INDIE CLARKE: her EP, her thoughts....

♪NDIE CLARKE

"I really want to put my all into growing as an artist and I’m hoping to take as many people as I can on that journey with me."

My pal Derek J Turner as recently produced yet another fine EP. This time he has ignited the talents of Indie Clarke, a young creative from Sydney who is keen to get her fingers into the gigging scene, while exploring themes of inner self within the complex realities of an anxious world.

…..super meaningful lyrics, loud drums and lots of guitars: Indie Clarke with Ian Browne

What got you motivated to move-n-shake in the world of Indie music? 

I started performing and writing music throughout high school but took a break for a while. At the start of last year, I came back to it, and I couldn’t remember why I ever stopped. The more indie music I listened to, the more I became entranced in all of the possibilities and knew indie punk and alt rock was where my heart wanted to write.

 I’m really inspired by great writers who have meaningful perspectives about the world around them. I would say some big inspirations of mine are Paremore and Green Day. Within the Australian music scene, I’m really inspired by writers like Courtney Barnett.

Gigs, fav locations? Why?

I’m currently based in Sydney. My first live headline gig was at The Vanguard in Newtown, it was such a great venue and really just the start of me performing live. I’m hoping to find a gritty bar to do my next big show early next year. I feel that will really suit the vibe of the EP.

Before the EP, I was singing and writing lots and lots of music. In high school funnily enough, I was in choir, jazz band and even ukulele band for a while. Now I write punk/alt rock music which has been a big but welcome change for me.

The Indie Clarke EP is a soundscape of…

The Indie Clarke EP is my first punk inspired body of work. It was really important to me to have super meaningful lyrics, loud drums and lots of guitars. I have been so fortunate as to have worked with Derek J Turner on this EP. We would build a shell together for each song and then he would go nuts with the production. He was such an integral part of making the EP what it is, and I couldn't have done it without him. 

In terms of song sound and meaning…

Save You …from what? Intrigued, what do you mean here?

Save You is a song about being hard to love. It’s a dramatic self-deprecating song about knowing that you can be a hard person to be around and accept and in summary being willing to save somebody else instead of yourself. In this song I use phrases like:

“If you strip away the chaos and mayhem you’ll find, nobody worth saving, you’ll scratch out your eyes.”

This type of weird and kind of gross imagery is supposed to depict someone who is so off putting, you have to look away. 

Just a Fkn Zombie!

This is another extremely pessimistic and self-deprecating song about struggling with mental health. I’m essentially calling myself out for seeming like a zombie all the time. Throughout the verses I convey a string of negative self-talk and then tone shift in the chorus to questioning how will, I, or anyone else, experiencing chronic mental health issues coupled with social anxiety, survive this world in a zombie like state. 

Are you really that horrible? Sorry You’re Just Like Me… hmm, explain away Indie!

This song is yet again another song about mental health however this song has notes of solidarity and the promise that there is hope. It is a romantic plight in which the chorus is me apologising to those who are mentally ill underdogs like me.

Plans, passions, directions in groove?

I’m so keen to keep growing my audience and diving deeper into the music scene. Next year I have plans to do at least one headline show, one music video and release another EP. I really want to put my all into growing as an artist and I’m hoping to take as many people as I can on that journey with me.

Thanks Indie….

The Indie Clarke EP https://tinyurl.com/47xbbyuf