Indie rock three-piece Shimmergloom release their new album, Frequencies Collide, at the Velvet Lounge this Saturday, February 28, with support from The Wine Dark Sea and The Disappointed. We catch up with singer/bassist, Matt Harskamp.
What’s the Shimmergloom story?
My brother Jamie and I were in a band called Verona back in the ’90s and Gareth was in another band called Avid Grey that used to play around Perth back then. Jamie and I had always really liked Gareth Parsons’ guitar work when we’d seen him play, so it was in the back of our minds to try and work with him at some stage. Luckily, in 2010 things worked out that we got the chance to start writing some material together for a fundraiser event, and we’ve been a band ever since.
What’s your sound like?
Most people who hear us recognize our background being ’90s influenced, as we have that indie-style alternative rock sound, which has its roots based in grunge. We were referred to as space grunge recently in a review which I believe is a nod to the different effects we use while working around our distorted guitars and driving rhythm section.
Tell us about Frequencies Collide.
This release is a culmination of the last few years writing, recording and performing, so its both intense and reflective at times. It’s a fairly diverse record, as it varies from sweet acoustic riffs with vocal harmonies, to manic bass and drum sections overlaid with sonically melodic guitars. It’s felt like a long time coming for us to get this record out, so we are looking forward to it being available for everyone to have a listen to it and hopefully have it mean something to them as well.
What’s up next for you guys?
Next we will play a few shows in March and beyond to keep promoting the new record, and then we are looking forward to putting some time into writing and recording new material. Playing live is one of the things we love and feel we do best, so we always look forward to that. We also really love the experience of jamming out new ideas and seeing them come to life, so I know I can’t wait to get back into the rehearsal room and see what comes out of it. We have many ideas from previous jams that we have just recorded on our phones or computers so that we could go back and build on them, which means we have many hours in front of us, but that’s what makes things exciting. We’re always trying new things with our writing so I can’t wait to see where the next step takes us.
