Welcome to In Conversation, a special interview column on the site where we sit down with artists and dive deep into everything music. Joe chatted to Haley of Gore. about signing to Spinefarm, their upcoming EP and their writing process.
Joe: How have the last 9-10 months been for you as a band?
Haley: It feels like it’s been a crash course of how to be a musician past the local scene. I’ve been in bands where it was just pretty much all local, whereas this exploded quite quickly, which I’m obviously very grateful for. Yet, at the same time, I’ve had to learn things very quickly. It’s definitely been stressful but in the most positive way possible.
Joe: You released Pray, which saw a lot of traction, and now you’re at a point where you’ve signed for Spinefarm. When did the conversations for that begin?
Haley: Honestly, the Spinefarm conversations were happening for months prior to the drop of “Babylon“. So, you know, it for our fans, it kind of makes sense as to why there was such a long lull between “Doomsday” and “Babylon” now. A couple people got it right away – realising that, yeah, they haven’t released music in a while, and that must be why. But a lot of people were, you know, obviously a little antsy about getting more music from us. But that conversation’s been happening for months.
Joe: Has having Spinefarm made it easier to navigate the industry?
Haley: They do so much behind the scenes that I couldn’t do, partly because there’s so many people in the industry. They’ve been so helpful.
Joe: Gore. have upcoming shows alongside Within The Ruins, how are you feeling about those upcoming shows?
Haley: It’s an opportunity for everybody to start putting their own into the band, and start contributing in ways that nobody has ever contributed before. Initially, we were just an internet band, with me running our social media. Now Alex and Devin can help build our live sound and build our rig. It’s been a little stressful but it’s also been really exciting. All we want to do is perform, and I’m practising harder than ever. Sometimes I wouldn’t be practising every day, now I am practising every day, which has been a habit change.
Joe: With the social media, was it always an intention to use that to grow your platform?
Haley: I have a lot of friends in the industry before I even started. The advice they gave me I would soak up like a sponge. It doesn’t mean I’d use everything that everybody ever told me, but one of the things that really stuck with me is that, in our day and age, if you’re a new band, there’s no better way than a consistent social media following and like posting every day. From that and other places I learnt a lot useful tips. From that, I made a calendar of a release strategy, and we just were consistent with it, and then a couple reels blew up, and now we’re here.
Joe: Have you seen a notable change in that being the strategy to grow your band?
Haley: Well, in my previous bands, I found that the best strategy was still using social media, but there’s only so much reach you can get there. There are only a few people who can consistently post every day, and even I struggle with that. I’ve had to scale back to posting every other day because I was getting burned out. When “Prey” came out, I did manage to post daily, but it was exhausting.
To break out of the local band level, it takes an immense grind that isn’t always enjoyable because you’re not really focusing on the music. Instead, you’re spending a lot of time creating reels and trying to creatively ask people to check out your band. Over the last five years, I haven’t noticed a significant change in this approach—it’s been pretty consistent as the way to get your band noticed. However, moving from being in a band like that to a band like this has definitely been a different experience.
Joe: How do you feel about your upcoming EP A Bud That Never Blooms?
Haley: I feel really good about it—very at peace. I genuinely think it’s an incredible piece of work, and I’m my own toughest critic, so if I say that, I mean it. I’m really excited for it to come out. It’s funny because we’re not exactly trying to keep it a secret; there wasn’t a formal press release, but our EP is coming out on October 24, and it was even in our bio for a while.
Overall, I’m really happy with it. I’m also excited about all the new material we’ve written for what comes next, beyond this first EP.
Joe: Did you have intentions or overall plan going into the EP?
Haley: The original idea was just to come up with five good songs since I didn’t even know what my band was going to sound like yet. I had my inspirations, sure, but the goal was simply to create five quality tracks. It didn’t matter if one song didn’t have any screaming or if another didn’t have a catchy chorus for everyone to sing along to. We just wanted to make beautiful songs that resonate with people.
What ended up happening was that we created a collection of tracks that are all quite different from each other, and I think that’s pretty cool.
What we’re aiming for in the future is to tell a different story. Each of these songs conveys a specific narrative, focusing on themes like the loss of innocence, particularly in a young girl. In “Prey“, we explore an obsessive-compulsive relationship, while “Doomsday” addresses the desensitisation in our world. The death of a dream to be married in “Babylon” presents its own unique tale. The final song, “Heaven Is Above Me“, ties everything together, delving into a traumatising familial dynamic.
As we continue to write, we’re looking to expand on these themes in our future songs. I can say that with our new material, beyond this EP, you’ll still recognize it as us, but we’re definitely incorporating different elements moving forward.
Joe: Can I ask what the those elements you want to expand are on?
Haley: The new material is even more diverse than what’s on the EP. We’ve got some progressive tracks paired with a full-on pop anthem, which is pretty wild. So, you can definitely expect a mix of different genre influences in the upcoming releases.
Joe: Do you feel as a band you’re “ahead of schedule”?
Haley: Yeah, when we first released “Prey” and “Doomsday“, I didn’t really have a clear idea of where we’d be each month or by the end of the year. To be honest, things have moved faster than we expected. We didn’t anticipate getting signed, playing all these shows, and having so much happen so quickly. Sometimes it feels like, ‘holy shit,’ we’ve really surpassed where we thought we’d be. We’re definitely ahead of schedule compared to what we initially imagined.
I had a gut feeling that the EP would do well—I knew that much—but I had no idea what that would actually look like. Now, seeing how it’s unfolded, with labels reaching out just three months after the release, it’s been a crazy ride. I absolutely didn’t expect any of this. I never thought that members of bands like Motionless in White or Papa Roach would even know who we are at this point, which is just surreal.
Joe: What’s the biggest thing you’ve learnt throughout this process?
Haley: To avoid burning out, you need to find a sustainable pace. I went really hard for a while, but if you want to do this long-term, you have to establish a rhythm that you can maintain indefinitely. Of course, we all want to become successful overnight so we can make a living from music, perform full-time, and do what we love, but it requires patience—just like anything else.
Thank you to Haley for sitting down us with us, you can fin pre-save A Bud That Never Blooms here.