Having just released their second EP, Untethered, and about to embark upon a five state, 11-date tour, Halcyon Drive are a group of busy lads. I was lucky enough to catch up with Max Pamieta from the band and chat about the recording process behind the EP, song-writing techniques and Untethered’s artwork.
Untethered is a collection of five tracks written by the band across a 10 day period in the Otways. Pamieta told me of the recording process and what it was like working with producer Steve Schram (San Cisco, Eagle & The Worm).
“There’s two aspects to it; there’s Steve himself but there’s also the location and the way we recorded it,” explained Pamieta.
“Our previous EP, Cruel Kids, we recorded in Northcote at Sound Park Studios. It was kind of like a hacked together studio with recycled materials and stuff – so it didn’t have a stale vibe to the place. We wanted to go the next step [with Untethered] by recording in the Otways. It was just essentially an AirBNB house that we converted into a studio.
“[Steve] set up this mud-brick villa into what became a studio, so we were living there and making music at the same time over the course of 10 days. The location itself and the way in which we approached it was a little bit different – which had an influence on being able to come up with spur-of- the-moment ideas or playing around with sounds during the evening and just recording them whenever we please”
The artwork for the release is heavily linked to the music, as Pamieta elaborated, telling me that it was designed by the band.
“There’s a bit of a theme running through all of the single artworks and then the EP artwork. It’s all about these flowing continuous lines,” he says.
“One of the things we want to do is come across with a whole bunch of colour and not be afraid to put colour forward – which is pretty evident in the singles. The first single is ‘Reset’ and [the artwork] is a flowing continuous line, in the shape of a figure eight. Essentially you reset and it’s the continuous figure eight so it’s always coming back to itself.”
He also told me of the interesting idea behind the EP’s artwork, stating that it’s a close up of a type of knot, with the explanation being that, “When you’re in a knot, you’re actually tethered”. A kooky play on the album’s title.
When speaking about their upcoming show at the Workers Club, the drummer said they’re just looking forward to playing outside of Melbourne. He admitted they haven’t been to the venue yet but are excited to play there.
“We’ve never played in Geelong,” Pamieta says. “This is going to be a first for us, but we’re excited about the Workers Club because we know it’s been really building itself over the last year.”
Halcyon Drive is excited to play in front of fresh audiences around the country over the next two months, and will be treating us to some of the finest alternative pop getting around.
Written by Jack Cherry
When & Where: Workers Club, Geelong – June 16
