Q&A: FOLK BITCH TRIO EXPLORE THE BEAUTY AND PAIN OF GROWTH IN NEW ALBUM ‘NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KYLEE WIENS ☆
Photo By Santiago Warren
A lot can happen in five years. Breakups, moves, fresh starts, and new faces are par for the course for most young people figuring out life for the first time. For Folk Bitch Trio, a band made up of best friends and shimmering promise, five years is the time it took for a simple idea for a band to materialize into a debut album. As is typical in most great pieces of art, FBT’s first album, Now Would Be A Good Time, took incredible effort - drafting, rewriting, and perfecting. The result is a project well worth the wait. Ten tracks tell the story of friends who met in high school, fell in love with music, and sustained a mutual care for each other that shines through both the joys and sorrows of growing up.
Like folded, wrinkled pages of a long-lost diary or secrets whispered in the dark to only the most trusted confidants, Now Would Be A Good Time builds an intimate relationship with its listeners. Unfurling slowly like the sun dipping behind a vast field, each song feels like an invitation closer. Growing up can be a lonely experience, but the golden-cloaked lullabies of FBT’s debut album fill listeners up with the promise that they aren’t ever truly alone in their experiences. From religion to breakups, steamy hookups and life-altering trauma, both lush musical arrangements and honeyed lyrical delivery provide a salve to the calamity that is growth and change.
The Luna Collective recently sat down with the Melbourne-based trio to discuss the recording process for the new album, the relevance of genre in today’s musical landscape and the importance of mutual care. Read below for the full article, and be sure to catch Folk Bitch Trio on tour and stream Now Would Be A Good Time on all platforms now.
Photo By Santiago Warren
LUNA: First of all, congratulations on the new album. How are you all feeling?
FOLK BITCH TRIO: We’re feeling good. We’re in New York, which always makes things feel fun and a little surreal. We’re really excited and grateful. It’s wild to think the album comes out in just a week.
LUNA: What part of New York are you in?
FBT: We’re in Flatbush—specifically, Little Jamaica.
LUNA: Awesome. So, I’ll dive into some album-specific questions. First, how did the album begin to take shape? Was it more a collection of fragments that slowly came together, or was it a solidified idea from the start?
FBT: Definitely more fragmented. The songs had lived different lives before we committed to making a full-length record. Once we were in the studio, the project began to form its own identity. Before that, the songs kind of existed in different worlds. It wasn’t until we were really in the process of making the album that it started to feel cohesive. That all started about a year ago.
LUNA: How does your songwriting process work as a trio? How do you balance your individual voices while maintaining a unified sound?
FBT: We usually write individually, then arrange together. Sometimes someone will bring in a nearly finished song, and then we’ll collaborate on arrangements. That input from the other two really transforms things. Even if one person writes most of a song, by the time it's done, it reflects all of us. And even during the writing process, we kind of carry each other in the back of our minds.
LUNA: You all go back to high school, right? How has your bond stayed so strong over the years?
FBT: By being good friends, honestly. We’ve made a real effort to look after one another. Transitioning from friends to bandmates, and then to a touring band, required a lot of intentional care. We make sure to check in with each other. That’s part of why the music works—it comes from friendship.
LUNA: Were there any sonic risks or creative departures on the album that felt exciting—or maybe even scary?
FBT: Recording to tape felt like a bit of a risk. None of us were analog experts, and even our producer-engineer was figuring it out as we went. We had a few hiccups—like our first tape machine blew up on day two of tracking. But in the end, it felt like the right decision for our sound.
We also brought in drums and bass, which was new for us. Usually, it’s just the three of us live, so bringing in a rhythm section changed things. Some songs evolved a lot with that, and then we stripped them back during post-production. Even just allowing that kind of experimentation felt risky in a way.
Also, the sparseness of the record—the fact that it’s mostly just the three of us and a couple of guitars—could be seen as a risk too. It exposes the songs and our sound in a very raw way. But honestly, that’s what we’re used to.
LUNA: I'm curious about the analog setup. What kind of gear did you use?
FBT: We tracked at Roundhead Studios in Auckland, which is owned by Neil Finn of Crowded House. It’s an amazing space. We started with a smaller tape machine in Studio B, but it blew out on the second day. So we had to wheel down the big one from the main studio—a Studer A827 24-track machine. That’s what we used for the rest of the album.
We’re still not super knowledgeable about analog gear. There’s this room where all the tubes and wires connect, and our engineer tried to explain it, but honestly, it felt like magic. That mystery is part of the charm.
LUNA: How do your personal identities inform the way you write and perform, especially in a genre like folk, which is often emotional and narrative-driven?
FBT: We don’t really have control over that—it just naturally comes through. A lot of the songs are written about things we’ve experienced, so personal identity is inherently present.
Depending on who’s written the bulk of a song, you can often tell. We each have slightly different voices and ways of expressing ourselves, and that shows up both in the music and in how we present on stage. But we don’t intentionally try to separate or define those differences—they just exist organically.
LUNA: Do you feel like you belong to the folk scene, or are you trying to reimagine or move beyond it?
FBT: Honestly, we don’t fully identify with the folk label. The term “folk” carries a lot of historical and political weight. We don’t feel like it’s quite right to claim that lineage, even though many people would classify us that way.
We’re called Folk Bitch Trio, and we use acoustic instruments, but that’s not the whole story. Some of our musical heroes are folk artists, but many aren’t. When you strip away the acoustic guitars and the lack of drums, we think the songs themselves aren’t strictly folk. And we aren’t either.
At the same time, we don’t really fit into any specific genre. And that’s okay. Genre is useful for describing things—like having names for colors—but it doesn’t really define who we are. Some artists fit into genres, and that’s great. But a lot of the music we love is hard to pin down. That layered, undefinable quality is what excites us.
LUNA: Is there a specific message you hope listeners take from this record, or do you prefer it to be open to interpretation?
FBT: We all have our own interpretations, but we want listeners to spend time with the record and make it their own. What people take from it is none of our business, really. The only clear message is that it’s Folk Bitch Trio, it’s our debut album, and it’s finally here. It’s not a concept album or a manifesto—it’s just music.
LUNA: That’s beautiful. As a listener, it does feel like spending time with a friend, especially for people in their 20s navigating everything that comes with that. Do you have a particular song or moment on the album that you're most proud of?
FBT: Honestly, the whole thing. We're just proud that it’s finished and that it exists. Every song on there means something to us. Picking a favorite would be like picking a favorite child. We do have favorites, of course, but still.
LUNA: Last question—anything you want listeners or potential fans to know about you?
FBT: We’re coming for you.
