ATTICA JUST RELEASED AN ALBUM AND WE'RE PRETTY NOSEY OVER HERE AT WIZARD WATER, WE THOUGHT WE'D DIVE RIGHT IN.
ALBUM NAME IS - ATTICA - LISTEN HERE
Band mates Lawrence, Jono, Gabe, Anthony & Michel will take you on an auditory journey, uniquely blending the genres of funk & rock to bring high energy and infectious grooves to your ear holes. Their music is a mix of powerful vocals, driving bass lines, funky guitar riffs and solid dynamic beats
Congratulations on the release of your debut album, "ATTICA"! Can you share some insights into the creative process behind this album, particularly how the band's collective vision shaped its sound and direction?
Our creative process tends to vary depending on who first presents the initial idea; this can sometimes be as little as a riff or melody, or other times, it can present itself as a fully fleshed-out song with a solid structure. Either way we all work extremely collaboratively to add our own unique parts to each song; even if a song is "complete" when it's brought to the band we still believe in modifying and perfecting the piece to sound fundamentally like "Attica" and something that we all love hearing and enjoy playing.
With 11 songs on the album, each offering a mix of funk, rock, and blues, how did you approach crafting a cohesive musical experience while still allowing for plenty of diversity and variety in the tracks?
This being our first album, forged of new and old songs alike, we were just focused on creating something we all loved listening to, however, we did put thought into the light and shade of the album, making sure to not rock too hard for too long; we're all huge fans of bands like Led Zeppelin, Queen, Sabbath and other bands from the eras when rock was allowed to have ballads and vulnerability, so we just went with our guts really.
While there may not be overarching themes, you mentioned injecting personal experiences into some of the songs. Can you elaborate on how your own experiences and emotions influenced the songwriting process and the lyrical content of certain tracks?
Yeah absolutely; as the lead vocalist and lyricist my focus and passion is around finding unique and interesting melodies and lyrics. As is the nature of being in a band though, there are 5 of us all with unique experiences, so while the majority of what I sing about and the themes I explore are personal to me, there is still cross pollination; Lyrics ideas, sometimes even single words from other band members. It’s also important to me to find inspiration in their personal stories; an essential part of that process being to find the connection between their story and my own experience so that each song remains personal to me, maintaining to feel the emotion of what I’m singing. This in effect helps to create a personal yet universally relatable story for each song.
The bio describes ATTICA's music as a blend of powerful vocals, funky guitar riffs, and dynamic beats. How do you ensure that each member's unique style and contribution shines through in the overall sound of the band?
I think that this leans into my answer above (question 2); we all have such unique musical styles, while also sharing a mutual love for our sound (whatever that is haha), so we are just respectful and ensure that each band member adds their touch as long as it services the song and/or music - at the end of the day if something makes the song better it's in, if it doesn't it's out. But to more simply answer the question: we all adhere to our musical roles to let our unique ideas shine through, we do of course reach across to help refine where needed.
As a lyricist, how do you balance expressing personal experiences and emotions in your songs while also ensuring that they remain relatable and accessible to listeners?
I think that Question 3 is the perfect insight into this question/answer, but just to expand upon my personal process; I also like to create some level of ambiguity with my lyrics as this leaves meaning open to interpretation and allows listeners to apply my lyrics and the feeling they get from a song to their own experiences.
The band's bio highlights your ability to bring high energy and infectious grooves to your audience. How do you translate this dynamic live presence into the recording studio, and what techniques or approaches do you use to capture that energy on record?
I think that naturally we’re all highly excited and energetic individuals, so that comes across in our music; everyone just got on with it and had an incredibly enjoyable time doing so, we also all knew our stuff back to front which helped with keeping loose while recording.
Can you share any memorable moments or challenges you encountered during the recording process of "ATTICA," and how did you overcome them as a band?
While some of us had recorded (to different extents) in the past, it was also the first time recording for some of our band mates. this definitely posed some interesting hurdles namely adhering to the click track and working under time pressures. Aside from this we had the typical production issues with wanting to perfect each track, but ultimately decided that over-engineering just breeds more issues and that we'd learn from any shortcomings on this album to make the next one better! Overall it was an extremely enjoyable and bonding experience for us all, it makes things very easy when you're working with like-minded musicians and mates!
As a band from Adelaide, South Australia, how do you feel your local music scene has influenced your sound and your approach to making music?
To be honest, we're only just hitting the scene now and since a few of us were last around things have really shifted noticeably from psych rock (around 2015-2017) to post punk in 2024. We haven't really been influenced by the scene musically and are very excited by the reaction we've received so far, but as far as energy goes we're definitely feeling confident, excited and supported by this current wave of groups.
With the release of your debut album, what are your hopes and aspirations for ATTICA's future, both in terms of reaching new audiences and further establishing your presence in the funk rock scene?
Our current aspirations are genuinely to keep making music that we love first for our ears and secondly for our listeners. The album has been really well received and we are just really excited to keep bringing our live show to audiences of the 2024. We are currently just growing our base and don't have any huge aspirations, but whatever comes we'll be ready for. We're slowly getting back into writing and will endeavour to get back in the studio again soon, but you know what they say, "keep em' keen".
Lastly, can you give us a sneak peek into what's next for ATTICA? Any upcoming projects, tours, or new music on the horizon that fans can look forward to?
We're currently scheduled for our album launch show on May 3rd at Queens Theatre here in Adelaide, followed by a show at UniBar's "Indigo Nights" the very next night on May 4th, so we're hitting it hard and don't intend on slowing down. Depending on how things go we'll also be lining up a few interstate shows as the year progresses along with a cheeky single or two here or there, so keep your eyes peeled.
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