We All Drive are masters of melody and meaning. Fresh off the release of their latest single State of Emergency, we caught up with the boys to break down their music and more.
We All Drive don’t hesitate for a second on their latest single. Laced with distortion and bloodthirsty beats, State of Emergency is a track ready to bust up the system and your eardrums in one, foul swoop.
Lucky for us, we were able to catch up with the boys to break down this sweltering single.
HAPPY: Hey guys, how’s it going? What do you find yourself doing right this moment?
JOEL: Hey! Tom and I are going pretty good during these times. Everything is starting to calm down a bit on our end and gigs are starting to pop back up here and there. So, it feels good to be getting back to some sense of normal!
HAPPY: We have been revelling in the release of your latest single State of Emergency! How does it feel to have it out in the world?
JOEL: Ever since everything shut down in March, literally just after we released our last single Chalk, we’ve pretty much just taken some time to ourselves and sat on a whole bunch of music just itching to play and release and all that jazz. So, it feels so good to finally get something out there after all this time. A sense of relief really. After sitting inside for so long and we’re just now getting music back out there, I think we’re heading on the right track to something.
HAPPY: Obviously, there’s a real political undercurrent in this one. What was it that made you turn your gaze in this direction?
JOEL: State of Emergency was pretty much written after a majority of events had occurred over the past couple of months. It was put together as a way to express how we felt about the handling of the pandemic, the response of the bushfires, and the Black Lives Matter protests. I wrote about our concerns and how we won’t tolerate misleading information from politicians and the media, and how “we don’t care anymore” about what other false information they intend to provide. We wanted to write this song for the good people against the bad people and we’re happy with how it’s turned out.
HAPPY: When it came to writing, was it a labour of love or more of a fluid process?
JOEL: It actually came about quite naturally, compared to the other tracks that we’ve put out. I sat on this riff and these chords for a while and I pieced them together along with the topics that I wrote about afterwards. Tom and I then sat down for a couple of rehearsal sessions, after I made a demo out of it, and tightened it all up ready to record.
HAPPY: Was there a particular album that you were listening to during this recording?
JOEL: There were a couple of artists that fuelled the fires of our writing process. I know Thomas listens to a good amount of King Gizz and these guys from France called SLIFT, for more of a psych sort of edge to his drumming. I pretty much base my writing and playing styles around some Canadian musicians like cleopatrick, which is another two-piece, and Reignwolf, who focuses more on blues as a solo artist. We also get mad vibes off of Highly Suspect but, surprisingly enough, I actually go back and listen to all the other tracks that we’ve released and played back to myself, “how could we do more than what we’ve done.” So, a lot of the past WAD (We All Drive) material helped shape most of the stuff that we’re playing now!
HAPPY: As a band, how did the musical journey begin?
JOEL: Well, Tommy and I jammed together during high school back in the good years of 2016/17, either practising for a school performance, an exam, or for fun really. And coming off that, we pretty much split apart for a bit when Tom went to work in Sydney for like half a year. I already started WAD at that point and Tom joined up when he moved back. And I think more than a year and a half later, we’re definitely getting into the feels and the rhythm of writing and playing music we love, to people we love. It’s really great!
HAPPY: Who would you be most excited to collaborate with in the future?
JOEL: The music scene in Australia, right now, is incredible and there are so many artists that we know, who we haven’t even met yet, that we would love to help boost the live music scene across the country! But, I think the one particular artist that we would love to play or even write with would definitely have to be the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. They have to be every modern Aussie’s favourite band right now. They’ve reshaped rock music in the short span of years they’ve been around for. So, to collaborate on a project that would bring joy to a lot of people would mean everything to us and music itself. Tom’s definitely a fan of their guitarist, Luke’s, side project People Taking Pictures and I’m in love with Jack McEwan’s approach to writing. But we’ve definitely heard a lot of good things about the Perth/WA music scene, such as Dulcie and Sly Withers. So, to come over and meet new people is really exciting for us.
HAPPY: If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would that be?
JOEL: That we would be able to mosh at shows again [laughs]. But seriously, there’s not much that needs to be changed. The relationship between most venues and artists is beautiful. I guess the only thing I can think of is that we wished it, or even the whole arts industry in general, would be better handled and better treated by the government. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry with so much opportunity for everyone and it’s been one of the worst affected from the pandemic. This isn’t just someone’s life and passion, but it’s also some people’s jobs. So, we’d definitely love to see some change for better arts and music!
HAPPY: What’s next for We All Drive?
JOEL: A gig is a gig. So, we’re really planning on playing as many shows as we can. We’re hoping that when more restrictions are lifted, we would be able to travel to more of our favourite cities such as Perth and Melbourne. I think there’s an idea for a show or two in Sydney in the next couple of months and then, eventually, we’re thinking of releasing more stuff in the new year. Maybe an EP? So, fingers crossed and all hands washed that all goes well!
HAPPY: Cheers for the chat!
JOEL: Thanks so much for having us guys! Stay safe.
Check out State of Emergency here.
