patchmarks explores latest single ‘naive’ and finds beauty in the “I should’ve known” experiences.
Hailing from Yuin country in New South Wales, patchmarks sits down with Happy to discuss their interest in the human mind’s interpretation of sounds and rhythms, and how important this is for “capturing the moment”.
Touched by the blues, Lady Gaga and MGMT, patchmarks aims for all of their work to be the most “them” it can be.
Influenced by “attitude” and “vibe” rather than genre, their Notes app is overflowing with lyrics we’re yet to hear, cohesively written with just a guitar.
A believer in doing whatever feels right with conviction, they aren’t tied down to a singular approach, sharing how different themes, styles and vibes call for experimentation.
With numerous artistic endeavours in the world of Vaporwave, patchmarks shares their plans for the future and their aim to continue producing stylised, DIY and idiosyncratic sounds.
Join us as we discuss underground electronica and the advantages of busking.
HAPPY: What are you up to today?
PATCHMARKS: Today, I am working on a soundtrack/soundscape compilation CD for a funeral, it’s not a thing I ever saw myself doing with audio engineering but it’s really meaningful to those who commission me for it, and it’s a very specific job that requires a broad skill-set so I’m happy I can help bring a vision to life (Last job I did, I had to print 20+ CDs with Jewel cases, artwork etc)
HAPPY: Tell us a little about where you live, what do you love about it?
PATCHMARKS: I live on Yuin country in New South Wales. It’s got everything you’d want to see from a nature perspective, beaches, mountains, rainforest areas, dry bush areas!
I also love hanging at El Horses, which is a local venue that does a lot of jazz, world music & just in general interesting acts with killer musicians.
HAPPY: What’s the story behind your artistic name, patchmarks, and how does it represent your music and artistic vision?
PATCHMARKS: “Patchmarks” actually represents the marks left-over on your thighs from Estradiol patches! I thought they were cool symbolically & was like “that’d be a fun band name”.
I guess it’s an open-for-interpretation thing, I’m sure someone else will see it & think something different and I like that. For me personally it’s just a little nod to a part of me.
HAPPY: Who are your biggest musical influences, and how have they shaped your sound?
PATCHMARKS: Biggest musical influences! That’s hard because it comes from so many different places.
I’d say the first thing to truly influence me was blues music, as my father was a blues man. Then as I hit adolescence I got into punk rock, starting on pop punk radio 90’s bands which led me to skate punk, melodic hardcore & then thrash/NWOBHM which is like 40% of what I like now.
I also was a big sucker for pop artists that broke the mould, such as Lady Gaga, Kesha, MGMT at the time, and I have a REAL soft spot for 90s/2000s Eurobeat.
I love a lot of math rock/post-hardcore stuff, and I love a lot of alternative hip-hop stuff like Brockhampton, Tyler The Creator etc.
I wouldn’t say I have any specific influences nowadays, I just do everything I like the best and most “me” I can do.
I also like a lot of outsider music (for different reasons), the stuff is an enigma to hear when you’re so used to the academically agreed upon idea of “music”, something like The Shags is an insane look into the human mind and how it can interpret sounds and rhythms without knowledge/reference (like drawing blind or something).
I guess how this has all influenced me, is that I like to capture a moment, I like it to be real and I like it to be me.
It’s very easy to produce yourself into perfection & aim to sound like others, but I feel a lot of idiosyncrasy is lost that way, and oftentimes it’s those sparks of individuality that when nurtured and allowed to flourish can grow into something special.
I will forever be finding what I can do, where I can go and how it will sound, whether I try or not. I don’t find myself influenced by genre anymore, just “attitude” and “vibe”. I want to portray myself pungently regardless of what I’m doing, we can only offer our truest selves in a world so full of talent and culture.
HAPPY: Can you describe your typical songwriting and recording process? Do you prefer a structured or more spontaneous approach?
PATCHMARKS: Different styles, themes or vibes call for different approaches I feel.
“I realise, I come alive” was written/recorded drums-first, I just played it off the top of my head with an idea of arrangement & rhythmical motif, but nothing defined melodically.
I then came up with a melodic idea based around Maj7th cords, and from there the song flowed out to me.
I have a notes app FULL of lyrics with no songs, they come in handy sometimes. I feel my most personal and lyrically cohesive songs always start with lyrics and a guitar, as there’s nothing to really carry it forward except the core of the song itself.
Sometimes I fixate on a phrase or sentence that pops into my head and that’ll be the theme for a song, or even a bunch of songs. I don’t think there’s a “right” way to do anything, you just gotta do whatever you do with conviction.
Really I just do whatever comes to me at the time, inspiration is the key. I hate sitting down with the intent to “write a good song” or something. So I guess practice structure, and capture spontaneity. I love live improv music for this reason.
HAPPY: Can you elaborate on the personal stories and experiences that inspired the song ‘naive’?
PATCHMARKS: I don’t feel any need to elaborate in detail what led to that song being written, but essentially it’s just about learning from experience.
Sometimes we look back at times in our lives, places, people & habits of the time and feel nostalgia and comfort, and that may make you want to go back. You may go back, and realise it sucks & you’ve grown a lot from then, and no amount of action, love or care can make it able to work in your own current world.
Sometimes you can be too trusting, or too vulnerable, or basically just give more than you should, and for me it came from a place of naivety and blind hope, going against my better judgement for sake of some kind of “special meaning” I idealised instead of seeing the past for what it really was.
“I’m tired of grazing my knees for monsters & the make believe”, “I’ll cut open my beating chest and suffocate the parasite inside” are lines that signify realisation and growth.
“What we seek out and what we despise reside in a place between blurred lines” is pretty well just about learning that you might want some things for the wrong reasons, or crave things that are bad for you.
The song is basically about realising “oh, I’ve got a lot more growing to do, and this “being a person thing” is a life-long journey”.
HAPPY: Your music project, patchmarks, is just one of several artistic endeavours you’re involved in. How do your other projects, like Vaporplaid and busking, influence your work with patchmarks?
PATCHMARKS: Vaporplaid, and my adventure into the world of Electronica/Vaporwave in general, was a life-changing experience for me, a very common close-minded mindset in a lot of musical circles I grew up in, is that all electronic music is devoid of emotion or talent, or isn’t “real music” which is very childish, and was something I had believed in my youth because my only exposure to any of it was EDM club music that flooded the airwaves in the 2010s (a lot of which perfectly achieves what it set out to and is totally valid).
A lot of people write it all off as “computer music” or “no talent” whilst being in uninspired rock/punk bands that rely on the same technology and arrangement of music via editing, quantisation and pitch-correction whilst calling themselves “real music” and it’s very elitist and actually kind of hilarious.
I found that especially in the net-scenes and underground electronica scenes that there’s a big emphasis on just giving it a go and having fun, no sentiments of “real talent” or elitism, and a lot of it is inspiring to listen to, very DIY, weird idiosyncratic and stylised.
Doing Vaporplaid taught me a lot of new ways to do things & also a whole new world of marketing, and potential to achieve, and gave me a greater appreciation for music outside of any particular genre or culture.
Patchmarks can and will introduce more electronica elements in the future.
Busking has definitely taught me a lot about what it is that people outside of music actually like about music, you have to hold attention, but not too much and not too frequently.
Rely on the butter notes & do things that just “sound good” without doing it so much that it becomes boring. Show-off where possible, notice when you’ve got someone hooked, and play to a crowd.
I mainly just play blues/ neo-sound guitar over lofi hip-hop beats with a small PA system/ amp combo, it’s like practicing but with 10x earths gravity (dragon ball reference heh) because I’m constantly being watched and I just improvise, so the bad notes REALLLY stick out if I make them.
It’s also damn lucrative! I make more on average busking than I would at a shift of work, and busking is fun as hell (despite it sometimes being nerve-wracking).
I’d say this has influenced me that I can now separate myself as a session musician/ performer, and myself as an artist.
Busking isn’t some deep brooding musical artist thing where I express my soul, but it is making people smile and getting me paid, and I can still be as weird and be selfish about my own art and what I want to portray with that in my own time.
HAPPY: Are there any artists or producers you’d like to collaborate with in the future? Who inspires you?
PATCHMARKS: I have my dreams. I’d love to work with Flume! Ohhhh could I learn a thing or two from him!
I wish I could drum for Metallica haha, I’d dream to work with Tyler (The Creator), or Davey/Jade from AFI.
Honestly I’d love to find anyone like me, with the same aspirations of wanting to make art for the hell of it, and wanting to portray themselves deeply in it, but I’d also want them to be completely different from me (otherwise what would be the point?).
I’ve done many different bands and collaborations in my time, and everything’s always been a compromise on what I’m capable of. People who are weird inspire me, people who do their own thing irreverently despite them being good at it or not inspires me, I’d join a band with an artistic mind over talented hands any-day.
I’ve rarely had someone “match my freak” artistically or skill-wise, in-fact I’d like to be around those who are miles above me, I need the challenge and inspiration.
Thinkin’ of going to music school, I’ve been told I’d make it into AIM or something with flying colours being a multi-instrumentalist, debt thoooo.
I’m doing cool collaboration stuff in CutewhenDead at the moment, which is a genre I’ve loved and craved to do for my whole life, but I could never do it vocally (screamo/ emo-violence, artsy noise project and all of the above) so I feel really lucky and excited for that!
HAPPY: What’s next for you?
PATCHMARKS: I don’t know, I just wanna keep doing what I’m doing. Anything musical I can, keep pushing myself to do more and top what I’ve done before.
OSHIE will eventually start gigging again, that’ll be fun. I’m writing a CwD album soon (instrumentals). Patchmarks album is in the works obviously but only in pre-production right now.
First come the songs, then comes the final recording and production. I’d like to keep the two as separate as I can for this project I think, but who knows what it’d be like in the future.
I have a lot of boombox recordings and acoustic songs I wanna flesh out into techy math-rocky melodic pop patchmarks goodness :3
HAPPY: Lastly, what makes you happy?
PATCHMARKS: Being around people I trust and love makes me happy. The freedom I’ve given myself to be myself makes me happy.
Creating in any regard makes me happy, concepts, lyrics, memes even, hell even my look, fashion and style. No longer being naive makes me happy.
Also Happy Mag makes me happy, I am over the moon to be involved! Bless <3
