Maintaining Your Focus With MATT WICKS From GRINDING EYES

Interview by Kris Peters
Grinding Eyes craft a uniquely dark sonic landscape, fusing psychedelic shoegaze, drone rock, and ambient garage punk. The Sydney band released their third studio album, Out of Focus, last Friday, further capitalizing on the momentum built through their 2018 self-titled album and 2021’s Taste the Monochrome.
Known for their relentless touring, Grinding Eyes have shared stages with The Jesus and Mary Chain, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Swervedriver, Graveyard, Moon Duo, Dinosaur Jr., Monkey Wrench, Superchunk, New Candys and Mudhoney, as well as Australian bands, Amyl and the Sniffers, Cosmic Psychos, Spiderbait, The Drones, Straight Arrows, DMA’s, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, POND, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, and Tropical Fuck Storm.
The band’s line up also boasts members from past and present bands The Mess Hall, Treatment, The Laurels, Bliss and Kimono Drag Queens, further cementing their deep roots in Australia’s underground music scene. But Grinding Eyes are more than just the sum of their past bands. They are a sonic extension into another realm of musical experimentation held back without boundaries or expectations.
Vocalist Matt Wicks joined HEAVY to tell us more.
"With this album, I suppose we sort of concentrated a little bit more on the sounds where previously we've pretty much done everything live," he measured. "We would dive straight in, start recording, do a lot of long sessions and sort of see what comes out. On this one we tried to refine it a little bit more, do most of the songwriting and we actually played most of these songs live for a couple of months. So they became a life of their own. We wanted to really harness more of a tighter sound where we could mess with it more in the studio than just having the sort of raw organic rock and roll feel of it."
In the full interview, HEAVY spoke with Matt about the release of Out Of Focus following a year of delays. Matt expressed his relief regarding the album's completion and highlighted the band's creative evolution, mentioning that they have already started writing new material. The album features a mix of musical styles, reflecting their organic songwriting process.
During their forthcoming Australian tour, the band intends to perform a substantial portion of the new album alongside some older tracks. Furthermore, they will support Pig's Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs on their European tour later this year.

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