Hailing from Auckland, musical duo (and real life couple) Callum Lincoln and Eva-Rae McLean make up the self-described ‘sci-fi psych-rock’ band Ripship. Following multiple gigs around Auckland’s local venues, and the release of their first single Man after Man (which spent multiple weeks in 95bfm’s Top Ten list), Ripship are set to drop their debut EP ‘Greebles’ on May 8th. You can find it “anywhere you listen to music.”
So, what exactly is sci-fi psych-rock?
R: We call it ‘psych-rock’ because the bands we’re most influenced by are psych-rock.
C: Psych-rock has got more of a focus on tones - guitar tones, drums tones - the sonic textures rather than the structure of a song.
R: And then “sci-fi” because all of our songs are kind of sci-fi inspired. It’s a good launch point for writing songs, like what kind of robot can we sing about today?
How long have you guys been working on this EP, and what
is a greeble?
R: We wanted it out, like, November last year. We’ve had these recordings for ages ... And a greeble is what you call the details of model spaceships to give the illusion of scale and complication that isn’t really there. We thought ‘greebles’ was nice because the songs on this EP are like little bits ... they’re just little bits, you know, kinda like a greeble.
One of the standout songs on the EP is Lube The Cube.It’s a fantastic live song because it’s about lubing up a Rubik's cube, which is totally crazy and of course a crowd is gonna go wild for that. Where did that idea come from?
C: It’s really not crazy at all ... competitive cubers always lube their cubes. The idea came from Rae saying “lube the cube” because it rhymed, and then being like “we should write a song about that”.
R: I remember distinctly coming up with those lyrics while on a walk around a playground. I don’t know the exact circumstance, I think we were just writing ... I was like, isn’t it so ridiculous that professional Rubik's cubers have to lube their cubes so they can spin fast?
The recording of that song sounds great, it transports me back to being in Whammy Bar dancing to it. Where did you guys record your EP?
R: About 15 meters away from where we’re sitting right now, just using mics that my dad had lying around because he’s big into music.
C: We bought a cheap interface with our gig money ...
R: We just wanted to do it, and we didn't want to have to pay ... well, one, we didn't have the money to pay someone else to record professionally and two, we just wanted to get it done.
Did you send it to someone to mix and master?
C: I mixed the majority of it, but I did everything with Rae’s vision. We also got some help from our friends, Taylor Doherty, and Peter Ruddell from Wax Chattels. He helped us reamp our recordings because they sounded like shit.
R: We mastered it with an AI ...
C: ... Which sounds a lot cooler than it is.
Is there a vision in place for a full album yet?
C: Yeah, there’s a couple demos already.
R: We’ve kind of finished four songs that will be on the album, and we’ve got two - maybe three - skeletons. We’re definitely keen to put out a big cohesive body of work; record it well, mix it well ...
C: We want it out a lot sooner than the EP came out.
R: It just depends how fast we can write, because we don’t have all the material for it yet. We are keen for a 40 minute album full of bangers.
I read that you guys met at a Miss June gig. What were your first gigs ever, respectively?
C: A Miss June gig for me, actually. Not the same one.
R: Mine was a Mucus Kids gig at UFO. They were so out there, and they put so much effort into their live performance - it got to a weird prayer circle on the floor, and little 14-year-old me was like “what the fuck is going on here? Is this some cult?” But I was also like “I love this. I feel cool, I feel like an adult.” Very influential.
Mine was Messed Up in 2015.
C: Oh, I went to that!
I remember Miss June and The Moots and Joe Says No were there.
C: It was such a good live show ... Yukon Era and Courtney Hate ... It was just every good band.
R: The Auckland music scene is so good. I feel like so many bands are international level talent and song writing and we were so lucky to see it for $10.
Who introduced you to the local scene?
C: I saw Miss June open for Foo Fighters and I was like, “they’re really good!” I looked online to see when their next gig was on, went to it, and realised there was a whole scene. A few of my friends were there and they were like, “you don’t go to gigs?”
R: I went to Green Bay High School which is where Title Pending and Courtney Hate came from. I grew up at the Green Bay music night assemblies seeing all ages bands, which was kinda cool. Then I’d see a Facebook event pop up because I was friends with those people, and I slid in.
It's NZ music month, and this issue's theme of Debate is ‘Homegrown’, so I'm gonna quickfire some questions about kiwi music to you guys.
Who is your favourite Kiwi solo artist and band?
C: Sidekick Nick is my favourite solo artist at the moment.
R: Mine is Aldous Harding and ... I’m torn between Wax Chattels and Yukon Era. Maybe Wax Chattels because they’re still together and I’m really excited for their next album.
C: Wax Chattels ... Mint Chicks ... There’s so many good ones ... Mermaidens ... Earthtongue ... My Anatomy ... I’ll go with Mermaidens.
What’s the greatest Kiwi live show you’ve ever been to?
R: There was a particular Yukon Era gig, I don’t know when it was, but it was at Old Folks and it absolutely slapped. Instead of a stage they had all their gear set up in the centre of Old Folks and everyone huddled around them. Everyone was drunk and underage, it was rowdy, shirts were taken off, sweat was dripping off the ceiling.
C: The Naenae Express recently at Townhall - It was just a solo set, he didn’t really play any of his usual songs - and everything that could’ve gone wrong went wrong. His mics were cutting off, there were heaps of feedback and glitchy noises, everytime he tried to loop something it wouldn’t loop in time ... It was a 50% comedy set, 50% music set, and it was a really good time.
Favourite Kiwi album?
R: I’m gonna go with a current favourite, ‘Milk’ by Milk. I listened to the album and I was like “this is what I want music to be.”
C: Mint Chicks, maybe ... ‘Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!.
Finally, are there any local artists you want to shout-out?
R: I wanna shout out everyone at Whammy. Dick Move, Sulfate, Bozo, Na Noise ...
C: All the Whammy guys.
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