Pepperhead

Light Shade Love Rage is built around duality - light and dark, love and rage. How did that theme emerge across the writing process, and how conscious were you of it while making the record?
I wasn’t consciously writing to a theme at all. A mate of ours once told us our lyrics were pretty dark and suggested we try something more positive - so we did Time to Rise. Ironically it's still pretty dark — just more about not accepting all the shite. I'm definitely drawn to the dark side — in a ‘non weird, I promise I'm not a psycho’ kind of way. When we were struggling with album titles (which is fucking hard by the way, as painful as naming a band — everything sounds shit), Kieron asked me to just describe the record in 4 words and I'm like: there’s light and shade and love and rage. And that was that.

You’ve described the album as ‘not a self-help record’ but something more reactive and unfiltered. Can you expand on that idea and how it shaped both the lyrics and overall tone?
I think we're probably classic Gen X. That kind of un-offendable, get up and get the fuck on with it mentality. There's empowerment in this album, but it comes from being brutally honest rather than offering solutions — men (not all men) are still attacking and raping women but women are standing together, maniacs become presidents but we still connect globally, having children can suck the very life blood from you but they give you purpose, relationships are fucking hard but love is incredible, your parents die but they leave their story. We’re not here to give answers. We’re just holding up a mirror. If people find freedom in feeling something through the songs, that’s awesome.

‘The Best (& Worst) of Times’ feels like the emotional centrepiece. Can you talk through how that song came together and why it became the anchor for the album?
This one was a slow burn from a songwriting perspective. Mark's drum beat powered it and I just couldn't shake the ‘let’s just get fucked up, have our best of times’ hook. So when everyone else had parked it, I kept dragging it back and Kieron had this Radiohead meets The Strokes vision. It's probably our simplest song musically (Dan does NOT do well with repetitive single bass notes!) but it's a total grower. Lyrically it captures the whole album in one track which is why it became the anchor. I see it as a festival favourite — crowds shouting it back at the stage and hugging their mates. That's the dream anyway.

You recorded the album at The Grove Studios with Jackson Wiebe and Scott Horscroft. What did that experience unlock for you creatively, and how did the focus on capturing your live energy influence the final recordings?
We'd already recorded a couple of EPs and have always been clear — we want our records to sound like we do live. We demoed everything at our musical home Housefox Studios and sent it to Scott who completely backed our sound and vision. Jackson then took it to another level altogether. He really pushed the boys way beyond what they thought they were capable of musically. Especially Kieron — I've never seen him so lit up creatively (and now I have to bloody learn guitar so we can recreate his parts live). We were all getting a bit carried away on the last day with rain sticks, piano, heavy breathing and telephone rings but ultimately the end result just feels so much bigger. Plus it was just a total rock star experience. We're ridiculously grateful to Scott and Jackson.

The album moves between deeply personal stories like ‘Hazy’ and ‘Not Alone’, and broader social commentary in ‘Northern Bitches’ and ‘Time to Rise’. How do you navigate that balance between internal and external perspectives when writing?
I love storytelling in songwriting and personally, I really do need a song to mean something — whether it's fact or fiction. That said I'm a huge Pixies fan and I've got no idea what Frank Black is on about most of the time so maybe there are no rules. I just can't stand bland, vanilla, ooh baby shite — obvious, cheesy, lazy lyrics. For me, there's nothing you can't write about — we've got songs about aliens, psycho exes, rock stars killing themselves in hotel rooms, unrequited love. It all comes from what's around me — the news, movies or my real life — so the mix of personal and external is organic.

There’s a strong thread of letting go of control and embracing chaos throughout the record. What does that idea mean to you personally, and what do you hope listeners sit with after hearing the album front to back?
If you don’t embrace the chaos, you’ll go insane. I’m equal parts terrified of the future and completely fascinated by it.
I hope people love Light Shade Love Rage 'cos it's just an epic fucking heart on our sleeves album and the songs are bloody good. At the end of the day we're just 4 mates doing something we genuinely love together. But we've also got real lives — bills, families, jobs and other shit going on. As does everyone else. So I hope people listen front to back and connect, dance, smile, think I'm a badass. Ultimately what do I hope listeners sit with? Just listen to Time to Rise. That says it all.