A Quick Chat with Fool Nelson

Congrats on the new EP! How long has 'Falling Apart' been in the works? Did you set out to write an EP, or did it come together on its own? 

We probably started the recording process about a year ago and have been steadily working away at it. I don't think we were necessarily thinking about the end product initially, more just trying to write the best songs that we could. I guess because all of the songs were written pretty close together time-wise, they ended up being pretty coherent as a set of songs, so it definitely made sense for it to be an EP.  

What do you think makes a great song? What is your writing process like as a band? Does one of you come in with an idea or is it worked out through jamming? 

For us as a band, a major priority is trying to write songs with strong melodies. We spend much of our time writing on acoustic guitars, trying to get a song to a point where it sounds good bare bones and fully stripped back. If we have a solid starting point, we feel pretty confident that we can build up the rest of the song around it. We also try to be pretty authentic with our writing, talking about things that we're going through, however big or small they may be. 

In terms of our writing process, usually, one of us will bring a stripped-back idea to the band, we'll listen and then try to work out how to arrange it and make it work. Sometimes, this is a super quick process where things just fall into place, and other times, it can be tedious nitpicking every little detail to get it sounding right. 

What was the song/album that made you want to make music? 

We've all probably got different albums and songs that have inspired us, but definitely a lot of what we grew up listening to through our parents. This ended up being a whole lot of Midnight Oil, U2, Crowded House and a bunch of others. I remember being probably about eight and watching live concert DVDs of U2 and Midnight Oil and thinking it was the coolest thing. 

The Joshua Tree by U2 is an album that blew my mind and made me want to make music.  

Do you have any non-musical influences that inform your performance style? What kind of energy do you hope to bring to your live shows?

We're inspired by lots of different artists across all sorts of different mediums. I think one of the coolest things about music is that you get to really combine a whole bunch of those influences, working with other artists to create videos, cover art, merch designs and all sorts of different creative things. 

In terms of our live show, we're trying to develop it into something energetic and memorable. We're still always figuring out ways to do this better, but we obviously try to start with getting our live show sounding as big and full as possible. It's fun finding creative ways to do this as a three-piece. We want to make a Fool Nelson show something people remember, so we always try to give it our all on stage. 

What are you doing together as a band when you're not writing or recording songs?

We've all been good mates for a long time now so we spend a lot of time together. We're all pretty into the outdoors, so we'll go camping a bit throughout the year and try getting some waves where we can. Going for a surf is something we all do for fun, and it ends up being a great way for us to unwind. 

We saw that you've got a WA tour coming up, that's exciting! Where has been your favourite WA venue to perform so far? What's a venue on the East Coast you hope to play in the future? 

We've had some of our favourite headline shows at the Indian Ocean Hotel, so that's definitely one of our favourites in Perth. Always has a good vibe to it, and we've just got some good memories there. We're also super keen to play at The Rechabite for our EP Launch. That'll be the biggest headline show we've done, so I'm a bit nervous but very excited for that. 

We will be heading back east with Old Mervs for their Australia and New Zealand tour, and to be honest we're just super excited for all of those shows. Northcote Theatre and The Triffid will be epic, but really just keen for them all!