After recently dropping their hardcore, spellbinding and altogether ragged release An EP Called Night, Society of Beggars are prepping themselves for time on the road.
With a dedication to old-world authenticity and a rejection of all things sugar-coated, they’ll be hitting Australia’s best pub stages for nine nights of gnarly rock. With the tour kicking off this week, we caught up with guitarist Jim Michalopoulos.
Wearing damage on their sleeves with unbridled honesty, Society of Beggars are on a quest to reinstate integrity into the world of rock ‘n’ roll.
HAPPY: Hey guys, what are you up to right now?
JIM: Eating Indomie Mi Goreng whilst playing golf on the moon. Only half of that is true. I’m actually typing out these answers at my day job whilst trying to look like I’m actually working for my wage. Also preparing ourselves for getting out on the road, playing wise and mentally.
HAPPY: Congratulations on putting out An EP Called Night. What have the initial reactions to the release been like?
JIM: Thanks, it’s been a long, long time coming. The reactions have been great, it has resonated with people in a real deep and meaningful way. I think when you put out something that goes a little bit deeper in terms of themes and emotions you have to leave it with people for a while for it to sink in.
I’m always interested to hear anyone’s reactions to the tracks, and this feels like it’s something we’ve crafted to be a bit more cohesive in terms of the sound, it doesn’t jump around genres and sounds as much as some of the other stuff we’ve done, it’s more comfortable in the skin it’s in. It’s great to hear people get as passionate as we are about the project, and a reaction is a reaction good or bad and we want that from the people that listen to us.
HAPPY: It’s a pretty bleak record. Were you going through some rough times during the writing process?
JIM: Not to be clichéd about it, but it’s a pretty bleak world at the moment. The truth is there’s enough people making sugar-coated advertisement jingles for people who want to switch off from everything and escape into fantasy. I’m not really interested in creating that kind of music or that kind of ‘fake it til we make it’ attitude, and neither is the band.
I remember when I was a kid, there was a true alternative to whatever was popular; whether it be through what people called grunge, hip-hop or punk, there was ‘rough around the edges’ music that talked about real shit. I really feel like it’s unbalanced at the moment, and in particular within the music world, and all we’re doing is picking up the mantle from the bands and creative minds that came before us that wrote music because they needed to, they had to express themselves, not because they wanted girls or party and bullshit.
HAPPY: Do you find these lower points inspire you more? In a creative sense.
JIM: If we’re going to sing about something dark in subject matter we want to connect to people like us. Everybody goes through rough stuff in their lives, and there can be joy in embracing that, just like I believe there is a lot of joy in this EP that shines through the darkness. Besides, who wants a life without struggle? The struggle is what makes life beautiful.
There is a link between melancholy and creativity and we’ve definitely pushed it to the forefront with this band, because that’s what we’re interested in, different forms of expression. It can’t all be people shoving sugar and rainbows down your throat all the time, it gets old and disingenuous.
HAPPY: Was there a singular point where the themes of the EP flowed from, or was it more of a culmination of the band members’ experiences in the lead-up?
JIM: More of a mixture of things, most definitely. We came in to recording with a whole different batch of songs, songs we’d worked on for quite a while, and our producer Lindsay Gravina basically tore them apart, in a good way. We went back and wrote tunes that were kind of stripped down and a bit raw, kind of more to the point then what we had before.
What came out of that was a bunch of tunes that kind of fit a mood, that kind of feeling you get before a big night, and just being out in the night in general. It all came together naturally from that initial ego teardown, which is funny cause that first batch of songs was a bit more of a ‘concept’ that was made in a very knowing way, whereas An EP Called Night came together much more organically.
HAPPY: You’ll be taking these new cuts on tour pretty soon. Any special plans for bringing An EP Called Night to the stage?
JIM: The most important thing is getting across the feeling and mood of the songs in a way that’s true to the recording but also has that kind of raw feral energy that we thrive off live. All the bands that I love do something different live than a recording, and in my opinion there’s nothing more boring than seeing a band who sound exactly the same. We love the rough edges and that’s definitely gonna come through for the shows.
HAPPY: For the fans coming along, do you have any special advice?
JIM: Wear comfortable shoes, because we’re gonna try to get you to dance. Also bring money so you can buy me a drink as I’m poor (hence bad paying ‘day job’ mentioned above).
HAPPY: And what’s up next, once you walk off stage on the last night of the tour?
JIM: We don’t like to stop for extended periods of time, we’ve had to do that in the past due to unforeseen circumstances so now we’re gonna plow through like a freight train. We’ll start putting together ideas for an album and go from there.
Society Of Beggars are coming to a stage near you. Catch them on the dates below, and head to their website for any more info.
