"You've Got the Music in You"
Sitting Down with The Genevieves
I don’t consume YouTube Shorts very often. In fact, I generally refuse to watch them at all. However, a few weeks ago I stumbled upon a fantastic podcast clip of the legendary producer Rick Rubin discussing the creation of art. What resonated with me above all else was his notion of the “audience [coming] last”. According to Rubin, we should refrain from making art for the audience and focus on creating art for ourselves, thus placing greater importance on authenticity and individuality over our impulses to pander to the broader audience. By focusing on artistic integrity and the creative vision, we have the potential to create something truly timeless and impactful, resonating with audiences on a more meaningful level. Shouldn’t we make art that is genuine, sincere, and emotionally resonant, rather than merely seeking to please or entertain a specific demographic?
“When you make something that is truly for yourself, you’re doing the best thing you possibly can for the audience.” - Rubin
One of my favourite bands to watch live in Adelaide are The Genevieves, a four-piece noise-rock collective that embody the philosophy of prioritising genuine, “internal” artistic creation over the desires or expectations of an audience. They destroy and reconstruct the recognised touchstones of conventional music, embracing dissonance, distortion, and unconventional textures to create raw, visceral, and intense sonic experiences designed to “make the listener uncomfortable”. In October of 2023, the ‘Vieves’ released two debut singles, called ‘Nothing Happened/Words’, and I’ve since remained in unremitting awe of the experimentalism, sonic intensity, and emotional depth on display, especially when I found out that they recorded and mastered the tracks on their own. After attending around half a dozen of their shows in 2023 - which really is just a drop in the ocean, these cats seem to never stop gigging - I had the pleasure of sitting down with them in February of 2024 to discuss their origin, creative process, and future ambitions.
Introductions
The Genevieves are made up of Baily Taylerson (guitar, vocals), Finn Larcombe (guitar, synthesiser, vocals), James Nisbet (drums, drum machine, vocals), and Lara Patzel (bass, vocals). The members of this freakishly-talented quartet became friends in the second half of 2022, around the time that most mask mandates were dropped in South Australia.
“It was still genuinely terrifying to ask people to be in a band with you at that point.” - Finn
Baily and James played together in a previous band that “crashed and burned”, and approached Finn to establish their own group with the original intention of playing dream pop. They knew Lara from jazz classes at uni, and after agreeing that she was cool for her dress sense and admiration for the Talking Heads, they nervously asked her how she felt about playing a bass using a pick.
Trivia: The band's name is "not that deep", according to Baily. They were after an artsy name, and decided upon 'The Genevieves' after searching Google for "cool French names". Baily wishes it was "something actually cool", but Lara was just happy to join a band that already had a name: "I swear that's the hardest part when starting out. It's like, 'what the fuck are we doing?' These guys already had it, so I was like, sick - this is cool." Their first show was just over a year ago, but they’ve since maintained a prolific streak of frenetic and mind-boggling gigs in almost every possible live music venue in Adelaide. I asked the band if different venues impacted their live performance or the intended impact of the sound.
“We were talking about this today. You never know if someone might be coming to their first show, and we don't want to give a bad impression because of how the room sounds. There's just some things you can't control, but I think we can control what gigs we take, because, you know, it's a pretty intense sound, and sometimes it just doesn't work.” - James
“We also talked about how the line-up makes a difference. When we played with Stephi, we sort of toned it back a bit, but we also put on a gig with Mortal Ambition where we felt like we could turn it up a notch and be more aggressive or loud. That sort of comes before the choice of venue. The venues are secondary to who we're actually playing with.” - Finn
Trivia: The band's favourite venue to play in Adelaide is The Grace Emily Hotel. Long live The Grace!
As a noise-rock group, The Genevieves naturally have to be conscious of a venue’s live sound capacity, but they also make an effort to tread the fine line between “being noisy to service the song or just being noisy for the sake of being noisy”.
“We've been way more mindful of shaping our noise and having people on the lows, mids, and highs to make it sonically bearable, instead of being clustered in one spot…which can take away from impactful moments”. - Lara
This necessary balance is evident on both of the new singles, but particularly on ‘Nothing Happened’, which features softer guitars and vocals during the verses. The textured noises and feedback often arrive right before a chorus or heavier section, thus servicing the song by dramatically escalating the sound and subverting the expectations of the listener. If you’d like to hear for yourself, click this link to watch their performance of ‘Words’ and ‘Nothing Happened’ that Spoz Spozington recorded at The Crown & Anchor in November 2023.
The Soundtrack of Our Lives
When I spoke with them, I wanted to avoid the ever-so-played-out “Who are your influences?” inquiry. Instead, I asked about their different artistic influences, such as literature, visual arts, and everyday experiences that shape the songs and their lyrics. From the mixing pot of responses, there lies a shared appreciation for DIY and the early proto-punk scene, and I was delighted to hear that Lara had experimented with the cut-up method, a stimulating writing technique I’ve explored in my practice as a poet.
“It's really cool to see what you can create with scraps that you've had lying around that don’t fit into other things.” - Lara
But the common denominator was the personal nature of the songs, representing the “soundtracks to [their] lives”. Most of The Genevieves’ tracks were written following significant moments in their lives that they’ve since been inspired to write about. In the framework of noise-rock, a sound characterised by textural complexity, abrasion, disruption, and the DIY ethos, the band’s emotional depth often stems from the contrast between moments of chaos and moments of clarity. The Genevieves tap into the raw energy of their music to convey a wide range of emotions, from anger and frustration to joy and ecstasy, utilising and manipulating sonic dynamics to evoke mood and atmosphere, creating a visceral and electrifying listening experience.
Technology represents another dimension that contributes to the creation of both their on-stage presence and the band’s production. I’ve often shifted myself close to the stage during their gigs to take a look at their on-stage equipment, before jumping back to one of my friends excitedly and imploring them to “check out the time warp on that pedal Lara’s got!”, or something along those lines. Baily, Finn, and Lara all employ impressive pedal configurations, and James positions an electronic drum machine to the left of his regular kit, which has “the biggest impact across the whole set” and influences what he plays on the actual kit.
Guitar pedals are fantastic, innovative components of musical equipment that open up a Pandora’s Box of sonic possibilities, and can be incredibly liberating for musicians looking to alter their sound. However, we touched on the “never ending circle” of trying to create a particular sound and needing a specific pedal for that purpose. As an overwhelmingly mediocre guitarist, I can understand this cycle. Sometimes, there’s a certain way you want your guitar to sound. A sound you conjure up mentally and can only truly understand in your mind. In these moments, technology can be effective to different degrees, but you may end up “constantly chasing something that you might not reach” with a pedal.
“Me and Finn are really bad for it. Our Facebook DMs are just marketplace ads for pedals.” - Baily
At times, the band used a Korg Minilogue synthesiser during the verses of ‘Nothing Happened’. I remember seeing them play at The Queens Theatre in October 2023 - Finn would turn his back to the audience during the verses to play some ambient, droning synth chords. That show was the last time they used the Minilogue before “it was written out of the set”. The drum machine and some of their pedals have almost suffered similar fates, but the group began making a conscious effort to utilise their equipment as effectively as possible to “justify carrying the stupid things around”.
“The more gear you bring to a gig, the more annoying it is to set up, and the more stress it is.” - Finn
The solution is, in James’ words: “Less gear, more beer”.
Couldn’t agree more.
Collective Ambition
One of my favourite things about The Genevieves is how invested they all are in the writing process. All four members write, play, and sing on the tracks. It’s not Baily’s band, or Finn’s band, or James’ band, or Lara’s band, but a collaborative passion and a collective ambition. For ‘Words’, a blazing composition of aggression and dynamism inspired by the likes of Sonic Youth and Adelaide’s own Coldwave, the band wanted to create a riff for Lara to perform spoken word over. They decided to play in Drop D tuning, “purely so [Lara] could just play open notes and speak over it”.
“Because I'm like, so horrible at playing bass and singing at the same time.” - Lara
She also plays around with the Red Panda Tensor, the ‘time warp’ pedal I mentioned earlier, which features speed, time and pitch controls, a glitch effect that influences all parameters and a blend function that allows the user to loop, reverse, and alternate the produced effect. I’ll admit that I don’t exactly know what that means, but I love the high-pitched, electronic screeching noises and feedback that swirl around at the beginning of ‘Words’ as James builds up a beat on the drum machine and the guitars enter the fold to introduce the first verse.
‘Nothing Happened’, adapted from an “old, old Baily riff”, started out as an early demo recorded in Finn’s basement, but developed over time as the band “locked in” to work on it in conjunction. To share ideas, they made a Google Drive document:
“The idea was that anyone could go in, pick a song and just like write lyrics to it and then sort of bring it to the band. We did this for a bunch of songs, but especially that one. I think James sent a video in and added a new section.” - Finn
“I asked [Finn] how to play it on guitar, and then wrote words over it and a melody. It was a really cool writing process.” - James
To record this song, they went away to a farmhouse in Mount Crawford, where they could crank the amps until four in the morning without worrying about noise complaints.
“We’d play and all the sheep would come down the hill to listen.” - Baily
They’ve booked some more time off in April to go away and record. Like any aspiring band, it can be difficult to get everyone in the same room sometimes, but The Genevieves are excited to spend that time away together again and “get sucked into” the recording process again.
A Year of Friendship and New Music
My conversation with The Genevieves that day came to an end shortly before 7pm, when they were scheduled to soundcheck for their live set at Studio 3. Before they left, I asked about their ambitions for 2024 and future releases. They’re working on a new single as well as a separate EP (music to my ears, literally), and hope to organise some shows in Naarm/Melbourne.
“We’re really keen to move to the next stage and ramp it up a little”. - James
The Genevieves also envisage 2024 as “the year of friendship and new songs”, hoping to play slightly less shows to prioritise writing new material and spending quality time together.
“We played twice a weekend for four months last year, which was really fun, but kind of ridiculous at times. We had so many conversations about how we couldn’t hang out because every time we got in the same room we had to run the set. What's been good this year is that we've played less gigs but had more time to mess around and jam.” - Finn
“And have dinner.” - Baily
Finally, I offered them the chance to shout-out anyone from the Adelaide/Kaurna Land arts scene. This produced a heartwarming, frenzied scramble of appreciative and supportive shout-outs to their friends and fellow musicians.
And thus, I’ve decided to leave this part almost entirely unedited to preserve its authenticity, rather than making alterations to meet the expectations of an audience.
Max: Alright, there's a couple minutes until you guys soundcheck, so if there are any bands or people you’d like to shout-out, go ahead.
Finn: Yeah, shout out The Munch. Shout out Swapmeet.
Lara: Shout out Swapmeet.
Baily: Shout out War Room.
Finn: Shout out to The Munch, they've got an album coming out really soon, next week I think. Next, uh, Monday, or something.
Baily: Shout out Wolfmother.
Finn: Shout out…I think War Room have an album coming out. Also shout out…also shout out Wolfmother, yeah.
Baily: Shout out Empty Threats. Huge fans.
Lara: Shout out Empty Threats.
Baily: Shout out 3D Radio. Shout out James.
James: Shout out Bailey.
Baily: Shout out, um…Max.
Lara: Yeah, shout out Max.
Finn: Shout out Max.
[Thanks guys]
Finn: Hopefully we’re playing the Entertainment Centre this year. Oh, that'd be sweet. We're going to open for…Wolfmother.
Baily: Yeah, Wolfmother.
Max: I mean, I don't think Graham Nash has got a support lined up yet.
Baily: I'll pull some strings.
Finn: Shout out everyone we've ever played a gig with. Shout out Emmett from The Cranker, and Steve from The Grace.
Baily: Shout out you, the listener, or the reader.
Lara: Yeah, shout out you.
Baily: You've got the music in you.
With The Genevieves on Wednesday, February 7th, 2024. Photo taken by Jack Green. Love you Greeny. This interview and article was written, recorded, and edited on the traditional lands of the Kaurna People. The Infinite Rise observes that Country is central to the social, cultural and spiritual lives of Aboriginal people. Sovereignty was never ceded. Always was, always will be Aboriginal Land.
