Keenan on their new record The Warriors Beneath Us

WORDS BY BENJAMIN LAMB

Æ The Go Set have been a staple of the Australian music scene for many years, playing thousands of shows across the globe to many adoring fans. Now the Geelong-based band have just dropped their long-awaited eighth studio album The Warriors Beneath Us, 20 years on from their beginnings and still sounding as fierce, as vital, as the first day they set foot on a stage.

“It’s always good to release an album because there’s a sense of relief,” frontman Justin Keenan says. “A lot of work goes into inception until the final product, and especially during COVID, we’ve had to find new ways to make music together, because we haven’t been able to stay in the same spot.

“We’ve had to think about different ways to run our band, so this was a really big relief to get this album out.”

COVID saw many bands and artists move into interesting ways of performing, writing and recording, with The Go Set finding that the extended self-sequestration allowed them to spend more time on their music.

“If you’re an independent act, you don’t have the benefit of money to make highly produced records and you don’t have the benefit of time to sit around and make five different versions in five different keys and time signatures of a song that you’ve got.

“One of the things about this making this album was that we benefited greatly by having time to be able to determine what version of a song we wanted, and we could tweak it for two weeks. You can’t do that in the studio on an indie band budget.

“If you lock everyone down and there’s nothing else to do, it’s like, hey, we’ve probably got the same time luxury that The Rolling Stones have got now and then when it comes to production.

“Certain technologies that would have cost thousands of dollars and half a day to get on your records, those things are now all programmed. You can get computer programs that can replicate particular drum sounds, so you can really make the album

“Now, we’ve got great quality production and we’ve got time on our side. But COVID has definitely helped us to make records with those advantages that we didn’t have before.”

Now multiple albums into their illustrious career, The Go Set’s music is jam-packed with sophisticated lyrics that take you on a journey.

This continues with The Warriors Beneath Us

“I think this album is a little bit different; in the past, I wrote the words and then came up with a song or a melody and gave it to the band fairly complete,” Keenan says of the lyric writing process.

“This time around, I would come up with the theme and the majority of the words and then give it to Joel [Colliver], the guitarist who was also our producer, and say ‘I think the song kind of should go like this’ and ‘I think it’s in this key’ and ‘I think this is kind of how the chorus goes’.”

The Warriors Beneath Us features several tracks full of personal stories and moments, with the track ‘Opportunity’ focusing on a chat between members of Keenan’s family.

“That was actually a conversation with my dad, my son and myself that brought that about. And it’s a little bit tongue in cheek as well; I guess all three generations in my family, we’ve all gone through being kind of lefty socialist, protest system type people.

“I know I see my son going through it now and just talking about, ‘I should have done this, I could have done that, I would have done this. This could have been different if I’d done that. Or you should do this’. You always hear that you should do this.”

“Generally, those comments are born out of someone else’s life experience, not yours. You should definitely change the way you do this, or you should break up with that person, or you should do this for a job. And I think that it’s largely about the idealism of youth and then the reality of adult life.”

Georgia Ray

Spinning heartbreak into buoyant indie pop with ‘Hypnotherapy’

Æ The first thing to know about Georgia Ray is that she’s just as infectiously bright and inspiring as her music. Based in Melbourne, the singer-songwriter embraces authenticity in her songs, telling her raw stories of heartbreak, loss and hope.

Seeing her move in an all-encompassing direction of upbeat, catchy pop-rock, ‘Hypnotherapy’ is Ray’s first release of 2023 and the direct follow-up to last year’s duet ballad, ‘Picture of Us’. Laced with irresistible pop-rock hooks and infectious sounds, influences such as Avril Lavigne, Taylor Swift and Paramore surge within the release with Ray’s big, punchy chorus and crisp electric guitars. Recorded at Aviary Studios in Abbotsford with production from Ray’s brother Kyle Gutterson, the result is a vibrant and pop-fuelled three-minute journey that greets the ears as not just a simple song but as an enveloping and enjoyable immersive listening experience.

“I wanted to write a song that excites me in that same kind of way, and I also really wanted this song to be poppy and upbeat to counteract the opposite nature of the lyrics. I wrote this song while living alone amid a Melbourne lockdown too, so I think I was really needing some stimulation!” Sonically, it’s vibrant and infectious. Yet lyrically, it is surprisingly mellow. In ‘Hypnotherapy’, Ray delves into her own experiences as she claims in the song that being hypnotised would be the only way to cure her broken heart.

“There was a time I was so heartbroken that I thought maybe hypnotherapy would be the only thing that could heal me because it might be able to change my way of thinking about that person and the memories associated with them, as well as the loss in general and allow me to feel like myself again.”

Ray’s intimate, vulnerable lyricism, stunning vocals, and enchanting production have set her apart as a fast-rising musical sensation and ‘Hypnotherapy’ in particular leaves the listener ready for more, come Ray’s release of her forthcoming EP, due out in October this year.

Georgia Ray

THE MERRI BAR, PRESTON

‘Hypnotherapy’ is out now.