Something you might not know about FeelsClub!

Hey FeelsClub! Hows it going?

Not too bad Aus Music Scene, not toooo bad.

Tell us a bit about 'HUMINGA'. What inspired the new track? 

HUMINGA is about identity, It's an expressive song, a song about allowing movement and giving people room to be free to grow, improve and be themselves. Before you act or say something, just give everyone and yourself time and space to breathe. Sonically though we drew a lot of inspiration from Jolean by Get Real and Raingirl by Yaeji for this one. Jonnie had a structure made with a bunch of samples then MKA and Jonnie sat together and hashed out some melodies. This song came pretty organically, we just really wanted it to be a chill thumper! 

What was it like to showcase MKA's cultural heritage with this new release? 

It was a really cool and humbling process to include Tagalog in the song, when we (Jonnie and MKA) were figuring out the melody/lyrics to HUMINGA it felt like the english word ‘breathe’ didn’t quite hit. So Jonnie wondered what the word breathe was in Tagalog and when they tried it in the song it just punched so much harder. It really gave the song that little more that it needed. Ringing MKA’s mum to make sure the right word was being used was a funny conversation and to hear how proud she was that we were sharing her culture made us feel like this was for sure a nice step.

 What can you tell us about your upcoming EP?

Our EP ‘A wave inevitable’ comes out on Sept 24th. Biggest influence was just the time I spent in Japan realising that being so far away from home I was still standing on the same planet, breathing the same air; looking at one of the birth places of the synth and the post WW2 electronic gadget revolution and how it has just become so faded and decrepit.  Rust lines, dripping, wear and tear, rub marks... all gradually getting paved over and rebuilt faster than anyone can care to grasp. I just realised that everything is going to change quicker than I could ever understand and that one day I will be that amazing new architecture that is now aged and sore, waiting to be replaced, paved over.

The first song to be written was actually pre japan even and that really set the tone. Jonnie wrote a verse chorus maybe only 32 bars long of talkTALK right before japan and just sat on it… but those few bars really stuck it down and with the idea that we were goin synth hard af DJLJ did his magic and made us some fucking tunes.  This also is the first time we actually have written every song with everyone on board for more than just their own elements. MKA as a driving force with a lot of the vocals and Pepe Mac sorting through arrangements, synth lines and textures like a fine toothed comb which has changed the sound in a perfect way.  A year ago with the hong kong riots, among many things, kicking off we took a moment while cooked on tour to coin the term A Wave Inevitable.  That is an idea in words that everything is changing all the time, like the wave that goes out and creates calm and lets you see the amazing shells at the bottom of the sea… it will always come back hard and unforgiving.  We the people are the wave, time is the wave, an unwillingness to suffer because you are told it could be worse or someone else will take your spot if you speak up is the wave, not wanting to see people hated for just being alive is the wave.  It always comes. Let’s make it worthwhile.

You guys have been described as 'genre chameleons', covering a huge range of sounds. What prompted your genre change? 

In addition to losing a guitarist and going back down to 4 members, it felt extremely natural to make this change in pace. We have been a band for 4-5 years now and our production and way of writing has changed so much in that time. St Jonnie and DJLJ have gotten very comfortable with samples and playing with instruments to create different sounds; and so we are a lot more experimental now vs our earlier days, plus we really enjoy more synth/electronic music. We also wanted to bring MKA more to the forefront as she has so much to give and between MKA and Jonnie, they create a real nice vocal dynamic so that changed the sound a bit too. We also noticed that the more party songs went off live so you know, fuck it why not make it all party.

What's something readers might not know about FeelsClub?

Ahhhhhh all a bit nerdy. DnD, Warhammer, video/board games, huge for anime etc. Jonnie also DM’s for a Twitch stream (@supord). Pepe Mac has a huge hentai addiction…. That and hitting the brickies laptops… to be honest covid has been good for him… gave him a break off the old coin guzzlers… it got so bad before covid DJLJ broke Pepe’s foot over borrowed money and we sorta just had to tell everyone it was a futsal accident.  Oh yeah DJLJ is a loan shark so if you need a small cash loan of 50 to 300k he is your man. MKA on the other hand… if we told you who she really was then DJLJ coming after you for unpaid debts would be the least of your troubles… Also Pepe said “don’t forget to tell them I like sports.”