‘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’s are new Dream Pop trio Dreams are Like Water, who released their debut EP over the weekend.

Who are you? Tell us a bit about your music:
We’re a fairly new trio, called ‘Dreams are Like Water’. Rosebud, Michel and Jamie. Our music might be best described as a mix between ‘ethereal’, dreampop-ish sort of stuff, not ‘gaze’ so much as the sort of thing that came just before shoegaze (Cocteau Twins, Cure, Cranes, This Mortal Coil, Shelleyan Orphan etc), with some darker post-punk and goth influences. Music that wistful, dejected teenagers listened to in the eighties. Funny that.

What have you been working on lately? Any new tracks or albums on the way?
We’ve just finished recording and mixing our first EP, named ‘A Sea-Spell’ after the Rossetti poem and painting. Aside from our first few practices that we recorded on a phone, these are our first ever recordings together. The EP will be released from our Bandcamp this coming Saturday, 19 August, with physical CD orders from Vesper Records in California.

Where is the best place people can follow you & find your music?
For now, Facebook – and the Bandcamp will go live on Saturday. People can hear our first single from the EP here

What were the 3 most influential albums to you growing up?
We actually think this sort of question would be impossible to answer, because there’s never just 3, or 5, or 10, and the answer always changes depending on how you feel or what comes to mind at any given time. But…
Rosebud: Here’s three I like: Kate Bush, Hounds Of Love; Cocteau Twins, Garlands; Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Boatman’s Call.
Michel: Boney M, Nightflight to Venus is always top of these lists for me. After that, something by The Cure (but which one would be the ‘most influential’ always changes), and beyond that, I can never think of a definitive number three. Far too many!
Jamie: I also can’t pin down a top 3 but these 3 would defo be included in major influences in my ‘formative’ years: The Cure, Boys Don’t Cry; The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Live at Winterland; Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

Which other Wellington musician (s) would you most like to work with?
Rosebud: Disjecta Membra
Michel: We’re quite self-contained, really. We don’t play live anymore because our music is difficult to reproduce as a trio, but when we did play live I most wanted to play with HEX and AMY_cin, so we did. If we were still playing live, I’d like to play with Hiboux. In terms of recorded collaboration, Jamie and I are quite interested in the idea of film scoring. I think we’d both like to work with Stephen Gallagher. John Halvorsen would also be cool.
Jamie: STEPHEN GALLAGHER. Next question please. Oh and if ever viable, even on one track, I’d also like to work with Disjecta Membra.
Michel: I’m sure that’s viable.

What’s your favourite Wellington venue to play in?
Rosebud: Valhalla
Michel: Valhalla for me too. Ben is the best.
Jamie: The Botanical Gardens, in Spring, at night, blissing our olfactory senses as flowers blossom, and with beautiful purple, crimson, and red lights illuminating us on stage.

In your songwriting or composing (or the band’s songwriting) how do the compositions and songs take shape?
It varies. There are four songs on the EP, one evolved out of us all jamming together, others developed from demoing ideas and throwing them back and forth between us, others were “born fully formed” when one or two of us came up with the first demo. Sometimes it’s about taking words or ideas and creating music for them, sometimes it’s the other way around. Any process is potentially viable.

Where/when is your next gig?
Never, ever again. Probably. Maybe.

Cover image used with permission.