Q&A: RALPH TV
WITH SOUNDS THAT INVITE YOU TO A HAZY DREAMSCAPE - RALPH TV has tunes that are sure to get you swaying all around. The flickering neon glow of boardwalks and bars illuminating the laidback beachside atmosphere of Brighton is sonically captured through their music. Swirling music video graphics and chlorine sounding guitar riffs evoke the tones of a West Coast indie band or even at times the Animal Crossing: New Horizons soundtrack. However, the slightly surreal moments in the visuals for “Making Movements” or “Maybe That’s Why” reveal their British origins. RALPH TV has been defined by some as making slacker pop gems, and their most recent release Cabin Fever Dreams definitely emulates this. While, their tour dates have been halted due to the coronavirus pandemic, be sure to keep your eyes out for rescheduled dates and your ear out for new singles they plan to release later this year. Read below to learn about their creative process, their new quarantine routine and more.
LUNA: Congrats on your latest album, Cabin Fever Dreams! What are some of the main ways you’ve seen your music evolve with this album?
OZ: Thank you very much! I think the main progression we’ve seen in ourselves over the course of making this album is just a steady improvement in the sounds and styles that we’ve utilized before and just becoming more polished in the way we execute them. Our aim was to make Cabin Fever Dreams a definitive summary of everything that RALPH TV has been about so far, and to refine our creative process as much as possible.
LUNA: Which track means the most to you from Cabin Fever Dreams and why?
OZ: For me personally Making Movements is one that I’m very attached to. Had gone through a rough break up at the time and writing this song helped me clear the clouds over my head. I know that it will be different for the other boys though. We all have different favourites.
LUNA: I dig the recent music video y’all put out for “Maybe That’s Why” - really groovy. Is the visual something you’d like to explore more?
OZ: You’re too kind! Yeah we definitely will be making more videos. We’ve done three so far, all ourselves and with friends. Big shout out to our housemate and engineer Tom Bacon who edited all of them. It’s really refreshing to be creative in a different way aside from just music. Putting film to music is something that we find incredibly enjoyable, especially when you don’t have the pressure of having to be all serious and professional.
LUNA: How often are you thinking of the listener when writing your music?
OZ: When we write we tend to completely shut ourselves away from the world. So in that sense it’s more just us, the instruments and the computer when we write. We just write what comes to us and then hope people like it I guess.
LUNA: I love that your Instagram really shows yall’s personality and is just fun. How do you balance using social media to promote yourself but also just have fun with it?
OZ: It’s definitely something that can be hard to balance. We all need to have healthy relationships with our socials and not become obsessive over it, but also it is something that can bring people together. As you say we do make a conscious effort and try our best to use socials not just to spam people but to show our followers the humans behind the music as well.
LUNA: Is there something in particular you’d like your audience to take away from your music?
OZ: From the start we’ve set out to make music to put people in a good mood, whether it energizes or relaxes we hope to brings you some happiness and a little escape from the world for a few minutes at least.
LUNA: How are you taking care of yourselves during these crazy times?
OZ: We’re pretty nicely settled into our isolation routines to be fair. Me and Isaac are up pretty early, do a little morning workout together and have some breakfast. Luke won’t be up until about 4pm as he’s been up all night on Minecraft. We’ll make some music or play some video games in the day, then cook up a feast and watch a movie in the evening. Ben is isolating in a different house to us with his boyfriend and his dog Teddy!
LUNA: Now that Cabin Fever Dreams is out, what can we expect from RALPH TV next?
OZ: You can expect us to be going on a little tour whenever things are safe again. We were due to start one on March 29th, and to my knowledge we’re pretty close to getting all the dates rescheduled for later in the year. We will have to wait and see though obviously. We’ll be putting out more singles/videos this year as well I’m sure so keep an eye out.
