Interview: Borderline

How did this all start? Did you grow up loving music and singing? Was this always a dream for you? Did you all know each other beforehand?

"Music has always been the dream for all of us; we can’t imagine doing anything else. We’ve officially been Borderline for the last three years, but me (Jackson, drummer) and Matt (guitarist) have been playing together since we were seven or eight; we’ve always lived down the street from each other, Ben (lead singer) joined three years ago, and Max (bass guitarist) joined at the beginning of last year. We’ve just been rocking it since then."

"In terms of the name, we’re not sure where it came from; we just were Borderline one day, and that was it."

How do you find working as a band, do you find it helps fuel creativity?

"Bringing together all of our different ideas definitely helps fuel creativity and gets us to great songs. Because there are also four different opinions or ideas, you get lots of ideas, but sometimes it’s harder to settle on one idea. Everyone has their own perspective, and while there's no single right way, creative tension often leads to positive outcomes."

Who are your music inspirations/ do you look up to?

"It’s probably different for all of us, but I think that’s the magic of it: We all listen to such different music, and then it all comes back together. From classic rock and blues to jazz, pop, and funk, we all combine to make something awesome."

Some of their inspiration? Led Zeppelin, The Dare, and Coldplay, to name a few.

Who are your music idols?

"I think individually, we’ll all have people we look up to in our fields, but our idols and inspirations are constantly changing as a band. For example, at the moment, the guys are really into The Dare and Charli XCX, but this is constantly changing and morphing."

"It’s cool to see the new artists, such as Chapel Roan, and how much they are changing the industry. It also makes us reflect on how to use this in our music."

What keeps you motivated?

"Playing live! That’s the pinnacle for me; it’s like you write and record songs so you can play them to people, and it’s just so cool to see people singing along to music you’ve made."

What’s your favourite part of the song-making process, writing, mixing, recording, and releasing?

"The best part of it is when you get the bounce or the audio file that you’ve done that day and taking it home or listening to it in the car and just reflecting on it like, damn, we did that today or the wow I thought this was so much better when we were doing it – which happens and is such an essential part of it all. It’s a fun luck of the draw."

Let’s talk about your EP, Perfect Movie Scene. How does it feel to finally have it out there? What inspired you?

"I think with that project, it was never meant to be an EP at the start. It was kind of just singles, and then by the end, we were just like, oh wow, these all go well together as a little package of songs that tell the story of us growing up as teenagers and our evolution as a band, so we put it out as an EP, and we were stoked, and people loved it. But now we have just finished our second EP, which is super exciting."

"I think releasing that first EP was like the end of an era. It was a slow build-up to what we are now. All the newer stuff is completely different but still has that magic—it's still us. Once that’s released, that will be the big one. Like, wow, we are so proud of this. It’s the most ‘us’ thing we’ve done."

So, the name of your new album, how’ve you decided on that?

"It’s the one thing we have left to the last minute. We love the visual and cultural side of it, like what it could mean to some people, so now we have found something that’s us and a good summary of what we are trying to achieve with the EP."

I’ve seen a few of your music videos. How do you come up with the concept? Does it kind of form itself during the writing and recording process, or are you more just feeling it out at the time?

"There have been instances where it’s different; I think our earlier ones were sort of focussed on showing us as a live band and highlighting that aspect. We were really fortunate to also have friends that are in film or do this or that, and they could help us out with the creation on a zero budget. But we’ve just done one that for Heartbeat that was funded by NZ On Air, so it was super exciting to be able to spend some money on a video, and we cannot wait to share it with everyone."

"We’ve never had the luxury of taking our time; with our last EP, we wanted to release a single every ten weeks, so we were scrambling to get everything out. So, it was nice to spend this last year on the project and to be able to develop a vision for the creative assets across the whole project to make sure they were right for us."

Your new EP – anything to share.
"I think a lot of the feel of the songs on this EP comes from the musicality of it, and that’s what inspires the meaning of the songs. I like to think of a story and go with it. It’s not that deep, but I think people could connect with some of the themes we discuss."

"We would write the music first and then the lyrics with this EP. Once we got to the studio, our focus was getting the emotion and the feeling right, which we think we nailed; there’s so much more emotion in this one. "

What do you having coming up that you can share with us.

"The main thing is the new music. Heartbeat is out 25 October. As for the rest, we can’t say when, but soon. We are also touring in Australia at the end of October, which is so cool because it's our first time."

"It’s crazy to see that people know us over there; we didn’t even know they knew who we were over there."

What burger do you think Borderline would be if it were on the BF menu?
"The Bacon BBQ Roadster – no doubt."

What would your new EP BF burger contain?
"Brioche bun, double beef, egg, bacon, jalapeños, and picklenaise."

Borderline’s new song from their upcoming album, – Heartbeat, is out NOW! Have a listen for yourself below.