Q&A Scene: Michael Barnsley ~ White Summer

What’s your favourite work at this point in time?

Every piece of music we create is yet another step in the journey. For us, favouritism generally tends to give way to excited insight into the light our new work shines upon our musical development – as individuals and as a group.

Tell us a quick, in the studio or on-the-road anecdote.

I used to have this old Holden Panel Van, and we used it for one of our music videos a few years back. We had to drive out to the country a few hours out of Melbourne and Jimmy and I travelled the way back in the panel van. This was in winter. With basically no door seals, no heating and numerous other leaks coupled with the obnoxiously loud engine meant we were travelling in the worst of conditions. We had to yell at the top of our lungs to talk to each other, literally screaming. Then, one windowpane fell into the door chamber, forcing us to ride with a window open as well. It was so damn cold. We were yelling and freezing. But we were laughing because it was so ridiculous. Nearly hit a few roos, could barely see the road and when we finally made it home, I had to pry my frosty frozen hands from the steering wheel.

What, or who, inspires you to create?

Our inspiration comes from many different places. Life experiences, other music and art, movies and novels are all sources of inspiration for us. The natural human instinct to connect and communicate with others is what drives us to create and music is our outlet to do this in a way that transcends beyond what we can’t communicate without it.

Which song do you wish you wrote?

I could spend my lifetime telling you what some of my favourite pieces of music out there are. However, we really don’t see ourselves trying to be anyone else. We have endless respect for other artist’s work as being their own work, while focusing our aspirations and energy on our own expression.

What’s next for you?

We have another couple of singles to release this year before releasing the album. Once we’ve finished touring for this one, we’ll be back in the studio before too long to complete the next chapter.

What’s your scene?

We tend not think in terms of ‘scenes’, or ‘clicks’ per se. In our world, our passion is music and sharing it with other people, through recordings and live performance and enjoying the experience of others doing the same. I guess that’s really what the music ‘scene’ is all about.