Q: So happy to be speaking with you today! I was immediately drawn in by the nostalgic feel that “Nan and Pop’s house” portrays. Childhood, loss, growing up, and seeking comfort that seems to have disappeared along with our youth are all topics this track highlights. What do you hope listeners take from “Nan and Pop’s house”?
MICHAEL DAY: Hey, thank you so much for the kind words! I hope listeners would reflect on their own childhood memories and times spent with family and their grandparents and revisit those times. I hope the song would well up a gratefulness for good times in their past.
Q: In your own words, how would you describe the type of music you typically create?
MICHAEL: As an Artist and band, ‘Michael Day’ are still finding their sound somewhat I feel. Or at least always exploring different sounds. Our genre tends to land in some variety of Alternative Folk, with a mix of Pop and Rock in there. I often describe our sound as Indie / Singer Songwriter but that’s not specifically a genre. Indie Folk is sort of what I aim to write but end up with some rock/pop undertones. I have described this latest tune as folk-rock.
Q: I love the beautiful tribute “Nan and Pop’s house” emulates. Everyone can relate to this track somehow because we all yearn for our childhood sometimes. Can you walk me a bit through your writing and production process in making this track?
MICHAEL: My writing process is often geared towards riffs and chords and finding sounds from playing around. For this track specifically, I wrote it on the back of our single, ‘Storm’, which I had tried out this weird tuning. The tuning is C, G, C, F, G, D. After finding the intro riff, everything else sort of followed. I then got the lyrics for the chorus and built the rest of the lyrics around the feeling of remembering ‘those days’. It sort of developed into a tribute to my grandparents unintentionally.
Once I had taken the song to the band we started to workshop it and get a ‘vibe’ for the song. We then took it to Debaser studio with Andy Lawson, and things really came to life. We were really specific with the drum kit sound, making sure it had that folk vibe. We did things like putting a pillow in the kick to really deaden it. Most of the ambience was from my guitarist, Ben, who played a bunch of things through a microcosm pedal by hologram, I love the pedal so much!
In addition to this, we also ran a harmonica through a bunch of effects in a spot or two to get some different tones. Andy is the real magician behind this track, really honing the ambience and nostalgia of it.
Q: Who would you most like to collaborate with, if it could be anyone in the world?
MICHAEL: I would love to do a co-lab with Angus and Julia Stone because I think Julia’s voice is so unique and I have been so influenced by Angus and Julia Stone’s music over the years. I’m in love with the simple yet beautiful and intricate way they write songs and so to work with them on a song would be a dream come true!
Q: What’s the best advice you’ve been given about the music industry, and how has it changed how you go about things?
MICHAEL: Give yourself 3 months between finishing a song and collecting all the assets to release the song. I’ve tried to do this as much as I can and it always makes the world of difference in just having time to get life sorted and to feel ready for a release.
Q: Bouncing off the last question, what advice would you give to other up-and-coming artists?
MICHAEL: Give yourself time to prepare for a release! You will have breathing space!
Q: What has been one of the highlights of your music career so far?
MICHAEL: We’ve had a few little nominations over the last few years, most recent was being a semi-finalist in the 2023 Independent Songwriting Contest.
In 2021 we were nominated for a WAM Song of the Year Award here in Perth WA. I think a consistent highlight is hearing someone listened to your music and they enjoyed it or it touched them in some way. Especially when the comment comes from somewhere unexpected. It’s such a lovely thing to hear after putting your heart, soul and energy into this thing, to then hear someone has been enjoying it, it is surreal and is always a highlight for me.
Q: Thanks so much for speaking with me today! Tell everyone reading what things are coming up next for you. Are any projects/shows in the works?
MICHAEL: This Saturday the 27th of January, we are launching our new single at the Four5Nine bar in Perth, with Menates and Sabrina Ives as supports. We just released our music video for Nan and Pop’s house and we will be releasing our next single ‘Morning Coffee’ in February next month followed by our next single ‘Scars’ in March! So we’re trying to pump out a bunch of music this year 🙂
We’re currently working on a 5 track EP so that will hopefully be out this year also! Thank you so much for speaking with me, I really appreciate it!
Interviewed by Melissa Cusano
FOLLOW MICHAEL DAY:
