Q&A Interview with Nic Rollo.
Q; What’s the inspiration behind your new single Monster?
A; I wrote Monster during a pretty turbulent time in a previous relationship where it felt like I kept saying things that would damage it, and inevitably caused fractures in the relationship itself. The song is also commenting on how often, we shouldn’t be worried about other people, we should be more cautious of our own monsters. I think the song came from the guitar line that goes throughout the song - I vaguely remember coming up with it whilst in the studio with a band I play in and instantly knew I could write something around it.
Q; Who are your greatest musical influences?
A; I used to listen to so much Radiohead when I was younger that I’m sure they’re still impacting some of my musical decisions today. I think there’s something exciting about having weirder elements in pop music, so Radiohead definitely helped a lot there. In terms of synth sounds and all of that, bands like Tears for Fears, Fleetwood Mac and Tame Impala all gave me a look into that world about 5 years ago (starting with Tame). More recently artists like The Weeknd, Drake, Charlie Puth (and many others) have been really big influences on me as I’ve gotten more and more into writing pop music.
Q; What do you bring to the live stage?
A; Aside from INCREDIBLE musical prowess (I’m kidding), I feel like the live show is pretty fun. We’re all just up there having a good time, trying to not mess up too badly. I’m planning on upgrading the live show over the next few months with another member and potentially starting to look into incorporating lights and visuals, which I’m super pumped about. I’ve always been so fascinated by lighting and visuals in music.
Q; How was the recording process?
A; I love the recording process, I feel most comfortable when I’m in the studio. Working on Monster was good fun since I had been so fond of the song in its demo form. I was really excited to polish it up and see how it sounded. I recorded it at Blackbird Studio in Perth with Dave Parkin, and had Felix Parker with me (who played those ripper guitar solos). Some songs have historically been an emotional rollercoaster in the studio due to a number of reasons, but luckily Monster was pretty easy going.
Q; What was the inspiration behind the music video?
A; I caught up with Alex Montanari and Matthew James, who both worked on the clip, a few months before we were planning on beginning filming to figure out the story and what we wanted to achieve. Alex and I both had this idea in our heads about the film revolving around driving… something about Monster had a ‘driving a car’ kinda feel. After that point the hard part was figuring out how to incorporate driving into an interesting story line and keep the video interesting over nearly 4 minutes.
Q; How would you describe your writing process?
A; Sometimes it’s manic, sometimes it’s relaxed. I’ll typically just shit down at a keyboard and start playing chords until I come up with a chord progression or melody that inspires me to keep working on it. At that point I’ll begin to build a track from there. Sometimes I’ll write the bulk of the song in 20 minutes and be done with it (spending the next month or two producing it), other times I’ll spend 3 weeks trying to finish the actual songwriting (the chords, melodies, lyrics). I guess it can be hard to put a method to being creative, so to an extent you just have to let it happen as it does.
Q; Give us an interesting personal fact!
A; I’ll give you two - I’m a literal caffeine fiend, like I drink enough coffee to be considered ¼ coffee myself. It’s in my blood now. I also get a stupid amount of nose bleeds during summer, I think I have really weak nose lining or something, but damn does it suck. I’m surprised I’m not dead yet from blood loss.
