CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS 087: Jacob Fitzgerald on the intricate details behind his latest track
Words by Patrick Staveley.
Indie-rock artist Jacob Fitzgerald has returned to the fold with a punchy and rocking new single, Muse. The video clip for the new track has just been released and you can check it out on his official YouTube channel! Patrick spoke to Jacob about the intricate details behind the new track and discussed what it’s like transitioning from a solo artist into performing with/as a band.
FMM: Congrats on the new release of your song Muse. I’m a big fan of it. It reminds me a bit of modern day British punk. What do you claim your musical style best classifies as?
Jacob: It’s such a hard one hey – genre, sound and influences. It’s really hard to categorise but I think with Muse in particular we kind of went for that. We just wanted to bring a feeling of nostalgia really. (We wanted to) make a rock (song) that people could sing along to. It’s a song about lust and love. So it’s about as cliché as you can get really and I guess we kind of drew inspiration from those really classic rock sounds like The Black Keys, there’s some 70s inspired stuff in there. We kind of just went into the recording process like yeah let’s make it big and bring the vibe. I think the biggest influence was probably 2013 Black Keys.
FMM: With your own vocal as well – is there anything you’ve done to try and work on it to make it sound a certain way. I feel like personally, you remind me a bit of Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys.
Jacob: So funny you say that to me, you’re actually the second person to say that to me this week. What a compliment. Alex Turner’s got such a beautiful, distinct voice. Yeah I don’t know man it’s just one of those things. I essentially started out It's for those things like, essentially started out this whole music thing doing acoustic folk stuff. We found that transitioning into the sort of pop rock field of music, my voice sounded nicely. Gritty is the word I’d use. I’ve just been pushing it a bit more.
FMM: It sounds like a pretty kickass song to play live too. Have you had the chance to debut it at a live gig yet?
Jacob: Yeah we have, it’s kind of where the song started. We were touring and (we came to the realisation) that as a support act no one knows your songs hey. We wanted to get the crowd to sing some songs back to us. The hook of Muse is pretty much inspired by touring and getting the crowd to sing something incredibly simple back to us. We’ve played it live a few times and it’s a big one. It makes me dance for one, and the crowd has really been getting into it so yeah it’s been a staple in our set.
FMM: What’s the process like transitioning music from the studio to the stage?
Jacob: I like to have ‘listener first’ sort of like my motto in the studio and making sure it’s easy to transition from studio to live. Because Muse is so broad and organic, it pretty much sounds the same. Everything we put in the studio, we replicate live. The only thing we do different is Dakota; our lead guitarist gets eight bars of a solo which he’s pretty stoked about. With a track like Muse it’s always pretty easy to translate both in the studio and get that real organic sound and then make it sound just as big playing it live.
FMM: What other works have you got in store for us soon?
Jacob: Yeah I got a couple new singles coming out in the coming month with another in September and one in October. Then we’re going to drop an EP in November just to round the year out. Yeah you can expect a bit more rock and roll, a bit more heartbreak. I think the next couple of singles are a bit more heartbreak-oriented. We’ve got some really good visuals coming for the last single. I did it with a good friend and it’s a very cinematic music video. I’m stoked to unveil that part of it of the whole project.
FMM: When it comes to song-writing for you, do you tend to draw from your own personal experiences?
Jacob: It’s sort of an amalgamation of both. You’re always gonna put a bit of yourself in your songs and that’s how they feel genuine. But with a track like ‘muse’ – when I’m writing songs specifically about me or I’m not specifically in love; there is a person I think of. I think that gives the track a bit of substance. Muse is a direct nod to that. There’s a bunch of my tracks that haven’t necessarily been about anyone and I’ve just thought of this specific person – this girl I don’t even really know and used her as the inspiration to build a song around. You combine something like that with a bit of personal experience and at the same time you want to make it as relatable as possible especially when you’re running a track about lust or love.
FMM: What’s your personal journey been like within the Australian music industry and the toughest things you’ve had to overcome so far as a musician?
Jacob: COVID was a big one. Adjacent to that, personally finding the transition from singer-songwriter/solo artist into a band (was difficult). The band unit is as much Jacob Fitzgerald as I am. We have a very big live sound. It’s a sound that’s evolved a lot over the last few years. I think one of the tricky things that I found in navigating the Australian music scene was how do I become someone who can play something like ‘Adore Ya’ into someone who can play something like ‘Muse.’ We still write songs for the purpose of the listener first, it just so happens that now it's high octane, more energetic. I’m quite lucky now I feel that I’ve found my feet. There’s a track in particular on this upcoming EP that references this whole feeling of feeling a bit lost within the industry and march to the beat of your own drum. I'm quite lucky to say that I've found a group of guys that I absolutely adore and love playing with and we’re making music now that I’m incredibly passionate about.