SUPER FREE

Super Free brings together three artists with different musical backgrounds and production experience. How did the project first come together, and when did you realise there was a unique chemistry worth pursuing as a band?

Tosh: I had a weird year last year and just felt like I wanted to write. Chas and I hadn't been seeing each other as much, and I felt like he hadn't been working on as much music as he should have been. So I thought, "I'm going to write some songs, we're going to record them, and then he gets to make them sound however he wants."

We started doing that and the ball started rolling really, really quickly. After one of the tunes I'd written, I remembered the song Tell Me More About the Dark that Tyler had shown me some years before. I remembered it hadn't found a home, and I thought, "I've got a home for that now."

So I called Tyler and told him exactly that. I said, "Come out. This is what we're doing."

Tyler came out and we started working on that tune as well. I think the moment we realised it was working was when we weren't fighting... we were just being creative.

You've described the music as favouring feel over perfection. In an era where recordings can be endlessly polished, what draws you towards a more organic, unfiltered approach, and how does that philosophy shape the finished work?

Tyler: It's very different from how I normally work because I'm not afraid of fixing things. I'm not shy about editing things afterwards.

Working with these guys has been a challenge in a really great way because when we're recording together it's more like, "Alright, this has to be good."

Tosh: I think the philosophy we're trying to take on board is that maybe it isn't something that needs fixing.

I used to do the same thing... thinking everything needed to be more perfect. But now we're trying to lean into what it actually was. We're trying to make quick decisions instead of getting caught up chasing perfection. If it still sounds good and it feels good, then it is good, and we can keep moving.

Tell Me More About the Dark is a striking title that immediately sparks curiosity. Can you take us inside the writing of the song? What inspired its themes, and why did you choose it to introduce Super Free to the world?

Tyler: I started writing it many years ago for someone else to sing.

I actually came up with the title Tell Me More About the Dark first, which might even have been something I heard in a TV show. That happens to me a lot. I'll hear little phrases that end up finding their way into songs.

I wrote it for someone else, but I didn't actually finish it until recently. I had the melodies, but I didn't really have the verses.

When I got to step away while these guys were working on the music and I was cooking, I had my pen and paper with me and ended up writing the verses.

So it's really a mix of old feelings and new feelings, to be honest.

Tosh: It was simply the first track we finished properly. We were really eager to put something out, and it just felt right.

We finished it and thought, "Fuck yeah. That's the first song we're going to put out."

With three producers in the band, how does the recording process unfold from the first demo through to Chas' final mix? How do you decide when a song is finished while still preserving its raw, expressive character?

Tosh: While we all collaborate, and some songs really do happen with the three of us in a room together, a lot of it starts with me writing the majority of the lyrics and chords before bringing it to Chas and Tyler.

I'll say, "Hey, this is what I wrote this morning," and then pretty quickly there's a moment of excitement. Tyler might say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like this bit," or, "That could go here."

Then we start recording pretty quickly. It'll usually begin with a rough guitar and vocal run-through, and everything gets built on top of that.

Eventually there's enough there that we can take away those original rough guitar and vocal tracks, and they just fall by the wayside.

The debut was mastered by Brian Lucey, whose work has helped define the sound of countless acclaimed records. What made him the right choice for this release, and what did he add to Tell Me More About the Dark that elevated the final result?

Tyler: He was always my number one choice. When we were talking about influences and mastering came up, I said, "Well, we should get the guy who does all the records we're talking about."

Tosh: I didn't know who he was.

Tyler was really excited about it, and then Chas had a look and very quickly thought, "Oh yeah."

When I asked how much it was, the figure seemed so reasonable that I thought, "Of course we have to do this."

I was like, "Is that all it costs to get our stuff mastered by that guy? Fuck yeah. I'll pay for that today."

Your music draws inspiration from artists like Neil Young and Dan Auerbach while still feeling fresh and contemporary. As Super Free moves beyond this debut release, what kind of musical journey are you hoping to take listeners on, and where do you see the project evolving from here?

Tosh: We've got a bunch of really eclectic songs coming out, and they all sound vastly different from one another.

I think beyond that, once we get through this initial phase of wild creativity that we've been in, there'll be a pretty heavily folk-based record.

Tyler: Agreed. A lot of vocals, a lot of guitar, maybe not heaps of drums.

We've talked about a lot of songs that don't necessarily even have drums.

Tosh: Maybe something a little closer to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.