Ceres

26 June 2015 | 11:57 am | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

Killyourstereo.com chatted with Ceres vocalist Tom Lanyon about the year, upcoming music and the domestic scene.

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Following the success of 2014's 'I Don't Want To Be Anywhere But Here', locals Ceres have enjoyed a healthy respect amongst their peers and fans alike. With 2015 now in its second half, the Melbourne boys are preparing for a run of shows this July. Killyourstereo.com chatted with vocalist Tom Lanyon about the year, upcoming music and the domestic scene.

Hi Tom, Kane from KYS. Thanks for the interview.

Hey mate.

First things first and as an easy starting point, how’s the writing coming along?

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It’s going well. I think? It felt good to have had some time to just sit and write as a band. There are a lot of other band related things that can really harsh your mellow, slow you down, bum you out. It’s great to get that all out of your head. I’m personally excited about the direction these new songs are headed. It’s a weird thing to say that I feel like we don’t have control of what a song will be. I’ll think a new song will go this way, [and] then the band will take it somewhere else. It’s the craziest feeling when you like where you’ve ended up.

I Don't Want To Be Anywhere But Here’ excelled once released last year. How do you handle expectation, this time, when working on new music? I guess it’s fair to say, fans anticipate more because they know what you’re capable of delivering.

Thank you man. I think it’s true that maybe a few will have some expectations, considering everyone had none for the last record. I’m not really sure if we are handling those expectations or not though? We’ve never written a second record before, so I’m not sure if we are pushing ourselves enough, or too much? I just personally want to blow …Anywhere But Here out of the water. By now, we know if a song’s not as good as the one that came before it, so we are trying to make these songs the best yet. It’s still such a trip that anyone has any feeling towards the records we make, let alone baited breath. We’re trying not to screw it up, promise.

How does band life currently co-exist with family and work life? You’ve got some July shows coming up. What’s the balancing act like ensuring band priorities are maintained?

It’s a bit of a juggle. Bands of our size can’t exist if you don’t work. And you can’t work if you are constantly on tour. It’s a chicken/egg type deal. The responsibilities of the band outside of touring and writing take up a surprisingly large amount of time. There is always one of us doing something for the band each day. Luckily you can divide everything by four in a band. I think we are on a good level right now though, everyone is happy where the band is sitting, boxes we are ticking. It’s semi-hard work, but the semi-hard work pays off. We’ve done some shit I still can’t believe because of it.

What have been some of the biggest musical lessons you’ve learned on tour?

Probably the biggest thing I’ve learned on tour is that there is no trick to it. There’s hard work for years, then if you want, then you can find your own version of “success”. Being on tour with Violent Soho was the most inspiring thing – I remember thinking that these are just four, average dudes, doing something that they love. They’d be doing it if there were 20 kids at a show or if there were 2000. And so would we. We still do the 20 kid shows sometimes. It was just a cool, validating experience to find that sometimes, nice guys finish first. Plus, just don’t be a dickhead. Man, there are so many dickheads out there. Especially in the music biz. What’s wrong with people? Just be a nice person, you dickhead.

How important is social media to a band these days? While there are pros and cons, it must make it convenient being able to record music and disseminate it straight to listeners.

Totally. It’s really great in that sense. That whole Ceres Is For Lovers experiment couldn’t have happened without the support of everything the internet has to offer. It also bums me out a bit though. It’s hard to be humble when you are ‘blasting your socials’ every day. It’s sometimes a necessity, but it also sometimes takes the subtlety out of things too. We are really conscious in the way we present our band – everything matters to us, the art, the writing, the “vibe”. So to pester people on Facebook to vote for us in some stupid competition, to be ‘so stoked’ with some product hook up we just instagrammed, or to tweet at a festival director…I don’t know – it all irks me. But, you gotta do what you gotta do, I guess.

You have some great local bands on the upcoming show bills. A lot of them most likely good mates. What are some of your observations of the current local music circuit?

Oh man, we are so stoked with the bands on this tour. Every single one. Really, really cool that they all wanted to be involved with this thing. Brings a tear to the eye. I think the community we are a part of is really strong. We felt lucky to be so whole heartedly accepted into what now feels closer to a family than a bunch of friends standing around watching other friends play music. I’m hoping we get to pass on the baton a little bit too – that’s why we are so stoked with the openers on this tour. If we can pay it forward, that feeling of we’re-in-this-together, then that’d be awesome.

What areas would you still like to see improved?

Not sure? Wish I had something more profound to say here. The people we choose to surround ourselves with in this crazy music game are a really accepting, thoughtful, passionate and compassionate bunch of people doing it from top to bottom – running the pubs and venues we play in, managing the bands we call friends, promoting the tours and records we make, and playing the songs we love. I don’t know, I think it’s pretty great.

Favourite album of 2015 so far?

Hard to choose! Painted Shut by Hop Along is so good. Never Settle by Kissing Booth is bulldust – listen to ‘Love Fool’, it’ll mess your shit up. Japanese Wallpaper’s EP. Brightly’s Oh, Infinity. Oslow’s 7”. Gospel by The Pretty Littles. Sorry, I know you only wanted one.

Album(s) you’re looking forward to in the second half of 2015?

Can’t wait to get my mitts on Fraser A. Gorman’s record Slow Gum. I don’t know what it is about him, just love him. Listen to Blossom and Snow – the last track off of Slow Gum. It is so sad, but so beautiful.

Thanks for the interview. Appreciate your time.

Thank you, my man.

*Catch Ceres on the following tour dates:

CeresTour