Welcome to the first edition of AMS’ Isol-Chat!

Welcome to the first edition of AMS’ Isol-Chat! 

Today we talk with lead singer Cody Stebbings of Northern Beaches-based punk quartet Down For Tomorrow, who just released their new single ‘Emily’.

1.    First up, congratulations on the new single Cody! It’s another belter to add to the collection. Once again, the lyrics seem quite personal, could you tell us a bit about the influences behind it?

Oh man, ‘Emily’ was a song that might never have been written if I had left a day earlier. There was a lot of miscommunication and misleading between me and another person when I was on an interstate trip, and I got myself in a little too deep. When reality hit, and I found out it wasn’t going anywhere, I felt deceived and used, but really, it could have been avoided. I should never have even thought of going any further. It was a hard pill to swallow, and a tough lesson learnt.

2.    Obviously, everything is a bit crazy in the world at the moment, how is the band dealing with isolation? Are you staying busy? Or going a bit nuts with the lack of gigs?

It hit us hard, shows got cancelled, jobs lost, happiness deflated. The first week of lockdown was the hardest, but we’ve been lucky to be able to stay in touch with each other. We have a great management team behind us who keep the wheels turning even with limitations. We’ve been practicing on our own and writing heaps. Huge praise to any musical act that has been able to work around this nightmare situation, it’s going to be a brilliant feeling to be able to play shows again soon. None of it will ever be taken for granted.

3.    Some standard Iso questions; what is the bands favourite video game? Favourite board game? Any good book recommendations?

I played GTA V for the first time in like 3 years the other day, that was a trip! That’s always been my favourite game to play. I haven’t jumped on the Animal Crossing hype but can’t say I’ve been missing out at all haha! Board games… played Cadoo the other night, I’m a sucker for Guess Who, Trouble, and Cards Against Humanity. I hate Monopoly. It never ends! And books… I’m currently reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, that pulls on the heart strings more times than I’d like to admit. My favourites of all time include The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, Ready Player One, Boy Swallows Universe, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Marching Powder. The Harry Potter series is always a time as well!

4.    The video clip is hilarious. Did you all record separately without input? Or did you go through a lot of the ideas together beforehand? It seems to accurately represent everyone losing their minds being stuck inside. Full method acting ;)

We all recorded separately! Henry saw Machine Gun Kelly’s isolation cover of Misery Business, messaged us on the band chat and said “we gotta do something like this!” So, we all filmed ourselves playing the tune and going nuts on our webcams in our respective houses. Cabin fever pays off every now and then!

5.    We don’t know how long gigs will be shut down for, but what is the bands general plans for the rest of the year? Heaps of live streams?

Plenty of live streams, they seem to be the thing! There will be plenty more new music coming too, we’re due for a few more singles, and maybe another EP? All this writing has to get put to use soon… 

Click To Stream “Emily”