Stripes. Interview

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Elder Conservatorium graduate Harry Starick formed stripes. as a solo project before bringing Blake Pedler on board as a drummer. Their mixture of “pretty guitar riffs and aggressive, hard hitting drums are the sort of thing you want to hear in a grungy, city pub at 1am in the morning. But Starick s standalone EP, recorded during lockdown last year, underscores some surprisingly mellower influences.

Where did the name Stripes. come from?

Harry: I used to wear stripy shirts a lot and it was my nickname for a while. Then there’s this math rock band called sports., with a full stop on the end that I really like and I sort of pinched that. I think band names short always be short, sweet, and memorable.

What was the original idea behind Stripes.?

H: Blake came to the band pretty recently as a drummer. For the most part it was pretty similar before that. Not much has changed in terms of the math rock influence, but I think our sound has gotten a lot less heavy. We’ve been listening to a lot of American Football which has a much softer, cleaner sound, but regardless, we’re a still a math rock band at heart.

What sort of music were you guys listening to before you formed Stripes.? Has it rubbed off on your work?

Blake: I was listening to a lot of Tiny Moving

Parts recently, which is a pretty big contrast to the heavier stuff I was into before. I think Harry got me into that slightly softer, twinklier sound, which is different, but nice. H: During uni, I really got into mid-west emo, which was all about really talented, crazy good music, but not overproduced, and sometimes even the timing is off… it’s charming, and not perfect, and nice to listen to.

What are your favourite songs on Base Camp?

H: Tealu. It’s in this really whacky tuning that I’ve never really used for any other song and I can’t figure out anything else for. And the lyrics are really nice… “Waiting for you at the front door, like a dog waiting for its owner to come home...” A lot of my writing just comes from thousands of notes, little scribblings, and finding a way to put them into a song. A lot of songs will have random phrase thrown in because the songwriter couldn’t think of what to say and just had to fill the end of a verse… I feel like I used to do that, but when you notice it you start to work on it.

What s one thing that a lot of songwriters get wrong that s an easy fix?

B: What I’m trying to work on is having a coherence and a story to each song – not just a riff, riff, verse, chorus. H: Making the songs linear in a way. A lot of people starting out have these jarring changes in style and don’t really know what they’re trying to do with the song. Your storytelling needs to there too, because having a good story is ultimately what makes your song catchy and memorable.

One artist people wouldn t expect you to like?

B: Happy, feel-good EDM pop music, like Porter Robinson. H: Synthwave and vaporwave. But it’s not

Do you think your next LP is going to be similar to Base Camp in going for a lo-fi sound?

H: We’ve talked to the producer and what we want to do is make the listener feel like they’re in the room with us. Like it’s a live performance, with little sound quality degradations. There’s a lot of nostalgia in our songs and we try to play off that.

surprising because I’m a bit of a nerd.

Best artist of the last 10 years?

B: I got into Sophie pretty late, but her work has done so much for that scene. H: I’d say Slaughter Beach, Dog, or a local band called Racoon City

Worst?

H: Coldplay or U2. B: If Nickelback are still around, them.

What makes the perfect bandmate?

H: Blake. B: Harry.

Aw.

interview by Ivan bucalo Photography by tiah BUllock

Check out their EP Base Camp on Spotify