Melbourne four-piece Ceres are definitely a band worth keeping you eye on, having played Melbourne’s Soundwave Festival, as winners of Triple J’s Unearthed Soundwave competition the guys are currently on a national tour throughout March and April, playing shows with friends The Smith Street Band and Luca Brasi.
Released next Friday April 4th via Hobbledoy Records the band’s debut LP I Don’t Want To Be Anywhere But Here is a follow up to the stunning 2013 EP Luck. Ceres are masters of beautifully constructed pop rock, effortlessly combining the most endearing and elements of 90’s emo, with the sincerity of modern punk and the self deprecating lyrical context of 90′ and 00’s indie rock.
Vocalist and songwriter Tom Lanyon gave as a track-by-track run though of I Don’t Want To Be Anywhere But Here for this advance stream.
Jam Song
“A cough to start the song, to start the record. I don’t think that anyone was particularly psyched to start the very first song on our very first record with a cough. It belonged to Frank, our drummer, and in a practice space on the north-west fringes of our Beloved Melbourne, it was unceremoniously recorded in a voice memo, in an iPhone. I changed the recording’s name on my computer to ‘Jam Song’ probably not long after. We’d have that recording for months and months before we knew it would be a song. The song took us by surprise I guess.”
Middle Names
“This song took two tries to record. Probably should’ve gone for ‘third time’ a charm. Oh, if you could’ve heard the wet sack of a song it was (you can if you want, email me). Not sure what happened, maybe it was our overzealous attempt at it the first time. More energy in, less energy out. Doesn’t really make sense, but you need to remember that we have no idea what we are doing in this band. The end of our ten day compression session showed ever so clearly that we needed to record it again. Lyrically, I’m still kicking myself. I hate saying ‘baby’, let alone singing it. And to sing the word ‘sing’ in a song? Oh man, I promise I wasn’t trying to sound so pretentious”
Half A Metre
“I was standing at the muddy banks of Meredith Music Festival and thought of you. There is the first line. A shitty dream where you wake up fizzing with love? There’s the second line. The chorus was probably something I said once, to someone, somewhere. Melbourne gets a mention too. I’m scared I didn’t reference Burnley enough. This songwriting thing can be sweet and sour, we like playing the bridge in this song live, stop-starty guitars are fun. We don’t do that enough. The chorus hurts my throat, but most of them do.”
I Feel Fine, I Feel Sick
“My Dad died when I was six from lung cancer quietly given to him by cigarettes. Never touched one in my life. Don’t even really like weed that much. Smoke feels shitty in my lungs. The song isn’t really about that. It was just the first things I exhaled when I played the chords. It’s probably about the special secret super power we all have to feel one thing and feel the other opposite thing at the same time. Pretty sure everyone does that, hopefully I’m not alone.”
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Three Times
“I sing the word ‘God’ a lot for an atheist, I don’t mean it in a biblical sense. I sing it because I say it, like some of us do, devoid of any other meaning than as a tool of emphasis. I feel weird writing it into songs, feels like it maybe construed as preaching, or at the very least, believing, but I can’t help it. It comes out. I am also not entirely to blame for the lyrics in this song, the chorus line “God, I felt it when you left me” or “God I felt it when you left me” (the power of punctuation huh?) I lifted verbatim from our friend’s song Preflight Nerves by his band Brightly. I owe him for that. I’ve never asked him which is the correct spelling of his lyric. With a comma, or without. Anyway, this one is for my family. For the rest of the band’s families. For the band, who are ever so gently becoming family.”
Syllables
“I hated the song Notes off of our EP Luck. Never wanted to record it. I’m not sure if it’s because we have played it one-million times since, or because it seems to be somewhat of a favourite among families and friends and even, dare I say it, a few fans – but it has somehow grown on me. In the recording sessions for Luck we’d struggle with the song, parts where scrapped, added back in, switched around. Ended up being a real bastard of a song. Producer could see this. Asked us if we had anything else. We played Syllables. We played Syllables with effervescence and joy and sparks and it made us feel good again. We nodded and knew.”
Barkley Garden Break Up Park
“Will we regret the title of this song? Probably. It sounds like ‘Barkly Garden Break Apart to me’. That’s why I like it. Barkly Garden is a park in Richmond, Victoria.
My anxiety of including nods to Melbourne is easing. I could sit here and tell you all the reasons why a song could be called such a thing. But I don’t want to. It’s late and I want to go to bed. It sounds like ‘Barkly Garden Break Apart’. That’ll do.”
Try To Keep You
“Did someone say radio-ready rock? Hope not, but this song does veer into some seedy territory. I originally wrote this as a slow burn, sad song. But in typical Ceres fashion, it turned into the gained, reverbed and delayed mess that it is. A good mess though I think. I wanted to write a simple chorus, something repeating. We should probably play it live more. It’s definitely not a ‘Cut me open and I will bleed this song’ type of deal. It’s a little more considered I guess. A little more aware. Don’t get me wrong, I’m into it. I’m glad it’s on the record. Use it as a lighthouse to guide you through the storm.”
Upwey, Tecoma, Belgrave
“I grew up in the outer-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. So far away you couldn’t even hear the city breathe, it was nice. I didn’t live in any of the suburbs listed in the title, but they were close by, like three sisters in a row, threaded together by a train line. Once a fire broke out– everyone crosses fingers and hopes for rain, but once, a fire broke out. This song is about someone I once knew, showing me where a fire spread, and about a million other things at the same time. It is, by virtue the spiritual ‘closer’ of the record.”
Bless The Thief
“We didn’t want to leave you on such a clichéd note, so, Bless The Thief. This is an old song, before the EP, before the demos, before the band. It is now a sliver of its former self, but its spirit is the same. We all want to turn towards the light just the littlest of bits at the end. Wash off the muck. Clean the slate. All that.
Do me a favour, don’t replay the record right away. You’ll get sick of it, trust me. Go outside. Go for a walk. Do something with someone you like. Tell them how you feel. Go on, do it. What’s the worst that could happen?”
I Don’t Want To Be Anywhere But Here Tour Dates
FRIDAY 28 MARCH – REVERENCE HOTEL, MELBOURNE VIC
with Sincerely Grizzly + Have/Hold + The Wrecks
THURSDAY 3 APRIL – CROWN AND ANCHOR HOTEL, ADELAIDE SA
with Luca Brasi + Grenadiers + more
FRIDAY 4 APRIL – BLACKWIRE RECORDS (AA), SYDNEY NSW
with Ted Danson With Wolves + Sincerely, Grizzy + more
SATURDAY 5 APRIL – HOBBLEDAY, CROWBAR, BRISBANE QLD
with Arrows + Jamie Hay + We Set Sail
THURSDAY 24 APRIL – FLYRITE, PERTH WA
with Grim Fandango + Ted Danson With Wolves + The Leap Year + more
FRIDAY 25 APRIL – PRINCE OF WALES, BUNBURY WA
with Grim Fandango + Ted Danson With Wolves
SATURDAY 26 APRIL – RAILWAY HOTEL, FREMANTLE WA
with Ted Danson With Wolves + more
