve had as well as issues of those who are close to mine. So there is a lot of personal in this. I do try and write it in a away that it’s vague enough that you can find yourself in there. Because that’s what I want. My favourite thing in the world is when someone comes up to me after a gig and says I hear this, in this song and it’s not what I had anticipated but it’s what they hear. I want them to hear something in ti.
Yeah ‘cause when I listened to it, it felt like it almost built from personal to keep going and all things in between. But I was also thinking, am I just reading in to this too much.
No no no, not at all. It’s about self-deprecation. It’s about doubt. It’s about abuse. It’s about addiction. It’s about coming out of the hole and falling right back in to it. It’s about all of those things. But at the end of the day it’s about hope and it’s about resolve.
Your vocals in this are so great and I just love the range throughout the album. I feel like it’s quite different to what you have done before in some ways. Was that something you pre-planned in a way, like oh we want to try something a bit different or did you just go into it and it just happened?
Absolutely. I think we all wanted to do something. I think all of us have left our best performances on this album so far. We’ve all pushed ourselves to be better. We released our last album in 2011 so there’s 9 years of growth in here. We’ve been gigging hard and we’ve been writing a lot. So I feel that we’re all better musicians and better songwriters now as well. So yeah particularly vocally I wanted to leave a stamp on this album that showed my best work and showed an evolution of my vocals. So there’s higher notes and there’s heavier notes. The songs are very hard to sing so that’s the main focus at the moment to make sure we can do them properly live. A lot of that is, we did the performances but we were directed by a very good producer Luke Palmer, who really pushed us. He got got the best out of us.
I don’t know if you saw that they said when things start calming down it’ll probably just be local shows for a while. With that being said, you guys are definitely “locals” here haha. Will you look at jumping the ditch for a show if possible?
Definitely! The Kings Arms was our stomping ground, that was the place that we would always play. Obviously that’s not there anymore. You’ve got the bigger venues like The Powerstation and the smaller ones like Whammy Bar and Ding Dong Lounge. The difference is 100/150 cap to 1500 cap. There’s not really anywhere in-between in Auckland anymore so it’s very hard to find a place in Auckland. The plan for us is to come home and do some really small & dirty rock & roll shows as soon as we possibly can. As soon as they lift the lockdown, we’re allowed to travel and we won’t have to do 2 weeks quarantine, we’ll be there. We’ve already got the shows booked. We’re just kind of tentatively moving them out and moving them out. But as soon as we can, we’re home.
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Yeah I know you guys were here last year but the last time I saw you guys was 2016 at The Kings Arms.
Oh right awesome. The good ol’ days.
I know right. I miss The Kings Arms so much!
Honestly, I had a big cry when it closed. These Four Walls as a band, 2004 we started but 2007 was when we really started kicking in NZ and playing heaps of shows & releasing stuff. We’ve been playing that venue for nearly 16 years and it was just a second home to me. I know every piece of tape on that stage. It’s ridiculous. Every poster on that wall. That last time and I knew it wasn’t going to be there. The last time we were in the country and we drove past it and it was just rubble.
There’s a video of them smashing it down and that was horrible watch. I mean for me it was the first place I shot internationals shows.
Yeah. It’s tough because the market is what it is and local gigs are what they are. New Zealand’s not flooded with bands trying to get gigs. There’s not a venue that’s really kind of stepped up to that point yet that’s able to provide the stage size, the room size and the PA size, so that you’re able to do a relatively good sized gig. Which is a real bummer because I think Auckland, particularly, is calling for it. I can’t wait to see who actually does it because it’s just going to go off when someone does it.
Also Kings Arms just had the perfect indoor/outdoor flow. No one has that. Venues have been renovating and upgrading things but yeah, probably not to that level.
Yeah exactly. I do think it takes something new. I mean there’s a place up here in Brisbane called the Fortitude Valley Music Hallthat just got set up. It’s a new, big venue and their putting on massive shows. It’s one of those, if you build it, they will come moments and I think people get excited by things that are new. So I think someone needs to invent something new. New venue, new location and I think it will just all kick off again. But there some really cool venues in Auckland still and I hope people are still going to them, not now obviously.
To be honest I’m hoping that after this quarantine, people appreciate local shows more! That’s all they will have for a while.
Well yeah and that’s really the time for up and coming or local bands to shine. They’re the kind of venues and shows that you’re very transparent. You haven’t got a big sound system helping you out. You just have to be good at your craft. That’s probably going to be the best thing for the local scene in a long time.
Yeah and I guess it’s still sad though. I mean say for you guys, you had this whole schedule planned and it’s all just gone.
Yeah absolutely. I’m very thankful that we don’t rely on this band for our income. We all work Full Time as well. I really do feel for the bands that this is their job, whether or not their cover artists, singer-songwriters or the dude playing at the café on a Sunday. Our entire music industry in in free-fall at the moment and there’s no time for a parachute. There’s no date for when someone might pull the cord. So it’s a very interesting time to be a musician at the moment and we really do feel for the artists that have had their livelihoods taken away.
Yeah I mean I knew a promoter who was bringing quite a few shows with another about to be announced and after all this all I can think of is how this guy now has no income. It also made me feel like I really took all this stuff for granted too. All these shows are everywhere, it’s great and just something I did regularly. Now it’s like I may not get this again for a very long time.
Absolutely, it’s crazy isn’t it. There’s not dates on this. They can reschedule and rebook the venues. But we’re on the virus’ time. There’s no calendar here. I hope it’s sooner rather than later. We realised it was a big thing when they pulled Download Festival.That was when it was like okay this is real, this is really going to affect the music industry. The logistics of cancelling something like that is monstrous.
I think we do have to try be positive about it though. At the end of the day we’ve got a hole to dig ourselves out from and we’ll get there. You know muso’s are pretty resilient. It’s an interesting industry.
If you could start a rumour about yourself what would it be and why?
That I’m 6’4. I would start that rumour. I’m a relatively short human being and that would be a great rumour to get out there. I would love it. I WOULD LOVE IT! We do what we can in music videos and photo shoots but we’ve got to the point now where like, our most recent shoot we’re just like oh dude you’re a tiny human lets just flaunt it, lets go. People come to shows after seeing our videos or something like that and they say like “I had no idea you were so short” but I’ve got used to it. But yeah that’s the one. I’m 6’4. Anything over 6’ would be great.
Anything to add?
Album out on April 24th. There’s a lot of bands out there, like we are at the moment. I feel for a band like Devilskin who dropped their album ‘RED’ and it’s doing well but they are a band that tour a lot and they can’t do that at the moment. I just think we’re at time now we’re there’s so much time to be discovering new music. There’s so much time in everyone’s day where they can go out find new music and new genres that’ll just light them up. And hopefully our album can do that for people. Hopefully new people can find it and hopefully our listeners that have followed the band for years will find something in it as well.
Thank you for chatting to me!
Thank you so much! It’s been fun.
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‘This Is Not A Future’ Tracklist
1. The Sound
2. CHAOS
3. Fire Away
4. Over & Over
5. Slow
6. Before I’m Gone
7. Knots
8. Bravery
9. Silent War
10. Rock Bottom
11. White Lies
12. Strands
13. Nothingland