‘The Eighth Note’ is 8 quick Questions with Wellington Musicians.
A chance for us to catch up with people & see what they’re up to, or introduce you to a new musician/band and their music.
Today’s guest is Taylor from Lower Hutt band Claemus.
Who are you? Tell us a bit about your music:
Claemus is a progressive rock and metal act based in Lower Hutt Wellington. As a band we’ve always tried to push ourselves and break new ground sonically, which is a direct result of each member growing up with a range of different musical influences from metal and hardcore to more ambient and psychedelic acts.
What have you been working on lately? Any new tracks or albums on the way?
2016 saw the release of our new Self titled EP, and we are currently gearing up to hit the studio once again in 2017 for another claemus release.
Where is the best place people can follow you & find your music?
Our EP is available for streaming and purchase on our Bandcamp page, and will shortly be available on other online avenues such as Spotify and Apple Music. Keep an eye on our Facebook profile to stay updated!
What were the 3 most influential albums to you growing up?
Taylor: For me personally, it would have to be Karnivool: Sound Awake, Intronaut: Habitual Levitations, and Shpongle: Are you shpongled? These three albums individually exposed me to a side of music I’d never heard before, and showed me the possibilities within the framework of each bands respective genre.
Which other Wellington musician (s) would you most like to work with?
I love what the guys from ELIM did on their 2016 EP Transient. Of Blackest Oceans album Identity was a awesome release too. Honestly there’s been so much great music released in Wellington in the last year I can’t list them all here!
What’s your favourite Wellington venue to play in?
I’m sure all of us in the band will agree that Valhalla has always been our first choice when organising a show. Not only does it have a great management and sound team, but the venue itself has this sense of intimacy that’s hard to match in Wellington.
In your songwriting or composing (or the band’s songwriting) how do the compositions and songs take shape?
Our songs will normally form with one of us bringing in a guitar part, or a vocal line over a simple chord progression. After we flesh out that particular section as a full band, the rest becomes a lot easier to visualise and construct into a Claemus song. Very rarely will an individual be responsible for a whole song, we’ve found our music always works better as a collaboration.
Where/when is your next gig
Nothing planned until 2017, stay up to date on our Facebook page for gig announcements!