A Quick Chat with Luke Sauvage

Congratulations on the debut single ‘ALL NITE’! How does it feel that the single is out?

Thank you so much! Well I wrote this song about a year ago, so it feels like I’ve scratched an itch that I’ve had for the whole year haha. Even before I had released it, I got so much support from people and am just so stoked to finally have it out in the world!

How did you decide that this single was going to be your debut? 

I spent many years writing and producing songs that I felt didn’t quite capture myself and what I wanted to express as an artist.

But with ‘ALL NITE’, the writing poured so naturally out of me. It really stood out amongst other songs I’d written. I decided it was going to be my debut single because it feels timeless, even now.

Talk us through the writing/production process of the track.

So, this song first started in my tiny bedroom studio when I was living back in Brisbane. About a month before I wrote the song, I broke up with an ex-partner and had been writing a lot of music to process it all. I wrote this song the night after I saw them dancing at a club with someone else. I sat down to write the morning after, and the first verse and chorus seemed to just come to me. I think because I was processing so much internally, I was able to intuitively channel my feelings. From there, I reached out to a now good friend of mine, James Halstead of WIIGZ. At the time we were only friends of friends. We had our first session, and everything just fell into place. It was one of those magical processes that just clicked start to finish. James has such an amazing ability to manifest the abstract ideas you have in your head, into reality. He helped me produce, write, mix and master the rest of the song.

How did you first get into writing and creating music? 

I learnt and taught myself many instruments throughout my childhood. When I was about 11, my older sister started showing me new artists like A$AP ROCKY, Tyler, Frank Ocean, death grips and so many more. She had this iPod shuffle with all her music on it and I would spend hours exploring her library. When I was around 12, I was super inspired by artists like Mac Demarco, King Krule and Wutang. I began recording songs and producing hip hop beats on my phone to try to sound like them. I really got into songwriting when I was about 16. When my parents and I invested in a family piano, I just fell in love with singing and writing away from the computer.

You’ve just moved to Eora/Sydney from Meanjin/Brisbane! How are you finding the adjustments and have you had a chance to explore much of the music scene in Eora/Sydney? 

Honestly it’s been huge. From living in Brisbane my whole life and being so deep in the culture there, I’ve experienced some culture shock here. There’s something very humble about Brisbane that I miss, but Sydney is absolutely beautiful. I’ve only just started to explore the gigging scene around Newtown and the scope of talent here has already blown me away. All my friends and family are still in Brisbane, so I’ve been missing them a lot, but I’ve been keeping myself busy. I’d love to work with other Sydney creatives now that I’m here!

What are the plans after this single for your music?

Because this single was written over a year ago now, I’ve written so much music since. I feel like I’ve been saving up songs in a big piggy bank and it’s about to burst open! I’ve got a string of singles to follow up ‘ALL NITE’ that will come out before the end of the year. I'm also currently working on a much bigger body of work that I am bursting at the seams to show people. I plan to roll this out with a live set once I’m closer to my friends and bandmates. But all in good time.