CHAVEZ CARTEL SHARE NEW SINGLE + VIDEO ‘DEAD WEEKEND’
Liven up your day with a sonic cocktail of hazy guitars, moody melodics, and sultry swagger courtesy of the brand new single Dead Weekend out now from Gold Coast rockers Chavez Cartel.
A track that would equally be at home soundtracking a slick HBO series as much as it appears to unfurl like a shot of single-malt whisky, Dead Weekend finds Chavez Cartel teaming up with ARIA Award-winning producer Govinda Doyle on recording and engineering duties to bring this dark and blazing tune to vivid life. Drawing inspiration from two key hypnotic, slow-burning tracks, Colossus by British rockers IDLES and In Every Dream Home A Heartache by Roxy Music, Dead Weekend also pulsates with nods to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club alongside deep and mature self-exploration, as the band elaborates, “Dead Weekend is all about deep self-reflection. It’s about everything we have been through to get us to where we are now – the current version of ourselves. No matter how low we allow ourselves to go in life, it’s always ultimately up to us to pick ourselves back up, and it’s also up to us on how high we are able to climb. Dead Weekend is all about that. And if you’re to look at that notion fully, it’s also up to us how to decide how low we allow ourselves to fall in the first place. Dead Weekend is brutal in its take on self-accountability, but it admits that it’s all part of the act. The title of the song is sort of like a grim way of looking at growing the fuck up and sorting out your life from the pit of the stomach. When we are younger, we tend to live for the weekend, but Dead Weekend is about the stage of life a little later on when we’re looking to live for a lot, lot more.”
Perfectly complementing the sonic flavours on display, the accompanying music video for Dead Weekend is deliciously dark and equally hypnotic. With Nathan Frost helming the clip as director of photography and producer, whose work also extends to music videos for Tory Forsyth and Bad Pony, and film work on Aquaman, Alien Covenant, Pirates of the Caribbean and Thor Ragnarok, the end result is a finely-tuned work of art – but don’t be fooled into thinking it’s a lyric video, as the band explains, “The concept of the video is very much inspired by the concept of the song. We wanted it to be dark, minimalistic, and hypnotic and for it to all be in one place. The idea of keeping the camera up close to Ben’s face throughout means the viewers have nowhere really to look except where we want them to: directly into the eyes and soul of the storyteller, which is essentially what the song is about – looking into the mind and soul through different eyes and moods. There’s a lot of words in the song that suggest really delicate, perhaps desperate, inner dialogue; words like “pray” and “praying”, “fear”, “believing”, “toxic”, “control”, we really wanted the viewer to be right up close to these intensities. There’s lyrics running through the video that could be mistaken for subtitles. This is deliberate. We wanted the viewer to feel like they were being spoken to directly. Almost like a therapy session and the viewer is the therapist interpreting the words in their own way. It’s important they hear the right words which is why we added lyrics into the video – but it’s equally as important they make their own minds up on what we’re actually saying. It’s a mysterious-sounding song to be fair, and this was our attempt at adding that to the visual.”
Spending the past 12+ months honing their sound and crafting a new batch of music, Dead Weekend is the perfect addition to both 2023 and Chavez Cartel’s ever-growing catalogue. A group equally enamoured by music as they are with art and food, Chavez Cartel, comprised of four self-described “working class dreamers”, firmly embrace the loose acronym for the word “Chavez” with every creative move they make – aka “Can Have it All Very EaZily”. Constantly spurring themselves to surge forward, their relentless hard work has also led to the group working with a UK record label and ultimately, as of this year, ticking off an exciting career first: their first ever overseas tour, with festivals and side shows lined up in the UK this May. And before they trek across the pond, Chavez Cartel will also appear as the main support for UK rockers, and current UK and Ireland #1 Album Chart toppers, The Reytons, with a show in Sydney next month. And as to what fans at home and abroad can expect from a 2023 Chavez Cartel live show. “We try to make sure all our shows have big energy and big sound,” the band conclude, “but we’re really excited by all this it’s our first time being booked overseas so the enthusiasm is through the roof. We don’t really know what to expect…us on steroids, I guess!
Dead Weekend is out today, Friday March 3.
CHAVEZ CARTEL – UPCOMING TOUR DATES:
THU 16 MAR | OXFORD ART FACTORY, SYDNEY NSW
supporting THE REYTONS
SOLD OUT
SAT 29 APR | JIMNA ROCKS, JIMNA QLD|
Tickets available from www.eventbrite.com.au | All Eventbrite Outlets
TUE 9 MAY | THE GOOD MIXER, CAMDEN LONDON UK
10-13 MAY | THE GREAT ESCAPE FESTIVAL, BRIGHTON UK
SAT 3 JUN | MOONDOLL FESTIVAL, BRISBANE QLD
Tickets available soon
MONTANA SHARP SHARES NEW SINGLE + VIDEO ‘SOMETHING WICKED’
Something delectable this way comes, with art-pop connoisseur Montana Sharp today releasing an emphatic new track Something Wicked; an edgier offering from the innovative Melbourne art-work dynamo following her coming-of-age 2022 debut EP Blood Moon, but one entirely in keeping with the ever-growing powerhouse status Montana commands. Putting a modern spin on the symbolism of wickedness and villainy via the accompanying music video for Something Wicked, also out today, this new track from Montana Sharp is an enticing blend of empowerment and soulful temptations.
Drawing inspiration from the likes of Evanescence, Paramore, Halestorm and Dorothy, aka Montana’s “hardcore queens of heavy music”, Something Wicked puts a sensuous and heavier spin on Montana’s perpetually slick releases. Self-described as “if hardcore punk-rock took a quick shower”, Something Wicked simultaneously showcases Montana’s robust vocals and clever sonic craftsmanship, while also signposting an exciting new chapter for the Melbourne artist. “Something Wicked plays on the idea that I’m not this sweet “nice girl” as I’ve initially been perceived as,” reveals Montana. “At the time, my writing was somewhat coded and contrived, as if I was afraid to expose my true thoughts and feelings even to myself. My mentor at the time (who also wrote the music to this song) said to me: “for once, I’d like you to stop writing about pretty things and show me something you’re afraid of”, and out I came with a poem inspired by Macbeth: ‘something wicked this way comes’ – a warning that Macbeth is about to become a monster. Something Wicked plays on the fear that we are innately bad in some way, and that if people get a bit too close, we will be exposed for who we truly are. I think we all share that fear to some degree.”
Boasting lyrics by Montana herself, music by Gerald Marko and production, mixing and mastering by Steve Vertigan, Something Wicked also finds Montana teaming up with Zac Harris from Hoodwolf Studios, who has also worked with NERVE, The Boys and GatsbyBoi, to bring to life the vivid and vivacious accompanying music video. “I was really drawn to the symbolism of a cherry as a sexier spin on the poison apple, something that looks enticing but is bad for you,” shares Montana of devising the music video for Something Wicked. “I had a vision of cherries in a bathtub – I’m not sure why! Perhaps I was enticed by the idea of bathing in villainy, embracing the wickedness in myself.”
Making the decision in 2022 to quit her day job and pursue her dream life as a working musician, Montana Sharp has continuously established herself as an eccentric and unapologetic purveyor of art-rock and sublime creative direction. Fusing complex classic chord structures and motifs alongside modern and innovative pop, Montana’s debut 2022 EP Blood Moon firmly showcased the Melbourne singer-songwriter’s classical background, innovative arrangements and mesmerising vocals, while also acting as a snapshot of the near-universal experience of life in your early twenties. Drawing acclaim from the likes of Katie Noonan, Kate Miller-Heidke and Kate Ceberano with her debut outing, as well as many others in and beyond the industry, 2023 is already off to a roaring start for Montana as she continues to wave her magic musical wand into new and exciting waters, including recently being booked to perform in the Middle East, and turning her gaze firmly to even more new tunes. “New year, new me! It feels wonderful to get back into releasing, and I feel a lot more relaxed this time round,” shares Montana. “Bar the obvious difference in levels of difficulty, I often liken releasing music to raising children – you’re often stricter with the first child because you’re the most scared and don’t know what you’re doing, and then with the rest that follows, you loosen the reins a bit and have more trust and fun with it.”
“It’s been quite a journey these past few months, filled with lots of great opportunities and growth, and lots of dangling carrots and disappointment,” Montana concludes. “One minute you’re getting rejected by Australian Idol and the next you’re getting flown out to the Middle East just to sing two songs. Being a working musician is erratic like that, and I’ve learnt not to get too invested in all the variables and to just enjoy the ride. I’m nowhere near where I want to be in my career, but I am 1000 steps further than being stuck in the wrong one.”
Something Wicked is out today, Friday February 24.
INOVO SHARE NEW SINGLE + VIDEO ‘SWIM ALONE’
Come and dive into the ambient, hazy realms of Brisbane alt-prog rockers inovo with the group today releasing a brand new single Swim Alone. An atmospheric and immersive outing that meshes grooves with moody textures, inovo’s new track also comes armed today with a visceral accompanying music video, drawing you deeper into the band’s sonic universe ahead of inovo officially launching Swim Alone in their hometown on Friday 31 March at BackDock Arts in Brisbane.
Pulsing with artsy alt-rock and explorative flourishes, Swim Alone firmly displays inovo’s love of unorthodox rhythms, a la Karnivool, Incubus and Tool, along with the colourful, textured storytelling of the likes of Tesseract, Devin Townsend and Thrice. With guitarist Rhys Tyack editing and tracking parts in the band’s studio, Swim Alone also reached its layered and dreamlike present state via James See mixing, and Steve Smartwrangling the levels for mastering. Moody, modern and sonically expansive, Swim Alone’s surreal qualities stem partially from an actual dream experienced by vocalist Declan Nicholls, with roots also flowing from a song devised by the band’s former guitarist. “It’s about a dream I once had about a gigantic humanoid entity drifting through space, swinging off of planets to change its trajectory,” shares Declan of Swim Alone’s origins. “In the dream I was a prophet on earth that had predicted its imminent approach to Earth, and wanted to warn everyone that it will be here soon and bring about the end of the world”. “Swim Alone is actually based off an old song our ex-guitarist Jamie created called ‘It Swims Above’,” adds Rhys.“We loved the elements but couldn’t perform it when we were reduced to a smaller group. It’s completely different but if you squint your ears during a full moon you can hear a glimpse of similarity.”
Perfectly complementing the glossy darkness and cascading grooves, the accompanying music video for Swim Alone marries the track’s lyrics of uncertainty and angst with riveting and disconcerting visuals. Shooting the video themselves over a series of weekends, special effects masks, costumes, body organs and props were made by guitarist Rhys, whose work as a cinematographer has seen him shoot music videos for Halfway,Sarah Stockholm, Daylight Ghosts and many more. Drawing together a team of actors, friends and crew, the clip ultimately oozes with sharp aesthetics and boundless imagination. “Declan writes all the lyrics which invokes a very vivid representation of the story and meaning,” shares Rhysof making Swim Alone’s music video. “I wanted the story to take some of that and combine it with the feeling I had when I wrote the track. In the video we incorporated quite a lot of symbolism and centralised the theme around confinement, while keeping a cosmic horror aesthetic. We wanted to create a visceral dimension to parallel our reality, or collective experience, relying on semiotics for layers of meaning. Every shot was storyboarded as we didn’t have a lot of time on-set once people had intestines glued to their stomach or full-faced latex masks muting sense receptors.”
Sharing a love for thought-provoking music and haunting tonalities, inovo started life when Declan, Rhys and drummer Jackson Caswell met at university before evolving into their present iteration, with bass player Karl O’Shea joining a few years later after meeting in a shared rehearsal space. Originally called Solus before changing to inovo, Latin for ‘in the egg’ reflecting the conceptual and embryonic nature of their songs, inovo is ultimately passion project dedicated to making music that each band member loves, with significant emphasis on storytelling, irregular rhythms and arrangements that pervade deep into your soul.
inovo’s live show is an equally memorable affair, with the band set to launch Swim Alone on Friday 31 March at BackDock Arts in Brisbane – and there may just be a few surprises in store. “We may have a few surprises coming up, maybe…” teases Jackson of the upcoming launch show. “We like to keep things fun and unpredictable,” adds Declan of inovo’s live performances. “We tend to move with the music, so one minute we might be chill, and the next minute really not so chill”.
A labour of love, Swim Alone is just the beginning of a huge 2023 for inovo, with the group primed to reveal even more musical goodness in the near future. “It’s very relieving to release Swim Alone,” says Rhys. “We’ve been working on these songs for quite some time so it’s exciting to release our child outside of our collective womb into the big wide world”. “We worked so hard on this song and the video,” concludes Declan, “and now that it’s finally going to be out there in the world I just hope it’s something people connect with and enjoy. We have so much more to show you guys, so if you like what we do – then watch this space. Also, I love you.”
Swim Alone is out today, Wednesday February 22, and the band will be sharing a new single every fortnight thereafter, leading into the album, Desmoterion, which is set for release on May 10.
FRI 31 MAR | BACKDOCK ARTS, BRISBANE QLD | 18+
Tickets available from https://www.tickettailor.com/events/backdockarts/860530