We had the chance to interview Yours Truly on 12 April a few hours before their very first show in Belgium and in Mainland Europe! Mikaila and Brad have been kind enough to answer some questions about the feeling how coming back on tour, finally playing in Europe and their fears about the actual pandemic.
You have been on tour since one week with Against The Current. The full UK leg of the tour before starting on the Mainland today. How is it going on so far?
Mikaila: It’s been really good! Last time we’ve toured in UK was only a couple months ago with Holding Absence. So getting the chance to going back to the UK after touring so recently has been fun because of some familiarities. And today is our very first time in Europe, our first European show ever, so I think it’s going to be better and better from here.
And what do you expect from this first show in Belgium then?
Brad: We’ve no idea! I expect today to have a nice response from the crowd and maybe see some people after the show, see what they thought about it.
Some bands don’t go to the merch table before or after the show, to have as less contacts as possible, to avoid to get Covid. Even if it’s not really cool for them or for the bands. What about you?
Mikaila: I think we just try to be careful. For us, being so far away from home, it’s a long way back to Australia so we try to be careful but we really wanna meet people. It’s our very first time in Europe, many people haven’t seen us before, so I definitely wanna meet people but at the end of the day, it feels sad to be wearing a mask while you’re taking photos with people. But it’s better than don’t see each other.
Since the pandemic has been slowly going down, you’ve played some shows in Australia before coming to UK. Are there lot of differences between both countries?
Mikaila: I think that the love of music is really a universal thing. People really react the same and I don’t see a big difference between countries. Music definitely brings people together and even regardless where you leave, people act the same. Obviously, you have different cultures depending of the place you live but at the show, it’s mainly the same good vibes everywhere. Which is sick! Wherever you are from or the language you speak, everyone reacts the same.
You released your first full length album during the pandemic, at the end of 2020. It’s already stressful to release a first album. I guess it was even more doing these strange times?
Brad: We were navigating in something new, that nobody had ever experienced. Should we release during the pandemic or not, it was hard to say. Added to the fact it was our first album… We try to do the best that we could!
And did you think about postpone the release or you really wanna release it in 2020?
Brad: It was part of the plan to release the album in 2020. I mean, it’s not good for a band to stay too long without new stuff. So we continue on the roadmap we decided and look at what we can do to stay relevant, to stay creative.
Mikaila: And also, people were at home doing anything because of lockdowns. We could have wait 2021 but it was a time people needed music. We haven’t been able to tour after the release or do the typical things but we still wanna release this new music.
Did you finish the album during or before the pandemic started?
Mikaila: We finished the album one week before we went to lockdown! We finished recording just a few days before and I remember saying: « Oh there’s this Covid thing, maybe we would need to act carefully » or « No, it’s fine ». And a week later, everyone was shut down so we’ve been very lucky! But then we were like « How are we gonna shoot a music video ?! »… It was the main challenge of the album you know. We were in Sydney, which was not as bad as Melbourne but still difficult times.
Brad: With the label, we got also some exceptions to travel. We were very lucky. I mean, I guess you got the same here, but you were able to travel if it was for your work. And as music is our work, we were able to meet each other.
Since then, you also released 3 new singles: 2 in 2021 and 1 last month, in March 2022. Are these songs part of the writing process of the album « Self Care » or you wrote them after that?
Mikaila: The only thing from the singles that come from the studio recording is the melody of Walk Over My Grave. But mainly all the singles have been written after the first lockdowns. We had lot of time obviously. We’ve been lot inspired when many weren’t. We were lucky that we. Were inspired. As we had this time, we just thoughts « Let get our heads focused on the next releases »!
And are these 3 singles part of an upcoming album?
Mikaila: Well, it’s not an album. But we are gonna release something next month!
Great, looking forward! In the meantime, you, Mikaila, has written the script of the song Lights On, right?
Mikaila: It’s the first time indeed I’ve ever written a story. We have always had our hands on our music videos as we’re coming with our own concept and stuff like that. But before the release of this song, I got some concept ideas and I watched a lot of documentary shows and I wanted our video to look like that. I love stories and thrillers when you have to figured out who’s the killer per example, the public too I think, so I really wanna have that in one of our videos! Really confusing! It looks live a movie or something like that. It was the first time I tried to write a story like this, which was cool and I’d love to do it again. The main thing I’ve learned from this release is to see the big efforts you put in small things: every single second of the videos really counts! You need to make it as unique as possible. Anyone can do a video of course but we try to do something different.
The magazine Louder / Metal Hammer mentioned you last year in the top 10 bands that have re-invented pop-punk. What do you think about that?
Mikaila: Oh shit! That’s sick, I had no idea! Well, that’s awesome. If it’s what people are saying about us, that means that we are doing our job well! I mean, there’s a lot of people involved in the pop-punk scene at the moment, so many different bands that are growing up so if we are in a list of band that re-invented pop-punk, that means we’re doing something different.
There’s indeed a big revival of the pop-punk and emo scene since 2-3 years. Mainstream acts like Machine Gun Kelly or Olivia Rodrigo released pop-punk albums. There’s this huge When We Were Young Festival coming up in the US… What’s your feeling about all that?
Mikaila: I think it’s really cool that pop-punk is going back. I mean, it’s a gender that got a lot of shit, people liked to take the piss of pop-punk. The fact that people make it look cool is awesome. But I just hope that people at the top will bring bands from the bottom, all these DYI bands, in the light. When you have a platform, use it well. That’s the main thing I want out of this pop-punk revival
Hopefully it gonna be like this indeed! Got a last question for you: you were in UK in December touring with Holding Absence, you’re now in UK/EU with Against The Current. And you gonna play at Slam Dunk Festival at the end of May. Are you doing the way only for the weekend or more shows will be announced soon?
Mikaila: We are also playing a show in London in May, another one later that month and a festival in Sweden in July. Then we’re coming back to Australia after that festival. So yeah we are here for a while but I’m sure we gonna find a lot of cool things to do! It’s really different than Australia also about the Covid. There if we get Covid, we all have to stay at home and can’t do nothing… It’s only 7 days but if it happens when we have a show, it’s difficult. We have to think about the logistic and everything. If someone knows someone that has Covid, that’s it, show is cancelled. I hope it gonna change soon.
Fingers crossed this pandemic will be beyond us soon enough! In the meantime, thank you both for your time and we can’t wait to see you live tonight and at Slam Dunk next month!
