A Quick Chat with East Capri

Brisbane alt rock trio East Capri shared their slick new single Veil Vision last month. Tackling the emotional turmoil experienced when dealing with the fallout of a relationship and later reflecting on the red flags hiding in plain sight, Veil Vision is a track about being momentarily blinded by love and lust.

East Capri is Eden Cartwright (vocals), Jackson Deasy (guitar) and Jamal Irlam (guitar). The trio meld their heavy roots with alt-pop sensibility, culminating in an impressively unique take on modern metal. Since their inception, East Capri have found their footing, mastered their craft and have become a staple in the Brisbane alternative rock scene. The band have shared the stage with fellow Brisbane acts including Stepson, Headwreck, Days Like These, Revoid, Bad Neighbour and more.

We caught up with the band to talk about their latest single and what’s to come in 2024.

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What does it mean to you to have “veil vision”? Tell us a bit about what inspired the title of the track and how it relates to the lyrics.

‘Veil Vision’ is about being blinded by love. Being in denial or at least unable to see the red flags within certain kinds of toxic relationships. It can be easy to overlook or accept it when you’re intoxicated by the passion and excitement that is just as intense as the toxicity.

East Capri has a very futuristic, almost sci-fi-inspired look, especially in the visuals of the latest single, was that inspired from the sounds in your music or is there a larger narrative the band is looking to build with its aesthetic?

We are all heavy influenced by movies, anime and especially video games. Being the nerds that we are, immersion is everything! We love the Cyberpunk/ Bladerunner visuals but we also love the “dark mood” in The Batman movie of recent. The LED visor that was passed around and worn by each member in the video clip was our metaphorical interpretation of being in under the influence of ‘Veil Vision’. We’re that invested that we event made a movie poster for it!

What was the process working with Jackson Bentley and Andrew Vaughn to build the Veil Vision music video? Did you have a concept ready to bring to them or was it more of a collaborative experience?

The main visual look and basic concept of the narrative elements were conceived by us, but it was mostly scenes that looked cool but didn’t exactly have much structure. However, Jackson directed all of our ideas together to create a solid narrative that really tied the meaning back to the song’s lyrics and Andrew’s attention to detail with lighting and VFX really made this project one of our most proud accomplishments we’ve ever been a part of.

What’s been the biggest change or challenge working toward a new collection of songs since the release of your debut EP ‘Wake n Repeat’?

So much about us has changed. Our EP started off as a coping mechanism through extremely traumatic and tough times. Now we’re using our music to express ourselves more creatively and do it because we love it and not just a way to cope. To be completely honest, making the songs is the easy part for us. The biggest challenge we face is our own standards haha, but in all seriousness all the organising of the visuals that surrounds the songs is the most time consuming and tedious.

Do you have a bucket list band/show/festival you’d love to have East Capri play with or be a part of?

An obvious one for us is definitely ‘Good Things’, that would be a total dream come true! Being able to share stages with a bunch of bands that influenced us into becoming musicians in the first place would definitely blow our minds and the same goes for ‘Knotfest’ and Unify. International bands like Bad Omens, Bring Me The Horizon, I Prevail and Falling In Reverse would be amazing to be involved with but our Aussie grail bands we’d love to play with as well are Northlane, Polaris, Alphawolf, Windwaker and Void Of Vision. So much musical intercourse would be made with those guys.

Have you gotten to play Veil Vision live yet and what has the reception been like in a performance space?

So far the reception has been what we’ve been hoping for. Especially the video! This is the first time we’ve decided to use our own YouTube channel to drop a single and it's climbing way better than we expected. It’s even received a response from something very exciting that will be announced very soon! We have played Veil Vision. We played it at the AM/PM show in Brisbane supporting 'Stepson' and it was so fun to play and is one of our favourites!

Is there a song in your set list that consistently brings the energy from the audience?

That’s a tough one to answer as of late. All the shows we’ve played in the last year have had a lot of consistent engagement with energy with singing back the lyrics back to us but our go to song live was ‘Danger to Myself’ but now it’s leaning more towards ’CLEANOUT’ because of how hyped the energy is when we perform it. Especially when we open with that song!

What can people expect next from East Capri?

Our next song explores even more experimental elements. There are emotional ambient moments, some subtle glittery 1975 inspired riffs, catchy R&B melodies and then just strong, powerful emotional rock choruses! This song will definitely be our most “commercial” song that we’ve ever released.

Who would be a dream collaboration for East Capri for a future track?

We’ve got a few, one in particular we’re in the process of trying to connect with which is exciting but the legendary one we would love to do is to write a nostalgic emo/pop/punk/rock song with the Veronicas!

Who’s an Australian act that you’re most looking forward to seeing new music from in 2024?

Windwaker all day! They’re just different to everyone else in Australia. They have very catchy pop melodies but are so hype and heavy at the same time! We can’t wait to see what they do next.