Tired of Wisdom Interview
Q: Can you talk about the history of the band?
A: Most of us are old friends who studied jazz at Monash University and played in various projects together over the years. We are a collective of musicians who form in different combinations to support different musicians leading their bands. Actually within Tired of Wisdom there is also Ancient Animal Orchestra, the rhythm section of Blooming and Joshua From Jericho.
Q: You mention you “worked backwards”. What do you mean by that?
A: Most bands form together, write some music, gig and then record and release an EP or album but we didn’t follow this trajectory. In 2016 I (Thomas) moved to Berlin to explore the music scene. It wasn’t long until I got tired of soloing competitions at jazz jam sessions. Then after eating home-made hash biscuits (thanks Mum for the recipe) and listening to Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach I decided to craft my own album. Dave Grohl’s South by Southwest Speech was also a big inspiration to do it my way. So I wrote the album over the year in a notebook, Sibelius and Logic. Then I moved back to Melbourne in 2017 and assembled the band to rehearse it for real. Then in 2018 we recorded it, made some music videos and eventually in 2019 we released it all. Yet not one live gig. However now we’ve got some shows lined up, we’re so keen to finally perform!
Q: What are some of the themes and topics you explore on your release Anywhere But Here?
A: Each song represented different phases and stories of my life from age sixteen to twenty-three. “Gorge” was a song about being a teenager with unhealthy attitudes towards sex and intimacy (check out this film clip for a laugh). “Neon Sand” to me represented the contour of studying International Studies in my Arts degree, beginning in a state of curiosity and optimism to conflict and frustration over the impossibility to come to conclusions ending in apathy. “Protest” reflected a time in my life when I was going to lots of demonstrations and wanted to capture the boiling tensions and animosity between the opposing sides. “Laughing With It” was my nostalgic song about living poor in order to afford great travel experiences. BUT my favorite is “Signature Scavengers” which was about registering my address at Germany’s Bürgeramt (Citizen’s Department) and had the shittiest time filling out forms, standing in queues and navigating this bureaucratic nightmare, so this song was my 'fuck you' to Bürgeramt and bureaucrats #scheißeaufbürgeramt.
Q: Can you talk about the history of the band?
A: Most of us are old friends who studied jazz at Monash University and played in various projects together over the years. We are a collective of musicians who form in different combinations to support different musicians leading their bands. Actually within Tired of Wisdom there is also Ancient Animal Orchestra, the rhythm section of Blooming and Joshua From Jericho.
Q: You mention you “worked backwards”. What do you mean by that?
A: Most bands form together, write some music, gig and then record and release an EP or album but we didn’t follow this trajectory. In 2016 I (Thomas) moved to Berlin to explore the music scene. It wasn’t long until I got tired of soloing competitions at jazz jam sessions. Then after eating home-made hash biscuits (thanks Mum for the recipe) and listening to Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach I decided to craft my own album. Dave Grohl’s South by Southwest Speech was also a big inspiration to do it my way. So I wrote the album over the year in a notebook, Sibelius and Logic. Then I moved back to Melbourne in 2017 and assembled the band to rehearse it for real. Then in 2018 we recorded it, made some music videos and eventually in 2019 we released it all. Yet not one live gig. However now we’ve got some shows lined up, we’re so keen to finally perform!
Q: What are some of the themes and topics you explore on your release Anywhere But Here?
A: Each song represented different phases and stories of my life from age sixteen to twenty-three. “Gorge” was a song about being a teenager with unhealthy attitudes towards sex and intimacy (check out this film clip for a laugh). “Neon Sand” to me represented the contour of studying International Studies in my Arts degree, beginning in a state of curiosity and optimism to conflict and frustration over the impossibility to come to conclusions ending in apathy. “Protest” reflected a time in my life when I was going to lots of demonstrations and wanted to capture the boiling tensions and animosity between the opposing sides. “Laughing With It” was my nostalgic song about living poor in order to afford great travel experiences. BUT my favorite is “Signature Scavengers” which was about registering my address at Germany’s Bürgeramt (Citizen’s Department) and had the shittiest time filling out forms, standing in queues and navigating this bureaucratic nightmare, so this song was my 'fuck you' to Bürgeramt and bureaucrats #scheißeaufbürgeramt.
Q: What is your creative process like?
A: Writing the songs on Anywhere But Here alone involved reviving old ideas and creating new songs. A lot was playing a crappy nylon guitar in my apartment and imagining what would go over the top and writing out the notation on Sibelius. However this process meant that when I got to Melbourne and was rehearsing with the band I was very precious and controlling over the parts. These days I tend to write grooves and chord progressions on bass and figure out the song structure, but the writing process now is a lot more collaborative, which makes better music. It also helps having a whiteboard in our rehearsal room so we can write weird ideas to experiment with.
Q: The album has many different styles. Are there any songs in particular you thought might be indicative of what the band will sound like moving forward?
A: Haha I hear this all the time. I was very much inspired by diversity on Björk’s Debut album that it sounds like she did whatever she wanted. I adopted a similar attitude to Anywhere But Here as I love lots of different music and each style can tell a different story. For future recordings I want to have a consistent sound for that particular record. However also continue to explore as not to limit myself over my career to one style. Right now I’ve been heavily influenced by Melbourne punk band Clowns and currently we are writing lots of punk/hardcore music however with elements of avant-garde noise music. So imagine “Neon Sand” and “Signature Scavengers” are going to have a baby together.
Q: What else should we know about Tired of Wisdom?
A: Here are some fun facts about Tired Of Wisdom: Now myself Thomas (vocals), Alex (new drummer), Dan (guitar) and Matt (bass) all live together and have a rehearsal room in our house. It's amazing being able to live with your band and regularly run ideas past each other, although we still need to schedule rehearsals. The album artwork is based off an original painting my father did when he was my age, reworked digitally. As an independent band we’ve navigated financial barriers through exchanges. For example, the star of our video for “Gorge” is my one of my drum students and the actress playing the mum is the mother of a different drum student, who were compensated with drum lessons. Recently our music featured on German filmmaker, Donald Saischowa’s 3D Multivision Documentary, 'Down Under’ in exchange for our music video, Really? I would highly encourage anyone to think outside the box of money and see what they can exchange with people around them, in order to make things possible.
A: Writing the songs on Anywhere But Here alone involved reviving old ideas and creating new songs. A lot was playing a crappy nylon guitar in my apartment and imagining what would go over the top and writing out the notation on Sibelius. However this process meant that when I got to Melbourne and was rehearsing with the band I was very precious and controlling over the parts. These days I tend to write grooves and chord progressions on bass and figure out the song structure, but the writing process now is a lot more collaborative, which makes better music. It also helps having a whiteboard in our rehearsal room so we can write weird ideas to experiment with.
Q: The album has many different styles. Are there any songs in particular you thought might be indicative of what the band will sound like moving forward?
A: Haha I hear this all the time. I was very much inspired by diversity on Björk’s Debut album that it sounds like she did whatever she wanted. I adopted a similar attitude to Anywhere But Here as I love lots of different music and each style can tell a different story. For future recordings I want to have a consistent sound for that particular record. However also continue to explore as not to limit myself over my career to one style. Right now I’ve been heavily influenced by Melbourne punk band Clowns and currently we are writing lots of punk/hardcore music however with elements of avant-garde noise music. So imagine “Neon Sand” and “Signature Scavengers” are going to have a baby together.
Q: What else should we know about Tired of Wisdom?
A: Here are some fun facts about Tired Of Wisdom: Now myself Thomas (vocals), Alex (new drummer), Dan (guitar) and Matt (bass) all live together and have a rehearsal room in our house. It's amazing being able to live with your band and regularly run ideas past each other, although we still need to schedule rehearsals. The album artwork is based off an original painting my father did when he was my age, reworked digitally. As an independent band we’ve navigated financial barriers through exchanges. For example, the star of our video for “Gorge” is my one of my drum students and the actress playing the mum is the mother of a different drum student, who were compensated with drum lessons. Recently our music featured on German filmmaker, Donald Saischowa’s 3D Multivision Documentary, 'Down Under’ in exchange for our music video, Really? I would highly encourage anyone to think outside the box of money and see what they can exchange with people around them, in order to make things possible.