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Interviews

Grids & Dots chat their incredible debut single ‘Never Change’

If you haven’t already immersed yourself in Never Change, the new single from Grids & Dots, go listen to it now. The track is a sprawling slice of shoegaze, and we’ve had it spinning on repeat ever since we first laid ears on it.

So fresh off the track’s release, we caught up with the band to chat all about it, musical influences, and what the future holds.

With an amazing debut single fresh under their belts, we caught up Sydney-based outfit Grids & Dots to chat all about it.

HAPPY: Hey, how’s it going? What are you up to at the moment?

GRIDS & DOTS: I’m good! We’ve only just launched our debut single a week ago and a brand new drummer and bass player have just joined the band in time to start practicing for our single launch next month.

HAPPY: We’ve been loving Never Change! How does it feel having the track out there in the world?

GRIDS & DOTS: We really weren’t sure how it was going to be accepted when we released it because it’s quite different from most everything going around at the moment, especially in Sydney, so it feels amazing to have various outlets locally and internationally giving us kudos for the sound that we created.

HAPPY: Could you tell us a bit about the song?

GRIDS & DOTS: It’s actually a song I wrote a few years ago now, about a person whose worst quality – that of restlessness – is also at times their very best one. Although we have a lot of songs we’re ready to record and release, we thought it would be a good uptempo introduction to our sound as it’s still taking shape. It was also the one song we mixed with our producer before we sadly parted ways with him, so it was ready to go and we thought it sounded pretty nice!

HAPPY: For a debut single, it feels like you’ve got quite a strong direction with your sound. For how long have you all been playing music together?

GRIDS & DOTS: Me and Carmen have been playing together for about 5 years in various forms. We’ve collaborated with different people in that time including Izzy Stewart and our former producer and synth player, Miles. Sometimes it takes a while to really decide and build on a cohesive sound together, and I’m still not even sure we’re quite there yet. But I feel like we’re definitely headed in that direction now, especially with our new members.

HAPPY: In our premiere article, we referenced Stereolab… are they an influence of yours? Or did we just project that onto you (haha)?

GRIDS & DOTS: People have been referencing our name because it sounds like the name of a Stereolab album! I don’t mind at all haha. I love them, but we have a lot of diverse influences. I’m a huge fan of bands with great melody like the Go-Betweens, Ruby Haunt and the Jam, while another part of me is craving a more experimental side of music like Sea and Cake, Sonic Youth or the amazing Olafur Arnaulds. Carmen loves electronic music as well, but her guitar style is very influenced by shoegazey bands like the Cocteau Twins, Slowdive.

HAPPY: Who some other artists you were listening to when you wrote and recorded the track?

GRIDS & DOTS: It really doesn’t come across, but when I wrote the initial skeleton of the track, I was listening to some Bruce Springsteen haha. I think he might have been on tour in Australia at the time. Just the way he writes stories about normal people wanting to escape, or feeling like they need something more out of their ordinary lives but they don’t know what. Obviously then you put my detuned guitar, Carmen’s gorgeous reverb pedals and the rest of the band on there, and it sounds like what it eventually became.

HAPPY: Is this a stand-alone single, or is it a taste of more to come?

GRIDS & DOTS: We are pretty much ready to record a new EP or album sometime early in the new year, although we may release as singles at first. The funny thing about this song is that it was recorded about a year ago but only just finished mixing in Miles’ studio late this year, so we have a lot of material we’ve finished since ready to go! Should be a fun year.

HAPPY: What else is next for Grids and Dots? Any other exciting plans in the works?

GRIDS & DOTS: Well, we have a music video made for us in collaboration with Luke Dobrovic and we’re excited about that. Then there is our single launch on January 16th at the Chippo Hotel in Chippendale. We’ve somehow secured the most amazing bands to play with us in Blain Cunneen and Sleepy – we’re actually big fans of both of these bands so it’s a bit nerve-wracking for a first ‘headline’ show! But it should be all the more fun.

Never Change is available now. Listen above.