This Friday, Bec Sandridge will unleash her long-awaited debut record TRY + SAVE ME.
“Two years in the making, I can finally announce my debut album TRY + SAVE ME!! I was never sure I’d create an album. But here I am! I worked with the incredible Gab Strum (Japanese Wallpaper) and Oscar Dawson (Holy Holy) on this bad gal and I think she’s a body of my fiercest, most manic work to date,” Sandridge shared in a statement.
“The album documents two break-ups, coming out to my family and friends and my mental health journey in trying to make sense of those things. One foot in the therapist’s office, one hand around my exes waist. What a ride!
“This time round I tried to be as particular as possible. I wanted bass and synths to hit hard. I wanted everything to feel it had place and purpose with no apology.”
To celebrate the release of her stunning debut, we asked Sandridge to take us through the album track-by-track, check out what she had to say below.
‘(01)’
This song came out of a sample of my Grandma’s voice saying “this is quite unacceptable…” it’s a nod to my last EP and kind of a nod to this record. She was reviewing my last record and she didn’t like the cussing. But I think it also looks at the themes on this record in terms of how my family and I have worked through my sexuality, the paranoia that came with that etc. Sonically, I wanted it to resemble a dark church wedding.
‘I’LL NEVER WANT A BF’
This was the first song written for the record and the first song recorded for the record. I worked with Tony Buchen and Burke Reid. Both amazing producers in their own right. Burke and I worked out of a shonky studio in Melbourne and we really wanted to dig into that ol’ Iggy Pop punk thing. We then sent it off to Tony in LA to add some finishing more electronic elements. This song was the starting point or more of a springboard for the rest of the record. It was the first time I’ve ever openly commented on my sexuality and the first time I’d ever first empowered to do so in a fun but also gutsy way.
‘ANIMAL’
The first and only true love song I’ve ever written. Initially, the song was a ballad.
‘EYES WIDE’
Eyes Wide is the oldest song on the record. I really didn’t like it at first. Oscar Dawson and I worked and reworked it so many times. I tried the song out in the studio with Burke too and nothing quite felt right. We got Gab (Japanese Wallpaper) in the studio and he kind of spun new light on the whole song by adding this drivey bass sound. It turned it into a manic club. And I re-fell in love with the song. It’s about navigating the limitations to a relationship. When one person is happy, the other is sad and it kind of pendulums between the two.
Watch: Bec Sandridge – ‘STRANGER’
‘STRANGER’
Stranger was the track that took the longest to finish. I couldn’t get past the first verse. It’s one of the first co-writes I’d ever done (w Oscar Dawson), so I felt pretty vulnerable. But, as our recording time was coming to a close, Oz was pretty persistent that it was a good song and that we should persist with it. I spat out the word “stranger” in a bit of an improvisation type set up and I finally realised what the song was about. It was about feeling foreign to myself and disconnected to others. Seeing myself from the outside in and the inside out. I learnt that I needed to use this experience to connect with my body and find compassion with others and myself.
‘W MY EX’
This was my attempt of creating a cock-rock pub classic with a gay twist. Everyone says you shouldn’t get back together with your ex, but I say, if you’re onto something good then it’s worth the work (despite what your friends, family and bank balance say).
‘WE’VE GOT NOTHING IN COMMON’
This was a strong nod to my brother and his gym pals. Since writing it, I’ve funnily gotten really into health/walking/swimming and see the flip side. But larger than that, I think it looks at people commenting on my appearance as if I’m dressing for them. My favourite bit in this song is the metal break down, but also I think I wrote one of my favourite lyrics in this song “must you really say you prefer my face without a lipstick stain. You know everything, except one thing. Is my hair really, real?” I am really sick of people asking if my hair is real.
‘MY FRIENDS THINK I CAN DO BETTER’
This is one is about that great moment when you move from sad to angry post break up. When you realise that actually, you weren’t punching above. Your friends and fam were right all along, they SUCK. It’s probably the most chip-tunes-y song of the lot. I wanted it to kind of reflect what I was listening at the time, Grimes + Arcade Fire ft me.
‘EVEN LOVE’
This is my favourite song on the record. I wrote it with my best friend Rin Mardle. She played piano. I sung and wrote the words. We were in my living room in Melbourne. At the time, I’d just had a bad break up and I didn’t know how to process all of the feelings I had bottled up and this song kind of just erupted out of feeling cheated by someone. I also felt like I was in a relationship that tallied. A relationship can’t always be equal or even. But let’s just call it that so there’s some form of closure.
‘WHERE THE BULLET HITS’
This song was written amidst a Sandridge panic attack. It’s intrusive thought city – from getting back together with your ex, overthinking what happened in the in-between period and trying to breathe. I wrote this with an old band mate from Wollongong, Jonathon Tooke (who’s also in an AMAZING band called Cry Club) and Andrew Jago. It’s was a random session and some how this little ripper came out of nowhere. I had this image of wanting to get away with a bank robbery and that’s where the song kind of propelled. Bec and X as Clyde.
‘BEFORE THE RADIO’
It’s funny how a break up (or ex) changes spaces. They determine where you can and cannot go. ie a restaurant that you used to visit together all the time now becomes out of bounds and so forth. This one kind of explores that. But also for me, it was the final letting go of that person song. The song starts with a voice recording from a road-trip with someone where our car had no radio, so we had to make up songs and we sang them violently into the windscreen.
Listen: Bec Sandridge – ‘EYES WIDE’
TRY + SAVE ME is out tomorrow (October 4th). Bec Sandridge will be heading around the country this month for a national tour in support of the album. Check out the tour dates and ticket information below.
BEC SANDRIDGE TRY + SAVE ME TOUR
WITH NATIONAL SUPPORT (*except Hobart) FROM EAGLEMONT
Tickets available now via becsandridge.com
Friday 4th October
The Foundry, Brisbane
Saturday 5th October
The Northern, Byron Bay (FREE ENTRY)
Saturday 12th October
Hobart Brewing Company, Hobart
Friday 18th October
Cats @ Rocket Bar, Adelaide
Saturday 19th October
Howler, Melbourne
Friday 25th October
Lansdowne, Sydney
Saturday 26th October
UC Hub, Canberra
Friday 8th November
UniBar, Wollongong
