Newest—Greatest Hits Vol. 2
We had a big ol’ chat with Greatest Hits, consisting (usually) of Ryan, Chelsea and Henry although the lineup of the band is constantly changing with friends coming and going. Following their debut Ep Vol. 1, it would only make sense that their second EP be titled Vol. 2, which happens to be out tomorrow, by the way. This release showcases a more collaborative effort between the trio—Ryan, Chelsea and Henry—and sits in the space between Sunshine Pop, 70s groove, and Neo-Psych. Never leaning heavily enough toward a particular genre to label them as such, they’ve instead established their own brand of danceable, yet vulnerable energy.
So you're about to release your second EP—can you tell us a bit about the release?
Ryan: Yeah. So Volume Two, it's the next collection. There are quite a few differences with this release. It was a lot more collaborative, for sure. The first EP, I was doing most of the songwriting and a lot of the songs were developed before we even really started playing together as a band. But both Chelsea and Henry are amazing songwriters, so over that first year of doing the band together they were throwing in ideas and that's something we've always wanted to do—work together more on the songs. So as a starting point this was our collaborative effort. And then the big ethos that we were feeling around these tracks was giving ourselves a lot more permission to experiment with the sounds and songs we were feeling. Like the first EP was a lot more kind of psyche, rocky flavours but they're all essentially pop songs when you strip them back; I can't help but write these tidy pop songs that have catchy hooks. So there's still that at the heart of the songwriting but we wanted to take these songs in more extreme directions.
You did some work with Shags Chamberlain. How was the experience working with him?
Henry: It was so good. He's so good at what he does and he's an amazing, interesting guy.
Ryan: So Shags is Australian, but he actually lives in LA. So I'd FaceTime him to chat through stuff we were working on and we would just go on the biggest tangents and literally hours later would finally get to the point we were trying to talk about. It was awesome, like so good getting to know him a little and his passion for music. He's a wild guy, and I think what he did for our music was exactly what we needed.
Did he help you understand your sound a little bit more, what sort of input did he give?
Ryan: He really understood what we were trying to go for and just made it better. Which was perfect. He helped us understand how we could do things better but wasn't shy to change it. Like we'd send through a rough mix and he wouldn't do just what we wanted him to do. He'd scrap bits, or like, bits he thought were a tiny bit of the song, he'd crank up and make them the main hook. He's like having another ear but [one] that is fully on the same level. And we've all got a lot of the same tastes so he's a perfect collaborator.
You've got some singles where you take two different directions, like for ‘Spicy’ and then ‘Spicy (Alternative Version)’. How does this come about? Do you take the first song and then refigure it, or do you start with the song and then take it in the two different directions?
Chelsea: Definitely take the first song and rework it.
Ryan: Yeah, it's a reworking. We've done that a couple of times. With Spicy, the alternative version where it's piano led, like it's all recorded on piano, that came from when we were doing COVID lockdown sessions where we weren't all together as a band. We all live from Coffs Harbour up to the Sunny Coast so everyone's really spread out. So when the first lockdowns happened, we were without a drummer and people were scattered all over the place. So we had one of those sessions where me, Chelsea, and Tim, who plays piano for us, we were the only ones that could do it. So we were like, ‘Alright we've got to rework this and it will just have to be like the flavor that it is.’ And I think what we captured on ‘Spicy’ acoustic was very much inspired by one of those sessions.
Chelsea: Also, the funny thing about that is that our manager was like, ‘Why don't you guys try to do an acoustic version of one of your songs?’ It might be cool, hit different listeners or whatever.’ So we went away, came back with ‘Spicy (Alternative Version)’ and we were like, ‘Is it acoustic enough?’ He's like, ‘Not really, but ah, I like it.’
Henry: Cause it's about as acoustic as you can make this band.
Ryan: It was a fun challenge and we didn't want to compromise on what is Greatest Hits. We didn't want it to stray too far from our sound. It still needs to feel like us and be something that we were excited about.
Chelsea: He's not really suggested the acoustic themes since haha.
Ryan: Well to do an acoustic version of our song, it's pretty tricky. Because our music isn't particularly acoustic leaning music anyway.
I heard there's a bit of a story behind how you guys formed as a band. Do you mind running me through that?
Chelsea: Yeah for sure. We were all living in England, the three of us, and Henry's British, and me and Ryan were in England playing with a bunch of different artists. Ryan had just been on tour with a band called HalfNoise and he got back one night after tour and was feeling like...[he] just still had all that energy from tour. And he was like, ‘Ah, I just want to write something groovy.’ So he stayed up all night and wrote, ‘Phil, Slow It Down’, our first song basically. And he didn't ever mean it to be anything serious, like we'd all been playing music for a long time in different projects and just wanted to do something that we liked and was fun. And then all of a sudden we got offered a gig and we didn't even really have a band haha. The guy that we played drums with in England was called Tom, and Ryan had been jamming with Tom a little bit. But we still needed a bass player and Tom said, ‘I know the guy.’ And we got out our guy...It was perfect.
How many people are in the band? Is it just you guys?
Chelsea: Oh, it changes all the time. It's between seven and three.
Ryan: Me, Chelsea and Henry we do all of the writing, like it's our music. But we've had different combinations of people, like when we were in England and then since coming back here.
Chelsea: And also due to COVID, we've changed different things too. So during some of the lockdowns we couldn't get a drummer so we made a drum machine track. Then we got to do a tour with Donnie Benet at the beginning of the year, which was so sick. Our booking agent, Jimmy, he rang and he's like, I'm going to pitch you guys for the Donnie Benet tour.
Ryan: And he said he was looking for a two piece electronic act. He's like, ‘Can you guys do Greatest Hits in that formation?’ And I was like, ‘No way, there's no way we can play these songs with two people. Maybe three.’
Chelsea: We were like ‘That's nice that he's pitching us for that but there's no way in hell we'll get the Donny Benet tour.’ And then we got it and we were like, ‘YES!.. Shit, we've got to do a three piece electronic version of this set.’ So we got forced to do that.
Ryan: I had to do a crash course in how to program a drum machine.
Henry: It was actually amazing though. We've ended up doing more shows in that formation this year than as the full band, because of the logistics of getting everyone together across borders and lockdowns and stuff, and it went really well. It's the same songs, but there's big dance beats behind it. And then after the Donny Benet tour we were like, ‘Oh, people like this.’ And it was a real gift to us because it still feels like our songs, so it gave us the freedom for the three of us to jump in a car and still have the same energy. It still totally feels like us, it doesn’t feel like we’re compromising.
Chelsea: That's been the cool thing about this challenging last 18 months is that it's really forced us to do stuff differently than we ever would have even considered. But it's been amazing.
I saw you've got a round of shows coming up soon anyway. How are you feeling about it?
Chelsea: So excited! Cause we've been lucky enough to do a billion support tours this year. But it's cool having the chance to do our own show and being able to add extra treats. Because, you know when you're doing a support show you have to stick to your slot and you can't do anything extra. So there's been a few different things that we wanted to try for a while that we're going to do.
Ryan: Yeah, doing headline shows is a really interesting combination of feelings because on the creative side, it's amazing. It's your show and we can do whatever we want with it. Even just being able to play a longer set. And they're always the funnest. But then coupled with that is, there's all this pressure that comes leading up to a headline show and that side of music sucks a little, but you gotta cop it and navigate through those feelings as well.
So do you have any big plans for your headline shows coming up?
Henry: We've got a few little things, like playing stuff off the new EP that we've not played before. But also just to have the full band back together and just play the best show we can. It's going to be so good.
interview by: Amber-Rose Layton