Down for Tomorrow and Waxflower interview each other, talk Kisschasy + new music

Header image: Down For Tomorrow (L) by April Josie, Waxflower (R) by Mitch Lowe.

Two acts that we've recently come to celebrate as being the future of Australia's heavier rock world are Down For Tomorrow and Waxflower. The former - a Sydney-based four-piece - have been consistently levelling up for much of the past two years, with a consistent stream of singles and a new EP - 2019's Thanks To You - forging them a place in the Australia's indie-punk successes of tomorrow. Waxflower, meanwhile, bring pop-punk charm straight from Brisbane, capturing the excitement of that 2000s pop-punk sound but channelling it in a way that feels distinctly forward-thinking.

The two bands are friends that are often compared against one another, and there's a reason for that. Although they occupy two different spaces within the Australian punk/rock canon, they both bring a sheen and shine to the sound that places them ahead of much of their respective competition, and the two bands are masters in finding a distinct niche - indie-punk and pop-punk respectively - and riding that wave, albeit in ways that don't feel done already.

Both their strengths shine through their respective new singles; Waxflower sharing their first single for the year back at the start of June through Sixteen Floors, while Down For Tomorrow make a return with Until You Feel Alright, which arrived last week after they kicked off their 2020 with Emily earlier in the decade. They're both tracks that showcase what the two acts' strengths in what they do best, while also bringing their respective sounds into a new decade that's sure to be bright for both of the acts, with each of them pegged for break-out years ahead.

The Waxflower single - Sixteen Floors - feels a little heavier than their past work, reflecting a new signing to Rude Records that teases more new music on the horizon. "Sixteen Floors was written at the end of a relationship, and along with my anxiety and panic disorder I was facing a new kind of sadness, with the backbone of my emotional support system gone," the group say. "The song served as a vessel for all the negative thoughts and emotions that I wanted to externalise, but couldn’t. I remember that writing session being very fast, and very cathartic."

Down For Tomorrow's single, meanwhile, opens a little softer. Until You Feel Alright marries this charming, soothing vocal with an instrumental fierceness that takes a while to heat up - despite teases of intense guitar at the single's start - but when it gets there, it goes. "Until You Feel Alright dives into that strange helpless feeling you get when you don’t exactly know how to comfort someone who’s going through a rough patch," they say. "Sometimes, just being there for them is all you can do - being present and allowing them to open up at their own pace."

Here, to celebrate the two singles and the two bands' connection of front-runners of their sounds, we had Down For Tomorrow and Waxflower interview each other, and the end result goes deep on everything from Kisschasy to new music:

DOWN FOR TOMORROW interviews WAXFLOWER:

How much KISSCHASY does Tristan listen to in his spare time?

Just enough to keep Darren Cordeaux fed and watered.

When recording and making music, there are no rules in our camp. What’s the weirdest thing/instrument/sound that’s made its way into a Waxflower song?

I’m not sure about weirdest, but Tristan is a freak at demoing, so we’ll often pull things straight from there and put them into the final recording without having to re-track. A lot of the key parts are exactly as they were in the demos.

Congratulations on signing to Rude Records, do they treat you kinder than their name suggests?

Thanks! We’re currently chained up in Milan being forced to write tracks for numerous boy bands, so take from that what you will…

(Seriously though they’re lovely and have been a DREAM to work with)

We remember seeing you guys on a very distinct night at Frankie’s supporting Stand Atlantic. That room was a sauna in disguise. How many pints of sweat do you reckon you could’ve filled post set?

Ohhh man what a fun but atrociously sweaty show! I reckon you could’ve squeezed us out into a keg and sold it over the bar as the first Waxflower x Frankie’s Collab beer.

Your first show since March is at The Zoo with Brisbane legends SEMANTICS, what can punters expect when they come to see you?

We’re itching to be back playing shows, so I think it’ll be such an energetic one. You never realise how much you can take live performance for granted until you can’t anymore, so it will be cathartic. We’ve got some stuff to get out.

WAXFLOWER interviews DOWN FOR TOMORROW:

In-between posting memes in the DFT Facebook Group, posting TikToks playing theatre songs and dreaming up elaborate social content, how do you find time to play guitar?

The trick is no sleep. When the sun is up, the goofy shit ensues, and while the world sleeps, that’s when the instruments come out and we practice music that perfectly accompanies padded white walls and instant coffee. Did I mention my bloodstream is almost entirely coffee?

What do you say to the multitude of fans begging for a full performance of your debut EP, ‘Golf Is Not A Sport’?

Maybe for a ten-year anniversary. It’s pretty cool that those four songs we wrote having just come out of high school are still very much loved and talked about in our community. It’s gratifying. It goes to show everyone has their different tastes, and sometimes your earlier music cements itself within others’ hearts

Your new tune, ‘Until You Feel Alright’ is out now! What was it like leaving the safe confines of the hit factory at Electric Sun Studios and venturing out to work with Lachlan Mitchell?

Dangerous and different. The environment at Electric Sun is infectious and when we carried that same vibe out to Parliament Studios to work with Lachlan, it felt very dissimilar, but in a good way. Change of scenery is always needed for progression and working with Lachlan was a pleasure. He had lots of enthusiasm for the unnoticed things in the mix, like the panning of guitars, the wall of sound near the end, the layers of random percussion we threw in there. It was a great time.

A hypothetical for you: Coronavirus will be eradicated, and live music returns BUT you can never play ‘Thanks To You’ live again. What do you do? Do you take it?

…Fuck. We’ll just have to hope that one of our new songs becomes powerful and meaningful enough to take its place in the set!

With a new single out soon, and live shows nearly returning, what does DFT have instore for the rest of 2020?

Plenty more new songs, that’s for sure! We spent a lot of time writing in isolation and all these songs need to be brought to life somehow! Hopefully the borders will all open soon, and we’ll come have a beer with you in Brisbane and sing loud and drunkenly at Greaser again. How about it?

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