Fusing jazzy improv with the driving beats of house, the tunes of Brissy-based First Beige are infectious.
If there’s one thing First Beige does best, it’s their ability to churn out tunes that sound like a hot night out filled with beachy, dreamy ambience. It’s this skill that comes to a full realisation on their latest single, Sudden Weight.
The band has seen great success since their first single in 2016, having supported Harvey Sutherland, Mildlife, Winston Surfshirt and Last Dinosaurs across various tour spots. Their talent has been recognised worldwide, with their 2021 single BBL premiering on US station KCRW. But First Beige keep grooving on as they now prepare to release their first album in 2022.
We recently Zoomed with members David Versace, Oscar Borschmann, Jasper Gundersen, and their cat Bucket to chat about the group’s songwriting process, lockdown, and their favourite bar, Black Bear Lodge.
HAPPY: Thanks so much for joining me today, I’m super grateful for your time. How are you guys going?
FB: Good, thanks!
HAPPY: So, I know First Beige began as a bedroom recording project. I wanted to ask how you think your sound has developed with your rising profile?
DAVID: I think it definitely started with more psych elements, not as dancy, it was more alternative rocky. Then we all started getting into dance and soul music, I think over the years that’s shown in the music. The whole writing process has changed heaps, now we’re all collaboratively writing a lot and we’ve got a nice little studio setup here. It’s been really good, I think we’re in the midst of finding our true sound right now, rather than a couple of years ago where it was lots of little things.
HAPPY: I like how you describe a “true sound” to your music. I think we have seen a lot of changes in your sound since a couple of years ago. How do you strike a balance between sticking to your roots, your influences, with self-reinvention as artists? Where does your value lie, with your roots or re-invention and pushing boundaries?
OSCAR: When you’re making music, you don’t really think about those things, it kind of just comes out. You’re not necessarily thinking about building on your past influences, and combine your new influences, I think it happens in an organic way.
JASPER: I don’t think it’s a conscious thing. It’s very much an automated process whereas our influences evolve and change, they are naturally embedded into the music that we make. I don’t think there’s ever been a moment of, ‘let’s shoot for this kind of vibe’. Especially as we’ve moved into more of a collaborative space when making music, everyone’s input finds this middle ground, which is part of how our sound evolves.
HAPPY: On the topic of recording, I find that you often have a very warm, analogue sound to your tracks, what are you currently recording on?
OSCAR: We record everything digitally, but I think we’re inspired by a lot of old artists that have more of a vintage sound. We bounce a bit of stuff to tape, and then try to amp as many things as we can. I guess it’s about listening to mixes that you love, or albums that you love, and trying to find the same balance that they did.
HAPPY: In your songwriting, how much emphasis do you put on improvisation? Obviously, you have those jazzy influences, but do you rely a lot on improvisation and experimentation? Or do you have more of a structured process to songwriting?
DAVID: Recently, we’ll start with a body or a skeleton of a song, maybe just drums, bass and some chords, and then we’ll get everyone up in the loft to figure out a part. We’ll sit there together, and someone will work out a part on the spot. It’s an in the moment thing, where you’re not overthinking what is the perfect thing to put there.
I think it’s shown, in our music, that it’s just what happened on that day, and we’ve just rolled with it. It makes the album sound organic, and easier to process, in a way. It’s not so thought out, there’s a part here and a part there, so it altogether just works. It also showcases everyone’s playing style really well.
JASPER: A lot of the time songs have come from jams. We’ve got a few songs on the album where one of us had an idea, and then we recorded us all playing it together live. I think the improvisation element comes from working in our band as a group. There’s been a lot of jams which have turned into songs. Or vice versa, where there’s been a rough idea which we’ve jammed and turned into a song.
HAPPY: So, when you’re jamming, how do you recognise whether a song idea is worth pursuing?
JASPER: It’s just a vibe thing. Sometimes you get it and everyone’s like “oh that’s cool”, and then “what about this”. It starts from a single idea, or a phrase that someone plays. I think you can tell when everyone wants to pursue it (laughs).
OSCAR: You kind of know when something’s good or not.
DAVID: There’s an energy in the room when you’re onto something, or the other way around when you’re not and everyone goes “ah… yeah” (laughs).
OSCAR: Someone will go “nah”, and then everyone will go “yeah, nah” (laughs).
JASPER: Sometimes you’ll spend too long on an idea, but no one actually wants to pursue it: “sorry guys, let’s just start again”.
HAPPY: Speaking of improv, in May, First Beige debuted Oscillate the monthly live improv event, which took place at Lala land in Brissy. I saw some footage and it looked awesome. Could you tell me a bit about how Oscillate came about, and what you hope people will get from it?
DAVID: We wanted to do a monthly club night, or have a night where we bring electronic musicians from around Brissy, and sort of put them into a big blending pot to see what happens. We’ve only had one at this moment, but I think we’re gonna focus on it a lot more on it next year, it’s just COVID…
OSCAR: It’s been cancelled three times.
DAVID: We are always trying to reschedule and then…
OSCAR: The one that happened was pretty good.
JASPER: We’re definitely still figuring out the vibe of the whole night. But I feel like the idea came about from wanting to showcase Brissy musos and talent through a club night. The venue was previously the foundry, which was our second home as a band, our old stomping ground. I feel like that venue, in its new context as La La Land, has potential to be a really cool space for something like Oscillate.
HAPPY: Yeah. It sucks, obviously, all the rescheduling and cancelling. But I’m wondering, do you find that lockdown is a creative time for you? I know that some artists say it really forces them to be creative, while others use it to take a break from creativity. How is it for you?
JASPER: Definitely the first one.
DAVID: All our stuff comes out when we’re in lockdown (laughs). When restrictions come in, we’re like “right, studio time”.
HAPPY: Well that’s good that it’s a super productive time. I feel like it makes everyone feel a little bit better about lockdown, when creativity or something comes out of it.
JASPER: There are days where lockdown gets you a bit down, but that can be channelled into creating something. For the most part it’s really productive, but there are certainly days where…
OSCAR: you stay in bed until 11.
HAPPY: (Laughs), yeah let’s not, go there. Do any of you guys dabble in other creative activities during lockdown? David, I know you did the cover-up for BBL, do any of you do painting, or photography, or poetry?
DAVID: Yeah, I always dabble in a bit of design, which is nice. I feel like it’s a different part of the brain to engage, sometimes. Doing music every day can feel like it’s one thing, but when you do something visual it feels completely new. Even though it’s still a creative thing, it’s a whole different vibe. Oh!
[Bucket the cat enters the call]
HAPPY: Is it your cat? Hello.
DAVID: Aww.
HAPPY: What’s their name?
JASPER: Bucket.
HAPPY: Bye bucket, I hope they’re ok. It’s interesting that you say it’s like a whole different part of the brain for you, I guess I’ve never really thought about that. What are your musical backgrounds? Have you been playing for a long time? Were you influenced by house and jazz from a really early age?
DAVID: We’ve all been playing music since we were really little. But the jazzy, housey music influence was picked up in the last couple of years. Seeing other bands with those influences, we all just align that sound and have been trying to channel that in our music more.
OSCAR: A lot of our music taste comes from going out.
HAPPY: Aw yeah, pre-covid especially I guess, (sad). Let’s talk about your newest single, Sudden Weight, which features the amazing Allysha Joy. I really love its fun, playful sound. Could you elaborate on how the song came together?
OSCAR: I started writing it a couple of years ago, it kind of started out as a jam. I had a drum machine that I’d just bought, and was super excited to get in, just programming little beats. I programmed a sort of afrobeaty groove, and then started jamming away on the bass guitar. I came up with the bass guitar lick first. I started building the track from there, adding synths. It was a very organic process. I wanted to add that crazy synth sound in the chorus to give it a bit of balance between an old and new style. Then we had it sitting as a demo for quite a while, working on it in bits and bobs.
David was working on his solo stuff at the end of last year, and Allysha was singing in one of his tracks. At the time we were doing a session up in the loft, and asked Allysha “do you want to listen to this?” (laughs)
In like half an hour, she had the full vocal idea and all the crazy harmonies done. We came up with some lyrics, and have been working on it since like that.
HAPPY: Yeah, so lyrics came towards the end? Do you ever start with lyrics?
DAVID: Never, it’s always the last thing. I’m still trying to like finding my voice a lot, so it’s always the icing on the cake.
JASPER: (returns with Bucket).
HAPPY: Hello Bucket. Are they a she or a he?
JASPER: She
HAPPY: Aw, how is she?
JASPER: She’s good, I feel like she’s settling in now.
HAPPY: Aw, she’s very sweet. I’m happy that she joined us today.
It’s really great to hear about your collab process. So, a lot of the time it just involves you jamming together?
OSCAR: It can be very jam-based, but a lot of it is pretty structured. One of us might have a fairly formed idea, and then we’ll have the parts re-done with the other band members. That’s how a lot of our most recent songs have come about. It’s kind of half-half.
HAPPY: A nice mix. My final question today is a little bit on another note, just to give us something to look forward to after lockdown. I know that your single “BBL” was named in homage to Black Bear Lodge in Brissy, I was wondering what are some of your favourite nightspots in Australia that we can maybe visit after lockdown, both as a venue or to visit yourself?
OSCAR: We don’t go anywhere but the Black Bear in Brisbane (laughs).
DAVID: Can it be anywhere or just Brissy?
HAPPY: Anywhere, honestly, I’m in Sydney?
OSCAR: We loved Locura in Byron, which has since shut. That was run by Jono Ma from Jagwar Ma, and was hosting super legit events all the time. Big names, always going through it. I think we liked it probably because it was pretty similar to Black Bear (laughs).
HAPPY: (Laughs), wow.
OSCAR: It was the reverse to Black Bear, the bar was on the left not the right.
JASPER: And there was a smoker’s area! So we didn’t have to go outside. It was just Black Bear plus.
HAPPY: Wow, really loyal fans to Black Bear. Well, I’ll have to make it up to Brissy.
OSCAR: You have to tell us what to go to when we visit Sydney when it’s open!
DAVID: We did a show at Oxford Art Factory and that was a pretty cool venue.
HAPPY: Yeah, they have really good cocktails there I think, a bit expensive but they’re pretty fun…
That’s pretty much it from me guys. Before I go, could you give me any pointers as to what is coming up?
DAVID: Album.
JASPER: Album is coming. We’ve got another single coming out towards the end of the year, around October. And the album will be out probably in the first half of next year, we’re aiming for around February or March.
HAPPY: That’s so exciting to hear! We’ll all be staying tuned for updates. Thanks so much for meeting with me today guys, and thanks for introducing me to Bucket.
JASPER: Thanks for having us!
Sudden Weight featuring Allysha Joy is out now. Stream or purchase your copy here.
