RISING SONS
Christchurch husbandand-wife indie folk duo Terrible Sons are hitting the road on their first tour. But first we catch up with Lauren and Matthew Barus for 10 quickfire questions.
1sentence.
Close and tight. Not a sentence, just a soundbite.
Describe Terrible Sons in one 2Terrible
What is the story behind the name Sons?
Both Matt and his brother Jo (Dave Dobbyn’s bass player) are musicians and it’s a tragic fantasy Matt had about his parents being unhappy about their career choices, hence the terrible sons.
3writing
What inspires you most when
songs? Conversations with people, watching how lives unfold around us.
4Always
Tomorrow
What is your new song
Comes about? It’s probably about ageing, the inevitability of it. There’s something in here about life becoming more complex, where simple, binary answers don’t do the business any more — a grey world and learning how to be comfortable with that.
5with
What’s the secret to connecting a live audience?
For us it’s become vulnerability. Trying not to hide.
6years
How have events of the past few (eg lockdowns, etc) affected your growth as musicians? The idea of making music has become less dreamy, but not less important for us. It’s a broken industry, with many musicians working hard with little return. The other side is that music and the arts can offer people so much in complicated times . . . a critique or connection, hope, solidarity, joy.
7NZ
What’s the best thing about the music industry? And the worst?
Working with other people, sharing and collaborating. That’s inspiring and lifegiving. The worst, it’s expensive; touring, recording, content-making, it all costs more than what we’re willing to pay to see and/ or hear musicians.
8album
If you could only listen to one for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I couldn’t do this. I’ll give you an album but I’d need at least a dozen. For today it’s Nina Simone Live at Carnegie Hall.
9featuring
You’re curating a music festival
any musicians from now or the past, alive or dead. Who’s on the bill? Nina Simone, John Coltrane, Bobby Gentry, Muddy Waters, Big Thief, Bill Withers, Simon & Garfunkel, Aldous Harding, PJ Harvey, The Band, CSN&Y, Arooj Aftab, The Beatles, The Muttonbirds, Joni Mitchell, Sault, Leadbelly, Alex G, The XX, D’angelo, Marvin Gaye, Bonny Light Horsemen, Gilberto Gil. Sorry, this is my favourite game.
10finished
And finally, once you’ve your nationwide tour, what next for Terrible Sons? Planning our debut album release early next year.
● Terrible Sons’ new song Tomorrow Always Comes is out now.