Soft Plastics recently dropped by the Flying Nun shop to play us a few tunes. The band have recently been on tour, as well as playing notable slots with Wax Chattels, at the Newtown Festival and an upcoming appearance at The Others Way. They have also recently released a string of excellent singles. Make sure to check them out.
For someone who might not know anything about you - what music have you released? Where and how was it recorded?
Hello, we are Soft Plastic’s a band from Te Whanganui-a-Tara and we mostly play fuzzed out, moody pop music. We released a DIY self-titled EP in early 2020, which was recorded by our friend Oli Devlin (Hans Pucket) in his bedroom, put through his 4 track tape machine and coincidently released on the day we went into a country wide lockdown. Shortly after some isolation, and we could see each other again, we recorded ‘My Girl/ Your World’, a song Sophie had written during lockdown and we got Lochie Noble (Transistor) behind the laptop to record and mix it. Entering 2021 we started recording a few more songs in a DIY setup and decided to go ahead with releasing the song ‘Loozer’, a song written pretty early in the formation of the band and a song we had always liked. We had some money this time round so we approached James Goldsmith, who we’d known for a while and are fans of his work, about doing a mix in his studio. We then released and toured the track in April 2021 with the help of Naked PR (special shout out to Zac Arnold!) - and now here we are.
Can you tell us a little bit about each of your pre-Soft Plastics musical backgrounds? Also other current music projects?
Sophie and Jono had previously played in Beatcomber, a garage surf band which ended in 2019 due to members all moving to new places. Once Sophie returned to Wellington, her and Jono started writing music again, and not too long after that Sophie convinced her friend Laura to jump on board with drums. Now we are all best buds! lol. Laura also plays drums in EUG - a very exciting doom disco-esque band, and Jono plays Bass in his forever band Goya and is part of The Spectre Collective ensemble.
Soft Plastics seem to suddenly be playing a lot of shows around Wellington - what have been some highlights? (Or any entertaining lowlights, if you can think of any)
Newtown Festival immediately stands out as a highlight, playing the Wilson street stage was pretty surreal as we have been fans of the festival for years. Honestly there are a lot of highlights, and sometimes you end up playing your best set at some of the smallest shows. The fact we have been playing a lot of shows is exciting as it gives us confidence in our music, but we also have to try and make time so we can write new music, keep things fresh for ourselves, and try some new things out live - there is a bit of catch up involved. But heck, not complaining
What are your plans for the near future? Any big dream plans for the less near future?
Some things happening soon are playing The Others Way! It's insane that we are, as we have attended in the past - Sophie fondly remembering the time Kody Nielson threw a punter off the stage straight into her. It's a real dream come true for us. We are also playing the Parrotdog 10 year birthday party which Bic Runga’s King Sweetie is also playing, again another ‘Holy shit!’ moment for us. But otherwise we are wrapping up another single currently with a video that our Laura will be directing in the hopes to get out in 2021 - all this is leading up to the BIG album release one day.