Auckland trio Autumn Splendour write naive, bratty, bedroom pop in the best possible sense; it's aggressive and confronting and immediately reminds you of writing bad things about people in your high school diary and listening to Sleater Kinney or you know, something like that. UTR caught up with Natasha Cantwell to discuss what their deal is and what they're working on at the moment.
How did Autumn Splendour start?
Cait, Toby (our original bass player) and I were just mucking around and we wrote the song 'Toby'. I hadn’t really ever played the guitar before. Two weeks later we played a three minute set at a house party. We had so much fun we decided to write more songs.
For those who haven't heard you, how would you describe your sound?
Garage Party Brat Pop.
Who or what would you say are your main influences or inspirations are?
I love early Flying Nun, sixties garage, Le Tigre’s first album and the lyrics of Liars.
What are you working on at the moment?
Writing a song about playing dinosaurs.
You've been members of the Auckland music scene for a while now: how do you find it? Supportive? Decent venues? Who are your favourite other bands playing at the moment?
Yeah, I definitely find people in the Auckland music scene to be really friendly and supportive.
Everyone should check out Mean Girls. They played this awesome show at the scout hall where Zac circled the crowd like a menacing shark, tripping up people with his lead and then thrashing about, throwing his bass around while he played.
And the New Zealand music scene more generally? Are there any places you love playing in particular? Any bands you really love?
I really enjoyed the night when we played Mighty Mighty, it started with me pushing a girl off the stage and ended up with old Dr Who episodes at 5am. Wellington has heaps of cool bands. Diana Rozz and the Golden Awesome were great that night. I love The Eversons too and our friend Timothy Blackman has beautiful songs.
What are you working on for the rest of 2012?
I want to record more singles!
You guys all do pretty full-on things outside of the band: tell us a little bit about those and about balancing those with being in the band.
I’m a fashion photographer and artist. I’ve just start getting into shooting super 8 and 16mm. I recently made a music video for one of our songs, ‘Malcolm’. I love being able to combine music and photography.
Ryan says “Writing a PhD sometimes conflicts with late shows (and early soundchecks) but I wouldn't say it's ever really been a problem. And sometimes I secretly have to schedule meetings and things like that around touring, without letting on that my 'conflict' is playing a show in Wellington.”
And Cait’s a psychologist. She’s made a mash-up CD of Autumn Splendour songs and relaxation techniques.
You've just recorded and released the track: tell us a little bit about that one.
'Sorcha' is written for Cait’s sister. It uses subliminal messaging in an attempt to sabotage Sorcha’s trip to London because Cait misses her. It didn’t work. Sorcha is still in London.
We recorded it with Damian and Josh at Thinkt Studios at the same time as our singles 'Natasha' and 'Ryan'. This is the ‘b-side’. James Dansey finished the mix yesterday. They’re all awesome guys to work with.
