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Making Noise With LUCY MAY From CLOSURE · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: My name is Lucy May. I'm the vocalist for the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: band Closure.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: We're a post hardcore band from Sydney.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that'll do me for the day. Here you go,
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: thanks for joining.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Us, Thank you for having me.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Oh absolute pleasure. So Closure are headed to Big Sound
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, which will be held in Brisbane's Fortitude
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  Speaker 2: Value from September two to September the fifth, So not
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: long away now are you starting to get a bit nervous?
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  Speaker 1: Very excited. We're in Brisbane last week on tour with
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  Speaker 1: Bank's Arcade and we were seeing all the posters around
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  Speaker 1: with our name on it, so it was really exciting.
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  Speaker 1: Can't wait to get up there.
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  Speaker 2: I bet it. Big Sound features more than one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and twenty bands playing over eighteen stages, so it's going
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  Speaker 2: to be busy. It's not all fun, is it.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: No. I think it'll be really hectic. But I've seen
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  Speaker 1: a lot of stuff, like I think there's a Spotify
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  Speaker 1: hub and there's a couple of different things just to
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  Speaker 1: make sure the artists are feeling supported and stuff, which
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  Speaker 1: I think is really cool. So keen to check some
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  Speaker 1: of that out as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's heaps or too like you got the showcase gigs,
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  Speaker 2: there's workshops, there's speeches, there's networking to be done. Have
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  Speaker 2: you have you started planning your time hearing it or
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  Speaker 2: are you started going to leave that to the plane
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  Speaker 2: maybe and crossing off on there, I'm not sure.
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  Speaker 1: There's definitely there's definitely some bands that we want to catch,
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  Speaker 1: some Sydney bands and some other bands that we haven't
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  Speaker 1: seen before. I would love to go to a couple
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  Speaker 1: of the chats and see. I'm not sure exactly what's
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  Speaker 1: on I need to look, but yeah, we'll definitely be
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  Speaker 1: making the most of our time up there for sure.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. And what days and venues is the closure plan?
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  Speaker 1: Do you know? We're doing Wonderland upstairs and then we're
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  Speaker 1: doing Rick's Backyard. I think it's a Wednesday and a
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  Speaker 1: Thursday or a Tuesday and a Thursday and on the
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  Speaker 1: Monday night. It's not related to Big Sound, but we're
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  Speaker 1: doing a Destroyal Lines showcase at the bright Side that's
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  Speaker 1: just before it kicks off, which will be really fun. Nice.
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  Speaker 2: And how did you guys actually get involved? Like I
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  Speaker 2: know all heaps the bands every year trying to get
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  Speaker 2: part of Big Sound, So how did close you get
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  Speaker 2: on the bill.
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  Speaker 1: We just did the application. I think we were really
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  Speaker 1: fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to play it,
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  Speaker 1: given that we are like a heavier band. I think
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  Speaker 1: sometimes it's difficult for heavy bands to get into that
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  Speaker 1: more like mainstream kind of scene, I would say. But honestly,
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  Speaker 1: we just grinded on the application and didn't leave one detail,
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  Speaker 1: and yeah, we were lucky enough to be accepted.
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  Speaker 2: So that's actually a good point you make there too.
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  Speaker 2: Like a lot of bands will fill things out, like
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  Speaker 2: the applications, and they'll breathe through it, you know. I
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  Speaker 2: just think because they know everything, the person reading it
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  Speaker 2: will it's just like a natural thing. But you've got
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  Speaker 2: to be very meticulous day. You've got to read their
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  Speaker 2: questions and you've got to answer them properly and give
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  Speaker 2: them everything they want, not to nothing more to give
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  Speaker 2: them access, just give them what they want. But I
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  Speaker 2: think a lot of bands could slid down a little
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  Speaker 2: bit more and take that extra time.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, I think it's very helpful to also
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  Speaker 1: imagine like being in the person's shoes that's actually looking
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  Speaker 1: at the application, and obviously they would get thousands of applications,
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  Speaker 1: so yeah. I think really taking the time with the
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  Speaker 1: application helped us out a lot.
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  Speaker 2: I think big thing to put in there too, like
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  Speaker 2: a lot of things say like specifically no epks and
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  Speaker 2: know this and that, But a lot of bands don't
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  Speaker 2: notice that and they send them and that's when people
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  Speaker 2: look at it and they'll just go they don't even
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  Speaker 2: listen to what I want.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it could just be like one thing, yeah, and
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  Speaker 1: then it's gone.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, oh well that's their problem. Yeah. So as
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  Speaker 2: the band, what do you hope and closure will take
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  Speaker 2: out a big sound?
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  Speaker 1: I think just a new experience definitely, and hopefully meeting
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  Speaker 1: some people that we haven't had the opportunity to meet before.
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  Speaker 1: I feel like, as I said before, being like in
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  Speaker 1: a heavier kind of band, it's obviously a really tight
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  Speaker 1: knit community, so I think meeting other people. Obviously we're
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: self managed at the moment, so we don't have a manager,
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  Speaker 1: so I think that would be really something that would
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  Speaker 1: be a massive thing if we could maybe connect with
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  Speaker 1: some people and have a conversation about that. But honestly
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  Speaker 1: just getting out there supporting people. I think back like
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  Speaker 1: when I was younger, I went to heaps of shows
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  Speaker 1: and that's kind of how I've gotten closure other shows
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  Speaker 1: before we had destroyer lines to help us out. You know,
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  Speaker 1: you meet a band and you go, oh, it'd be
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  Speaker 1: awesome if we played in Melbourne next year together, and
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  Speaker 1: then it just creates new opportunities. I honestly just think
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  Speaker 1: it's the number one thing to network. Like I still
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  Speaker 1: think to this day going out and like showing up
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  Speaker 1: for other bands, like, don't only go to your set,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I think that's a really important thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, public perception is a big thing without like you say,
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  Speaker 2: like you do you play your set and go home,
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  Speaker 2: like people just look at you engage. Do they think
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  Speaker 2: they are you know, like it's sort of you should
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  Speaker 2: want to do it. But if you don't want to
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  Speaker 2: do it, still do it because it's not definitely when
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  Speaker 2: you mentioned old networking thing, it is very important in
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  Speaker 2: the industry. But the good thing about big Sound is
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  Speaker 2: you know who's going to be there. Like as an artist,
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  Speaker 2: you would have got the same sort of list of
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  Speaker 2: who's going to be there, so you can you can
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  Speaker 2: plan your strip out, like you know, right, I want
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  Speaker 2: to meet this person, so they're going to be such
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  Speaker 2: and such a certain time, and you may make a
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  Speaker 2: point of actually meeting them and staying sober enough to
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  Speaker 2: meet him. Are you going to go?
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Sure?
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  Speaker 2: It's now Closure recently released your debut EP, This Sweet
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Suffering as well, So how was the reception for that?
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  Speaker 1: Really good? Honestly a lot better than I thought it
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  Speaker 1: would be, considering it's a new direction for us. We
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: were kind of more like the techy pop punk with
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: like little elements of hardcore back in like twenty twenty,
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  Speaker 1: and now we've fallen in love with well, we've always
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: been in love with post hardcore, but it's just even more.
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  Speaker 1: I think our passion has grown for it. So I
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  Speaker 1: think our listeners have really It's been received really well,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: and I think everyone is really enjoying the more mature sound.
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  Speaker 2: I would say I as a band, like going from
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: all the pop punk thing to your post hardcore, Like
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  Speaker 2: that's a big step musically, liked you. Did you have
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  Speaker 2: to sort of sit down and have discussions about how
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  Speaker 2: you're going to move forward with that or was it
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  Speaker 2: more instinctive?
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  Speaker 1: I think it kind of came naturally, to be honest,
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  Speaker 1: because we've always had the elements of heaviness, and I
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: think as we kind of as we've grown up. Like
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  Speaker 1: I started closing when I was seventeen and I'm twenty
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  Speaker 1: three now, so I think as we've grown up and
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  Speaker 1: matureed and now we're not kids anymore, I think we've
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  Speaker 1: kind of just, you know, we want to write what
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: we want to write, and we want the people that
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  Speaker 1: love that kind of music to hopefully resonate and hopefully
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  Speaker 1: like it as well. So we kind of just did
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  Speaker 1: what felt right, and we didn't necessary really like sit
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: down and try and write an EP. We just wrote
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  Speaker 1: a bunch of songs and they all fell together, and yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it is.
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  Speaker 2: It easy to make integrating the old songs and the
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  Speaker 2: newer songs together in the lifesett list, like you're gonna
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  Speaker 2: have to phase them out eventually because they are different.
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  Speaker 1: I think I think eventually we'll have to phase them
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  Speaker 1: out for sure. I think we want to phase them out.
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  Speaker 1: You know, you play a song for so long and
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  Speaker 1: you kind of just you have to play it because
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  Speaker 1: it's it's the song that you have that people know
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  Speaker 1: or whatever. But the first song we ever released, Bedroom,
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  Speaker 1: we've stopped playing that live, which is a very difficult
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  Speaker 1: decision to make because people come and they go oh,
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  Speaker 1: why didn't you play that song. We're gonna save those
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  Speaker 1: songs for like headliners and stuff like that when we
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: do have more time. But when we've only got like
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  Speaker 1: thirty minutes, we want to make it as jam packed
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  Speaker 1: as possible.
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  Speaker 2: So and you want to represent the future of the band,
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  Speaker 2: not so much the past.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, now that like.
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  Speaker 2: You guys took a very diy approach, Like you had
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  Speaker 2: your guitarist Lachlan hand or mixing duty, if your Drummacallum
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  Speaker 2: looked after the visuals. You had friends looking after photography
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  Speaker 2: and videography, which these days is great because you can
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  Speaker 2: do it from home and the tools are there. But
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: what are some of the advantages and disadvantages, like having
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: someone in house do it. You haven't got that outside
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: set of years, I guess listen to Critical.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so our gaitaris Lachlan, he produced and he mixed
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: the whole thing. We did that at Sonora's studios on
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  Speaker 1: the Central Coast, and the owner of that studio actually
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  Speaker 1: taught Lockey how to do recording and producing. Okay, so
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  Speaker 1: we were lucky enough to use that space and we
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  Speaker 1: had Jack who owns the studio, popping down and he
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  Speaker 1: was helping with mixers, even small stuff like oh the
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  Speaker 1: snares popping out a bit there, or the vocals could
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: be a bit louder in that section. So it definitely
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  Speaker 1: got sent around to our friends in the industry and
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: people that would know how to comment, not for like
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  Speaker 1: mixed notes or anything like that, but just like if
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: you heard this song, what stands out and what needs
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  Speaker 1: to be changed, So that was really helpful. I think
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  Speaker 1: an advantage would be because these songs are so personal,
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  Speaker 1: it's kind of like the feeling of releasing it. Obviously
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  Speaker 1: we're proud, but it just feels like an extra step
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  Speaker 1: because we've done it ourselves. And I think the disadvantage
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  Speaker 1: would be the hours of mixing the song. But Lockie, Yeah,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: he's amazing. He's probably the most talented person I know.
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  Speaker 1: So he absolutely smashed it. And yeah, honestly, you just
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: can't believe it's out to be honest, so nice.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: So what's next forclosure? What else you've got to happen
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  Speaker 2: other than beach down?
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  Speaker 1: Ah, We've got a fair bit. So we're playing a
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  Speaker 1: mental health festival in Newcastle called Minds Matter on the
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: thirtieth of August, and then we go up to Brizzy
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: for Big Sound, and then we've got a couple other
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: little things that aren't announced yet, something in Sydney in
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: November which we're really really excited for. And then yeah,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: hopefully just more shows. We didn't we talk like a
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: year off touring and playing to get this EP out,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: So hopefully we're just going to be touring and playing
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: and there'll be more music next year and yeah.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: Nice. So when's the best place for people to keep
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: up with Closure? I guess and get your stuff?
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I would say Instagram, So it's at Closure Sydney on Instagram.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: I think it's at Closure Sydney on everything to be honest,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: but yeah, Instagram. We're pretty active. We do live streams
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: and have chats and stuff on.
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  Speaker 2: There, so it's fantastic, right, LET'SI Well, thanks very much
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  Speaker 2: for your time. It's been a pleasure speaking with you.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Closure will be at Beach Sound in Brisbane three September,
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  Speaker 2: the second and the fifth, and I'll make sure I
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: make you down and like to do list and come
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: and check us out.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Awesome, Thank you so much.