Tell us about your new single?
‘All Rise’ started out as a rough recording on my (Felix) computer. It came together pretty quickly which is unusual for our songs. We usually find ourselves spending lots of time fussing over them but this was feeling pretty good once we all fleshed it out with our own parts.
The song is about how some groups of people can form questionable beliefs which they think are legitimate. Its looking at how echo chambers like that can influence us as people and guide our actions.
Whats your favourite work at this point in time?
Tough question, we all have a soft spot for Melanin and Melanomas. Its a bit of a slow burner but we’re quite proud of that one and the parts we put down on it. Its really cool when someone from the crowd says they liked that song in particular after a set!
How would you describe your sound in food form?
A Margherita pizza with no fresh tomatoes; a comfortable food that gets along with everyone.
Tell us a quick, on the road or studio, anecdote.
Bevan talking at length about ‘playing’ at a venue with the concierge for a motel we stayed at on tour. It turned out that they were on different pages for the whole conversation. The concierge thought Bevan was talking about the band playing at a venue but Bevan was actually talking about the time he played golf on the course there.
What, or who, inspires you?
Other bands inspire us. Theres so much great music out there so hearing new songs from artists you love always makes us want to go write music. Some favourite bands of ours (to name a few) would be Radiohead, Slowdive, Everything Everything, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Middle Kids.
Which song do you wish you wrote?
The Ship Song by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. My parents first showed me the song when I was a kid and its still a big favourite.
Whats next for you?
We have lots of music already recorded which we’re going to be releasing throughout the year. We’ve also been working on a couple more claymation videos. We’re hoping to head over East again too!
Whats your scene?
Whats MY scene by the Hoodoo Gurus
About Cloning
Emerging WA band Cloning have released their ethereal new single All Rise, an introspective track that questions morality and is influenced by Nordic mythology.
The group have also released an impressive self-made cosmic claymation film clip to accompany the song.
All Rise pays homage to triphop auteurs Portishead while also evoking influences from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to Radiohead. Recorded
and mixed by Dave Parkin (Gyroscope, Karnivool) and mastered by Brian Lucey (Cage The Elephant, Arctic Monkeys, Royal Blood), this atmospheric track is the perfect soundtrack to a warm, hazy summer, with shining synthesisers, ample mandolin, cinematic guitar and idiosyncratic vocals. Speaking on the intricate meaning behind the track, guitarist and lead vocalist Felix Parker says, “All Rise is about how groups of people can think their intentions are purer than they actually are, and end up committing morally questionable acts in the name of their chosen cause. It’s also about what gets left in the wake of pursuing a goal and how noble intentions can be corrupted by the pursuit of this goal. The imagery in the lyrics is influenced by Nordic mythology and stories about the Yggdrasil which is a mythical ash tree at the centre of the cosmos. I read way too much as a kid and a lot of that just seems to naturally flow into my lyrics.”
Following the Nordic mythology theme, the video for All Rise was cleverly and masterfully worked in-house by the band, from conception to completion, excluding the editing which was completed by Jake Crawford (Psychedellic Porn Crumpets). From set making, to directing, to filming – the band did it all. With over forty hours of footage filmed over one very long weekend, and after almost setting fire to Felix’s living room twice, the video was taking shape. “We wanted to create visuals that complemented the lyrics and the myths they were influenced by. We came up with the concept first and were trying to think about how we could pull it off. We thought about hiring an animator to make an animation video at first, but we couldn’t afford it. Bevan made stop motion videos as a kid and does photography in his spare time, so we decided to make the video ourselves using Claymation,” explains Felix. “And we are really happy that we decided to do it ourselves because we ended up making something that is way more us than if someone else had done it,” adds guitarist Bevan Green, “But it definitely pushed the limits of our sanity. We spent ages gluing fake leaves to sticks to make trees which is really finicky when you’re dealing with things this small. And we had to be careful when filming not to move the clay figures in the wrong way or knock the camera, because one dodgy photo would ruin the hundreds of photos we had already taken up to that point for the scene.”
Cloning formed among friends Nic Rollo, Felix Parker and Jack Brett during their final years at school. The untimely loss of a close friend and musician around this time drove them to invest heavily in their musical pursuits. They were soon joined by guitarist Bevan Green, who grew up in the goldfields mining town of Kalgoorlie; joining the band when he moved to Perth. Though in relative infancy, Cloning have already been notching up some impressive achievements – touring nationally and scoring a WAM Song of the Year nomination last year – it’s safe to say 2020 is set to be a big year for this talented alternative act out of Perth!
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