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Meticulous and Specific ft. Searows · 78 Amped

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'll see how it is.
• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, good thanks, mate.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: I thought we were going to redo that one.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Gotta welcome the listeners, Sam.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna make them feel included.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's gotta be the most awkward intro we've ever had on the podcast ever.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: Probably a few that hit the cutting room floor.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: Maxwell, this has probably been the most uncool I've ever been for a guest ever.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you were, I would say, Schwitzen.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: I wasn't even nervous.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was just the the fact that I admire Ciro so much that when he appeared on screen for the first time, I was a bit flustered.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: Mate, you're a Fisher, you're losing it.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: So much so that I hope you've I don't know which version you've used, but the original.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it actually works better than the other one.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: I thought of it.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: The second one he said, I was like, ooh, wouldn't have recorded that, re-recorded that if I were you.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever helps you.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Sick.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: But um, no, ahead of Ciro's debut Australian tour, we had the chance to talk to Alec and sort of spoke a little bit about his journey and death in the business of whaling, um, his new album, and how he sort of had to relinquish artistic control for the first time, which was quite interesting.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: It was interesting to hear.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously, all of Ciro's music is so intimate, and you feel like you're you're right in the room where it's being recorded.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think he was talking through how that process evolved and changed with collaborators, but still tried to capture that same spirit.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really interesting to hear how that came to be, and maybe a little hint towards an upcoming collaboration that we would very much like to hear.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: If you are a fan of Ethel Kane, I highly recommend you listen through to this episode because we talked about some things that could be groundbreaking.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, Sam, uh, here's you absolutely freaking out talking to Cyros.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: Hi! Maxwell, life is too short to be cool around artists you admire.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited by today's episode because ahead of his debut Australian tour, we are chatting on the line with Alec, aka Ciros.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the show.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for having me.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's a pleasure.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: We I've been a long time admirer of your work, so um, it's it's you know, I'm I'm quietly stoked over here.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: But um, we have so much to talk about first.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, before we jump into tour, we start the show the same way every week, and that's just to get an idea of what you're spinning in your playlist lately.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a good idea.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what am I spinning?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Let me check.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Hold on.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I forgot.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as you asked me, I forgot.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's a high-pressure question every time.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone's always like, oh no.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I feel like a lot of albums came out like so like long-awaited albums for me came out in the last couple weeks.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um Squirrel Flowers album, Say a Prayer to the Gods of Getting Going, is what I'm spinning this week.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Alright.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't know.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of it's it's one of those I feel like sh she is so um good at the the balance of like like uh you know rock and folk and and and I don't know, it's it's it's just beautiful.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what the genre would really be, but it's um very incredible, highly recommend.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's a that's a hey, that sounds like a a good recommendation, so we'll we'll get stuck into it.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: But before we we dive into talking about the Australian tour, let's uh take a step back because you've been touring all around uh North America in the death and the business of whaling tour, and from what we've seen online, things look amazing.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: The reception from fans has seemed incredible from our side.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: But for you up there on stage, how how have you felt that the fans have been receiving the the new material?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, really I feel like it's been really awesome to get to like see people, I don't know, people like reacting and and and resonating with the new record.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I feel like it's been it's been really great and it's always sort of my favorite part to like or like one of my favorite things to like play new stuff and also get to like learn my own like have my own evolution with like the live versions of the songs.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's been very fun.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: I mean on the album, it is such a an expansive and I guess new pathway for you sonically while still holding that like that deep emotive touch that people have grown to love from you.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: When you're in the process of putting all the the pieces together for the album, did it feel like you were stepping into the unknown a bit with your sound, or did it feel like the right time to I guess explore something new?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I definitely was I think I've I have for a long time been very eager to like make my songs feel like bigger and more um more layered and and I think I have slowly been learning how to um like incorporate the instrumentation I want with like what I am like what I tend to write.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I think I just like I've also never really I haven't been very good at like working with other people in the past with like recording.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like this album was a very um new process and it was really really awesome to get to have like the resources and the like help to make it feel bigger.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Speaking of of that exact part of the process of the the the collaborative side and I mean obviously you've always had such a hands-on approach with production and recording around it looks like around your house.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now that you've moved into a space where you've relinquished a bit of that creative control, but you're you're opening up to collaborative kind of um you know creation.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: How did that feel as a as an artist who's had such I'm not gonna say tight control in like a negative way, but you've who's had such a tight control of their own art so far?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was definitely hard to sort of adjust.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I do like it is a very intense control when it's just me, and it's like I get very obsessive about it.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I think it does definitely force me to like I don't think that my my obsessiveness about how I do it by myself is necessarily like beneficial to the process.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think it just makes it kind of like miserable for me because it's like I'm not having fun if I'm just like like in my room by myself recording the same vocal part because I'm like it's just needs to be I can do it better.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I feel like having someone else who is who's like no, I think that was the one is very helpful.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: Were there any moments in the studio where you know you had a clear direction in mind for where you wanted a song to go and then you were challenged on that?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like did you have to sort of have creative discussions about about all of that stuff at all?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think for the most part, I there were definitely parts where um Trevor, my uh engineer producer, um he I feel like there were a lot of things that he was like, I think we could do this, and I was like, that that's not what I planned, but maybe I'll think about it.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then it was like, okay, yeah, no, oh you're right.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I think for the most part, it was like I went into the process knowing that I wasn't gonna have as much control, so I had everything very planned out.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, this is what it's gonna sound like, so I feel like I definitely am still in the process of learning how to let go a little bit.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I think it's it's definitely a mix.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think I was absolutely influenced by by his ideas and and learned to learn to not be crazy about it.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: But learning to let go is a is a hard thing.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: I imagine that would be brutal.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: The when we talk to a lot of artists who have gone from uh, you know, like uh a bedroom production, you know, style to into the studio, they say that the biggest thing, or not always, but a lot oftentimes I'll say the biggest thing is, you know, you've you've started with a mattress up against a wall to kind of you know work as a vocal booth, and then suddenly you're in a room with a thousand knobs and switches and and all this gear, and it's kind of overwhelming with all this choice.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Did you ever have those moments where you just thought, what's gonna be like, you know, they all these different settings sounds incredible, which are gonna be the the perfect one for this track and and and kind of had to lead on that creative part of the process?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think that is probably part of it that I feel like the the tones of like guitars or something, like those elements of it, I think because I haven't had a lot of like I'm I've my process has been so stripped back and simple and like garage band.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like I haven't really learned a lot about what is possible.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it was a lot easier to to lean on the people that on like Trevor and the other people that we brought in to to work on the album.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I think I was sort of letting them like show me the options and then just like followed whatever we all thought sounded right.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: Lyrically, your songs connect so deeply with your fans, and I mean for me personally as a listener, your lyrics and voice was kind of the first thing that drew me into guard dog.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: So for your songs, I'd love to know they feel so beautifully curated and poetic, but is that something that's always come naturally to you and easily when you're writing, or is it something that you're really meticulous and considered with in the way you approach, you know, lyrics when you're songwriting?
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I'm definitely very meticulous about it.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I think it's it's interesting.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like I I think it's one of those things that uh sometimes just happens in a very like I feel like the best lines or or like melodies or something like sort of happen almost randomly, like when you aren't trying really hard to write something like a specific uh point or feeling.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, it's definitely a mix.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: I I've always I think it has been an evolution.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: I used to really write like very um stream of consciousness, like nothing really meant anything.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: And like I think with guard dog, and I still, you know, do write a lot that's like I don't know, I don't know what that means really, but um for the most part, I feel like I like from like while I was writing my first album, I think that was when I started to write more specific things, even if it was still really vague.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think it's like over time I've learned to get a lot more meticulous and specific about the words and the the choices that I make, but yeah, I'm still really learning how to like like how and when to be that like intense about it and when to just let go and like let it sort of come to me.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: When you when you have those, you know, that kind of stream of consciousness, you know, there's not necessarily a specific, you know, defined meaning for for for some of your lyrics.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: And and oftentimes you'll you you know we'll talk to artists who say, I fail cup and say that they it means this to them and it's a completely new interpretation.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Do you then sort of go back and go, oh wow, yeah, that's a a real like um, I suppose putting your own thoughts and feelings through someone else's lens changes how you feel about them in a way?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, totally.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely have had so many times where I have a song that I I like I feel like it probably means something, but I don't really know.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like I like I don't I couldn't explain it.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um and like as soon as someone else talks to me about it in like a review or or an interview or like a fan or or a collaborator or something, and it's like I yeah, I I realize like right, like like obviously that's what I was talking about.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: I knew that totally.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I I feel like it is in retrospect, I understand my songs a lot better, and like through other people's lenses, I can like yeah, I I kind of need that sometimes.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: That must be such a strange feeling, but very cool at the same time.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is strange.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: Before we dive into talking about the the tour in Australia, uh we also our lists would kill us.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're big, huge fans of Ethel Kane on the show, and I think with the our lists would kill us if we didn't talk about uh your relationship and the support you've received from from Ethel Kane.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: How does it feel having such an icon in your corner uh, you know, as an artist?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, it's very it's really like incredible to like get to I don't know, to like have someone that I have admired for so long, like I'm so inspired by her, um, and to like have her be I don't know, yeah, hard to have her like be so kind and supportive and like the fact that anything that I've made means something to her is just like it's baffling to me.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I feel very grateful to her and like she's just a sweetheart, and yeah, she's awesome.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, our fans, I'll go, I'll double down just for our listeners because they are massive fans of both you and Ethel Kane.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: Could we ever see, you know, a potential collaboration?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: Is there you know something on the cards, you reckon, hypothetically?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I feel like for sure, I think it is definitely we will definitely make something together.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think um we kind of are I think I mean I'm I'm not I'm kind of bad at like any sort of uh uh the type of planning involved in like going flying somewhere to to write with someone.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's like I haven't really done much like in-person writing with anyone, and I think um yeah, it's like it's so daunting to me to like share, like to try and I don't know, I've I just have have so little experience with it, but I think that would be like the way that we would want to do that.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we've talked about it.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we'll wait and see.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Just have to we'd love a hook and a cheese.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, in the interest of time, let's jump straight to tour because it's your first time on Australian soil, and you've pretty much sold out every show, which is incredible.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: How are you feeling about bringing your music to the other side of the world?
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very, very excited.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like it's been a place that I've wanted to go for a very long time, and the venues look so beautiful, and yeah, I think it's gonna be very special.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: The uh the Brisbane show you're playing is like a it's a mini aircraft hangar.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's gonna be sick.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: Shout out to Triffed.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: But um curating your set list, I imagine, is gonna take a bit of consideration given Australian fans have never had the privilege of seeing, you know, the catalogue live.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: Do you feel like you've got a good range currently in your set list, or is it something you're gonna have to tinker with before you head down?
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, yeah, I'm definitely gonna have some rearranging to do.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think I yeah, I I I want to like give enough of like all the songs that I think people enjoy most.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's hard because there are some that I'm just like really stubborn about and don't want to play.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: But um I'm definitely like I want to make sure that it is you know a mix of everything.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like this last tour has been like my songs are okay, my songs are really long, so there's also a limit there to how many how many I can put in the set, but um we've been able to sort of incorporate all of the um all of the songs from Death in the Business of Wailing and like several other other um of my projects.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it'll be interesting.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: The the classic hits, if you will.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly well.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we've got the tour coming up, and and there's obviously you know, we've had the album this year.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: What does the rest of 2026 uh hold?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then what does uh the the early parts of 2027 look like uh for C Rose?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um well I plan on doing a lot of writing.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um I've kind of spent so much of this past year touring and and you know working like so focused on the album.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, I'm excited to like try and get back into writing.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of in like I haven't really written a full song in a long time at this point.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: So excited to just like get to fully focus on that um and see what what happens there.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds like a very good plan.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds like you, you know, you've got the the collaboration chops down pat now, it's all gonna be a breeze.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: You'll be fine.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, listeners, catch zeroes uh with shows in in Australia in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne between November 20th and 25th, with tickets selling very fast, so hurry up and get in there.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh listen to Death and the Business of Wailing, wherever you get your music.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Alec, thank you so much for taking the time to chat to us today.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.