The Latest from Good Morning
Good Morning are a Naarm / Melbourne based duo, who like to play by their own rules. They may not be the rules that other bands and musicians tend to follow, but it seems to be working out nicely for Good Morning’s, Stefan and Liam who confessed they still create a lot of their own merch and album covers. We got the opportunity to chat to the boys about their recent album release BARNYARD, recorded at Wilco’s famed studio in Chicago over the course of 5 days, where they recorded a total of 12 tracks which is a lot more than any other Good Morning album. Maybe breaking one of their so-called rules, but as a lover of their music I was totally okay with it. Have a read of our chat and have a listen to their album, which we have listened to over and over again and soon will have on vinyl… you should do that also.
WANDERER: Hey, how are you guys?
GOOD MORNING: Good. Good.
My partner and I have loved your music for years, and pre-ordered BARNYARD on vinyl as soon as the first single came out! We’ve always appreciated your core sound, every Good Morning song sounds like a Good Morning song. When was the time where you felt as though you’ve found your sound?
STEFAN: Ooh, I dunno if the time’s come yet, even haha.
Really, still looking for it?
LIAM: We just have a way of playing together, I think. It started off like we were interested in the same shit and made demos in the same way; we had the same tape machine and shared the same gear, probably smoked the same weed. So our sound is probably just informed by being in the same space a lot of the time. And now I think after years of playing live, that's seeped in and it’s all just kind of grown. We have just a way of making our songs sound like our songs, but without really thinking about it.
S: I think our skill level of instruments as well, that sort of average level, probably informs the sound a lot too, haha.
You guys like to keep it close to home in terms of a lot of things that other bands and musicians would outsource. Like merch, you still do all your own merch and everything?
S: Yeah, still about 99% of it. I’m wearing it right now!
What is it about keeping things firmly in the fold that you love?
S: We enjoy every element of it. Like even though we aren’t the best graphic designers, I love mocking up a t-shirt design or a poster design or something like that. And I suppose when you're on tour, or even since the pandemic, there's a lot of downtime. So I love to keep busy, I think Liam's the same, so squeezing in as many tasks as you can in your day to day is welcomed. Just trying to maintain a creative working habit. It's just nice to be busy.
L: And also not having anyone else to blame. You should only really be able to blame yourself if shit goes wrong. I like that. I hate being mad at people and chasing people for deadlines, like I'd much rather just take care of it. And also, I think we are control freaks in a way, like low key control freaks, for the better or worse.
S: And we are fairly introverted so I think the less people involved the better. That's been the ethos around the extended team that we work with. We like to keep it as locked to the family as possible.
You both seem to be fairly ‘go with the flow kind of people’, and this is portrayed in your music. How did the creative process start for BARNYARD, do you sort of just get in the studio and have a muck a round, or head in with a structured sort of idea?
S: Well, yeah, with Barnyard we demoed it earlier in the year and we would hang out together every Tuesday evening and we'd both bring a song to the table. Even, we would sit there and just try and write together. So there was a bit more of an emphasis on us collaborating on that initial level before actually going into the studio to record them. But it differs a lot. Like a lot of the time we'll write separately at home and show each other ideas and get each other's opinions on those demos, and sometimes we'll write together. It's just whatever organically happens at the time. I don't think there's a way that we like to work and try and force that particular way. Like I'm happy to get a song out whenever I can and whatever way that happens, you know?
You have 12 tracks On BARNYARD, more than any other album you’ve produced. Did creating this many songs come easy to you?
L: Nah, I think we were fine with it! We've always liked to write all the time, like there's always songs around. I think it's mostly just because we had enough time. Like the last record, the one before it, we only had like three days. So I think we just had a bit more time to demo stuff, and then we knew how the songs were meant to go. And yeah, we had a big archive and a bit more breathing space to work on it. Even though five days of recording, I guess isn't all that much.
The last album was in 2019 so you’ve had some time between, haven’t you?
S:Yeah, well I suppose as soon as that one came out we did the tour and then went straight into recording. But that record was made the year prior as well. So we were still chasing our tails.
L: We have a lot of time at the moment to work on shit. So we’re making a record that's just spiraled out of control, it’s just large haha. Because we have all the time in the fucking world! So it can actually be nice to have a narrow space in a way sometimes.
You recorded Barnyard at Wilco’s, the Loft in Chicago, with Tom Schick. And intended to return to do a little tidy up of recordings, but couldn’t because of covid. Are you glad you only had that one sort of chance to record rather than coming back to clean it up?
L: Yeah, I am. I think it's nice having it as just those five days. There’s a lot of ways we could have tightened the screws obviously, like there's bad vocal takes and wrong notes and things that are played terribly, but that’s probably more true to who we are as a band really, rather than something that was worked over and super polished. And I mean, it already sounded more Hi-Fi than our older music anyway. So it's already a step up without sacrificing too much. And as a record there’s souvenirs there; we like having it as a snapshot of a little time and space in our life.
We have this segment for our blog called ‘A Perfectly Sound Scenario’ where we ask artists the best scenario to listen to their favorite albums. But what would you say is the perfect scenario to listen to barnyard?
S: For me, I think it would be a patch of grass with some sunshine and a nice cold beverage in my hand. Not much to do with my day—just a relaxing, warm spot. That's just how I would like to listen to it.
L: I'm gonna go a really stressful, personal situation. Like you just had a fight with a family member or a loved one—or you're in trouble with the law and maybe there's a high speed chase involved in some capacity. Yeah, playing it with high stakes and drama, I think that would be good.
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INTERVIEW BY: AMBER-ROSE LAYTON
SPECIAL THANKS TO TWNTYTHREE