Balu Brigada on their new EP ‘I Should Be Home’

Known for making infectious, feel-good hits and world-class alt-pop earworms, multi-instrumentalist writer/producer brothers Henry and Pierre Beasley are the creative masterminds behind Balu Brigada - and they never miss! Recently signing with Atlantic Records and Warner Music Australasia, we chat to them about their latest project.

Hey lads, thanks for taking the time to chat to us! When & how did you start making music together first of all?

We started working together on Balu Brigada stuff back in 2016 I (Henry) think. Before then we had been jamming together, but it wasn't till Pierre was old enough to play in clubs and bars that we really started digging in on the writing and music production together.

We're so stoked that you've dropped your new EP 'I Should Be Home', named after one of your tracks on it! What were your main artistic influences going into this EP?

Thanks! We're bloody stoked to finally have it out there! A lot of key references for us generally are Gorillaz, Tame Impala, The Strokes and Frank Ocean and I think a lot of that is audible in the EP. The title track, for instance, definitely pulls a lot of inspiration from the chord progressions of The Strokes, while the song 'Preview' is definitely a lot more Frank Ocean leaning.

Huge congrats for the success of your first track 'Moon Man' which has over 1 million streams on Spotify alone! How does it feel to have so much love on that incredible song?

Aw it's so lovely really. Massively gratifying and while it shouldn't be necessary, the affirmation definitely helps make it feel like we're doing something right. That song's been kicking around for a while and it's nice to see it's got some legs. Some nice intergalactic legs.

We're always so obsessed with the fun vibes and funky feel across all your tracks, including one of your latest drops 'Everybody Knows'. Can you tell us a bit about what inspired you to write this song?

With that one, I really wanted to make a song with some drive and obnoxious MGMT jungle drums like they have in 'Electric Feel'. So we started with that and just followed the thread until it morphed into a pretty sugary love song about my girlfriend. I think the end result turned out more like a Jungle song than an MGMT one, but that's the beauty of following the thread I guess!

Another song that we have on repeat is 'Favourite Clothes'! What was the writing and production process like for this one?

That one started and ended with Pierre and I sprinkled in a few production things and helped write the verses. I remember walking past Pierre while he was starting the song and thinking 'that's cool, but maybe too cheesy' and thinking that it would end up in the endless pile of deceased-balu-songs-that-will-never-see-the-light-of-day. 3 weeks later he sent me a demo of the hook and basic instrumental and it was pretty undeniably a great song, so we finished it in record time and now it's one of my favourites to play live.

Incredible! What were your main highlights working on the EP?

We love working with Simon Gooding, the talented producer/writer who helped us with ‘Moon Man’ and ‘I Should Be Home’. He's such a good energy to be around and a really good backbone to keep us focussed, so working with him is always a highlight. Also finishing the song ‘Number One’ was a highlight because I feel like we've always wanted to get a version of that song out. It's usually pretty hard for us to pull off the unapologetic swagger of a song that obnoxious, but it felt right for this one and I'm stoked that it did. (Fun fact - that song had about 8 different structures and 16 different demos).

Who are some of your favourite NZ artists right now and are there any songs in particular that you especially love?

There are a lot, but I'm big fan of Fazerdaze, deryk, Matthew Young, and Molly Payton. If I was to pick a current fav from each, they would be the following: Fazerdaze - ‘Break!’, deryk - ‘Call You Out’, Matthew Young - ‘Boneheaded’ and Molly Payton - ‘Honey’.

What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learnt in your career so far, and what advice do you have for other artists out there?

It's a last man standing type game. 99.99% of the time, an artist will have to be SO in love with making music to get anywhere with it, because it takes a lot of time, effort and experimentation to gain a foothold with it. Find out a way to make your process sustainable, so you can keep creating, keep moving forward, and keep having fun with it. Even if you have the best song in the world, there are factors outside of your control that could mean that song doesn't find the right platform, so that's when you need to have the passion to write another 'the best song in the world'.

Amazing advice! Lastly, we end every interview with this question - if you could say one thing to every person in the world, what would it be?

We're all just saying words and making sounds.

Thanks so much Balu Brigada! Make sure you keep up with them on Instagram, Facebook, Spotify or Apple Music.