Welcome GRAVE GOODS, and congratulations on your debut album TUESDAY. NOTHING EXISTS. which is set for release on 9 September via TULLE. GRAVE GOODS features current and former members of PINS, Girls Names and September Girls. To begin could you expand how GRAVE GOODS came into existence?
Lois – Thank you! Sarah and I met on tour a few years ago, and we wanted to make weird music together.
Phil – …and then a while later Sarah and I were on tour and she asked me to come to a practice with my bass sometime.
Are you still split between Manchester, Belfast and Dublin? If so is that a problem?
Lois – We are, and it depends how you look at it. There are time restrictions on writing and touring but I find it helpful in making creative decisions. We do as much as we can when we’re together, work on it individually then refine it when we are together again, our writing process has always worked in this way.
When did you write and record TUESDAY. NOTHING EXISTS.?
Lois – We wrote it over a few years, due to the writing process already mentioned as we live in separate countries but enjoy writing all in the same physical space. We recorded it with Stu Matthews at Invada Studios in 2019 just before everything locked down.
TULLE is a women-led independent record label focused on working with and for underrepresented voices in music. Its home to M(h)aol and Fears, how did you get involved with them for the album release?
Phil – I’ve known Connie (TULLE founder, Fears, and M(h)aol drummer) from her years living and performing in Belfast and we even collaborated on a track together a few years ago. Loving the ethos behind TULLE, we wanted to be a part of that so sent the finished record over. Straight away they seemed really into putting it out, and Connie and Emily are a dream to work with.
The majority of the songs are very metronomic, very guttural. There is an almost confrontational, uncomfortable element to the music, raw and uncomprising. Did you set out to create such a soundscape? Where did the influence for such dramatic songs come from?
Lois – Yes I think we did set out with this in mind. Sarah and I had talked about making post punk, angular music with no real format just playing how we felt. Personally I wanted to approach guitar and vocals from a perspective I hadn’t before just based on rhythm and noise. I think the tension comes partially from various other frustrations in life and partially from the way we write where we have to make instinct decisions rather than labour over everything.
The Dinked version of the album includes numbered risograph printed lyric inserts and hand illustrated pages from Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea, a wonderful addition for fans. Having read just how important Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre is for Lois, and its influence lyrically on this album, is it possible for you to expand on this?
Lois -To me the book is about seeing the world in your own way, for what it really is. How everything around us is loaded with meaning that is so collectively understood that it is assumed before you really get a chance to think of what it means to you. One way to see it is that everything is so pointless you can give it whatever meaning you want. Another way to look at it is that everything is a blank page, and by taking away all assumed meaning to the objects, people and experiences around you it allows you to assign true meaning by your own values. I could really go on about Nausea forever, it’s my favourite book and I had just read it for the first time when Sarah and I started writing together. I really connected with it and I was reading it over and over trying to get more from it. I was processing all these thoughts and it was natural lyrics were coming from that, I was able to read over old lyrics I had written and find new meaning in them too. Sarah had the idea to include a page in each Dinked edition, Phil was already a fan and Sarah read it too when we did the notations. I really enjoyed doing that process together.
Do you have plans for gigs to support the album release?
Phil – yep, we’re currently working on putting that together. We’re always looking forward to the next show.
If I looked in your fridge right now what would I find?
Lois – my keys.
Phil – bulk buys of Tempeh, Tofu, Oat Milk, one jar of pickles and little else.
For more information on GRAVE GOODS please check out their facebook and bandcamp.
Their debut album TUESDAY. NOTHING EXISTS is set for release on TULLE on 9 September.
