ifitbeyourwill S06E21 • Highschool

HighSchool formed during Melbourne’s lockdowns, making songs fast and with intention. In this episode, they talk about starting with images and mood before melody, recording wherever they could, and keeping tempos high so the songs stayed sharp and emotional. We get into how Lily’s shift from drums to synth helped shape the band’s sound, why restraint matters more than polish, and how Sony Ericsson came together in a single day after nearly being dropped. From writing in London to releasing a self-titled debut, this is a conversation about momentum, trust, and finding your sound by keeping things simple.

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Scene: New Record
• 2:15 Origins In Melbourne Lockdown
• 5:10 Building A Vision Before Sound
• 8:05 Duo Chemistry And Past Bands
• 9:35 Songwriting Methods And Momentum
• 12:00 Lily’s Role And Taste
• 15:05 Knowing When A Song Hits
• 17:10 Crafting The Debut In London
• 21:15 Last-Minute Changes That Elevated Tracks
• 23:00 Reception, Growth, And Slow Burn
• 25:10 Touring Plans And Album Two Strategy
• 27:00 Closing Thanks And Tour Info

Transcript

colleyc: 0:38

We are another episode of the ifitbeyourwill Podcast coming at you, season six. Um, is a machine at this point. I can hardly stop it. Um, it just keeps going and going. And today um we're kind of I'm I'm reaching over. Well, they're in transit with uh high school, um, who are kind of traveling between shows and uh so they're kind of in the world. We'll just say they're out there in the world at this point, enjoying themselves, and uh we're gonna have a little chat about their their latest record, which came out October 31st, which is their self-titled. Uh we were just talking a bit before we hopped on how I have needed it to help me sleep. Um, it's a really not to say that it's uh slow core or uh you know dream poppy, but it has this gene to it that is really um calming and and exciting at the same time. And they'll tell us how they created this sound because I think it's quite individual and special to hear. Um, I have uh Rory and Scotty here with um uh Rory and his sister Lily is also Lily is in the band. She's not here with us today, but he will definitely represent because I have some questions about sibling musicians. Um so guys, thanks so much for hopping on here and and and sharing a little bit about your musical journey here thus far.

Rory: 2:01

Oh, thank you. Thanks for having us on, Chris.

colleyc: 2:04

Yeah, yeah, totally, totally. Well, Rory, I'm I mean, let's just start with that. Like, so you and your sister have been in this band since the get-go together. Is that correct?

Rory: 2:14

That's right. So we sort of the origins of the band started during COVID in 2020, uh, and we were in a very severe, extensive lockdown in Melbourne. Um, we had a very strict sort of regulations, and um, me and Lily were living together. So, you know, work kind of both dried up for both of us, um, and we had nothing better to do but to sort of start a new project. Uh and it was it's kind of Lily's first experiences as a musician. Uh, I've been in bands for a long time, but um, me and Scotty had been in bands together in the past. He was living in Poland at the time. Um, and me and Lily sort of cultivated this almost this kind of look and this aesthetic before it was anything kind of sonic. But um we had this, you know, idea of this sort of gothic uh imagery and these ideas of these kind of sibling sort of gothy twin thing or something initially, and then it kind of developed, and then initially we were called Rosary, like the the sort of um origins of it. We were called Rosary. And then Scotty came back, obviously because of COVID, had to come back to Melbourne, and we sort of talked to him about it, and we had this idea of what it was going to look like, and we we knew what it wanted we wanted it to sound like. Um, and then yeah, that became like a bit of a kind of springboard for the whole project. We sort of just used that initial sort of cultivation of the look and everything, and the sound kind of came around it. But um, yeah, Lily was actually playing drums initially, which was quite funny. Um, you know, and she's she's picks up things very quickly, so she was she was good, but then we decided all the tracks needed to be at least 180 BPM. Um, so she moved on to the synth at that point. Um, but yeah, she's a massive part of the sort of origins of the band and um still tours with us uh to this day, but yeah, she's she's finishing uni at the moment, so she's not with us in Europe right now. But yeah.

colleyc: 4:15

Interesting. And Scotty, what about what about your beginnings? Like, where did you first um kind of get the idea to either you know to reach out to Rory or to like want to be a part of a band with him? How did how did that relationship first start off for you guys?

Luke: 4:32

Yeah. Um, well, me and Burie were in bands together kind of a couple years before um high school started. Um and that kind of band that we were in kind of disbanded. We were doing our own thing. I moved to Poland and was doing my Masters of Fine Art in Poland, and then COVID hit, um, and I had to come back to to Melbourne. Um yeah, and then I just linked with Rory and we were talking, he talked me through the idea of the band and Yeah, you know, like you said, I didn't really have much else to do because uh Melbourne was in such a severe lockdown, it kind of gave us a lot of opportunity to write music.

Rory: 5:11

We weren't super spreaders, but we were a little bit sneaky with you know, sort of we were only supposed to go out for an hour a day for activity or to be able to do shopping, that was it. But you know, we'd find a meeting point or we'd sneak over to each other's houses and work on a track and pull out the the focus right, the little Scarlet Pro. Yeah, yeah, it was just stealthy. First EP was recorded on and um stealthy origins, but yeah, uh very sneaky goes, very sneaky goes. Stealthy in time, and I feel like that worked itself into that initial EP. And you know, a lot of people came out of COVID obviously being like, wow, that was the worst experience. But for us, it sort of gave us this kind of focus in a way, gave us this opportunity to just not really have anything to think about besides wanting to make art.

Luke: 5:56

I really liked it because we made so much music, and like we got signed to this UK label in COVID, and then once COVID lifted, we like moved to the UK. So, like I kind of look back on on lockdown, you know, it was difficult in some regards, but in other regards, it was like I look back on it quite fondly.

colleyc: 6:12

Yep, totally. Well, I've spoken to many musicians and they they all kind of reflect on COVID as a time where they created so much stuff, um like inventories of songs that they're still dipping into now, you know, like what are we maybe four or five years later? Um it it seemed like a real creative creative spurt. And yeah, Scotty, I'm I'm I'm curious about when you look at Rory and what his sister were doing during COVID and them sharing the music with you what did you think about it and what did you think that you could add to it that uh that you were excited about?

Luke: 6:56

Well, I suppose like Rory said, it started more as an aesthetic than it did a um an auditory thing. Uh and it was presented to me as like kind of a mood board and like uh like like photos of of of Rory and Billy. Um and yeah, it's just cool and it resonated with me, and then um yeah, man, then we just like started to get the tracks together.

Rory: 7:19

It is an interesting way to sort of start a project though, is sort of you kind of all land on something outside of what the music is itself, and like that in its own way lets everyone interpret that look and that visual and kind of give their own flaves of what the songs should sound like. So it was a quite an interesting sort of angle, and um it was super beneficial for us because it kind of meant we're all on the same page without ever having to really you know jam together on this project, so you know, at that point.

colleyc: 7:50

So um do you think do you think it was the influence of just because you guys had played so previously together you'd been in bands together that you kind of already knew what you know someone was gonna bring into the mix?

Rory: 8:05

It was also that the bands were in together in the past. I feel like we're you know, four and five pieces and stuff. Um a lot of them were sort of shoegazy, very like uh Brian Jonestown Massacre, sort of uh my bloody Valentine inspired kind of bands. And I feel like we were always most aligned out of all the members, you know, and sort of we had other members that wanted to sort of take it a slightly different direction, and we sort of collectively wanted to take it another direction. So it did feel, although it's very different to the music we'd made in the past, it did feel like an extension of like what we wanted to do with it, and uh yeah, it's almost a continuation of our past, you know.

Luke: 8:43

And yeah, yeah, when when the band that we were in together broke up, it was kind of like we didn't really want it to break up, so it's kind of like a continuation of like the collaboration we'd already had, I feel, yeah, in a sonic sense.

Rory: 8:56

Yeah, it's very easy to sort of once you find someone that you have that creative connection with, it's very sort of easy to continue to progress together. It's almost like yeah, I feel like it takes a very long time to find someone that you can collaborate with like that. And when you have fewer people, um it it really is uh it speeds the process up a lot, I think, you know.

Luke: 9:24

Yeah, two two or three is very agile. I feel like once you start getting into four or five, it's like it's difficult to manage. And one is too lonely. One is too lonely.

colleyc: 9:36

And how do how do your songs come to be? Um, who brings what in, and like how do you build a song as a group?

Rory: 9:46

We have a few different processes. Um we're both sort of multi-instrumentalists, like we have our kind of instruments that we play live, but in the studio, you know, uh although Scotty plays bass live, like I might pick up the bass and come up with a bass line. Scotty plays a lot of guitar, we both play synth, uh, I play drums as well. So, you know, there's normally one core thing that gets brought to the table, it might be a bass line, and then the other person, I think, will often try and just riff off that and find our our usual um sort of focus is to make kind of the catchiest and the most sort of emotive harmony we can between two instruments. So if Scotty comes in with a bass line, I'm gonna we'll work together for an hour, he'll be looping the bass line, and I'll be kind of riffing on guitar until I find the notes that gel with that to create this sort of feeling that you were speaking about before. This kind of comforting but also nostalgic kind of feeling.

Luke: 10:53

But there but there's no one way to skin a cat. You know, there's no formula, uh, we don't do things in a particular way or a particular process. It just comes together or it doesn't, and there's not really any way that we do it. We just it's just tied in, isn't it? You just have to put in the work. Yeah, we got totally damning.

Rory: 11:12

I talk about that a lot, how like you just have to be there, you know. 90% of the time you're in there in the studio, it's not landing, it's not working, and then that random 10% of the time this thing sparks, and as long as you're there to catch it. I know that um Noel Gallagher had a famous saying that you gotta be in the studio every day. So when the you know, when the song falls out of the sky, you you gotta be there. Because if you're not there, then Bono will Bono will be and Bono Bono will get the song. So um I like that.

colleyc: 11:42

Yeah, I like that. And what does Lily bring to this mix? So I mean, you were you were mentioning too that she is was just starting when COVID was happening music-wise. You guys already had this bond. What was it that she brought to the two of you that that really helped start to establish the direction that you guys would head towards?

Rory: 12:07

I I think it's really interesting and important to have a person in a project that doesn't have necessarily a musical background and that can add this sort of spontaneous, uh, very expressive nature to the whole dynamic. Um, you look at, you know, look at bands like the Sex Pistols, for instance, the the band itself are all, you know, relative, especially the drummer and the guitarists are great musicians. Then having that wildness of of Johnny Rotten or Sid Visitts or whatever kind of throws it into this chaos mates sort of order that I think is really important. Yeah, yeah. And you know, that Stooges is a great example as well. Like I think um you you you there's a great contrast there. And Lily um was good at that. She sort of we kind of had this certain way we'd approach things because we've both been playing music for a long time. And to have someone who's also a bit younger than us uh to come in and and add their own thing was really important.

Luke: 13:07

Provided like taste, you know. She had like a good good taste, and like, yeah, maybe because she was divorced from the music traditional music creation process, she's had a good like overview of like what was working and what wasn't, you know, in a non-musical sense. That's very valuable. You know, it's very valuable.

Rory: 13:25

I do think that also, you know, we'd been working towards this for a long time, and the fact that we were able to, you know, move over here to the UK and then tour and get to the US and try all these things for us were these big goals, and it was interesting that we'd sort of worked up to that, and this was her first band. So I think there was some adjustment in that sense of like, you know, we'd really been had this goal ahead of us for a long time. So for her, it was all kind of happening quite quickly. Um, and you know, that eventually got to a stage where she went, you know, I want my focus to be touring live and and doing this, but she also has her own aspirations and her own things. So she's kind of this figure that sort of dips in and out of the band at different points, which is a really cool thing as well, you know.

colleyc: 14:11

Yeah, that's really cool. That's cool. And like when do you guys like start to figure out that you're on to something with a song? Um like you had mentioned, okay, you'll start riffing on a bass line and then you'll start to layer in a guitar riff or some chord progressions. Like, when do you guys get a sense that you're on to something that would be worth the put down on tape or a record? You know, like where do you where do what is that feeling or that sense of look that you guys give each other when it's like, oh yeah, this is gonna be a banger?

Rory: 14:45

It's a brilliant feeling. Um, and like I said before, it does it is quite rare. And when and you know, when it pops out, it's like it's the best, it's the best feeling, you know. Um but I think we both know mutually like something will land and we'll just hope that we sort of captured it or we can remember it. And so so often, you know, I'll be half asleep just about to nod off, and then something pops into my head on a track we've been working on, like a vocal melody, and I roll over and grab my phone and sort of blurt this sort of melody into a voice memo. Um, and then try and listen back to it the next morning, no context, and often it doesn't really make any sense. I'm like, okay, that actually sounds shit. But um but uh no, we'd definitely dream state almost, eh?

colleyc: 15:29

Like that's yeah, it's a great technique as well.

Rory: 15:32

Who is that philosopher that held a spoon? He held a metal. This is someone's philosopher held a spoon in his hand, and as he was falling asleep, his grip he'd drop the spoon, and the spoon hitting the ground would wake him up and he'd write down ideas. That's what he's thinking. Um, we both know, and there's no real way of um articulating it through words, what the feeling is, but it just sort of hits, and we go, like, okay, that that's something, you know, that that's it's a tonal thing.

Luke: 16:00

I think it's a tone that like is like high school. It sounds like a high school trap. I don't exactly know what it is, but it's like, oh, it kind of has this like happy, sad, nostalgic sort of feeling. Timeless feeling in the moment. And then you're like, oh, there it is, and then you can you can work with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hard to say what it is, but you know it when you come across it.

colleyc: 16:19

Yeah, totally. And I was trying to like place you guys, like where you know, where do you fit in between like you know, everything that's out there? And I mean, there are some touches of so many different kinds of music that it's hard to say it's this, you know. But like you just said, uh Scotty, I love that, is that you know when high school is playing, you know, the sound, like because it just sounds so original um and unique in a way, you know. Yeah, no, I think that your your your relationship is delivered through these songs in a way, and it just shows the tightness because they are tight songs. And it kind of brings me to my next question about you know, the record it came out in in October uh 31st of this year. What was the process of putting this record together? Um, how did it begin? Are these songs that maybe date back to COVID, or are these songs pretty recent that are on this record? Because I mean it's a 12 12-song record. I mean, it's it's a you know, you got a lot of tunes on there, and um kind of maybe walk us through a little bit of like how did this get legs and and how did it come to be?

Rory: 17:32

We kind of moved, uh we're uh we met a guy called, well, we got a guy called Rich Walker reached out to us. He works at a label called 4AD in London, and he sort of started managing us, started trying to help us kind of he signed us to his own label outside of 4AD just for the first EP, which we'd already written and recorded. But the incentive was the incentive was always to get us over there, uh, try and sign a bigger deal and start touring and you know pushing this thing in the UK. Um and we did that basically. We we we came over and we you know toured and got on some really great support tours pretty quickly and were starting to really build something. Um but yeah, the idea was always heading towards this sort of debut record. Um, and things could have happened a lot quicker, I feel, in terms of us turning it around. But between touring and, you know, lifestyle in London is very turbulent, you know, it's quite hard to, you know, get everything together quickly. But I'm very glad that it took us as long as it did because I feel like our songwriting just kind of continued to develop. I feel like if we did a full length as soon as we rocked up in, you know, the start of 2022, it would have a more, you know, this naivety to it or something in the songwriting, which could have been cool as well. But um the process of this album was a lot of demoing um over the years that we're in in London. Uh, we had a studio in South Bermansey. Uh, we'd go in there every day, very grisly part of town, very grim, very rainy. Uh, so we kind of set up this little haven in the studio that was warm and nice and had you know nice couches and some art, and we sort of used that as this kind of little hub where we could escape the you know, the grisly London winter. But we yeah, we just kind of worked in them most days, tried to treat it like a nine to five, try and go in and sit in there and just chip away at tunes. Um, and there's plenty of plenty of songs that came to you know, we wrote quite quickly when we rocked up, and they're three years old now, and it's great to see them, you know, yeah, be able to be released eventually after so long. It's so such a nice feeling to see things that you've worked on for a long time be uploaded and be able to be listened to by by your audience. Um, but then there's plenty of songs that came together incredibly quickly, quite close to your release date, really. Yeah, exactly. So we're working right down to the wire. Um We have a slight issue sometimes of overworking things, I think, and not knowing when to call it. But then every now and then that extra five percent put in totally makes the song. Um Sony Erickson, for instance, one of the lead singles. You know, we'd packed up everything in the UK, we'd, you know, finished recording and we'd move back to Melbourne uh for summer. And we were just listening to it, we're like, God, that could really just use some little thing. And we ended up totally reworking the track, and we just had this magical day in the studio where everything kind of reworked itself and it turned out to be a much better song than I think what we had initially. So we wrote and recorded it all in one day. So yeah.

Luke: 20:43

Uh and we released most of the uh recorded most of the tracks uh with them over a month long period. Um and then we got it uh mixed by Claudius Mittendorfer uh in London as well. So most of it was done in the UK, in London, between London and Lewis. Um and then a few pickups in Melbourne, but mostly mostly in the UK.

Rory: 21:05

Yeah, we joved a lot of songs. There's a lot of extra stuff we recorded that didn't make it, but yeah, yeah. Hopefully we'll get onto a sophomore album or something, we'll say. Yeah, we write a lot of songs and then call a lot of songs.

colleyc: 21:17

Okay. And Scotty, how do you feel that the album's been received by the world? Um have you noticed things unexpectedly, or are people getting kind of what you guys wanted to deliver? Like how how's how's your kind of retrospect on, you know, it's been out for you know almost two months now. What where where are you guys at with how you feel about what you created?

Luke: 21:43

Yeah, it seems to be uh receives really well. Um people seem to really like it. Um I'm really happy with um with what people are saying and um the reach it's getting. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm super happy.

Rory: 21:54

I think uh uh Yeah, I feel like I try and not focus too heavily on, you know, numbers and algorithms and there's something just vapid and that I find unartistic to me about that kind of comparison between other bands or expectations, but obviously at the same time, you know, you want it to be business, you want it to work. So I'm really happy with with all that side of stuff. It's been great to get a lot more sort of coverage on radio in in Oz in the US and in England. Um and it's good to see the numbers, you know, spike up a bit. Yeah, as much as you try to care about that stuff, it's good, like you know, the the following is continuing to grow, and it's nice to see that every day new people are discovering the band and looking back into the archive of stuff we've done in the past as well and getting to discover that, you know. Um I think we're a real slow burn sort of sort of band. I think we just continue to do things and let that um, you know, continue that audience continue to grow quite naturally. I think that's just sort of I like being this sort of hidden secret kind of more of a culty following thing, but you know, yeah, I'm really, really happy with how well I mean the validation is great.

colleyc: 23:03

I mean, I think it's very well deserved too. I think you guys put out something that will be listened to for a long time to come. Um the great thing about music is it just keeps going regardless, right? I mean it's out there in the ether now, which I really appreciate you guys putting it out there. Uh kind of to wrap things up, guys, again, thanks so much for for finding a spot to have this chat with me. And um I've really enjoyed your kind of stories of how all this came to be and your process. Um I guess like my last question is what what what can we expect uh for the end of this year going into 2026 for high school?

Luke: 23:42

Yeah, well we we have a world like a tour of the US and then Europe and then the UK and Canada and Australia and Canada too, yeah. Um two shows in Canada uh starting next year. Um and then I feel like after that tour is done, we're gonna get onto the second album really quickly. We're gonna get it done.

Rory: 24:00

Yeah, I think even the plan is almost like we get we got this show in Berlin, it's the last run of the in-store, the rough trade in-stores. And it was sort of back in Melbourne for for summer, so we were even thinking about taking a very different stroke to the second record and kind of not letting it blow out to be this two-year process and and trying to write most of it between now and when we head on tour, road test the tracks, you know, um alive and then record it when we get back and you know, album a year, that's that's the goal now, I think. Just try and not get too precious about things and put stuff out and just allow that to be a representation of that time rather than you know falling into perfectionism and making things, you know, overworking stuff. So but yeah, definitely just you know, we want to be prolific. I think we want to try and release release as much as we can moving forward and um yeah, uh making the exact sort of music that we want to make and not you know making music we think other people want to hear, just doing exactly what we think we want to do, and we're lucky enough to work with a team of people that allow us to do that and not have to compromise on our sounds at all. So that's you know, that's brilliant.

colleyc: 25:10

Yeah, yeah, so that's a great guy. Well, I wish you all the best um in this leg. I mean you're on tour right now, and um I'll put all the info for the tours on uh on this podcast so that people can go and check you out and uh I'll definitely if you're coming my way, I'll come and uh check you guys out. I'd love to see you guys play live. Like, wow. It must be quite the show.

Luke: 25:35

All right, thanks so much, Chris. Thanks so much, Chris, really appreciate it. Thanks for having us on the show.