The Terrys released their eagerly-anticipated debut album True Colour last week, a striking collection of surf-rock anthems.
Recorded with Jack Nigro (Skegss, DMA’S, Middle Kids), their debut captured the band at their infectious and vibrant best.
To celebrate the album, we got The Terrys – who recently impressed with their ‘In My Room’ session for Rolling Stone AU/NZ – to take us through True Colour track by track, and they didn’t leave out any details.
After having a read below, you can catch the band touring the album across Australia in October and November (see full dates here).
The Terrys’ True Colour is out now via Domestic La La.
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‘Doctor Doctor’
‘Doctor Doctor’ is a mad one for The Terrys. We really love this song and we thought that it opened up our album quite perfectly.
Basically the song started off in more of a surf rocking fashion. I sort of came up with the chords and was going ‘ding da ding ding do ding da ding’ and so on and so forth. I just whipped it out of the back pocket and gave it to the lads.
They were keen as, and they grabbed those chords and really transformed them into what the song was and changed up the strumming pattern a lot with more of a beautiful sort of ‘dun dun dun dun’ sound.
We put Louis’ amp really far away from the microphone – we’d never done this before – and cranked up the amp and hit record. We wanted to make it feel like Lu was sitting in the corner of the pub just playing that lead line and it ended up being a beautiful song. We put a little timing change in there so it gets faster after the first chorus and it just opens up the album perfectly. So that’s ‘Doctor Doctor’.
‘Creeper’
This one’s a kinda crazy song. We wrote it in the shed and it came together quite nicely. I wrote those lyrics down just on the spot and it says something about seeing your eyes from story three but I was choosing life again. The day that we went to go record this song I got a call from my mum telling me that my brother had fallen from a balcony, from the fifth story, and got caught by a little bit of roof from the second story and that saved his life.
So he fell three stories, and I’m not really into all that depicting the future stuff, but it definitely creeped me out and I’m just glad that the choosing life again lyric was involved. My brother Matty is my best friend and this song will always remind me of him.
‘Good Day’
‘Good Day’ is definitely in my top three, it’s probably my favourite! Man, this song is huge for us because I remember listening to this podcast that Esso (Esoterik) did with a bloke named Josh Wade, and Esso just spat some serious knowledge on me.
He pretty much said in the podcast you can do whatever you want as long as you truly believe in yourself 100%. I took that on board and I would listen to this podcast at least once a day. I would just dream about what I could do in my life.
Fast forward five years and I’ve made a song with Esso! It’s just insane to me. We’ve also got one of our best friends on it, Scraps, who I also used to looked up to so much in high school with his rapping.
He held his own and absolutely did the most banging verse straight after Esso which is pretty daunting but it didn’t even worry Scrapps. This song is huge for us and we think that it’s going to be an awesome summertime banger.
‘My World’
‘My World’ features the one and only Bronte Alva. Man, and we’re just so proud of her. She absolutely just nailed it for this song. The boys came up with this song just jamming at The Grove. I had no lyrics for it and I sort of came up with them a few months later and recorded them in Coogee.
Then Bronte came up with the chorus. We hadn’t even heard it yet but we thought whatever Bronte did was going to be good. We put all of us trust in her – and it paid off.
It’s definitely a bit of a classic Tez tune with a bit of an added sprinkle because we’ve got some female vocals in there, which is something we’ve never done before. We’re really proud of this song.
‘All Good’
The next song is called ‘All Good’ and it’s just a sweet little reminder for everyone that you don’t have to try too hard. Life is a weird little wacky thing and something you should remember is that it’s going to be all good.
Sometimes it feels like it’s not but it’s going to be all good, and that’s literally pretty much the only lyric in the whole song. I feel like that’s all the song needed.
Louis’s lead line and guitar solo really shine on in this song. It’s a super fun one to play live and we can’t wait for you guys to get amongst it.
‘Can’t Catch Me’
‘Can’t Catch Me’ is a super fun one about causing a bit of a ruckus and feeling like you can’t catch us. I showed it to Zac from Satin Callie and he summed it up cool: he said lyrics of the chorus make you feel like you’re in the city and you’re running from the coppers. You just feel like they can’t get you while jumping over fences and there’s dogs barking – yeah you can’t catch me.
There’s a bit of a double meaning because the verses are very chilled out and more about being a bit misunderstood. It’s definitely a fun Terrys track and I think Louis’ guitar on that song really stands out. It’s a fun one for sure.
‘IDK’
This one was just a full on fluke. I remember being in Lou’s room playing an acoustic guitar and just started playing those two chords and then threw a bit of a third one in there, and made the lyrics up on the spot.
We did a bit of an iPhone recording then took it straight into the studio. It was just made really easily. The lyrics aren’t meant to be too deep – they just speak for themselves.
‘Waiting For You’
‘Waiting For You’ is more an emotional song. We were all sort of going through a tough time – especially Jake – and that song sort of came about. He was living in the shed, Cam and I were living in the house, and the others were living next door. We were all going through this whole whirlwind being in the band, and the track ended up being a summary of all those feelings together.
‘Eyes Like Napalm’
I think this was the first song we recorded for the album, I’m not sure. It was definitely at the start of this whole process and it was fun to record. It’s just a sneeky little Tez banger in the midst of it all – just you breezing through this album.
‘Situation 99’
I just love this song. It’s just those two chords with a little bit of flavour involved in them. It was always a recipe for a banger and it got cooked up so quickly.
It was one of our Grove sessions and it was very emotional. We were very tired from touring, so to have come out with this song really made us sit back and give ourselves a bit of a pat on the back.
It feels like something from space – we like to think that it’s a bit more of a worldly sound and a big progression for The Terrys. It’s definitely one of our favourites and it’s a whole bunch of fun.
‘Rolling Stone’
‘Rolling Stone’ is definitely an emotional one for the Tezzies. We slowed it right back. We’d made a couple of slow tunes at the start of our career but we hadn’t made one for a long time, so it was very refreshing to take a step back and listen to some nicer tones.
I was in a bit of an emotional mood when I was playing it while I was living in a caravan out the backyard. I looked out the window and Savo was just staring at me! I got all embarrassed and I was too scared to keep going. He was like, ‘we need to record that!’
‘Paper Planes’
The last song on the album is definitely one of my favourites. It’s bringing The Terrys into new territory. We were just in the studio keen to have some fun without any expectations. I’m really obsessed with 808 bass so I just pushed for that to be really poppin’ and we made it up as we went.
It came together so fast – within a matter of hours it was done. We’re so proud of it and I think it closes out the album perfectly. It sort of acts as a little cliffhanger as to what we will release after True Colour. It could be a pop song, it could be surf-rock, it could be whatever you want it to be.
That’s been a track by track by The Terrys. Thank you all for participating in this journey! Shoutout to our mum’s and dad’s, our brother’s and sister’s, and every single one of you guys keeping up with The Tezzas. You all keep the dream alive and inspire us so much. Peace out!
