Between You & Me: Rediscovering Through Relaxation
Two years ago, Melbourne-based pop-punk band BETWEEN YOU & ME announced their decision to leave Hopeless Records, becoming independent. After releasing two full-length albums with Hopeless, the band made a statement on social media, stating that they felt that the label, “did not adequately support the record and uphold their obligations”. What followed was a period of adjustment, with the band getting used to being independent, and slowly releasing singles this way.
The outcome is their EP SH!T YEAH, a product of their new era as a band. While the release was staggered, that didn’t hinder its success, with the band proudly saying, “it’s been streamed nearly 2.5 million times, it got a lot of playlisting and some of the singles got major radio rotation.” While fairly short, the EP is representative of the band’s next stage, of doing everything themselves, and really finding their sound.
Although BETWEEN YOU & ME are an Australian band, they had already toured America six times, but only ever as the openers. They recall that they always felt welcomed by American crowds, but weren’t entirely sure how they would go down as headliners, so their recent US headline tour was a real test run, which definitely paid off. “Most of the shows were busy and everyone went wild. That said, we also had a bunch of incredible bands and crew with us for the run, and that made the experience very enjoyable. It felt like a little family on a travelling circus.” Another benefit to being on tour meant that the band were able to launch their EP at a live show, and see their fans reactions first hand. The band states, “the show was probably the most fun show we’ve ever had overseas, everyone was smiling and in awe of the crowd response. It’s a night we will remember forever.”
After becoming independent, BETWEEN YOU & ME knew that they wanted to commemorate the occasion with a release, and just get themselves used to how different the process would be. They began recording in an Airbnb in the countryside, and gave themselves three weeks to just write and record any idea that they had, with no obligation to meet any deadline or fulfil any contract. The band states, “driving the writing process was the modern music industry demanding us to always be releasing new music, and the pressure that we put on ourselves to remain active. The main emotion we delved into was just writing music for ourselves.” At the core of the EP is the attitude they had all along, where they would only do exactly what they wanted, saying “why the fuck not?” during the process, and taking a “deliberate approach of getting outside our comfort zone with song-writing.”
The process of making SH!T YEAH was deliberately set up to act as a relaxing retreat for the band, after many years of touring and living on the road. In some ways, it was designed to help the band reconnect and find their authentic sound, with the backdrop of an Airbnb in the countryside, and the beach within walking distance. Writing and recording was almost a second priority, with the band calling the EP a “by-product of three weeks of musicians hanging out with each other.”
They cite golf, coffee, the beach and running as their main inspirations, with an area for a golf game set up for whenever anybody started feeling stressed. The main goal was for the recording process to be calming, and when their vocalist Jake began to feel stressed about the lyrics he was writing, they decide to record his vocals months later. Taking the pressure off was key for the band to make something they were proud of, and as they label Jake a ‘perfectionist’, they made sure that there was an outcome everybody was happy with. This also meant they were able to achieve things they never thought possible, stating, “Nevermind was the easiest song to create. We wrote and recorded it in four days, and that song rocks.”
While the EP is very representative of the band’s easy-going, positive attitude in its sound and lyrics, it also definitely has its vulnerable moments, something they had to slightly push themselves to achieve, and the calming environment was undoubtedly crucial in achieving this. When writing Sad Songs specifically, the band state, “everyone wanted to progress the song to see what we could come up with, as it had a darker side to anything we’d written before.” In typical BETWEEN YOU & ME style though, it still has an upbeat sound and positive message.
For BETWEEN YOU & ME, SH!T YEAH is the product of a long process of figuring everything out. “I would say we were breaking down our own expectations of what we ‘need to write’ and ‘how we should sound’.” They had to reconvene, and truly explore what they think is good music, which resulted in a fair amount of experimentation. While all the songs are very different, the band still wanted them to be “glued together with the BETWEEN YOU & ME grit.” When asked what they want their fans to take from this latest release, they say, “don’t take yourself too seriously, be kind to each other and blast our music on your next drive.”
SH!T YEAH is out now via self-release.
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