INTERVIEW: Grenade Jumper releases new track 'Heat Wave'
Emerging Sydney pop-punk band Grenade Jumper recently released a cathartic and vigorous track ‘Heat Wave’. After releasing popular tracks such as ‘Gazed’ and ‘Get Ahead’, the band dives deeper into their punk roots with this latest hit. We spoke to the frontwoman of the band, Bianca Davino, about the new track, their recent success, and future plans.
How was your experience supporting FANGZ during their Falling Out tour at The Vanguard, Newtown?
FANGZ are a band with palpable energy so it was definitely exciting to play alongside them! Musically, we’re quite different to them so performing in front of their audience was an interesting opportunity for us.
Your recent single, ‘Gazed’, was just picked up for the Triple J Unearthed radio rotation. How was your response when you found out about this?
The support we’ve received from triple j unearthed since kicking things off in late 2018 has been incredible. We were lucky enough to have ‘Gazed’ added to rotation for quite some time which has absolutely opened us up to a wider audience across the country, and that truly means the world to a small band like us. As most music lovers are, we’re huge admirers of the work unearthed do in promoting up and coming artists and to be part of that in any capacity is fantastic.
You’ve also just recently supported Hellions at their show at Crowbar Sydney. What type of feeling do you all have when you have the opportunity to be playing in your hometown?
At this point we’ve only played in Sydney, but that show was absolutely a highlight for us thus far. Hellions were a massive part of my adolescence and they obviously worked for years to bring the Sydney scene into prominence, so it was a huge honour to be able to support them. It was incredibly nerve-wracking in the lead up to the show but we received a really warm response that night which was truly humbling.
‘Heat Wave’ exemplifies the theme of wanting to break free – what was the inspiration behind that track?
The track is based around themes of hope, acceptance, and learning to revel in gratitude. It’s those traits that make you a stronger person and a better support network to those around you. We wanted to celebrate this as a real rally cry, call to arms and we definitely aimed to reflect that musically.
‘Heat Wave’ displays the band’s pop-punk style and is definitely different from previous singles ‘Gazed’ and ‘Get Ahead’. What was the songwriting process behind it and how could you compare it to the previous singles?
We’ll always try to make sure our pop-punk roots are included in our songs, but our musical goal here was to create something with a bit more of a straight-up rock flare. The more we built on the track, the more we realized it’s potential to sound ‘bigger’ and more anthemic than our previous tracks, so we tried to gear it in that direction as much as possible and hope to continue to do so in the future.
The process this time around was a lot different, and really feels like the first time we were challenged as songwriters. With ‘Gazed’ and ‘Get Ahead’, we wrote those songs in our rehearsal room, demoed it out and basically had an engineer just track the song. But this time around, we had a producer who wasn’t afraid to break the demo down to its best parts and collaborated with us – with a lot of passing a guitar back-and-forth – on bringing out the best song possible with what we had.
With that being said, we feel like it was ultimately a good thing that we workshopped ‘Gazed’ and ‘Get Ahead’ almost entirely on our own – because it really gave us a sense on what our capabilities and limitations were as a band before going into a professional production environment.
You’re an experienced journalist having written for Junkee and The Industry Observer. How do your skills in writing translate to your ability to write and create music?
I actually do find writing lyrics to be quite a challenge. As I’m used to writing in a critical, analytical and factual way, I do find it difficult to distil my thoughts into lyrics but, with practice, it is a process I am starting to enjoy and have a better understanding of what my style is now.
What’s next for Grenade Jumper? What are some goals you all have for the upcoming year? Anything you’re looking forward to?
We’re in the midst of recording our debut EP at the moment so we’re extremely excited about rolling that out. We’re absolutely looking forward to playing more shows as well once the world returns to normal as well!
Are there any current artists you all are listening to? Anyone specific in Sydney?
As far as current artists go, I think this UK band called Loathe are the most exciting act in the world now, and this electronic artist Caribou has an incredible new album. New Four Year Strong is killer too obviously.
As for Sydney, Capital Affair are an awesome band you need to hear, plus Oaks have had an interesting lineup change that I think is going to lead to some very cool results.
I’m a diehard Code Orange fan and worship at their throne like no other – their new album is so harrowing, apocalyptic and perfect in every way. I also adore the new Soccer Mommy record as well as the new Best Coast album! I’m also absolutely a Capitol Affair and Oaks fan too!
