A QUICK CHAT WITH THE GREAT EMU WAR CASUALTIES

The Great Emu War Casualties have just released their EP 'Vanity Project' - a collection of tracks that move through their dynamic indie-rock and showcase their songwriting maturity as a band. We got in touch with them to find out more about the EP, the band and the challenges in creating a new network when moving overseas.

We are loving the new EP 'Vanity Project'. Can you tell us what the inspiration behind the EP as a whole was?

Joe: Thank you. The songs are a bit of a collection of old and new but I think the record is a running discussion of propaganda, understanding, isolation and sacrifice. The songs all have very specific meanings to me but I’ve tried to make sure that, while it’s a personal record, the writing hasn’t been situational enough to stop other people from getting something from it.

Saskia: The title is a bit silly (like all our titles), but honestly there are so many people creating things and not so many people listening to things... everyone's kinda just shouting 'check me out!' into the empty void (I mean, we're doing that too, hence the title). I'm not criticising it, it's a cool thing that there's lots of creativity happening, but I think these days making music is more for your own self-expression than anything else. Well, we still hope there's someone out there that gets something from it of course...

As a band, who are your key musical influences and why?

Saskia: We've all got fairly eclectic music tastes (as you can probably hear), but as a band we really love the idea of combining a bunch of things into something new and interesting. We all love Talking Heads, Everything Everything, Tune-Yards, pop stuff with interesting rhythms and interesting melodies. I love this international band called Songø who started fairly recently, I think they do that so well – combining a bunch of stuff and making it something no one's really heard before but at the same time you can still hear all the influences.

Joe: I usually answer by listing a bunch of records that my Mum would put on in the car whenever we went somewhere when I was young because they’ve stuck with me forever. I grew up surrounded by Bowie music. She’s one of those people who says she saw every band you’ve ever heard of but she saw them before they were big. She’s a liar basically. Yeah, my biggest influence was Mum.

Bibek: There are so many, it’s been changing over the years. Currently I have been really into Tune-Yards (thanks to Saskia). Loving the weird mixes and arrangements and definitely the coolest rhythms on the tracks. But now and again I still like to go back to my metal roots, listen to the whole “Thirteenth Step” by A Perfect Circle and the 25th anniversary road runner all-star album.

You recorded all of the tracks on the EP in your own separate homes and then worked with American-based producer Alex Newport. What was that process like compared to recording together in a studio with the producer in person?

Saskia: We've actually never done the 'in-studio producer' thing in this band! That was our original intention with this EP but of course covid happened... so ironically we just did the same thing we usually do. At least we were already used to it!

Joe: We haven’t worked with a producer in that in-studio setting before, it's been too expensive for us! We do a lot of our own production work as far as structure and general songwriting is concerned, but we really like working with people in the 'producer/mixer' type role who can listen to the demo and find ways to improve it, like chop a chorus in half or add a synth or change the sound of something so it takes on a whole other dimension. Having Alex’s input on this record was incredible though because he’s worked with so many artists that we love and has such a good sense of what's needed and what's not.

As two of you are originally from the UK and Nepal, what are some of the differences you've noticed between the music industry compared to Australia?

Joe: To be honest, I’ve found it really challenging. The biggest drawback is that I don’t have a big network of friends that I can guilt into buying tickets for any shows we book, so it can be difficult to guarantee a turnout through the door. The Australian scene is also a lot smaller so there aren't as many subcultures here as there are in the UK.

Bibek: Basically, the two biggest scenes in Nepal (or till I was living there) were heavy metal and psy-trance. So it's amazing to come here and witness all these different genres of music. Definitely the industry is bigger here, there's loads of big festivals. Since Nepal is small the scene for alternative music is quite limited, but it also means it's really progressive. Also, we don't have a weekend back home so everybody goes out every night, live music happens every day. It's quite fun.

Saskia: Haha, I like that Joe and Bibek said the opposite things... Technically I'm the Australian one, but as an Aussie expat to the UK I was really surprised by how different the local music scene was to back home. Pretty much every venue had their own promoter/booker who pulled the lineups together, even the small ones, so there wasn't as much pressure on the band to sell tickets – the only times you had to book your own show was if you were doing a launch. Whereas here booking your own show is the norm (unless you have a booking agent of course).

How have you gone about creating a new network here in Australia? What challenges have you faced and what has been rewarding?

Saskia: I mean, anywhere I go I have a habit of joining a bunch of different bands... that's always the easiest way to meet a bunch of other musicians! Sadly, other musicians are probably not the target demographic... so bringing people through the door is difficult as Joe mentioned. (Actually, I don't know what my excuse is, I'm technically from Australia...)

Bibek: I met Joe and Saskia thanks to Melbourne Musicians facebook group – it's a great place to meet people to jam. Apart from that, I can't say much. I guess the other people we played with at gigs?

Joe: I really haven’t had a lot of success on the networking side. My interest is in the music, not in the business, so we’ve made some really good friends with incredible musicians, and a lot of them have featured on our work which we’re so pleased of.
You've released tonnes of music in the past year. Is it possible that you have more up your sleeves? What else do you have planned for 2021?

Saskia: Would you believe it we do have even more music on the backburner... like, fifteen songs... but I think we've bombarded people enough for now! We'll sit on them for a while and attempt to accrue some more funds from somewhere... the dream is to do an album but who knows...