Interview: Mild Orange — 'Looking For Space' New Zealand Tour

Rising from humble Ōtepoti origins to touring the world with their third studio album Looking For Space, Mild Orange are returning home following a mostly sold-out run of headline shows in North America, EU and Australia. Now based in London, Mild Orange will be playing songs from their new record in the four main centres of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin this week and next, joined for all dates by special guest Wiri Donna. We caught up with the two Joshes of the group — guitarist Josh Reid aka Jah and singer / guitarist Josh Mehrtens aka Mehrt — who opened up about key moments in Mild Orange's career thus far, ongoing challenges facing touring artists, how the indie / psych / dream-pop four-piece keep their global fanbase in the loop, tunes to get them revved up for shows (including their own tour playlists) and more...

Mild Orange - Looking For Space Tour NZ 2022
with special guest Wiri Donna

Friday 21st October - San Fran, Wellington
Saturday 22nd October - Loons, Christchurch
Sunday 23rd October - Dive, Dunedin (Labour Weekend)
Friday 28th October - Hollywood Avondale, Auckland*

Tickets on sale HERE via UTR
*Auckland tickets available via Live Nation HERE

Chris Cudby: Hi Joshes! Mild Orange have just wrapped up a huge run of headline dates in EU, North America and Australia. Many of those events sold out — sounds like the tour has been going pretty great?

Jah: Hey! Yeah, the tour has definitely exceeded our expectations and the crowds have been great. It was good to be able to revisit some EU cities that we played in 2019 and compare that experience to the recent shows. Needless to say, these shows had much greater attendance, with almost all of them selling out! The North America and Australia shows were a lot of fun too, we hadn’t played in any of those cities before.

Did you spot the recent discussion around Animal Collective pulling the plug on their 2022 tour, because of spiralling costs related to Covid? From your perspective, is it presently still a fairly challenging / uncertain time to be an international touring artist?

Jah: Yes! We did see that post while we were on the road and found it a very honest and relatable perspective. I appreciate how transparent they’ve been about the situation, there needs to be more of that I think. It’s definitely still a hugely challenging time and I can see why some artists may bow out of touring all together until things settle. However, for us we have been building up to this tour for years now and were dead set on making it happen. This is partly why we made the decision to move to London, it just makes touring in EU / North America that much easier.

Mild Orange's rise has been meteoric — achieving significant streaming success and a genuine connection with fans around the world. Did you envision this level of success when you were releasing your 2018 debut album Foreplay, or has this all been part of the Mild Orange master plan? What have been some pivotal moments for Mild Orange?

Jah: We’re still incredibly grateful to have found an international audience whom our music resonates with so much. We certainly had hopes of success when we released our debut, but truthfully, it was released without any expectation. We were completely independent and the album was very DIY. We put it out and thankfully the internet did its thing, finding fans across the world who wanted more. Our most pivotal moment to date would have to be when Ukrainian YouTuber / music tastemaker, Alona Chemerys, kindly shared two of our tracks (‘Some Feeling’ and ‘Mysight’). Both tracks took off on her channel, particularly ‘Some Feeling’ which has since amassed over 27 million views. That channel is hugely responsible for connecting our music with the world.

How have you maintained your connection with Mild Orange's overseas fans, while being based in Aotearoa?

Jah: I think the internet can be a wonderful tool for musicians in this day and age. Geographic location doesn’t mean what it used to. Anyone can release anything, anywhere, and it can be heard by people all across the globe. We actually have a stronger fan base in many countries ahead of Aotearoa. Our largest platform is YouTube, so we try to keep content flowing on there pretty steadily. Otherwise, it’s just the usual really, trying to maintain engagement on Instagram, Facebook, etc. Our overseas following is largely what influenced our decision to relocate to London. We felt it was time to be more connected to our international fanbase and continue building abroad.

Your Looking For Space tour footage looks and sounds beaut. Will there be a tour film released in the near future + were the band editing these live clips while on the road?

Jah: Thanks! Glad you like them. We were very fortunate to have our UK videographer / friend Rob Thorogood come on the road for the EU shows. He was filming every night and editing the next day in the van. Nils, our sound engineer, was recording the live audio, and then Mehrt would give it a quick mix in the van too. A pretty speedy turnaround! But yes, keep an eye out for a tour recap of sorts in the future.

Your latest album Looking For Space was recorded in a variety of spots around Aotearoa, finished off at Roundhead. Do you find location impacts on the feel of your recordings? Are you eyeing up any future recording locations — or has Mild Orange's sound now grown too large-scale for a portable home studio setup?

Mehrt: We really connect to where we are and it certainly influences the songs and recordings. It’s irresistible to some degree to not be influenced by environment and to want to create music that honours those spaces. We often record in places where we can relax and can do other things between sessions, such as swimming in the ocean or throwing a frisbee around outside. I like to slip some of the sounds from living those sweet moments into the recordings too, like waves crashing, birds chirping, camera clicks, the tapping sound of typing on the laptop late at night etc. We’ve got a home studio set up in London which we’ve been putting to good use. I think it’ll remain a vital part of our creative process — there’s no place like home. But as for completed recordings, we see ourselves entering more studios out of necessity to hone the bigger sounds that we’re after.

Will it be time for another round of songwriting sessions once your New Zealand tour wraps up? Does Mild Orange stick to a strict "one album every two years" schedule?

Mehrt: We never stop writing! Everything we do feeds into the project one way or another. It’s been nice on tour having spare moments at sound checks to jam, or jot down random ideas we get on our travels. We don’t have a strict ‘album every two year schedule’ but it just happens to be that 2 years is roughly how long it takes us to complete an album. We have a heap of songs we’re being patient with, as well as a bunch of new ideas and directions that we want to pursue, so the hardest part about this next project is going to be being decisive and completing things.

What's been on the Mild Orange tour playlist in 2022?

Mehrt: Jack has been in charge of that! We have the playlists ‘MO Pre Show’ and ‘MO After Party’ on Spotify. Check em’ out. Before the show we play 'Poveglia' by Degs & De:tune to get ready. When we finish playing on stage we play Baccara 'Yes Sir, I Can Boogie' on the PA and lots of fans often stay to enjoy a little groove to it.

Mehrt: Look forward to a very tight band with a set that has been fine-tuned over a month on the road around the world leading up to these shows. We’re bloody excited to be home in NZ, so we’re gonna go all out on stage at these ones. Wiri Donna will be joining us as support too — they’re epic. See ya soon mates and come say hey.