Comprised of Tim Lollback (Vocals), Joseph Fleming (Guitar), Guy Stacey (Synth/Guitar), Liam Roberts (Bass), and William Mogg (Drums) — Calais came into their earliest incarnation in early 2013, heavy with influences from bands like Coldplay and Kings of Leon. As they grew and developed a fanbase in Brisbane, so did their sound, eventually morphing into glistening, modular synth rock sound that incorporates grungy guitars and coquettish pop.
In this interview spotlight, we chat with Calais about influences, their newest project, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and the video for Seeing It All below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create?
We’re from the hot and humid city of Brisbane in Australia. Our music is usually some sort of rock… or pop. We’ve been a band for 7 years and have experienced a lot of natural genre changes so we’ve learnt to play a lot of different styles of music together. Our love of progressive rock and EDM pushes us to create really interesting instrumental tracks, while our love of rap and pop pushes us to tell stories in rhythms and hooks. The production side of music really intrigues us too so we’re constantly playing with sounds and synths to create interesting layers and beats for our songs.
What led you down this path of music? What motivates to stay on course?
We have all grown up surrounded by music in our family and at school. The music scene in our home town has always been big and we spent a lot of time going to gigs and listening to music. We all met in high school and started jamming together at first for a battle of the bands. We were really surprised at what we had created when we first made music together and realized that we were all passionate to keep creating together. Our passion for what we do keeps us on course. There is nothing any of us want more than to be musicians and it’s that deep drive that keeps us tinkering and moving forward.
How is your new release different from previous releases? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Our new sound reflects the direction we are moving. We were the normal rock band for a while and have taken the time to really define our sound to make sure what we are putting out is authentic and true to what we want to be. Seeing It All is the first song that we’ve released that we believe really highlights what we are as a band and the direction we are moving. The reliance on the synth and atmosphere paired with the rhythmic drum and bass patterns pushes a vibe and creates a tone that we are really happy with. The synth layering and production elements are things we’re definitely going to keep in future releases, we’re always going to have some guitar in the mix so we’ll always sound a bit like a band… but we seem to be trying our hardest not to haha.
Do you face any challenges in this digitized, over-saturated music world? On the flip side, how has technology helped you?
From our point of view, it’s quite an exciting time to make music. With the platforms out there now, if you make a banger of a track, anyone can hear it and the song can create it’s own success. Obviously because of this the market is quite flooded with content, but we’re pushing ourselves to create quality stuff that can break through and be heard… that’s the plan anyway 🙂
Where is the best place for us to connect with you online? Hear more music?
Head over to our Spotify page to hear our other tracks, but make sure you keep up to date on our Facebook for some upcoming releases that we have planned! We’re also quite active on Instagram so follow us there to see what we’re up to!
Anything else before we sign off?
Thank you for the support and taking the time to chat!
