Featuring current and former members of PINS, Girls Names, and September Girls, today GRAVE GOODS release their debut album TUESDAY. NOTHING EXISTS. via TULLE Collective.
Earlier this week they shared the final taster of the record with ‘Die’, which followed previous singles ‘Source’ and ‘Come’. ‘Die’ is about so many things. It’s about asking why we are here and realising there is no real answer apart from the one you choose for yourself. It’s a happy song. It is about how waiting for something to allow you to live your best life is a dangerous game and a waste of time, “When I have or do this or that, things will be better” that time is now. It’s about the fragility of existence and that every beautiful moment we get to exist could be your last and suggests this is something to be celebrated not feared.
The video is based on the story of Sisyphus who tried to cheat Death and was cursed to push a boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down and then have to start again. Three Psychopomps prance in Purgatory. The Psychopomps (Lussh, Suzi, Xoo) inhabit the space between our consciousness and unconsciousness, they pass no judgement, but entertain us whilst we expire. It stars Club Clam, a female and non-binary collective, that specialise in provocative performances and events.
The concept was once again by singer Lois Macdonald, including the choreography which uses repeated actions to explore the passing of time and significant events and memories – it also includes a move inspired by the rise and fall of Sisphus’ boulder, to represent the importance of accepting your failures just the same as your successes. The balls they are dancing with increase in size, like our burgeoning awareness of existence, as each day and year passes. Watch the video below.
We had a chat with the trio all about how the project began, TUESDAY. NOTHING EXISTS. and more. Read the Q&A below.
Hi guys! How are you? You’ve all been in the industry a while now but what brought the three of you together and inspired you to start this project?
Lois Macdonald – “Sarah and I met a years ago touring with our other bands. We both loved post-punk and wanted to make some noisey music so we decided to play around with some stripped back ideas and see what we could make together. I went over to Dublin for the weekend, and we wrote a few tracks on the first day, booked a gig on the second and played it on the third. We still work in that way and I love it.”
You’ve just released your debut album TUESDAY. NOTHING EXISTS. What can you tell us about the record?
LM – “The title comes from my favourite line in a book called Nausea. ‘Tuesday. Nothing Existed.’ is the original line, and I love it because to me it makes the beauty of existence so ordinary that it’s absurd. All of the lyrics on the album are about this idea, the surreal nature of existence and the value we find alongside the pointlessness of everything, all wrapped up together in the way and why we exist. The book was really inspiring for me, and I’d just read it for the first time when Sarah and I started playing together, the ideas gave me loads to think about and I put it in poems or bits of lyrics and still do – then I rework them to fit the music.”
Please take us through your songwriting/creative process for TUESDAY. NOTHING EXISTS. What was your favourite part? Were there any challenges?
Sarah Grimes – “We all live in different cities so we worked on writing the songs when we could get together. Lois and I wrote the guitar and drum parts first and Phil added extra bass parts when they joined the band a while later. The music is usually the first thing we write when we are together and Lois adds her lyrics over them, these can be ideas she’s written in her own time or on the spot while we’re playing together.
“It’s really hard to pick a favourite part of this process, for me there’s a highlight to each element of it – those moments when we were writing and realising a song is in its final form, recording the album at Invada studios, discussing artwork ideas and the theme of how we wanted everything to look and finally, its always so exciting when Lois sends the final cut of one of our music videos my mind’s always blown! It’s all been great but those are just some of my favourite parts.
“The biggest challenge for me initially was the wait to release the album. We recorded it in 2019 with the hopes of putting it out in 2020 but then the pandemic put a hold to everything – it was for the best though, it allowed us to spend the time to get it mixed and mastered, come up with the right aesthetic and find the perfect label to release it. I think it’s worth the wait though, every cloud and all that…”
LM – “Lyrically I think I’m working on it all the time, I don’t need to be in the studio or sat with a guitar, ideas just pop out when I’m going about my day to day. So I’ll write little ideas, lines or words down as and when they come to mind, or stick it in a voice memo and then bring them together when we have a song that’s nearly finished. Sometimes I practice freewriting, where you write non stop for 20 minutes so, then pick out the interesting bits afterwards. Both vocally and with guitar I wanted to make sure I was giving plenty of space to the tracks, and playing with intent.”
What do you hope fans/listeners take away from your music/the album?
SG – “Musically I guess to just enjoy it and have a good experience listening to it. Album artwork is a big thing for me too, I love buying an album and just looking over the artwork while listening. I love our album artwork by Raissa Pardini – I hope everyone else who buys a copy of the album enjoys that part too!”
LM – “For me when I first read Nausea I had this feeling that at someone saw the world in the same way as me, and it felt good – I hope it makes a few people feel like that. I don’t know if there’s a word for that, but there should be.”
Finally, what’s next for you guys? Do you have any gigs coming up in support of the record?
SG – “Yeah we will have some gigs coming up before the year is out and maybe a special party or two. After that I guess continue writing and working towards release number two.”
