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. Up next is Birdfeeder, who have just released their first EP.
Who are you? Tell us a bit about your music:
‘Birdfeeder’ is made of Stephanie, Josh and Marley. Two of us have been friends since high school and two of us are a couple, you’ll have to guess which ones. We’re a keyboard-centric trio making indie art-pop with a psychedelic, mystical slant. We have moments of instrumental extravagance, but mostly it’s tune- and lyric-driven and a bit quirky and also quite catchy.
What have you been working on lately? Any new tracks or albums on the way?
We just released our first EP, The Vile Isle, which took over a year to get finished. We also just did a visual album stage show called The Veiled Isle in the NZ Fringe with lots of large scale shadow puppetry. We already have a backlog of songs that haven’t been recorded yet, and a couple that are still being developed, so there is probably an album’s worth of material waiting in the wings. Hopefully we will be recording again soon, and we’re also working on music videos for some of the songs on The Vile isle.
Where is the best place people can follow you & find your music?
We are most active on Instagram. Our music is on Spotify and all the rest [YouTube], but why not go to our Bandcamp instead and give us some real money (and your email address so we can get our mailing list happening).
What were the 3 most influential albums to you growing up?
We’ll give you one album each. Stephanie picks Björk Debut. Josh says Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium, and Marley goes for Dr Dre 2001.
Which other Wellington musician (s) would you most like to work with?
We’d really like to get some other singers so we can do all the vocal parts which you hear on The Vile Isle in a live gig – we would love to rope in Heleyni of The Happy Plaster and Nell and Erika from Orchestra of Spheres.
What’s your favourite Wellington venue to play in?
You can’t beat Valhalla for good sound, cheap drinks and the same good vibes it had ten years ago. We haven’t actually played a show there yet, but Pyramid Club is our practice space and it is a pretty awesome spot too.
In your songwriting or composing (or the band’s songwriting) how do the compositions and songs take shape?
Our songs all originate in Stephanie’s brain and are brought to the band as half-formed grubs wrapped tightly in a cocoon. As a group we flesh out riffs and grooves, and feel our way through the structure until the cocoon is unravelled and a beautiful song-butterfly emerges, to eat, reproduce and be re-born.
Where/when is your next gig?
We have nothing! We were supposed to do ‘The Veiled Isle’ in Dunedin and Nelson but not anymore, thanks Covid. Time to get something booked.