CHVRCHES: ‘We Weren't Sure If It Would Be Possible To Tour Australia’

Glasgow favourites CHVRCHES, aka vocalist Lauren Mayberry, multi-instrumentalists Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, and drummer Jonny Scott, have created some of the finest synth-pop music we've heard in the last decade. 

Their debut album, The Bones Of What We Believe, released in September 2013, debuted at #9 on the UK Albums Chart and the Top 15 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Every Open Eye followed in September 2015. The second CHVRCHES record performed better in the US, debuting at #8 on the Billboard 200 and #4 on the UK Albums Chart. Love Is Dead came next in May 2018. Their third album landed at #7 on the ARIA Chart, #7 in the UK, #11 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on both Billboard Top Alternative and Top Rock Albums Charts. 

However, Mayberry is Zoom-ing in from her Glasgow home with her cat to chat about the fourth CHVRCHES album, Screen Violence, which came out in August last year, and the band's return to Australia for Falls Festival and Heaps Good Festival. The stunning album debuted at #6 in Australia and #4 in the UK.

When we catch up with Mayberry, she's preparing for Halloween. "I try not to be too much of a planner," she says, as the band is usually away for Halloween. "The last couple of years, it's just been me and my boyfriend. I've dressed up and sat in the house with great sadness," she laughs. "I want to do something now I'm allowed to go outside again. We were talking about maybe going to the cinema that's near us and doing something like that. I feel it would be very non-Screen Violence of me not to do anything.

"Wild horses will not keep me from Hocus Pocus Two," Mayberry says, confirming that she thought someone was playing a cruel prank on her when the sequel movie was announced. 

In a not-so-subtle metaphor, the singer does consider herself the titular character on Final Girl, one of the most moving tracks on Screen Violence. "Once Iain put the guitar parts in that song - he's such a great guitar player - and we had the other instrumentals, I felt I could run with the metaphor a bit more, and people would understand it," she explains. CHVRCHES didn't explore guitars too often pre-Screen Violence, but the addition certainly works in the band's favour. "Final Girl was one of the last songs we wrote for the album. It's about a period of disillusionment and exhaustion that I think many people, especially women, feel at a certain point in their careers.

"There was a point when I was so dog-tired of doing this every day. I was trying to figure out how you make that better. You can't change any of this stuff. So how do you proceed knowing that? I like the idea that the whole album is a bit gloomy," she says. While Screen Violence can be thematically gloomy, there are rays of brightness shining. "It's a bit melancholic at points, but there's a thread of hope. And I like the idea that it is like running for the horizon and trying to get to the end. So yes, TBD, whether I am, in fact, the Final Girl. We shall see. I hope. I try my best. I put the t-shirt on at the show every night. Like, 'Here we go, guys!' Let's cross our fingers.

"We never want anything to be too depressing or too surface level. I feel like it's always about this balance and juxtaposition between the lighter stuff and the darker stuff, lyrically and sonically," Mayberry tells. 

Lyrics are where Mayberry gets to be the most honest version of herself and perhaps where she shines brightest. On He Said, She Said, she sings, "He said 'you need to be fed' / 'But keep an eye on your waistline' and 'Look good but don't be obsessed' / Keep thinking over, over I try", and on Good Girls, she asserts "Good girls justify, but I don't," after struggling against the ideas of male heroes, as she eloquently puts it: "Killing your idols is a chore / And it's such a fucking bore".

"Lyrics are where I can say things I wouldn't say to people in conversation," she begins. "When I was writing Good Girls, it was like, this is how I want to be if I didn't take any of this stuff. I shouldn't justify it, so I won't. But in real life, I'm probably justifying about 60% of the time.

"But at that moment, in that persona, you can hope and write a better version of yourself. And then, in the other half of the album, I'll write the truest, most cutting things that wouldn't say but about yourself and other people. I feel like that's some of my favourite stuff that we've done is when you can kind of turn the pain on yourself and have that self-reflection. It's free therapy, I guess."

Mayberry explains that when you're writing lyrics and don't feel comfortable being honest, people will hear it and feel it. "There are definitely times where I've done that in songs, and you can tell those songs just sound different or resonate differently than the ones where you really get to the gut of it," she says. "And that's the kind of writing I prefer because I'm a big emo bastard at the end of the day. I want the songs that are going to suck me up."

CHVRCHES had the title Screen Violence swimming around for years; at one stage, it was the front-runner for the band's name. "At first, when we started, we had the title for the album. And when we were starting to write, I thought it would be more of a full concept album, and there wouldn't be a lot of personal stuff in there," she starts before her cat wanders into the room and begins cleaning herself. "The cat has thoughts on the album. She doesn't like it. She thinks it's too loud. As time went on, it became clear to me that I was writing about personal things and using this [concept] as a backdrop to tell the stories against, and then that's when it got quite fun," Mayberry explains.

Then she wondered: how can I make sure there's consistent imagery throughout the record? "If you're looking for those little moments, you can find them, so it was fun to watch a lot of films and think about the things that you can take and interpret into your own stories," she says. Mayberry is a big fan of horror movies, referencing The Nightmare On Elm Street on Violent Delights and The Lost Boys in California.

"On California, I was like, I love the idea of the town where The Lost Boys is set and how everything seems really nice and lovely. And underneath, there are all these horrible things happening. And I was like, 'Well, isn't that just life, isn't it? So let's take that as a metaphor, and off we go.'"

CHVRCHES worked with one of their biggest heroes on Screen Violence, following previous collaborations - live and in-studio - with Hayley Williams from Paramore, Matt Berninger from The National, and Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie. This time, they enlisted Robert Smith from The Cure, who was unbelievably giving with his time and features on How Not To Drown.

"Oh, man, he's been so incredibly generous to us, creatively and otherwise, and he's so generous with his time and his stories," Mayberry smiles. "It's amazing to talk to somebody so far in their career who doesn't sit there all cynical. He's cynical about the right things but not about making music and art. I always worry that when you meet someone you admire, you're like, what if this goes badly?

"I can confirm that he's the real deal in all senses of the word. It was surreal to perform [Just Like Heaven] and our song with him. It was quite anxiety-inducing - the idea of covering that and messing up was too much pressure; there are quite a few people who love that song; it's not like it's one of the most iconic pop songs of all time!"

CHVRCHES are returning to Australia for Falls Festival in Melbourne, Byron Bay, and Fremantle (29 December 2022 - 8 January 2023) and Heaps Good Festival (6 January 2023) in Adelaide. The performances will be the first time Australian audiences have witnessed the Screen Violence songs live.

"Playing live does give you a different relationship with the songs because you sit with them in isolation and solitude for so long," she says. Playing concerts has been reassuring for the band, "When we were making the record, I felt like CHVRCHES fans would get it; we're on the same page about what we want. It's been fantastic to play shows and see how people connect with the record. 

"Now that album has been out for a year and a little bit, it's really lovely to go to shows and people are wearing their favourite horror shirts. They've carried makeup from different tours that we've done on the record. It's nice to feel like people can express that kind of stuff. It feels like a friendly little community around the album and that it isn't just ours anymore."

There are often a lot of Final Girl t-shirts worn by fans in the front row; Mayberry loves that fans have made their own shirts. "I've seen a Final Dad one, a Final Gay one, and I was like, 'Yes, everyone is reclaiming Final Girl for their own purposes!' That, to me, is the great thing about the horror genre. On the face of it, some things are misogynistic and do not handle gender, sexuality or race very well. 

"But other films talk about those things and dig into those things. There's so much interesting discussion around the role of women in horror and the role of queer stories. It's been fascinating to see that play out over the album to people making and finding their own space within those themes."

For a long time, CHVRCHES didn't know if they would tour Screen Violence. They had a lot of planning time, which led to the best tour Mayberry thinks the band has ever done in terms of stage production and visuals. The band have taken a semi-concept album and transferred the ideas into a live show that feels dramatic and theatrical. Mayberry has also incorporated costume changes in the live shows, something that she loves about pop shows.

"I've thought about it for a long time. But then I was like, 'Oh, it's not something that gets done at indie rock shows,' but that's so dumb and arbitrary," she explains. "And that's because most indie rock venues and indie rock bands are straight white dudes who have no interest in costume changes. It's a little tricky in some venues. There's a lot of my poor tour manager holding a torch on our mouths trying to help me get changed and stuff!"

CHVRCHES are excited to bring their latest live show back to Australia. "For a long time, we weren't sure if it would be possible for bands to tour Australia," she says, but local fans have always embraced the band, so coming back will feel like a homecoming away from home. "There's a common sensibility in terms of outlook and a sense of humour. Whenever we're on a night out in Australia, it feels very Glaswegian to me in a lot of ways."

Festivals are different, too, a different beast to a headline show. "At the time of year and what's happening, it feels nice to be doing something that feels celebratory and joyful," Mayberry explains. "We're definitely not one of those bands that only play the new album; we've got quite a good cross-section of stuff from all the years. But the aesthetic is all very Screen Violence-y. The festivals will be good, spooky fun."

CHVRCHES will perform spooky sets at Falls Festival and Heaps Good Festival. Screen Violence is out now.