Interview: The Maggie Pills Chat About Their New Single, ‘Gold’

Naarm/Melbourne-based punk rock band The Maggie Pills have unveiled their rebellious single ‘GOLD‘ – produced/co-mixed by the band’s own Mario Perez and mastered by Joe Carra (Amyl and The Sniffers, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Courtney Barnett). Today we catch up with Delfi from The Maggie Pills to find out more about the new single.

Congrats on the new release and thanks for chatting with AAA Backstage! What’s the story behind ‘GOLD’?

Hello and thank you for having us!! This is Delfi, the vocalist of the band.

The first verses of ‘GOLD’ came about while I was having a walk in the park and winding down after work. I was thinking about how people and the value that the wider society gives everyone can be compared to how they look at shiny things, like metals or crystals. How the strongest and most flexible ones won’t always have the shiniest glow or the prettiest colour. How some decide they are not worthy of their attention and, I think, will be proven wrong in the end. How we should all be our rough, unapologetic selves.

Then, our guitarist Nick brought that amazing riff and he and Mario – our drummer and producer – developed it into this great tune!!

The iconic guitar leads came out of Sarah’s magic fingers at the studio, on the spot, same as Chloe’s immersive base synth lines. This is the first time that we are exploring having two vocal layers and it’s something we’re planning to get deeper into for our next album.

How did you go about producing the single to maintain its energy and impact? Is there anything on the recording that sets it apart from a live performance?

We started producing the song in a “live-like ” environment. First, we recorded drums and guitars at a friend’s studio, which is set up as a rehearsal room. That gave us the opportunity to explore and experiment with sounds pretty freely. But then we went on to record every instrument separately and ended up recording them at a few different locations, happy that we still got a cohesive sound.

In our opinion, what sets it apart from a live performance is that each live set is unique. Each is coloured by our mood, the interaction with the audience, the general vibes at the venue… It’s hard to capture something like that at a studio. At the studio, we work more meticulously while looking to keep some of that raw energy. So, if you like our recordings, you should totally come to a show!

What do you want listeners to take away after hearing ‘GOLD’?

We want listeners to feel a boost of confidence and energy, to feel emboldened, empowered… and glowing!

What kind of music is inspiring your current creative process the most?

Mostly, we’re inspired by our favourite alternative bands from the 90s like The Breeders, The Pixies, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure and more.

But something that is always feeding our process are Melbourne’s punk and rock bands. We also listen to a lot of folk and indie music from Spain, Latin America and the USA. Even though the style is not necessarily linked to ours, we identify with the feelings that the music transmits and the poetry.

Are there any artists in the local scene that you feel a musical and stylistic kinship with? Who would you most like to team up with?

There sure are! We see music as a means of expression more than a style. Local acts like Biff, Dilemmas, Baby Mullet, Kai Cult, Hearts and Rockets are some of the ones we identify with the most, because of their alternative, gender fluid vibes and their nonstop DIY work.

What’s on the horizon for The Maggie Pills? Are there any future projects or tours in the works?

We’re very excited to do our ‘GOLD’ single launch VIC tour through Melbourne, Frankston, Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine. It’s coming with special details like the 7” split that we’re doing with The Stripp, new merch and designs and a lot of our friends’ bands in the lineup.

After this, we’ll focus on writing our sophomore album and playing more gigs around town, and hopefully, outside of it, too.