Maintaining Your Focus With MATT WICKS From GRINDING EYES

Interview by Kris Peters
Grinding Eyes craft a uniquely dark sonic landscape, fusing
psychedelic shoegaze, drone rock, and ambient garage punk. The
Sydney band released their third studio album, Out of Focus, last
Friday, further capitalizing on the momentum built through their
2018 self-titled album and 2021’s Taste the Monochrome.
Known for their relentless touring, Grinding Eyes have shared
stages with The Jesus and Mary Chain, Uncle Acid & The
Deadbeats, Swervedriver, Graveyard, Moon Duo, Dinosaur Jr., Monkey
Wrench, Superchunk, New Candys and Mudhoney, as well as Australian
bands, Amyl and the Sniffers, Cosmic Psychos, Spiderbait, The
Drones, Straight Arrows, DMA’s, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, POND,
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, and Tropical Fuck
Storm.
The band’s line up also boasts members from past and present bands
The Mess Hall, Treatment, The Laurels, Bliss and Kimono Drag
Queens, further cementing their deep roots in Australia’s
underground music scene. But Grinding Eyes are more than just the
sum of their past bands. They are a sonic extension into another
realm of musical experimentation held back without boundaries or
expectations.
Vocalist Matt Wicks joined HEAVY to tell us more.
"With this album, I suppose we sort of concentrated a little bit
more on the sounds where previously we've pretty much done
everything live," he measured. "We would dive straight in, start
recording, do a lot of long sessions and sort of see what comes
out. On this one we tried to refine it a little bit more, do most
of the songwriting and we actually played most of these songs live
for a couple of months. So they became a life of their own. We
wanted to really harness more of a tighter sound where we could
mess with it more in the studio than just having the sort of raw
organic rock and roll feel of it."
In the full interview, HEAVY spoke with Matt about the release of
Out Of Focus following a year of delays. Matt expressed his relief
regarding the album's completion and highlighted the band's
creative evolution, mentioning that they have already started
writing new material. The album features a mix of musical styles,
reflecting their organic songwriting process.
During their forthcoming Australian tour, the band intends to
perform a substantial portion of the new album alongside some older
tracks. Furthermore, they will support Pig's Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs
Pigs Pigs on their European tour later this year.

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