Q&A: Metamorphosis In Music, Approachable Members of Your Local Community Talk New Music & More
THEIR STAND-OUT NAME DRAWING IN LISTENERS — Melbourne-based band Approachable Members of Your Local Community's name may be a mouthful, but it's also what brings in listeners at first glance — or, the Community, as they call their audience — but it's the band's playful, funky melodies that keep people hooked.
The five-piece band, having grown together as people as well as artists, refuse to be boxed into one genre. They have been releasing music since 2017, and have experimented with indie pop, electronic, funk, and disco, sometimes even dipping into psychedelic tunes. Even as they transcend genres, the band's music sounds bright, distinctive, and memorable.
Approachable Members’ latest single “Strong Enough” is a rebirth of sorts. Not only is it a “post-love story” about finally being strong enough to let go of a draining relationship, it also marks the entry of a new band member: Sage Mellet. It seems like a fresh voice was exactly what the band needed in 2021 — Approachable Members' new music is dreamy and unforgettable.
Read below to learn more about the band's creative process and how having a new member has changed their dynamic.
LUNA: How has bringing Sage in changed the band's dynamic and sound?
APPROACHABLE MEMBERS: Sage has brought with her a bright streak and energy to the band that we didn’t even know we needed. It’s been like a natural rebirth — a story of metamorphosis in which the band capped off its life as a little baby larva at the bottom of the sea and grew into an adult crustacean. With Sage, we’re doing what we really love: putting duets at the center of our sound and writing dreamy, nostalgic pop. It’s given the band a real clarity of direction. And what that means for the Community is that things are about to get a heck of a lot more Approachable.
LUNA: What are your creative processes like? As part of a team, do your individual processes ever clash?
APPROACHABLE MEMBERS: We are an ever-evolving think-tank at Approachable Members Pty Ltd. Innovation and collaboration are our defining values. And we love bringing out the funk.
We’d love to say we have a defined process, but it’s changing all the time. We cooked up the most recent set of songs ourselves — we’re heaps lucky that Sam, our drummer, is a genius producer. We wrote a bit individually, revived some older demos, and built them out together. Sprinkled in some co-writing sessions, too.
We can clash — we know exactly what makes each other tick — but we never let it get out of control. It’s usually like a friendly-argument-over-lunch in a primary-school-tuckshop kind of way. Nothing bad, nothing dramatic — we all just want to get that pizza sub and make some nice sweet tunes.
LUNA: What are the best and worst parts of working together after being friends nearly all your lives?
APPROACHABLE MEMBERS: It’s one of those things that we don’t think about that much — we’ve known each other for so long that it’s family. Max and Sam are real life brothers, so that’s a whole thing. The best parts are like your favorite family holiday: beautiful shared experiences, nice photographs you can frame for your Nana, and that meal when your brother ate too much of the garlic bread. The worst part is that we really just know each other too well. We almost know what the other person is going to say — in a fight, in the car ride at 1:30 a.m. from Maroochydore to the Gold Coast, when we need to make a decision. But it’s worth it all in the end — it’s a perfect balance of impatience and love.
LUNA: Your band name is super unique! How did it first come about?
APPROACHABLE MEMBERS: Well, there are many fabled stories. One tells the tale of a dark and stormy night long ago, when the Local Councils of Melbourne’s South East came together to declare a new musical project for all events, commencing immediately. The Groove Subcommittee was perched upon its mayoral dais, and with moonlight shining through the windows of Town Hall, “Approachable Members” was proclaimed. Their glasses of soda water bubbled and clinked — lo, they held, a musical awakening was to begin.
Other, more truthful stories describe a young bassist Micky (“Mike”) who thought the name could not only represent the musical textures of his friends, but also enliven a collective spirit of all ages. We are all community, and the name is as much ours as it should be everyone’s.
LUNA: Your music experiments with a few different genres. How has your sound changed since you first started out?
APPROACHABLE MEMBERS: We started off with the sweet funky sounds of Steely Dan and Herbie Hancock that we learned too well in our school music corridor. Our music teacher lived in the late 1970s and made sure that even without daggy sunglasses and leather jackets we continued the spirit of minor seven chords and bouncy bass lines. From there, we were inspired by the lo-fi sounds of the 2010s. We obsessed over that casual, easy listening sound. We threw some horns in there for good measure. We had always loved everything pop as well, so our second EP became more self-produced; we tried to reflect some of the upbeat sounds of Passion Pit and Phoenix.
Now, we’ve fallen back in love with the acoustics of guitar and piano, and that’s “Strong Enough.” There’s just nothing like a track that plays live like a band.
LUNA: What are some of your influences, sonically and lyrically?
APPROACHABLE MEMBERS: We are inspired by so many amazing artists, especially artists in Australia who we’ve even met on our short musical journey so far. For “Strong Enough,” we were inspired by some old Aussie classics including the Go-Betweens with their acoustic guitars. We also were listening to a stack of Soccer Mommy’s 2020 record and loved the idea of bridging into the 1990s — we love the warmth of a live record, but especially love when it's layered with modern production. We also love songs that live in tension and evoke conflicting emotions and feelings.
LUNA: How do you feel about going on tour after the lockdown? What are your favourite parts of touring?
APPROACHABLE MEMBERS: We are really excited to get out on tour again. It’s probably us at our most social, and we get to meet people that are actually cool. We miss Bonnie, Australia’s resident genius sound engineer, the lighting people in Brisbane, and those particularly supportive fans that run with a fresh AMOYLC hat in the front row. Touring makes this project worth it. We love our community, and our people are at the center of that.
We are hopeful that, with touring back on in a few months time, the entire creative and music industry can be renewed again. It’s been a terrible two years for too many artists and music workers who deserve far better.
LUNA: What are your intentions for the near future?
APPROACHABLE MEMBERS:: We’ll be putting out even more new music, and when society is back rolling, the Community will be out on tour!
LUNA: In the distant future, how do you hope to evolve?
APPROACHABLE MEMBERS: We really want to figure out this band thing and plant it firmly into our lives. We feel like we’ve started to build an awesome team around the project, from writing and producing all the way through to the #business side, as well as a solid core of Community legends that support us no matter what. It’s gratifying that things are starting to connect, with us feeling bolder and more ambitious in our songwriting, but what’s really exciting is that we’re now enjoying the project more than ever. That’s what we want, always, and especially as our lives change around the band. We’re embarking on a spiritual journey, and the whole Community is welcome.
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