CH.89: If you were to categorize or describe the style of your music, what would it be and why?

WOTN: We find it really hard to categorize our music because it has a lot of different influences. If we’re pushed we would probably say proto-punk as that’s where people seem to place us. Maybe we’re actually proto-pop, regardless we’re certainly proto in some way.

CH.89: Where do you draw your inspiration from?

WOTN: From the everyday.

CH.89: What made you want to start a music project and how did you come up with the name?

WOTN: I used to write poetry and do readings in Australia at the Lee Marvin sessions. I used to go see a lot of live music and I wanted to learn to play guitar and read poetry. Eventually I got a guitar and started learning a few chords. When I moved to NY I wanted to play in a band and I sang in a few before starting Women of the Night as a project to have a home for all my songs I was writing. Also after being frontman and signing I really wanted to challenge myself to improve my guitar playing skills. The name Women of the Night came after a show with my old band, walking home a van pulled up and the guy inside asked me if I knew where the Women of the Night were? I shrugged my shoulders and walked along thinking about it. After a while it seemed to stick and I decided I wanted to make it our name.

CH.89: Can you talk a little bit about what your creative thought process is like when starting a new album?

WOTN: Mostly it involves collecting fragments of things over time, like photos, writings, conversations, and then working with them. Usually it’s a process of building layers and accumulating paraphernalia. Usually there’s an overall feeling or emotion we’re working towards. With Pastel Colors our EP, it is a collection of everyday stories loosely based in a week-long period in NY with different characters filtering through the songs. It wittingly adopts a strong cinematic Hitchcock ‘Rear Window’ quality to it. Camera slowly panning in and out of the everyday, playing with consciousness / unconsciousness and ultimately we wanted to achieve something of a voyeuristic quality with it.

CH.89: What would you want people/ the listener to take from your music?

WOTN: I hope that it brings them some kind of joy or happiness. We really want to create a world for the listener or reader to inhabit and engage with. If people are interested enough to listen to that and engage with that then that makes us very happy.

CH.89: Can you talk a little bit about your lifestyle as an artist and what that is like?

WOTN: I try to make an effort to go out and see shows / exhibitions to support other artists and to learn from them. I like to wander and take photos and write things down. Going for walks and hanging at bars are things I really like to do and often gives me ideas.

CH.89: When starting out an artistic task, do you think it is better to have a particular direction/set plan guiding your way? Or, is it better to act on impulse and go from there?

WOTN: The best plan is no plan, I wouldn’t say it’s an impulse but more of a meditation practice in a way. It’s always slow work, I think the key is to just start and keep working at it. There’s usually no conscious decision to make something in particular but to start making anything and build layer upon layer until it becomes something and takes it’s own life.

CH.89: What is one major lesson you’ve learned as an artist?

WOTN: Nothing comes easy, though things can come from thin air.

CH.89: Do you regard personal style & taste to be of highest importance?

WOTN: Yes and no, I mean it doesn’t need to be the focus or highest importance but through making, one reveals oneself and whatever it is you’re making personal style / taste will always reveal itself. I really feel this is what makes art beautiful in all different ways.

CH.89: What do you consider to be the hardest thing about being an artist?

WOTN: Making decisions

CH.89: What is one thing you love about being an artist?

WOTN: I really find singing very cathartic for me, it’s like all this energy is bottled up and it just needs to be expelled. If I’m not playing or working I become very stir crazy or just crazy in general. Making things really is the most important thing for me and brings me great pleasure.

CH.89: Is there anyone in particular, any artists that inspire you in any way?

WOTN: I love Rowland S Howard, Timmy Rogers and all the You Am I boys, Nick Cave, Tex Perkins, Billy Childish, Iggy Pop, Bowie, The Real Kids, Joe Meek, Dave McCormack. These are some that come to mind immediately but the list just goes on.

CH.89: What do you think of technology in terms of being a useful tool for artists today?

WOTN: I think it’s useful in some ways and detrimental in others. I think it allows more accessibility and speed for people which is certainly positive however it tends to promote a perfection and a smoothing out of rough edges. In particular with music I feel there’s a tendency to remove the character that exists in recordings. There’s a pressure to make things sound perfect whereas for me the magic of sound is capturing the moment however it sounds.

CH.89: Do you think being an artist allows you to view the world differently from those who don’t follow creative paths?

WOTN: I think everyone views the world differently from one another.

CH.89: Do you enjoy traveling? If so, do you have a favorite city?

WOTN: YES!!! I love so many cities it’s hard to pick a favorite but here’s a few in no particular order, Mexico City, Rome, Tokyo, Osaka, Detroit and of course my home cities New York and Adelaide.

CH.89: Do you have a favorite author or book?

WOTN: Got a few, Charles Bukowski – Post Office, The Stranger – Albert Camus, & Catcher in the Rye J.D Salinger

CH.89: Any future goals or plans for your music?

WOTN: Just to keep working and pushing my craft until I die. Women of the Night are now working on a focused debut album beyond our 1st ep. I also want to work on some solo work and any other projects that come my way that I can help or be a part of.

CH.89: What does being an artist mean to you?

WOTN: To me it’s about building a world or a space to inhabit through writing and documenting. The thing I’m most in awe of other artists is the worlds they create, the spaces and times they create that I so desperately have to explore and be in.

CH.89: Any last words on the aesthetic of your music?

WOTN: I just hope it makes people feel something whatever that may be good, bad, ugly, uncomfortable.

CHECK OUT MORE ON: WOMEN OF THE NIGHT