Zoom Q&A + EP: The Academic 'Acting My Age'
ALWAYS THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX AND GIVING THEIR MUSIC THEIR ALL - The Academic continues to connect with their fans in a unique way. To celebrate the release of their new EP, Acting My Age, the group has tapped into the internet’s ability to connect us all through live streams, performances and interviews. After their innovative video for “Bear Claws” caught the internet by storm back in 2017, the Irish band has continually grown their Indie Pop sound. The Academic has gone on to hit No. 1 on the Irish Album Chart and tour with The Rolling Stones, Twenty One Pilots, Catfish and the Bottleman, The Strokes and more. Their EP Acting My Age showcases a more mature flow with their music while sticking to the upbeat roots that fans love.
The Luna Collective recently had the pleasure of attending a virtual press conference hosted by the band and the 1824 press team to chat about what they’ve been up to, their new album and more. Complete with a stripped-down performance, The Academic finds ways to always engage their viewer through just the screen.
Stream their new album Acting My Age and read below for some highlights from this week’s press conference.
1824: How has making music been during this quarantine?
THE ACADEMIC: It’s been super productive for us actually. We got to get together online a few times and share ideas. We’ve been working hard.
1824: Everyone has been feeling a little less creative during this weird time in the word, what do you guys do individually and as a band to spark creativity during isolation?
THE ACADEMIC: It’s made us think on our feet in a different way. We’re so used to being in a band and living out of a bag together. We’re usually able to bounce ideas off of each so quickly. At the beginning, we found it a bit strange to try and be creative because it was such a serious thing that was happening and we had tours being canceled. Personally I did feel very comfortable jumping right into music so I think it was right to give ourselves a bit of time and figure out how we were going to adjust to it.
It’s lovely that music is very technology-based so after a while, we were able to write songs via email and still do work. We’re lucky we’re in that situation and able to do that. So we were able to continue making music. But, obviously, when life isn’t really happening there’s not much inspiration going on - you can only write so many songs about going for a walk or a dog you see.
I think we’ve tried to listen to music we haven’t listened to before, catch up on films we’ve put off and share things that we’re finding intetest.g. That’s helped open up the creative palette. Stephen showed me The Talking Heads and I’ve pretty much been in a full-time relationship with The Talking heads over lockdown now. Stuff like that is how we’ve been trying to keep creative.
1824: Is your music video “Anything Can Happen” essentially how the group continues to create music or how has the process modified?
THE ACADEMIC: In terms of current situations with working remotely it’s pretty much bang on with how we work lately. All of the video content we’ve put out has been done remote - we’ve had to become good at cinematography as well as music while we’re at home.
In terms of creating music, luckily we’re all pretty comfortable with writing and recording music by ourselves at home. We’ve all got little setups and have just been in constant communication with one another and shooting around different ideas. We’re lucky in that as much as we love being in a room together we’re still able to create music in this current situation as well.
1824: How would you like COVID-19 to change the music industry in a positive way?
THE ACADEMIC: Push the whole industry towards supporting artists in a digital way because a lot of us rely on touring and selling merch at shows to make a living. So maybe a push towards more digital support overall would be beneficial for the industry and everyone involved.
1824: Sonically, songs like “SUPERLIKE” and “AFTERTASTE” are a major departure from your previous more Indie-rock guitar-based work, and introduce a more Pop sound with synth elements. Was there something that inspired this shift and it there any other new musical territory you venture into with Acting My Age?
THE ACADEMIC: All of us as a band really went through a phase of new wave music and got super into bands like New Order and Psychedelic Furs. For a good year, we were really into that kind of music, but now we’ve gotten over It a little bit. There’s one song on the new EP that harkens back to that more huge synthy sound. The EP covers more ground.
1824: What was the most important thing you learned while creating “Acting My Age”?
THE ACADEMIC: Patience. Absolute, pure, patience. It was one of those songs where the verses were really good, we had a chorus, tracked it a bunch - like 20 times. Then Stephen said “It’s not good”, so we kept doing recording it. It so frustrating, but patience is important and not forcing it. We took a break for a few days and came back and the chrous was there. We had a fresh mind. The payoff was a very nice feeling when the chorus came and the lyrics landed. It was worth the wait.
1824: How are you finding ways to connect virtually with fans and promote the EP without tour dates or the festival season.
THE ACADEMIC: It can be tough - it feels weird to be releasing music and not instantly tour it until who knows when. We’ve been doing a ton of online live events like Instagram live just to feel as close to fans as possible.
We did a Zoom party with a bunch of fans recently and we just hung out and chatted about whatever. We’re just been trying to connect in that way and just interact in the closest way to real life I suppose.
1824: You’ve only recently started playing music together again, how did that first jam go?
THE ACADEMIC: It was super fun to get back together again. It was the first time we got together in a room and played the songs from the EP which is really interesting. We wrote the songs separately and never got to jam it out together so it was really fun. We’re looking forward to hopefully playing more in the future.
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RT @i_D: Ian Kenneth Bird photographs young punks on Polaroid: https://t.co/MKT0tMUqO9 https://t.co/a0tTl12ML5
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RT @AnOtherMagazine: #DreamHome – this isolated idyll in the mountains of Lanzarote 🌵 📸 via Nowness, photography by Clemence Blr 🔁 https://t.co/GUusdxD0cg