Methyl Ethel
Photography and interview by Heather Hawke.
The Australian New Wave/art rock band Methyl Ethel is the brainchild of one sole person – songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Jake Webb. He started the project back in 2013 as an outlet for his adventures in reverb soaked home recordings and quickly released two experimental pop EPs, Teeth (2013) and Guts (2014) and followed them up a trilogy of obliquely expressed relationship dramas; their debut album, Oh Inhuman Spectacle (May 2015), Everything is Forgotten (March 2017) and Triage (February 2019).
One year later Methyl Ethel are back announcing a brand new EP, Hurts To Laugh (out April 10th via Dot Dash / Remote Control). The EP was recorded at the same time as Triage, and both releases feature cover art by Sydney-based artist Loribelle Spriovski. Hurts To Laugh encapsulates the paradoxes of either laughing so hard it hurts – pure joy or laughing despite the pain – despair. Like everything that came before, Methyl Ethel’s music is bound to be enchanting. The lead single, “Majestic AF”, can be streamed below. Pre-order / pre-save Hurts To Laugh.
In support of the new single and EP, the band (who fills out to a five-piece for live shows, adding in Thom Stewart, Chris Wright, Lyndon Blue, and Jacob Diamond) will be supporting Peter, Bjorn & John on their American tour dates throughout March and April.
Tour dates (#Supporting Peter, Bjorn & John)
March 23 – Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles, CA#
March 24 – La Santa – Santa Ana, CA#
March 25 – New Parish – Oakland, CA#
March 27 – Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR#
March 28 – Crocodile – Seattle, WA#
March 31 – Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT#
April 01 – Bluebird – Denver, CO#
April 03 – Amsterdam – St. Paul, MN#
April 04 – Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL#
April 05 – Loving Touch – Ferndale, MI#
April 07 – Johnny Brendas – Philadelphia, PA#
April 08 – Union Stage – Washington, DC#
April 10 – Webster Hall – New York City, NY#
April 11 – Brighton Music Hall – Boston, MA#
April 15 – The Outpost – Brisbane, AUSTRALIA
April 16 – Night Cat – Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
April 17 – Mary’s Underground – Sydney, AUSTRALIA
April 19 – Goodwill Club – Perth, AUSTRALIA
I want to start from the beginning. What was your childhood like growing up in Perth, Australia? Did creativity play a big part of your childhood?
It was pretty ideal. I wouldn’t say that creativity played a huge part, I’m a daydreamer though, so I didn’t exactly ace my schooling.
Tell me about your musical upbringing. When did you first become aware that music was going to be a part of your life?
I went to piano lessons when I was five or six. Only lasted a year, but my older sister played all the way through high school and was really quite brilliant. Waking up every morning to scales and arpeggios was what made me aware that, whether I liked it or not, music would be a part of my life.
What was your formal/informal music education like growing up?
I started teaching myself guitar at about 11 or 12. Drums at 13. I played in jazz bands at school and basically flunked my way through a high school music education.
Let’s talk about your formative years. What was the very first concert you attended? Did you play any sports / go to summer camps? What music were you and your friends listening to in middle school / high school? Were there posters on your wall when you were growing up?
The live band I saw would’ve been The Sleepy Jackson. I played a bit of basketball and soccer at school. In middle school, the music was mostly Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The White Stripes and then a lot of funk music like The Meters etc. No posters on my walls.
Does it feel like writing music is something you’ve always had to do or is this something that you discovered along the way at some point?
It’s not something that I feel I have to do, more something that I want to do. There is some sort of emotional connection or pressure release when I make music.
What’s the biggest hardship that’s helped inspire your writing?
Just dealing with what goes on between my ears.
Inspiration for music can come at any place or time and it’s often when you least expected it that you come up with something. Has there been a specific time when you were out and about and wrote down lyrics / sung into your voice recorder on your cell phone because you didn’t want to forget what you had in mind? Did it ever end up making it into a studio recording?
All over the place. There are quite a few songs that started as phone memos and made it onto the record. Actually every single song on ‘Triage’ would contain a moment inspired by something that I recorded as a voice memo. My notepad app is full of song titles and album name ideas and just general quotes that I find interesting. My studio is also full of loose pieces of paper with scratching’s over them.
I read that after you finished ‘Everything is Forgotten’ you knew you were going to do another album and already had a 12-15 song demo list that you started working from. What songs off of those made it onto Triage?
‘Post-Blue’, ‘Real Tight’ and ‘Hip Horror’ were from that group of songs.
One of the challenges you set for yourself on ‘Triage’ was to really work on and re-writing the lyrics so, as you put it, “could be proud of and enjoy for a long time.” I know that for some writers, writing is an extremely difficult and painful process. How is it for you and how was it for this album compared to the others?
The only difficulty I find is in trying to keep the audience in mind when writing lyrics. I find it easy to find meaning in every obscure reference I might make in seemingly abstract lyrics. Making sure that there is something for the listener to grasp is tough but ultimately important.
I know Triage was more or so inspired by the actual process of creating the album, which sounds so meticulous and thought out, than any outside influence. Did you have a favorite part about the writing / album creation process for this one?
Seeing all come together in the mixing process with Marta Salogni was the best part and the most inspiring.
Are you ever intentional when you sit down to write? Is there ever a “I’m going to write a song now” moment or is it more ephemeral, like you’ve been kicking something around in your head for days, weeks, months, and then suddenly it comes spilling out?
It’s always intentional to start off with, then it becomes more fluid after a couple of hours. The afternoon/evening is always the most creatively successful part of my writing day.
I really love your artwork and think it does such a marvelous job capturing the band’s sound and aesthetic. With your artwork, how did you interact with the artist/designer? Did you contribute ideas or remain hands-off? Was there a revision process?
My role is as curator. I only hope to help promote the work of artists that I love.
I know you’re a fan of cameras, and you told me you own a 6×6 one back at home. What is your perspective on how you want to be represented throughout your band’s visuals (press photos, music videos, album artwork)?
Only as someone who cares about the details.
