A Quick Chat With Mecha Mecha

Brisbane’s dark indie trio Mecha Mecha is back with a brooding and cinematic new single, Mourning In The Evening. Blending melancholic piano, eerie static, and sweeping vocals, the track captures the devastation of heartbreak with an intensity that shifts between sorrowful balladry and explosive rock. Known for their genre-bending sound and electrifying live shows, Mecha Mecha delivers yet another spellbinding release—one that lingers long after the last note fades. We caught up with Walter and Angelo of Mecha Mecha. Check it out below.

Can you tell us what this track means to you and what you want people to take away from it?
Walter: It's a really personal song, maybe our most vulnerable yet. I think it does an ok job of portraying the feeling of moving into the next chapter of your life, which is often painful or bittersweet. There's a general tone of grief. Growing up in a regional town often leads to knowing more people who have died, and I've been to an alarming number of funerals since Covid started, friends and family.

Angelo: Our Grandma passed recently, on Christmas day. We could dedicate the release of this song to her.

Walter: I didn't think to do that, but it's maybe a conflict of messages. That would have been nice though. She directly helped with basically anything we've managed as a band.

Who are some of your influences, and why?
W: Well there's the obvious ones, Muse and Radiohead particularly Climbing The Walls. Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix really influenced the song melodically, as well as Massive Attack with the sound we were going for in the verses. We're still using Royal Blood's "lead bass" formula too, there's no real guitars in the song, only bass. We share members with the band members of singer songwriter Zanna Black, and the way she writes lyrics has had a bit of an influence on me too. Rory Newman's song "Mirror Flame" also influenced us on the arrangement side.

A: Brock Weston, the drummer from the band Bugs, really workshopped my part with me and just had the best sounding drum kit. I think the most fun I've had recording.

What's the creative process for you, from writing through to recording?
A: We just take a really long time. Sometimes the songs are written really quickly and they seem to instantly appear in our setlist, but the recording and releasing the song part seems to take ages for us.

W: well, yeah. It's really expensive haha. The writing process is nothing profound. Riff feel good, play riff many time. Then sing over it. Then work out how we can play it live. Then just demo the hell out of it, adding layers and layers. I basically always follow the rule of, "Can I play this on an acoustic guitar and it still sound good?"

We took a phaser pedal, and fed it back into the amp that was going into it, which created this horror movie soundtrack effect, which was maybe exacerbated by the fact the amp belonged to a friend of mine who passed.

What do you think makes a great song?
A: I'll have to ask Ai to analyse my Plex music library, and find the common factors found in the songs I've rated 5 stars.

W: Imagine if you found an actual use for Ai. I'd say it's just what I said before. If the song sounds good with 100 hours of production, it's still a good song. Can I sing the song over a crappy beaten up classical guitar and, it still sound good, you know?

If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
W. Probably Igorrr, French producer. Making the best music in the world right now.

A. Catatonic Youths, the instagram page.

W. Hahahahah. I thought you were gonna say Jarrod Wrigley (country artist) because your audition fell through.

When not working on music, what other creative outlet/s do you have?
A. I grow my nails out. Or look after my guinea pigs, making their home more interesting.

W. I'm a pretty active person, but sports and exercise don't really count. But I play in two other bands too, so it's hard to say, there's not much time left... We're both kinda self improvement nerds a bit. Biohacking, cold showers and stimulants haha. Writing your goals out. I wish I had have learned caligraphy.

A. You should.

Who are some local bands we should check out?
A. Well we're both members, Zanna Black's rhythm section.

W. Lucid Safari, those guys are fun and Dan their singer works SO hard. Also Rory Newman, he released a gorgeous bluesy singer songwriter album late last year I think. "Mirror Flame" influenced my songwriting...

Winter or summer and why?
A. Summer, it doesn't hurt.

W. Yeah because you're nocturnal. Winter all the way. I want to live in Prague, I hate Australia's summers. I hate being sweaty.

What do you have planned for 2025?
A. I want to record more songs with Brock (Weston) and bump the songs out just frequently, not worrying about all the promo and social media garb.

W. Oh I wasn't expecting a normal answer from you. I was just going to say pay off my tax bill, and stay alive. As a band? Stay together, that's an achievement these days. Our violinist Isaac had a baby recently, so I'd like to be a good uncle for him.

Interviewsaustralianmusicscene20 February 2025