What a time to be alive! As 2021 hits, the USA melts down and we here in Brisbane, Australia go back into lockdown thanks to some mutant strand of COVID-19 coming from the UK, we reach out to North London's Sorry to congratulate them on hitting the ARIA Vinyl Chart.
Landing at #11, this is both a first for them - hitting an Aussie chart for the first time - and Waxx Lyrical, the number of members receiving our Record Of The Month are finally enough to earn a placing. #stoked.
One co-founding member Asha Lorenz is on the phone to chat about the bittersweet time Sorry are experiencing right now.
WL: Hey Asha! Greetings from Australia! What’s happening on your end?
Asha: It's all pretty crazy and sad. Everyone's locking down again for a while.
WL: Ugh! You guys have had it so rough. Have you ever visited Australia?
Asha: No I haven't, but Louis did a couple years ago! We haven't come to play yet.
WL: Do you have a preconceived idea of what we might be about down here?
Asha: <laughs> Not really to be honest! Only what I've seen from telly, but some places look really beautiful and I'm sure it's quite fun.
WL: Well, I have to offer a massive congratulations on 925 - it’s our favourite record of 2020, a bizarre year to say the least, and we made it our final Record of The Month for the year to celebrate. What’s one thing you’d say about your music to the people who may have not heard Sorry and are receiving your debut album on deluxe vinyl and hearing it for the first time?
Asha: Oh man, thanks for the support! I'd say that maybe it takes a few listens?! There's lots of different genres in it so maybe some songs people like and then they might kinda hate other songs! But hopefully, just kind of hearing it as a place to go to in your mind and enjoy/explore inside the different songs.
WL: Another thing, yours is our first ever Record Of The Month to impact Australia’s ARIA Vinyl Chart - this is a huge milestone for us - and from what we can see, it’s the first time Sorry has placed on that chart. Is the vinyl format important to you both as individuals and as a band?
Asha: We like putting out vinyls for sure, I think (label) Domino are very into it as well it just seems like a nice thing to have in physical form. We spent lots of time on the art as well to make it sure it goes with the music and all the ideas.
WL: Yes, it shows. I love inside the gatefold - very cool. I can’t imagine how you must feel, having recorded and released this crazy-amazing album and then having to sit on it while the pandemic passed - we actually think you would be significantly bigger if not for the pandemic. Do you agree?
Asha: <laughs> Well I don't know about that. No idea! I guess we would have got to play a lot more! But now will just have to hope people will enjoy the second album, then we can tour that!
WL: Oooo, a second album?! Have you been working on new music in isolation?
Asha: Yeah, we have but it's been a bit hard to focus really. There's not too much outside stimuli to be inspired by. You would think you'd be able to do more, but I find it easier to write and be productive when you do it in the interims.
WL: 925 is such a glorious hotbed of sounds, both familiar and undeniably unique. I don’t want to ask the cliched "influences" question, but where do these sounds come from?
Asha: Louis and me both listen to loads of different music, but don't really like to pin point the specifics. A lot of the sounds are samples or, because we start the songs a lot on the computer, like one sound can sort of start a whole world for the song and we will then pick the right sounds melodies to accompany kind of like building up a little scene in a movie.
WL: You both seem to be masters of curating your inner thoughts into clever one-liners - do you ever think to yourself, “Nah, too far?”
Asha: Yeah, we sometimes kind of thought that with "More". Mainly because we wrote it about five years ago and we were worried people might take it too seriously. But, I think, it's just about getting the right balance of sensitivity and irony so that people can relate to it.
WL: How did you two come to be?
Asha: We met ages ago at school! We were both influenced by each other's music that we would put up on Soundcloud. Sometimes it felt competitive, but it was mostly admiration. Then we started to play together and formed FISH which was the name before sorry.
WL: What’s personally each your proudest moment on 925?
Asha: We both really like "As The Sun Sets" - we started it at home on a really hot sunny day and it all fell into place and was very fully-formed very quickly! I think it was when we both locked in quite hard about the song, Louis' production and melodies and my lyrics.
WL: And what’s, in your opinion, an underrated moment that you really want everyone to hear and love?
Asha: I'm not sure. <laughs> I like "In Unison, "Wolf" and the drops and the lyrics in "Rock 'n' Roll Star.
WL: So what’s next for Sorry? Beyond the extended campaign for 925, of course (thanks COVID).
Asha: We are going to be releasing some tracks in late February, but we are finishing up writing album two.
WL: And finally, what instructions do you have for Waxx Lyrical club members receiving 925?
Asha: <laughs> Oh geez, I guess I just hope that you can get a bit lost in the album.
Thanks for the love x