We sit down with Connor Pawsey from Geelong’s alternative rock band Smoked and Overdue in celebration of their latest single.
Hey guys, thanks for taking the time to chat with Forte Mag. Smoked and Overdue started out in 2014 with the average age of the band being just 12 – it’s undeniably a young age to be starting up a band, what led to you wanting to start working on music collectively?
It initially all started out as just a couple of kids who were curious about playing music with other people. I originally asked Henry our singer if he wanted to start a band with me playing drums and him playing guitar just for a bit of fun. He said he wasn’t very good at guitar but he could sorta sing and that a mate of his, Jax, from primary school actually played guitar. After asking Jax he told us this new kid in his class Nico plays bass and that he has a music studio in his back yard. So before we knew it the whole thing just sort of fell together without any of us really pushing it.
As a young band, the decision to progress from covers to creating original music was a bold move, what were the driving factors to wanting to branch out into original concepts?
After Charlie our keys player joined the band a couple years later in 2016, we were all getting a little tired of playing other peoples songs but we never really had a reason to write about anything or anything to even write about. We tried writing a song when we first started but nothing clicked so we ended up ditching it. Adding the whole new dynamic of a piano player though gave us a little bit of a push towards something new. We ended up writing our first song ‘Subconscious Man’ for a music assignment in school where we had to make a group of 4 or 5 people and write an entire song in a few weeks. It was around this time where we were starting to fully understand each others playing style now and we were able to use that to our advantage in the writing process. After that first song, we found a new undiscovered love for creativity which we didn’t have before so we just continued to keep writing outside of school.
Years on, Smoked and Overdue now have a really unique Alt-Rock sound that oozes Muse and Royal Blood vibes, do these bands play a key role in what inspires you when writing songs?
Absolutely. Since around 2016 we all really developed a strong strong passion for music in general, as we started to really notice things in songs that we hadn’t before. Royal Blood, in particular, has been a massive influence on all five of us after Henry discovered them back in year 9. Seeing them perform live at Rod Laver Arena last year opened so many doors in terms of creating unique music and really putting on an enjoyable performance, as do a lot of bands. Whilst we all listen to similar bands, each of us also have individual passions for other specific genres of music like metal or funk which usually tend to subtly work their way into our playing here and there.
You have a new single coming out today. Tell us a bit about the song and what listeners can expect from the track.
‘I’ll Tell You Tomorrow’ was actually one of the first songs we wrote after the release of our debut EP ‘Under the Rug’ but the idea surrounding the song started a little earlier. As far as the rest of our discography goes that song, in particular, represents our sound and the sound we want to create most as a whole. It embodies elements of generic rock and heavy distortion whilst also incorporating more spacious and almost experimental aspects. The name ‘I’ll tell you tomorrow’ also began as a little inside joke between Henry and I a few years earlier so once we had written the music, it almost seemed fitting that this would be our little come back after ‘Under the Rug’.
You’re currently recording your second major release of tracks, what can people expect from this upcoming record? Tell us a bit about it.
This next album is something we’ve been working on for a long time now, pretty much immediately after the first EP. It’ll be our first full length 12-track LP so the amount of effort we’ve put into each song is enormous. We’ve tried to make each track slightly different by taking inspiration from other genres to broaden the horizon a little whilst still keeping noticeable aspects consistent between the songs. So far we’re roughly about a third of the way through the recording process and everything is going really well. With the last EP we tracked all 5 songs in a little over a day but for this time we’re trying to take things slow and make sure we really do it as well as we possibly can to try and get the best result possible. It’s something we’ve been really passionate about recently, especially during the writing process so we’re determined to get it out there by the end of the year at least.
Before we wrap things up, is there anything you’d like to say to rock lovers who are considering checking out Smoked and Overdue?
If you’re any lover of music or rock, stay tuned for our new releases throughout the year and check out our debut EP on Spotify, iTunes and all other streaming services. Also, feel free to follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay up to date with gigs and more new music.
‘I’ll Tell You Tomorrow’ is out now.