NICE BISCUIT FOR ISSUE 8
Issue Eight is printing as we speak and we can’t control our excitement any longer so we thought we would give you a preview into our interview with Australian psych rockers Nice Biscuit. Who will be headlining our launch party on the 23rd of November. If you haven’t already you should get your ticket here x… we hope to see you there where you can see them play live and issue eight in all it’s papersome glory. Maybe you might like to read the interview and watch them play at the same time if that’s your thing.
I first heard of Nice Biscuit when they were supporting the Murlocs on tour back in 2019. Ever since that first time I saw them play, I’ve been completely mesmerised. The costumes, the choreography and the talent of the band are something completely unique to them. When we heard that the Meanjin/Brisbane five piece were gearing up to release their new album, we knew that we just had to give them some real estate amongst the pages of Issue Eight. The band’s second album, SOS, is a nine track album embellished with enchanting vocal harmonies from front women Billie Starr and Grace Cuell, and backed by the psych-rock fuelled groove that they are known for, with a sprinkle of jazz fusion mixed in there too. We got the chance to catch up with Billie and Grace and spoke all about their friendship, about artmaking and about the reality of the music scene here in Australia: a topic they had some interesting insight on, given the mass of their own fan base is spread across the UK and US.
Captured by Jade Morley
I know you've released the LP, but your last album release was Digital Mountain. How do you feel like you've grown since forming that first album?
Grace: Lots.
Billie: So it's been how many years? Six years. I feel like we have more things to write about now, in a way. In a good way and in a bad way. We've just experienced more and, especially lyrically, I feel like we've grown a lot. We used to write just random psychedelic lyrics, which was good, but all of our songs have a lot more meaning now. The other songs definitely did have meaning, but it feels like we're more able to create a world and a succinct idea about what our songs are about than we used to be.
G: Totally. We've just lived a lot of life in that time too so that reflects in all of the lyrics and the music. We've gone from being in our early twenties to most of us being in our early thirties now and life just feels a bit different, but not in a bad way.
Like you’ve grown up?
G: Yeah, we're grown up now.
B: And the music's less guitar driven as well because there's only one guitarist now, [which] means there's a bit more space for different things. So that's a big change but it's been fun to explore.
Thinking about you guys in 2018 when you first released that initial album, how do you think those people then, your past selves, would be looking at your music now?
G: I reckon we'd be super proud because we've kept our integrity along the way. There could have been a lot of things we could have done just for the sake of the industry but we've never really gone down that path. We've really just kept it as friends making art together. That's how it started and the fact that it's still that way so many years on—I think we would look at that and be proud. I mean, I am.
B: For sure. It's been so long now that we've been playing together that we forget how lucky we are, because it's such a slog—the music industry. So I think we'd probably be like, 'Whoa, I can't believe that,' if we were our 2018 selves. But now we're like, 'doo-da-doo,' just trying to get to the next release, and it would be cool to have the perspective of 2018 as a fresh new wave of inspiration.
G: Yeah, you don't acknowledge the progression while you're in it. We've certainly grown a lot in that time.
captured by Sarah Pilbeam
You guys took a different approach to recording and did it in groups rather than all together. What was the decision behind having the parts of vocals and instruments done separately?
G: Billy and I just need to have this sacred little witch zone when we're writing lyrics and melodies and I feel like we were just more able to be weird or wacky that way. Not that the boys don't accommodate for that, but we're best friends. Like, with Ali [Richardson], who records our music, the three of us just get weird.
B: I don't think it was a conscious effort initially to be like, 'Oh, we should do it separately because it will be better.' It was more about convenience and time. But as soon as we did it the first time we were like, 'Okay, that's way better.' Because on previous recordings, it's just been how it goes that the vocals come last. So on the last day we're rushing it—but it's vulnerable. You know, guitar tone always sounds the same; voices are different. It just worked really well and it was definitely what we'll do in the future.
Yeah, you can allow yourselves the space to make your magic.
B: And that too. It's cute, it's like we're all in a big relationship where the boys like their time and then they can show us what they've done and we're like, 'Wow!' And then we can show them what we've done.
I'd love to talk about your relationship with each other. What is it like collaborating together? How does your process work? You say you have your little witchy things where you make lyrics up, does someone come in with something or is it something that you build together?
G: We build it together. We bounce off each other. Like someone will have an idea and then we'll be like, 'And what about this?' and we add on to each other's ideas in that way.
B: There'll be some songs where we would've gone off and written some of the bits but most of the ones, on this album especially, were written outside at the place we record on the grass with Ali sitting down listening and stretching. We're just there with our little books writing things and we're like, 'What about this? Hmm. Yes. What should this be about?' And then it just kind of forms its way and it feels like it just flows out.
G: And with the costumes we've always been very collaborative. We rely on each other a lot to get each other excited about things, I would say.
B: Yeah. It feels like we're where we are because of our relationship. We both wouldn't have had the confidence alone to believe in the things we write or the things we make without the other one because we're both each other's biggest fans. So we wouldn't be where we are without that connection.
That's so cute. Do you guys work together on the videos as well? Is that your world as well?
G: That's a joint effort. Nick, our bass player, has always been the video guy. But with this album we shared the load a bit more and got other people on board and got input from outside of the band, which was really good. We all find videos pretty stressful; they’re such big undertakings. It's almost like writing a whole other album in itself.
Totally. All your videos, especially these new ones that are out, they're insane. They're so great.
G: They were lots of fun. The car one was really fun.
B: I honestly couldn't believe it when it launched into the air.
full interview in issue eight, sorryyyyy
