Born from the ashes of now-defunct indie orchestra Inland Sea, Brissy rock outfit DEEDS are here, and thanks to the release of their new EP Exile they’re well and truly making their mark.
DEEDS hit the studio last year with producer Govinda Doyle (Angus and Julia Stone) to craft what would becoming this killer EP. Blending powerful indie rock song writing with the added punch of a QOTSA the record flaunts a sound that ranges from delicate to monumental.
To celebrate the release of Exile the band have kindly penned a track by track run down of the record which you can check out below (along with the album stream) give it a listen and if you like what you’re hearing be sure to catch the guys on the road. Pop by the band’s Facebook page for more info.
Intro:
I wrote this EP over a few depressing years mostly about love loss, sickness, the end of the world and the feeling of never being able to create anything worthwhile again. Pretty Dark huh?! It lingered over me but after slogging it out I looked back on what I had come through and realised that I had a couple songs that I felt comfortable with sharing with my friends.
With the help of Jeremy and Jack we demoed out the tracks and sent them off to Govinda for his expert opinion. He loved them! so we started the process of getting into his studio and arranging the songs to what they have become.
The process was really spontaneous and raw. We had roughly 2-3 rehearsals to get an idea of the flow of the songs beforehand but we tracked most of the EP as improvised as possible. Jack, Jeremy, and Steele all thrive under the pressure of tracking something off the cuff.
They all self edit and lock in as each take comes around. It truly is an amazing experience to watch and be apart of. Myself on the other hand need a more ridged approach. I can improvise, however I need my part solid before tracking. The only exception is the vocals. I found that I felt the most comfortable in coming up with new lines or parts while in the studio. The vocals was my favourite part of the recording experience.
EXILE
Exile is purely about living in a world filled with other peoples expectations of you. It’s a constant struggle with a fake idea of expression and self absorbed motives. Every now and then you just need to escape and regroup to have a better understanding of who you are so that you don’t get caught up in the intensity that is the world we live in
Beggar
I was living and working in Melbourne in a job where the stress levels were high. Right before a particular event my body shut down and hospitalised me for about a week. The doctors did test and evaluations and it was a pretty scary time for me. Beggar is about that experience. I wrote what was happening to me and portrayed it as a separate being that had control for a while. I still relapse from time to time
Lions
After Inland Sea finished up I didn’t really know what to do. I poured so much of myself emotionally into the band and when it ended I kind of felt like I couldn’t be creative or write anymore. Although I still had all my friends around me writing and creating I really struggled with it.
I felt that I was at my peak and now that it had ended I would never reach that level of writing again. All artists will hit this wall at some point in their creative output but recognising it as a phase and labouring through it was a real challenge.
Lions is about believing that anything you do creatively will never be good enough, as if a being of some sort is stopping you from truly expressing yourself and that it could come out of the shadows at any point. It’s a common theme I use throughout a lot of song writing. Creating it a character helps me with delivery and with telling the story without giving too much away.
Dream Song
This is a literal dream that I had about standing on a wall with a girl that I liked at the time looking out over a post apocalyptic world. Although we were the last two people on the planet she still didn’t want to be with me. HA! It doesn’t get much more depressing than that.
EP TOUR DATES
24TH June | Spotted Cow | Toowoomba, QLD
1ST July | The Helm | Sunshine Coast, QLD
8TH July | Black Bear Lodge | Brisbane, QLD
13TH August | Brunswick Hotel | Melbourne, VIC
