A Quick Chat with Earth Cadet

Since your last release, how has Earth Cadet evolved both musically and as a band? Can you share any memorable moments or achievements from your recent activities, especially while preparing for 'Silhouette'?
I think we’ve gotten a better idea of who we are and are more focused on our brand of music We are fully embracing all our 90’s Alt-Rock impulses. I think we are sounding a little darker, a little more shade than light. The world is heavy right now and when it seeps into the music it feels genuine to the moment we are in. We released a track in a similar vein a month ago – ‘Meteors’ - that ended up on some killer playlists and Seattle, NY become our number one streaming city. For an old-grunge head like me, it was a real pinch myself moment.

'Silhouette' delves into the abject terror of the stage. Can you dive deeper into the personal experiences and emotions that inspired these lyrics?
It’s that terror of whether the thing you wrote in your bedroom will resonate with people on stage, and whether you’ll communicate it well. The high you get when you do is like nothing else, but that is never the focus for me in the lead-up. I’m terrified it won’t, or I’ll mess up a lyric, a note or something and I’ll lose everyone. In a world with short attention spans and surrounded by displayed perfection, I’m terrified I won’t measure up. The pressure cooker of playing live is that feeling dialled up to a 100. You don’t get a second take. You get one shot to communicate your idea. A super personal idea as well – it’s your creative expression, rejection of that feels like a rejection of yourself in someways. It’s so easy to catastrophise, having to beat down the imposter syndrome that lives in my head every time I perform is a lot of work.

How does 'Silhouette' reflect the overall sound and ethos of Earth Cadet? Does it mark any significant shifts in your musical direction or thematic focus compared to your previous work?
I love this song because I think it does reflect our sound and ethos. It’s rough around the edges. It’s raw, the start of the song is an exposed nerve being prodded, and it only escalates. It’s probably way more personal than a lot of the other stuff I’ve written. There’s no characters to hide behind. I thought there was at the start of writing it, but by the end I was clearly talking about myself. That was a shock. It gave me permission to explore that more often for sure. I love the bridge cause it focuses me every night we play it. It’s a look back in time to when I was a kid watching my heroes play on TV or the radio – reminds me why I do what I do. We play it at the start of the set and it sorts me out quick.

What were some of the challenges and highlights during the production of 'Silhouette'? Were there any particular moments in the studio or inspirations that stood out to you?
I put off finishing this track for so long. It’s a single guitar and vocal for a large portion of it, I love to hide – and there’s nowhere to do that. We recorded everything live in the room and then I went home to do overdubs and fully expected to redo the main guitar – but just couldn’t get something that hit more that the scratch vocal and that ‘in the room’ guitar. Any time I tried to add more production it started to fall apart and the song didn’t hit as hard. Getting to the bridge on the final version and having it explode and feel like when we play it live was a real highlight. It wasn’t as easy getting there as it had been with other tracks off the EP.

Your music blends grunge, shoegaze, and indie pop into a unique alt-rock sound. How do you balance these different influences to create your signature style? It’s easier than it sounds! It’s a lot of osmosis, if we are vibing it at the time – it goes into our sound. We all listen to so much music, I own a record store and our drummer Micah works here too, we can talk to each other in code. I’ll tell Micah, “I need a Smashing Pumpkins drum part” or he’ll say “that guitar part needs a little more Radiohead” or Elliott will bring in an Iron Maiden bass part – it becomes a messy dish that is still delicious somehow. It’s the only way to do it I think – there’s nothing new under the sun, only how you reassemble it and bring your own flair and choices.

Earth Cadet has quickly gained traction on Spotify and radio. How do you engage with your audience and what role does streaming and media play in your career?
We’ve been blown away by that support, it’s been great to know people are liking what we are putting out – it means the world. We’ve been trying to release regularly, never keep anyone waiting too long between things we do. If they don’t dig one of our tracks – no worries, there’s another one out in a few weeks! Streaming is super important to what we do, it’s a direct and instantaneous connection between people and our music. We are excited to be playing live a bit more in July around Victoria on our tour – to see how people react in person to the tracks. We hope to meet and make some new fans!

Your DIY approach and recording in Bendigo Records give a raw feel to your music. Why is this raw, unpolished sound important to you, and how does it shape the identity of Earth Cadet?
It’s the sound of all the records that changed my life, those early Smashing Pumpkins albums, Nirvana, Pixies, Zeppelin, Quicksand, Garbage, Alanis, Failure, Fugazi. I think the sound of the moment is a lot of quantized, meticulously in time music, tuned perfectly, high-production elements, not a hair out of place. That doesn’t interest me, I’m saturated by perfection – I’m really enjoying things right now that aren’t. Things that live and breathe a little. I want Earth Cadet to be in that space. I try to produce us and mix us that way. The songs are good enough, I think, to speak for themselves – I’m gonna let them do just that. 

Can you share a little bit about what you have planned for Earth Cadet in 2024?
We’ve got a little tour here in Victoria here in July – but I would love to get up the Aussie east coast as well if we can – stay tuned… Otherwise, I think another EP might happen. I’ve got a ton of new songs and an old 90’s Mackie recording console that needs a good run, would love to have some more tracks to share soon.