You call Fierce Mild a joke and they won’t take offence, because they are one. Or their name is, to be more precise.
The paradoxical collocation first emerged from the mouth of comedian Dylan Moran and, according to band-member Troy Rainbow, something about it sounded right. Fierce Mild have gradually come to embody the peculiar, oppositional force implied by their name. “As we’ve been playing and writing together more, it’s definitely become a guiding idea, that juxtaposition. Even though it was first said as a joke.”
If you’ve never heard Fierce Mild before, and you’re wondering what this juxtaposition actually sounds like, the first thing you’ll probably do is check online. This could lead to serious confusion, however, as Google has the lads entangled with an Irish, riot-girl band of the same name.
All their songs are listed together as though they’re from the same group but the music is astoundingly oppositional in sound and content. “We’ve been thinking about saying hello. It’s very different. Maybe they have an entitlement to the name, you know, because they were born there. But I think, just conceptually our music fits the description better. We’ve got some plans to go to the UK so we were thinking of getting in touch. Maybe do a double-bill.”
Fierce Mild vs Fierce Mild could actually be quite cool; an exercise in widening people’s musical appreciation. “We also ran this festival, called Stargaze, in Melbourne. We did a bit of research and found there was one in the States that was very much about women’s rights and queer representation. It’s funny, it’s like everything we do we have an equal and opposite, all-girl version on the other side of the world.”
While they didn’t achieve as much for gay rights as their US counterparts, Troy was thoroughly stoked with how Stargazed went. “We worked with a lot of people to bring that together. We engaged with a lot of video artists in Melbourne. A few of the bands involved also had people who were interested in the video art. So we had about four channels of projections going the whole time. We were pretty happy with it, it was a massive turnout.”
With the success of their first event, the boys have been motivated to make this not just a regular thing, but one they can take around Australia. “Our Sydney show coming up is under the Stargazed banner, that’s at 107 Projects, which is an art space.
“It’s going to be smaller than what was in Melbourne, just because of logistics at the moment, but we definitely want to bring that vibe and engage with people across the country. We’ve got another one we’re doing in April, at the Shadow Electric cinema, and the 2high Festival we’re doing in Brisbane in January. So yeah, we’ve got big plans.”
The idea behind these immersive experiences is to give you the sense you’ve been to more than just a gig. “We want to give people the feeling of floating on a cloud, being in a shifted space, sometimes somewhere other than where you’re comfortable.
“It couldn’t feel real if it was all just pleasant. A lot of people shy away a lot from unpleasant feelings. They might walk in, see a band, catch a noisy, intense moment and be like, ‘nah, didn’t like that’, but they didn’t even stay long enough to know what happened next. It’s like just watching one scene in a film.”
These discordant sensations are produced through careful use of sound. “As we play through ideas and rehearse them, we’re constantly stopping to ask ourselves ‘what’s the point of this, why is this line here? Does this connect with the lyric and convey any sense of meaning?’”
Every sound that’s allowed to live through to the final stage of a track carries meaning. Relaxing ambient tones swim through sinister soundscapes; a chill, reggae beat might emerge but the lyrics accompanying it are shaded with darkness.
In their live shows, these mesmerising, psychedelic sounds are given added dimension with immersive lights and visuals. “That other-dimensional experience is what we’re aiming to achieve; to transport people in the way, say for example, cinema does, when you see a really intense, psychological movie. That’s the sort of effect we want people to feel they got from us.”
The brilliant, ethereal visuals are a perfect complement to the dreamscape Fierce Mild create with their music. Their next album is anticipated to come out in September and they will be holding true to their juxtapositional origins.
If you manage to catch them on tour, there’s a track, 'Test You', they play which gives a hint of what the new album will be like. “There’s a constant battle between consciousness and unconsciousness going on. It’s a sort of schizophrenic journey. There’s a section where the protagonist in the story goes to sleep and you travel in through the dream and then you wake up and the song continues on the other side."
Review: 'Test You'
'Listening to this track makes me want to see Fierce Mild live. I used headphones in an attempt to recreate the immersive experience of a live show. Waves of sound washed over me, swirling through the space between my ears, giving me goose-bumps. There was the sense of an ever-increasing build, which filled me with the desire for more. I would love to hear this song woven into an hour or two of music to see where that build might lead.' - Krystle RichardsonFierce Mild Tour Dates
Wed 13 Jan - Rad Bar (Wollongong)Thu 14 Jan - 107 Projects (Sydney)
Fri 15 Jan - The Bearded Lady (Brisbane)
Sat 16 Jan - 2High Festival (Brisbane)
Mon 18 Jan - The Pier (Port Macquarie)
Wed 20 Jan - Lass O'Gowrie (Newcastle)
