Interview: Alexander Biggs
Alexander Biggs has been making a name for himself since the release of his debut single The Worst We’ve Ever Been in October last year. His latest single Out in the Dark, having been recorded, mixed, and master in his bedroom, has finally come out to face the world with a beautiful music video to boot. We phoned Alex to talk about his new single and what we can expect next from this talented rising musician.
We’ve really enjoyed listening to your new single Out in the Dark, what inspired the song?
The song is funnily enough, well…not funnily, about an experience I had. But it’s very loosely based on it. I’m sorry to disappoint anyone who might think it’s a play-by-play of something that happened to me. I’m sorry, it’s actually hard to explain…
How long did the recording process take? You were working on your own in your bedroom, after all…
Oh, Jesus. So, I love working on my own and I love making art out of my room, but it’s also pretty taxing and tiring. And obviously the whole self-doubt thing that artists have always been talking about, it comes up a lot. I think I started recording that song in the middle of last year. So it’s come a really long way. And even when it was finished it kind of stuck around unmastered for forever because I didn’t know when the right time was to have it out. But in the end it all came out very quickly, but finishing it off took forever because of the whole doubt thing.
Your debut single The Worst We’ve Ever Been was less polished and lot rawer. Was there something that prompted the change in approach?
(Laughs) I majored in in Sound Production at Melbourne Polytechnic. I finished in 2014 and I had this really awesome sound production mentor Chris Scallan. He showed me how to mix and coaxed me into double-tracking and things like that. That was the fun bit where I realised I can do a lot more with just me and just a guitar. But that song, The Worst We’ve Ever Been, was recorded on its own just because the vibe worked like that. It was just one track in the raining and it worked out really well.
Do you have a particular process for writing a song?
When I write I just sit down and put it all out in one go. I like to write a lot of poetry but I find that any lyrics I write and then try to put to music don’t really work out. So I guess all anyone will ever hear are the good songs, and the good songs just come out of nowhere.
The music video you’ve released to accompany Out in the Dark is eerily lovely, and I love the symbolism of the lantern. Where did that idea come from?
I work with a mate (Georgia Deslandes) who is studying film at the moment and she’s bloody lovely. And she managed to sit down with me and work out the live music video for The Worst We’ve Ever Been and then this video that’s just come out for Out in the Dark. Went through so many ideas, going back and forth and back and forth, until we just said “F*ck, we’ve got to come up with something right now!”, ao we went with that. I went and got a lantern off Gumtree. The symbolism kind of worked with the song. So the symbolism is the answer.
What was it like filming it?
Dark and wet. Really f*cking wet. It was down on the eastern part of the southern coast of Victoria. I forget what it’s called, somewhere east of Rye. It was really dark and we’d borrowed a camera that could shoot in low light, hence the graininess, which was actually a happy accident. I really like the noise and I think it resonates with what I do. So we just went out on a cold and rainy night and did it.
You’ve been in the public music scene since supporting Hayden Calnin last October. But how long have you been creating music? Is it a lifelong passion of yours?
Yeah, it is. I’ve been making music, in varying degrees, since I was eight. My sister played piano, and then I kind of copied her and really dug it. After maybe a year, once I got fully into it, it just became part of my identity. I’ve never seen a world where I wasn’t making music. I’ve been doing it the greater part of my life. I’ve been pretty lucky. Mum spoilt us all and missed out on a lot of things for herself, just wot give us a good upbringing. Which for me, involved a lot of music.
This is your second release, but what can we expect from you in the coming months? Any chance of an EP on the horizon?
Yeah, I’ll have an EP coming out some time at the end of this year. It’s pretty loose at the moment. I’ve got a lot of songs I’ve been sitting on. Hopefully they don’t wait as long as Out in the Dark had to. I’d love to get something out in the next little while. (Laughs)
And what does your ideal EP sound like?
Just moody as! (Laughs) I really like songs that are pretty sad. I guess people haven’t seen that much of it if they’ve been to a show. But a lot of my songs explore what it is to feel emotions that might seem a little negative at first, but turn out to be pretty worthwhile.
You’re officially launching your new single with a show in Melbourne next month. What can someone expect from your live shows?
The live shows obviously differ from Out in the Dark a fair bit. I can’t create two of me live so I can’t double-track. So they’re a lot more stripped-back and intimate. Some Velvet Morning is such a lovely venue in that you can get so close, and I encourage it. The closer you get in, the better. That way you just get to listen to the stories.
Alexander Biggs will be launching Out in the Dark on Thursday the 23rd of June and Some Velvet Morning in Melbourne.
