With such an provocative name, somebody unfamiliar with Girls Pissing on Girls Pissing could write off the band as a gimmick. However, this would be far from the truth. The band (currently a five-piece) have been prolific in its tenure, releasing three full-length LPs across four years. They have toured nationwide as well as overseas, and now they are receiving attention in Europe due to their label moving to the United Kingdom.
Following their release of their latest album, Scrying in Infirmary Architecture, UnderTheRadar contributor Joon Yang sat down with Aki Bukkaki (synths, vocals), Steven Huf (bass and brass bro) and Casey Latimer (guitarist and vocals) at Casey and Aki’s home - their living room littered with fine art, all capturing some kind of visceral beauty. And over some Double Browns, Joon chatted with Casey and Steven about the album’s accessibility and why it took such a long time for it to be released…
UTR: The album contains some of the most accessible songs GPOGP have released, for example 'Rainbow Islands’. Were you trying to write pop songs?
Casey: We’ve always been a pop band. I don’t think we were writing accessible songs for the sake of it. Structurally, I think, there’ve always been some kind of pop element in our music. I don’t think we would be putting this out there and expect other people to partake if it was just crappy, pointless improv wank [laughs].
An artbook with lyrics and visual art by Casey, Alex [Brown -woodwind and synth] and Catherine [Cumming - Drums] comes along with the album. How important is the art to the band?

Casey: We all bring so much of ourselves into the music so we try to do the same with the art. The art has always been a part of the band. The music and art were created at the same time. We all work on other things while we’re doing the music. It’s all tied into trying to understand what’s underneath the music and lyrics. When we get to the point of collating the whole thing at the end, we all go: “Well, we have these pieces of art to use.”
So how did you decide which piece would be that amazing cover?
Casey: I just said that [painting] would be the cover. It felt, at the time, that was the one. Catherine and Alex then worked on the inside of the artbook. The artwork featured symbols, colours, concepts and ideas correlated to those within the song and its lyrics. Sometimes it’s obvious to us and sometimes a few things just come and go.
Where does that art style come from?
Casey: I like using symbols to evoke things in the subconscious. A person doesn’t necessarily have to understand the dogma or the reasoning behind a symbol because it was always there in the collective subconscious of mankind. There’s a lot in our music where we use those sorts of mechanisms. Even if there’s some political slant that we’re doing, it’s really to unnerve that area. It’s more about poisoning the roots than trimming the leaves.
Did you create any art for specific songs?
Casey: Nah. The art just tied in and fell together at the end. It's all on a subconscious level. No one does any art that deliberate for individual songs. It just works on its own under the umbrella of the album.
Casey Latimer with his cat, Sur Walter “Kitty” Buller
You released three songs from the album [‘Darwinning’, ‘A Fraud Abroad’ and ‘Scissoring’] almost two years ago. How done was the album then?
Steven: That’s when we finished the first lot of songs for the album.
Casey: It’s taken a long time to go through the processes of mixing, mastering and printing.
Can you take us through how the rest ultimately got released?
Casey: We then did an Australian tour, came back and did the other half. It was our first time recording an album in a decent studio with a professional [Joshua Lynn, Thinkt Studios]. He knew what he was doing really well.
Steven: Josh nailed it.
Casey: He was really creative when recording and mixing us... He gave a fuck about it.
But he didn’t master your album. Who is this Douglas Pawati?
Casey: I got this email from him in Belgium wanting to master our album randomly…. I took that as a sign from God. He mastered some rough mixes of it and did a really awesome job overall. And he did it for free! [laughs] He’s keen to keep working with us.
Steven: The cool thing about Douglas is that his studio was in France, so he would travel from Belgium to France just to master our album. He could only work for a couple of days, go back home and then travel again to work on it. He put in a lot of effort by the sounds of it.
You’ve released two music videos for the album so far, for 'Rainbow Islands' and 'A Fraud Abroad', are there plans to release more?

Casey: We would really love to, but it’s time consuming especially if we’re doing it ourselves. We would like to work with more people if we’ve got money. We’ve tried applying for funding so I guess there’ll be some day that happens. There’s always some people interested in our stuff; we just don’t wanna rip them off or do a shit job.
How has your label MUZAI records moving overseas affect your band?
Casey: It just sucks because Benjii [Jackson, Founder of MUZAI] had been such a good mate and a rad dude. It’s why people do music: it’s fun because you’re working with people, having relationships and feeling connected. It sucks because I can’t hang out with him: drinking coffee and smoking ciggies, going round to have dinner and play fucking Mario Kart or something.
Steven: We’ve got English distribution for the album.
Casey: Professionally, it’s the best thing we could have at the moment. It’s a big opportunity for us working with somebody in Europe. Benjii is still doing the label thing.
So are you going to tour Europe with the help of MUZAI?
Casey: There are a lot of people over there who are interested in what we’re doing... but realistically, we can’t see ourselves going over there anytime soon. Going overseas would be great but some of us are pretty fucking hopeless when getting a job, money and shit [laughs].

If Europe is unrealistic, will there be a nationwide tour to support your release?

Casey: I don’t know. We’re gonna wait until Alex and Catherine gets back from their overseas trip and then figure out what to do from there. I think we would like to get the album out there. It’ll be good to go down south and play in Wellington or something.
Scrying in Infirmary Architecture is currently out now via MUZAI records. You can stream the album over here.
