BODY TYPE - Interview

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Tell us a bit about Body Type.

BODY TYPE

We are four fully grown, real life human beings who like to make loud noises together and also share other common interests such as racing back to our day jobs the minute touring is over, fine dining the minute shows are over, and jumping into a sauna the minute we have a spare second between soundcheck and showtime.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Talk to us about your most recent full-length release, 'Expired Candy.'

BODY TYPE

Annabel: It’s unintentional but the name is kind of a hint at what the record sounds like - much sweeter than our first LP, freed from a few angrier concerns, but also a little stale in the sense that much of it was written during stifling lockdowns while we were still waiting to release our first record, ‘Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising’. I designed the LP cover and from a creative perspective I saw this as our Tom Petty ‘Damn the Torpedoes’ moment - more anthemic, sentimental, a little bit corny, but overall kind of shiny and happy. I wanted the record to jump out of stacks looking like some over-designed icon that the record company got their in-house artist to whip out, paired with some glossy portraits that were less cheesy than the Roxy Music ones I had in mind - they landed somewhere closer to 90s rock band starkness, which was perfect. Credit to our bassist Georgia’s mum Toni for pulling together a whole photoshoot on the one free day we had in between supporting Pixies on their Australian tour last year!

ETHEREAL.PRESS

How do frustrations with the current system / status quo manifest thematically on this project?

BODY TYPE

Sophie: Making music is a release really. The system is SO annoying and the world is a hard place to live a lot of the time. Writing songs with your friends and singing them to other people helps you process it all. I really believe in the good of the collective consciousness, as well as individual capacity to make a difference. I try to tap into both when I write.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Throughout the project, there is a substantial amount of genre-bending - can you speak to this creative decision? 

BODY TYPE

Sophie: I don’t think anything we’ve ever done has really been based on any kind of conscious decision, it kinda just happens accidentally. If you’re hearing genre-bending (also that sounds like some awesome Avatar shit, nice), it probably comes from us trying to replicate music we love individually within the context of how we do things as a group. Also, our early EPs sound way more dream poppy than where we are at now. Probably because we didn’t really know what we wanted to sound like at that time and also I was so scared of overdrive and distortion pedals. Big shout out to Jono Boulet who produced our albums and helped us refine our sound. The EPs are still so special, but I’m excited about where things are going.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Talk to us a bit about the track Sha La La.

BODY TYPE

Annabel: Georgia says it’s a song written at home on her dad’s Korg about missing her friends. That’s quite funny to me, cos based on the chorus, "if he tells you the truth it only tells you he can lie / if he’s honest with you well don’t worry all men cry.” I assumed it was a song about love advice her mum had given her or something. When I wrote a bit for the second verse I decided to ignore that and stuck in some lines I’d written about missing G, cos she was stuck in Perth on the opposite side of Australia to the rest of us during the lockdowns, so it ended up being a little parallel diary of that time.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Can you elaborate on your stage name?

BODY TYPE

Cecil: We had been deliberating on a band name for some time until one fateful night after rehearsal we found a parking fine on our car. Soph offhandedly said ‘maybe our band name is on there’...low and behold, there it was:

Make: Toyota

Body Type: Station Wagon

Colour: Silver

There’s a copy of that fine on the cover of our first EP, ‘EP 1’.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

This summer, you've been performing at several festivals in various countries. Can you speak to some of your favourite moments along that journey?

BODY TYPE

Definitely performing at Roskilde. That festival was incredible, an absolute dream. The lineup, the hospitality, the vibe *chefs kiss*. Seeing Blur play live too - what the heck. Life bucket list shit.

Another highlight was our London show at The Lexington, and afterwards we had a food fight with a cake we had been gifted from Cecil with our album cover on it. Our tour manager, Dave (bless), had given the pub a heads up so they knew some shit was going to go down. We were cleaning icing off clothes and shoes weeks after. 

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Can you describe scuzz rock to our North American viewers?

BODY TYPE

Annabel: Talking about genre is so boring and hard, so I think we were just sidestepping it by calling it scuzz because we didn’t want to say we were a rock band. However, now we just call it a rock band cos it is, ha. Scuzz is maybe more DIY, kinda shit in a good way, kinda loosey goosey live, I’m thinking of a rusty jigsaw cutter. I think that is still a pretty accurate description of Body Type.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

What's next for Body Type?

BODY TYPE

More tours (inc. hopefully more overseas)! Writing album #3! 

Playing with the Foo Fighters at a Stadium in Adelaide!