Interview: Exiles Chat About New Album ‘Waiting For Romance’

Melbourne/Naarm alternative outfit, Exiles recently released their debut album, Waiting For Romance. The Album Features previously released singles, Ceiling, Out Of Reach, Wasting Away and Star and showcases 4 new tracks that carry an authentic sound that only Exiles can deliver.

To celebrate the release we caught up with Oscar from the band to find out more about the album, working with Alex Markwell, influences and so much more.

Your new single, I’ll Try, takes a more intimate and raw direction compared to your usual high-energy sound. What inspired you to take this creative leap, and how did it feel to show this side of the band?

I’ll Try was actually one of the first songs we wrote for this record, and it’s always been a really important piece of the puzzle for us. We really wanted to show that we’re more than just a high-energy band and that we can also tap into more intimate and raw moments. Up until this point, our singles had mostly been fast, fun indie tracks or heavier post-punk anthems, so we wanted to showcase a different side of the band. When we started recording, the slower, more emotional tracks really came to life, and I’ll Try especially stands out. It feels incredibly raw and real, and when it hits, it really hits. As the opening track, it sets the tone for the album and invites the listener in at a more vulnerable pace, which felt like a cool direction to take.

Working with Alex Markwell sounds like an intense but exciting process! What was it like recording with him, and how did those four days in the studio shape the final sound of your album?

Working with Alex was intense but in the best way – the whole process felt very “fly by the seat of your pants. “While most of the songs were pretty much finished, we ended up writing new material and reworking some of the tracks on the fly. You’d think this would add stress, but it honestly just clicked. It was exciting to have that sense of discovery in the studio, and Alex played a huge role in making that happen. His experience and our shared vision really helped keep things focused. The limited studio time added urgency, especially with the vocals, and that rawness might not have come through if we’d had more time to perfect things. We’ve actually known Alex for years – he’s Josh’s brother-in-law, and I play drums with him in The Delta Riggs, so working with him was a no-brainer, we like to keep things “in the family”. He brought great ideas without pushing us, and his production skills and songwriting expertise were key in shaping the final sound.

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You’ve got such an electric live energy—how did you manage to capture that chaos and spontaneity in the studio without losing the polish? Any behind-the-scenes stories you can share?

Thanks! Yeah it was super important to us to maintain that energy through the recordings. We focused on capturing the rawness and spontaneity without losing the polish. A big part of that was recording the drums and bass live together – my drumming and Jordan’s bass tone are such driving forces in our music, so we made sure to get those performances locked in first. We wanted to capture their energy as if we were playing a show, and doing that live gave us a more organic feel. For Josh’s vocals, we kept them as raw and real as possible, trying our best to match how he sings live so that it felt authentic. I remember, Jordan and I actually walked down to the bottle-o and grabbed a couple bottles of wine while Josh was getting set up and we alldug into those while he tracked. It helped loosen everyone up and made it a bit of fun after a long day in the studio. If only you could hear some of the b-roll, that shit is golden!

Your sound draws from legends like The Strokes and Viagra Boys but still feels fresh and distinct. How do you balance paying homage to your influences while carving out your own lane in that indie rock scene?

We never copy what they’re doing, we only let it influence what comes naturally from us as songwriters and performers. Influences play such an important role in the creative process, but it’s just through years of hard work and honing our craft that we can find ourselves in a position confident enough to create from the soul. We try hard not to pigeon-hole ourselves and our sound, and I think those influences really come through as they’re bands that we all collectively love and admire.

With your debut album on the way, 2025 is shaping up to be massive for EXILES. Can you give us a sneak peek of what fans can expect, both from the album and your live this next year?

We’ve got our first festival slot coming up at Party in the Paddock on Feb 6 which we’re all stoked about, along with a handful of local VIC dates in Feb to celebrate the release. We’re working on getting some interstate dates happening into the middle of the year which should be mad fun, it’s been a couple years since we’ve left VIC so that’ll be good fun. We’ve just filmed some live-in-the-studio clips too which should be out soon – that’ll give a good taste of what to expect from our shows. We’ve also been working hard to bring a few new twists into the live show, with a special guest appearance on a new instrument, buttttt I don’t really want to give too much away, I guess you’ll just have to come to a show and see for yourselves…