Introducing WARCRIES and their Presets-esque debut single, This Is Paradise

Aiming to fill a hole in the Australian electronic scene lacking since the death of the late-00’s blog-house era, WARCRIES is the multi-instrumentalist DIY project of mates Ry and Will who with their debut single, This Is Paradise, offer  a “call to action” to “take on life with every bit of courage you have.” "It's a shout-out to the dreamers who aren't afraid of taking risks, and all the believers out there who have the courage to stand up for themselves. It's a powerful statement to motivate and celebrate those brave souls," says Will, one-half of the duo, on the single. “The single was made to be a fun festival track, luring you in with the beat and jam-packed full of energy right from the beginning to the very end," continues Ry.

Working with Matt Bartlem (Broods, Matt Corby and Hayden James), the single combines grunge and electronic elements that sounds like The Presets and PNAU had a musical child. The duo were right in describing it as a fun festival track - it would definitely be a huge festival closing track, ensuring punters would want to stay in the ‘paradise’ of the festival. Touching on topics of bravery and teenage dreams, the track even incites a bit of nostalgia, and takes listeners back to that 00s-esque era that the duo are trying to emulate. "We’ve tapped into a genre that not many other bands are doing. Most of the electronic stuff you hear these days is really soft and dreamy. We wanted to roll it in the mud and give it a tattoo," continues Ry on the single, which provides a great example of what we can expect from the up and coming duo. Listen to This Is Paradise and introduce yourself to the duo below.

Tell us about yourself?

We’re Ry + Wil. Two dudes who have an extensive stretching routine before we jump on-stage. We’re both completely addicted to energy. Honestly, if one of us forgets to stretch before a show we’re nursing a sore neck for dayssss! It’s not a fun time.

We’ve been making music together for about ten years. You could say we know each other pretty well. Plus we’ve grown up listening to the same styles of music together. Since we launched WARCRIES, we’ve been slaving our asses off. We’ve played some ridiculously fun shows with acts like Pendulum, Ecca Vandal, Alice Ivy, and Carmouflage Rose. Learning from those guys has been priceless, and has definitely inspired us to build our own product that will stand up.

What’s the vibe music-wise?

People always compare us to The Presets which is probably pretty accurate. We just try to keep the vibes up and not give anyone a chance to stop moving. If you can stand still while listening to WARCRIES you’re a bloody legend.  There are only two of us, so we run around like idiots playing drums, synths, samples, plus trying to sing on top. It’s grown into a busy multi-instrumental setup like two spiders with eight arms each, except Wil played the entire Pendulum tour with a broken wrist which meant we had to move even faster. 

Our music will pump you up while you’re getting ready to go out, keep you company on the Uber in, and then maybe even buy you your first drink at the bar. It’s a fun vibe.

What are your production and writing processes like?

We have a finished EP up our sleeves which was produced by Matt Bartlem. That dude has names like Broods, Matt Corby and Jarryd James on his resume, so it’s a pretty rad family to be a part of. We’d be tracking vocals and suddenly Matt’s phone would start flashing with all these amazing artists which he calls mates. It’s hard to concentrate on anything else when you see emails from RUFUS DU SOL keep popping up. It’s pretty bloody inspiring.

We walk into the studio with all of our ideas then Matt picks out the strongest melody line or chord progression and we build each track from the ground up.

Can you tell us about your latest single, This Is Paradise?

This Is Paradise is a big fat reality check for us all - disguised in a Hawaiian shirt.  There’s a line that goes “put a ring on this middle finger” which sums the song up pretty well. That’s actually a power statement to motivate those of us who are willing to stand up for what we believe in. It’s about having courage and giving the brave amongst us more reward. This track speaks to everyone. So much so, we shot three different music videos for it to reach out to as many different peeps as possible.

It’s our first release off the EP, so we wanted to come out with something edgy that gives people a clear idea of who we are straight away.

Any tour dates coming up? 

We just played the Mountain Goat Valley Crawl in Brisbane with Raave Tapes and IV League.

What does 2019 have in store for you?

We can’t wait for the industry to properly get to know us. The last 12 months has almost been entirely behind the scenes getting everything ready so we can enjoy the fun stuff. For two kids with tonnes of energy, we’re pretty pumped to share what we’ve been cooking up.

If we had our wish, we’d spend 2019 touring our asses off as many times as it takes for us to lose our voices completely. This EP will hopefully put us in a place where opportunities can find us.

There’s a culture developing in Aussie music which is starting to reward those hard-working artists. If you keep slogging it out and putting your heart and soul into your art on a daily basis, it’s only a matter of time until that effort will start to reward you. You just have to be patient and keep supporting your fellow artists at the same time.

Where can we find more of your music? 

Spotify, Insta, Facey, YouTube... All the usual suspects.

Follow WARCRIES: FACEBOOK