CHVRCHES Chat #MeToo In Music & Balancing Politics With Party Vibes

CHVRCHES dropped their latest album – Love Is Dead – this week, and the tides are slowly but surely changing. Representation of women in creative industries is being recognised and shifted as more people make noise, and CHVRCHES’ Lauren Mayberry, is one of those voices.

When PEDESTRIAN.TV got the lead vocalist on the blower, R. Kelly had just been hit with explosive allegations of sexual coercion and assault, confirming the #MeToo movement had spread to the music industry.

I feel like there’s only a handful of examples of it happening in the music industry, I think it’ll take a lot more work to create change there. I don’t know if that’s because music isn’t as centralised as the film industry or it’s not as unionised, but you know everyone has known everything about R. Kelly for decades, and now things are being said about it, now people are doing something about it.

You know, people knew this entire time, and a lot of people in the media, and people in labels, and people who worked at promotion companies ever wanted to do anything about it because everyone was making money off it.

And in the time since, the gauntlet has swung again, this time taking down Jared Leto among others in the wider music community. Secrets that were pretty widely-known among many, but are only just being brought into the conversation because people of power and influence are finally listening.

Even Dr. Luke; Kesha having talking about that for years and years, and people knew about it, but so few people actually wanted to stop working with this guy, or take her side or anything, and hopefully in a post-‘Me Too’ world it won’t be so difficult for a victim to get believed, but I think that’s what makes me a little sceptical about people in this industry, because people have known about these things, but women have just been told to put up and shut up. Maybe now they won’t be told to “just deal with it” in the way that they used to be.

I guess that’s a thing that’s coming out of this; the pushing of people to realise they have to be part of the change and not expect somebody else to do it for them. And that maybe certain things are just not acceptable anymore.

It’s this kind of disappointment in the world that fuels Mayberry and the band for the new album – one which has turned out to lean much more into a perspective on the political world than intended.

I don’t think we went in trying to write an explicitly political record, it’s not like an album full of manifestos, I do think those things seep into the way that you’re writing if you’re affected by them, I think a lot of the time I just feel quite sad about the way that we treat each other and the way that people are sometimes.

Marrying together lyrics that are a critical social and political commentary with CHVRCHES’ typical upbeat, synth-heavy instrumentals – you know, the reason why they’re perfect for your workout playlist – is not an easy task, but something that Mayberry (along with Iain Cook and Martin Doherty) manage to do extremely well.

Love Is Dead brings a level of consciousness and self-awareness to synth-pop that’s reasonably unparalleled, and Mayberry says the importance of balancing the highs and the lows, the light and the dark, is a reflection of how life itself is.

That balance has been a really important part of the band’s sound; we’ve always had that juxtaposition between the dark and the light and I think when things are a bit more sonically up-beat, you can push things a little further with the imagery and the themes of what you’re talking about.

I feel like that’s kind of the music that we grew up loving – stuff like The Cure and Depeche Mode – it can sounds really vibrant, really melodic, but the person that’s writing the poetry that’s in that music doesn’t really feel like that. I feel like that’s what life is like, you know? Never really all one thing or all the other.

CHVRCHES are back on Aussie soil in a couple of months for Splendour In The Grass, and Mayberry says that shows here feel a lot like playing back home in Scotland – plus coming over in July means the winter sun is more forgiving on their pale skin.

We’ve been lucky enough to come to Australia quite a few times, and it always feels like a pretty similar energy to back home in terms of the shows and stuff so yeah, very excited to get back. We played Splendour a few years ago and I felt it was more manageable for our weak British selves; we didn’t have to put on quite as much sunscreen, but it’s always really cool to get to go places that you never thought you’d get to go anyway, let alone you get to go there ‘cos of music so we’re really lucky.

Catch CHVRCHES at the North Byron Parklands on Saturday July 21, or at their sideshows in Sydney on Sunday July 22nd and Melbourne on Monday July 23, both supported by Mansionair and Wafia. Grab yourself tickets over HERE.

More Stuff From PEDESTRIAN.TV