Inklines Chat To Their Producer Lachlan West About Their Latest Single, ‘All Gone’

A brand new year of music for Sydney’s Inklines has kicked off strong already with the release of ‘Blossom’back in February. And most recently, the trio returned, backing it up with another strong dose of indie rock in All Gone. We were lucky enough to be a fly on the wall during a recent Q+A between Will from Inklines and their producer, Lachlan West.

[Will}: What program do you use to mix?

[Lachy]: I’ve moved to mixing in Logic a few years ago, it’s not without its quirks but it feels like the most intuitive system to me. I mix mainly in the box, but do a fair amount of printing and re-amping in the post-production stage to add the dirt and eccentricities.

[Will]: My hero. Ok, what’s your favourite compressor to use on my vocals?

[Lachy]: You have a surprisingly warm and round voice so I’m always trying to get more aggression and urgency to match the natural warmth. I tend to favour distortion and saturation over compression for this. Having said that, my All Vocals bus almost always has a Fairchild 670 at the end just to add some slow massaging.

[Will]: Your hard work on making my voice sound listenable doesn’t go unnoticed haha. What’s been your favourite guitar combination (between my Strat, Tele, SG & Rickenbacker) in the studio?

[Lachy]: For the clean guitar tones, it was a combination of Stratocaster and Rickenbacker that was the most successful. The dirtier sounds were most commonly an SG and Telecaster for the left and right. We had some issues with power in the old farmhouse, there was a very audible steady ticking sound we could hear through the guitar amplifiers that we had to work around. We figured out that the electric fence’s power must have been on the same mains as the house, nothing Izotope’s RX7 couldn’t sort out.

[Will}: Yeah, that damn ticking! We should have just got Dan to go hold onto the fence for a couple of hours – redirect the current a bit. Can you tell the lovely readers how you met Inklines?

[Lachy]: I met Will at a Vines show in Sydney in 2014, my dad actually introduced us because Will had sold him some gear before. I was starting to produce more when I wasn’t touring and it was my Dad that suggested we work together.

[Will]: Shout out Steve West! Another true hero. What’s your funniest memory with Inklines?

[Lachy]: I think some of the funniest moments with the guys were when we were making this last EP out in the farmhouse, screaming at each other playing Mario Kart after some long days recording. If you put three close friends together in a tiny room for that long, they’re going to find interesting and hilarious ways to make fun of each other and it’s just fun to watch.

[Will]: Haha playing Mario Kart and screaming at each other is basically all we do outside of playing music. Favourite Inklines song so far?

[Lachy]: I think my favourite Inklines song today is Blossom. I love its immediacy and momentum, and the fact that it reminds me of a Something For Kate guitar riff. I also really love Too Much from the previous EP, a beautiful song with my favourite, super melodic guitar solo.

[Will}: You’re too kind. Alright last one then we’ll let you go! You have been working with Inklines from day one, how would you describe our progression from EP#1 to EP#4?

[Lachy]: I think over the five or so years we’ve been making music together, I heard a band mature in their songwriting but regress as humans.

[Will]: Oh.

[Lachy]: Jokes! I’ve heard a band progress from wearing their influences proudly on their sleeves, to creating their own sounds and influence.