Australian Alt-Rock band Sly Withers released a new single on April 17 entitled ‘Restless’.
Sly Withers are Jono Mata (guitar and vocals), Sam Blitvich (guitar and vocals), Shea Moriarty (bass) and Fraser Cringle (drums).
Sam & Jono answered a few Qs for us…
First of all, what inspired the band name?
SAM: Our bass player Shea and I had English Lit together in Year 12 around the time we started the band. One day we were bored in class while reading Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and decided we should open up the book to a random page, and put a finger on a random word to see if it’d make a good band name. The first one we landed on was “sly”, the second was “withers” and the rest is history.
You guys have a knack for blending heart-on-sleeve lyrics with punchy riffs. How do you keep that balance between raw emotion and pure energy?
SAM: I actually think the raw emotion can help inform the energy in the music while we’re writing it. If something sounds like a gutpunch lyrically, the music underneath often finds a way to organically match that energy without giving it much thought. Kinda like you’re “living in the world” of the lyric while coming up with your parts, and that informs the type of stuff you play. Generally speaking, the stuff that just happens in the moment is often the best.
The Aussie music scene is buzzing right now—how has it shaped your sound?
SAM: The Aussie scene is so rich with cool people doing cool stuff. We are nothing without our community, whether it be bands we share stages with, staff in venues around the country, or most importantly the audiences. So in that sense I feel as though the scene has very much shaped who we are today.
Musically speaking, we’ve always found that leaning into the stuff that sets us apart from other bands in Aus is important. When we started out, leaning into our more pop punk adjacent influences felt a bit scary because it felt like all that was happening in Perth was psych-rock (peak Tame Impala era), but the more we focussed in on what we liked and not what we thought the scene around us would approve of, the more excited we got about what we were making, so we leant in and tried carving our own path musically.
Your latest record ‘Restless’ hits hard. What’s the wildest story from the writing or recording process?
JONO: Just in general it was a pretty wild experience recording overseas for the first time. In the past we’ve managed to fit in recording albums around everyone’s life and work commitments, so being in that setting in a different country where recording the song was the only focus at the time was an awesome feeling. At the start we weren’t sure if we would have time to track drums in those sessions until Stevie our producer managed to squeeze us in at Rob Cavallo’s home studio to finish it all up. Getting to walk in there and see all the albums we’ve loved over the years from bands like Paramore/Green day/My Chemical Romance, as framed plaques, plastering the walls was insane.
Touring life: chaos or controlled madness? What’s been the biggest “pinch me” moment on the road? What is the UK like compared to Australia or anywhere else?
SAM: A bit of both haha. It’s always a bit chaotic with plenty of challenges being constantly thrown at you, but we adapt and overcome and try have a laugh throughout it all.
Getting to bring our music to the UK is a big enough pinch me moment for us. We’ve dreamt of playing over here since we were teenagers, so getting to finally do it and having people from the other side of the planet singing along to our songs is absolutely wild. The UK is cool as! The people are lovely, Greggs is sick, your Burger King does a wildly good vegan chicken burger and the drives through the countryside between towns are bloody gorgeous. Already itching to come back asap.
Every band has influences, but who’s one artist that totally changed the game for Sly Withers?
JONO: I think I always go back to Biffy Clyro as being my biggest influence, in particular how they blend being a great live “guitar music” band with a really great taste for production elements and how that all comes together in a record. I’m a big fan of the variety in their music as well, theres a lot of albums that have gone in many different directions sonically and I think that’s really cool and interesting.
In an industry drowning in content, how do you keep your music and message cutting through the noise?
SAM: Good question! I don’t know if I have the answer to be honest. We just try to do our thing and hope for the best haha
At the core of it all, good songs are key for us. We always try to prioritise writing the best music we can, and from there we just hope for the best!
Authenticity feels like an important thing for us too. I like the idea of us being relatable to people, rather than being up on a pedestal. We’re just people, same as every person who listens to the tunes or comes to a gig, and we like creating an environment where everyone in the room is on the same level. None of this holier than thou, rockstar shit haha
Looking ahead, do you see the band evolving in a way that might surprise your fans? Any curveballs?
JONO: I think its a little early on in the recording process to anser that properly but at this stage we’re very much open to anything and seeing where the songs lead naturally. I’d say we do want this album to be a step forward for us and do something different for the band, so I think we will be on the lookout for those curveballs.
If you could rewind time and give your younger selves one piece of advice about the music biz, what would it be?
SAM: Stress less and enjoy the ride while it’s happening! It can be really easy to get caught up in the stress of the whole operation, especially for me as a chronic over thinker. Also take a probiotic to fend off the ever looming threat of getting sick on the road haha
Your songs feel like they hit people right in the chest. What do you think makes your songwriting so relatable?
SAM: Honesty feels important. We’re pretty raw with our lyrics and I think that kind of vulnrebility and specificity is real important to what Sly is. We’re just a bunch of dudes singing about our own lives. Songwriting is inadvertent journalling for us, and that kind of “open book” vibe seems to be something that people respond really well too. I know i love it in the artists I adore too. Something that really hit home for me was listening to Jake from Modern Baseball giving an interview once where he said something along the lines of, the more specific you are in your lyrics to the point of it being so speficic that it’s almost unrelatable to people, the more relatable it actually becomes because everyone has their own infinitely complicated and specific existence, and hearing others talk about theirs reminds you of your own.
Dream collaboration—any artist, any era. Who’s on your bucket list, and what kind of track would you want to make together?
JONO: There are way too many people coming to mind so I’m going to have to keep it current haha. I had a pipe dream idea the other day that it would be so fun and interesting to record something with Holly Humberstone, blending our music styles with maybe some like Sleep Token type influences thrown in there for good measure, I think that would rule.
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