Ever wondered how Conn.’s impeccable new single Through The Night was engineered? Tim Smyth does and he was kind enough to share their little convo with us.
Conn. knows how to spin a ballad of heartbreak into an acidic grunge masterpiece, just look at his latest single for proof. Through The Night burns lovesick melodies onto the walls of ’90s rock, melting nuance and delicacy onto a soundscape that would otherwise go unconsidered.
Fresh off the release of this masterpiece, Conn. (a.k.a Zac Connelly) managed to catch up with Tim Smyth from Tim Smyth and HolyTrash to chat through the single. Having been mates for a few years, their conversation covers all the bases from the artist’s music, influences, and the gear used to make the track.
I decided to do an artist on artist interview with Tim Smyth from Tim Smyth and Holy Trash. Tim and I met almost 5 years ago when I joined a band called Rival Fire on bass and he was the guitarist. Since then, we’ve been super close friends and now even work at the same job together. He also runs a studio called One Punch Records: where we tracked Through The Night. I decided to get him to do the interview as he is one of my best buddies and also just released a song called Bad Luck Man, which you can find in his Instagram bio.
Tim Smyth interviews Conn.
TIM: What’s one thing you like to do when you rise each morning?
ZAC: I actually have quite a specific routine, on workdays anyway. I wake up at 5:50 am, go make a coffee and porridge and then sit in bed with them watching an episode of something. At the moment, I’m watching the McMillions documentary and it’s amazing. I also annoyingly have psoriasis, so I put on my two different creams and three different moisturisers for different parts of the body, wait for them to dry and then I get changed, do my hair and get ready to go.
TIM: What inspires you to play music and why is it such an important part of your life?
ZAC: I think the main reason I play music is because my dad used to be a rock star back in the day when he played bass in his band Reflex Arc and I think as a kid I wanted to be like him with his fringe and cool band clothes [laughs]. It’s important to me is because it keeps me from going totally mental, I suppose. You cannot trust someone who says they don’t like music.
TIM: Where does the name Conn. come from?
ZAC: It was my dad’s nickname when he was playing in bands so I thought it seemed fitting.
TIM: Who are your heroes that you aspire to?
ZAC: That changes monthly [laughs]. As a kid, I loved Phil Jamieson from Grinspoon so much. Even to the point that I dyed my hair white and wore a white suit to free dress at school because he did that for the Aria Awards. My brother Mitch got me into a band called Against Me! about 16-17 years ago when he’d play their album Searching For A Former Clarity repeatedly on our way up to Pottsville, NSW for our annual holiday. I’ve loved their lead singer Laura Jane Grace since then. But currently, I’ve been smashing anything Kevin Parker does just like everyone else on the planet.
TIM: What was your guitar signal chain for your new track Through the Night?
ZAC: I used my beloved black Rickenbacker 360 on most of the track but also used your custom Tele as well to add a bit more twang to the sound of the song. In terms of amps and pedals, I was mainly using an electro Harmonix big muff with an EQ pedal for the heavy sounds. I just plugged directly into the console for the cleaner sounds and then into a Vox AC30. That amp has this awesome ability to blend clean and dirt and when you really crank it up it begins to break, which is probably my favourite sound. An interesting fact is my dad does NOT like Telecasters or AC30s [laughs]. He’s wrong though, hey?
TIM: What was your favourite part of the recording process of your debut single?
ZAC: Hangin out with my friend Tim but also the initial buzz you get when you first put an idea down.
TIM: Name one song that is your go-to track to fire you up.
ZAC: DARE by Gorillaz.
TIM: What is your process of writing songs? Lyrics or music first?
ZAC: On Through the Night I did both at the same time. The latest song I started was definitely words first but that’s not to say I don’t write the music first sometimes too.
TIM: I hear lots of rad synths and sampled beats throughout this tune. How did you go about creating these?
ZAC: Well, first of all, I set up a little studio in my parent’s garage, got a Macbook pro and downloaded Logic (which my friend Steve Peluso suggested) so I could give the whole songwriting from scratch a go again. Then I bought a Shure SM7B mic and recorded sounds like clicking and hitting my shoe on a glass panel on the wall and put them in the song. In terms of the synth sounds, I bought a midi controller and used pretty stock standard plugins.
TIM: Creating music can sometimes be a frustrating and exhausting process. What do you do or where do you go to take some time out to recharge your body battery?
ZAC: Work [laughs].
TIM: If you could play a show anywhere you wanted to where would it be?
ZAC: I’ve played a couple of smaller festivals and they were heaps of fun so to be able to do a big festival like Splendour in the Grass would definitely be fun.
TIM: What is the future plan for Conn.?
ZAC: I’ll just keep writing and recording music in the gaps when I have a second. It’s the most fun you can have so I’d be silly not to.
Check out Through The Night here. Catch more from Tim Smyth here.
