A Quick Chat with TILE

Congrats on the release of ‘Cloud’! Can you tell us a bit more about the song’s meaning?

Thank you! Cloud was born out of a frustration of feeling the societal expectations to live your life in a certain way, hit milestones at a certain age and be with a certain type of person in a certain type of way. Culminating in this feeling that if you don’t then you are a failure. Being a neurodivergent queer person (James - singer) it is frustrating to see how much of those notions are echoed throughout society. It can be as simple as passing comments advertising to much larger issues like legislation. So Cloud is sort of a culmination of those frustrations because it baffles me that anyone outside of yourself should have a say on how you live your life, who you love and how you choose to present yourself.

How did TILE form?

James wrote a lot of these songs while in a slump in the UK with chronic fatigue. So when they returned to Australia, James reached out to Tom who has played in a band with James before but also worked together quite a bit, to just help with fleshing out the songs and with the direction. Then Max and Bek joined and after a four-month weekly jam to flesh out the demos, the band formed.

What’s your favourite show you’ve played so far?

Our EP launch at The Bergy Bandroom would have to be a highlight. As we are still a relatively new band we had been doing a lot of support shows so when it comes to your own show you never know if people actually like the music or are interested haha but to have people come that none of the band knew and they were singing along was a really special moment for us. Not the full lineup but Bek and James played a stripped-back acoustic version of a few songs for Over Our Dead Body (Alex Lahey and Gordi’s joint venture), we had never really seen us playing anything acoustic so it was an absolute honour to be asked alongside amazing artists but also very confronting to not be able to hide behind movement and guitar pedals haha.

Which album do you have on repeat right now?

James - In Standard Definition - Art d’Ecco
Bek - Slow Boom by The Home Team
Tom - Jeopardy - The Sound
Max - Jhazmine’s Lullaby - 7 Angels 7 Plagues

What show are you bingeing at the moment?

James - Alice In Borderland
Bek - Friends
Tom - Batman: The Animated Series
Max - It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

What was the first gig or concert you ever went to?

James - Green Day
Bek - One Direction
Tom - The Living End
Max - Parkway Drive

What’s planned for 2025?

We have our second EP Human On Hold Vol.2 coming out in May so we have some singles and shows coming out before then. However, we have also just recently recorded four tracks produced by Alex L – which was an amazing experience – so not sure what the rest of the year will look like but maybe these will also be on the cards for releasing before the year is out.