Interview: Bukowski Chat About Their Latest Single, ‘Elevator Song’

Melbourne-based emo-punk quartet Bukowski have just returned with their latest dignified offering ‘elevator song’ – produced, mixed, and mastered by Jack Newlyn (Paradise Club, Stuck Out). We sat down with the band to find out more about them.

We’re very much loving the new track ‘elevator song’, can you tell us what it’s about?

Stoked you guys are digging it! It’s based on personal experiences and mental struggles I’ve had growing up. Growing up in a faith-based family and pursuing dreams that were frowned upon had me questioning a lot of decisions I made on a daily basis, and it still does to an extent.

That’s what the song is for me, but I hope people can find their own meaning.

How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard a Bukowski song before? 

Complaint rock n roll.

How do you go about your song writing process?

Each song comes from a different place for us. This one started with the drum loop I had just pieced together on my laptop. I had it playing over and over again and then I just picked up the guitar and played the main riff for a while. After about a couple of hours I had the main parts pretty solidified. The lyrics/vocals came about 9 months after the initial idea was born. We were in a jam room fleshing out the song and the main hook at the end just started popping into my head and it felt really uplifting but the lyrics were the exact opposite and that juxtaposition really spoke to me. The rest of the lyrics were pieced together over the coming days and in the studio.

When not doing music, what’s everyone’s favourite pastimes?

We love getting together with all of our friends, eating copious amounts of food and making each other laugh as hard as we possibly can.

You must be excited to play live again! Can you tell us your favourite tour memory?

We are so stoked to be hitting the stage again, we don’t play that often, so it is always a great time! Favourite memory would have to be the tour we did in New Zealand with our friends Braves (RIP). We had bought them over for our first tour here and they returned the favour when they decided to call it a day. They took us on their last ever tour in NZ and it was a bittersweet feeling but some of the most fun memories we have.

You will be releasing an accompanying music video for this track, what is the clip about and how did you come up with the idea?

As we were finishing up the recording of ‘elevator song’ I had just found some old home movies that I hadn’t seen for about 15 years. I started watching them and I was flooded with emotion while reminiscing on my childhood. I thought it would be great to share some of it with the band to see if they had any old home movies, we might be able to use for imagery for the release. When I watched the footage back, I was thinking how amazing it is to live and to grow up and experience things, be it good or bad. I wanted to show the imagery of us being children, pure and carefree, along with us as adults, a little jaded and confused. Sometimes we forget how amazing life is as adults and how free we can truly be.

Can we expect a sizeable 2021 from Bukowski?

We still have a few bangers up our sleeves that we are planning to be dropping throughout the year, a sprinkling of touring in there won’t go astray either.