Last week, when Perth-based four-piece Tether released their latest single The Knife, we were immediately immersed in their heavy-hitting brand of sounds.
So we caught up with the band to chat about the new track, working with LA producer Wolfy, and what the future holds.
Fresh off the release of their blistering new single The Knife, we caught up with Perth band Tether to chat recording the new track, and what the future holds.
HAPPY: Hey, how’s it going? What are you up to at the moment?
TETHER: Hey guys! We’re good! We’re all sitting on the couch right now, eating toast and drinking tea – a daily occurrence really.
HAPPY: We’re loving The Knife! Could you tell us a little about the track?
TETHER: The Knife started out when we went on our first holiday as a band. Molly’s parents have a rural property, so we all jumped in the car and decided to do some band bonding. We set out with the aim to write a song that was faster and heavier as we’d previously been writing in much slower tempos. By the time the sun went down, we’d set up a bunch of purple mood lights and basically just jammed to a 4 bar synth loop – that synth still features in the intro actually.
HAPPY: It hasn’t been that long since you released your debut single, and you seem to have always had a very developed sound. How long had Tether been in the works for before you released your debut track?
TETHER: Empty Spaces was actually just a demo, but Tether had only really been together for about 3 months when that happened. That’s crazy now that you think about it! I guess we also focused on the writing aspect instead of jumping right into gigs. We all hold ourselves to ridiculous expectations, so we wanted to make sure the songs would stand up by themselves before we started playing them live for people.
HAPPY: How do you see The Knife as being different from past material? If at all…
TETHER: Technically The Knife is our studio debut – even though the majority of it was still recorded at home. It’s the first time we worked with Matt Gio at RADA Studios – he was our mixing engineer and recorded the drums. It’s also the first time we’ve co-produced with Wolfy. She’s this incredible cross-genre producer from LA, and she brought a new vision to the track with some cool guitars and other creative touches. If you haven’t heard of her, you should definitely check her out. We’re massive fans. I think we’re all incredibly happy with how The Knife turned out – overall it’s much more polished than anything we’ve released to date.
HAPPY: We’re loving the new video too! Could you tell us a bit about what it was like making this clip?
TETHER: It was heaps of fun. We jumped into the car and went back to the same house where The Knife was written, bought a heap of fake blood, packed the boot with some rope and a selection of knives. We basically just went to town. Anyone who would have looked in our cars on the way there would’ve been a bit worried though.
HAPPY: There seems to be a lot of great bands coming out of Western Australia right now… are there any particular WA bands that you’re loving right now?
TETHER: There are some really exciting acts coming out of Perth at the moment. Hell Average are doing pretty well. There’s also Priscilla, who have some killer synth hooks. ZĀN is another personal favourite, making incredible alt-RnB. He’s spreading some super inspiring messages and always puts on a great show.
HAPPY: We’re picking up a few different sounds in your music… are there any bands that you credit with influencing your music?
TETHER: We collectively listen to so many different kinds of music, it’s not just one genre. Heavy influences of ours include bands like PVRIS and Now, Now, but we also listen to a lot of RnB and even country music too.
HAPPY: What’s next for Tether? Any other exciting plans in the works?
TETHER: We’re in the midst of recording our debut EP so we’ve been occupied with that. We’ve also got some cool shows coming up that we’re not allowed to talk about yet but we’re super excited to play!
HAPPY: Cheers for the chat!
TETHER: Thanks so much for having us!
The Knife is available now. Watch the new clip above.
