Interview by Ali Williams
NIGHTDIVE may be a relatively new band, but its members are hardly wandering into BIGSOUND armed with blind optimism and three rehearsals. Jack Robert and Mitch Clews have spent years working as session musicians, learning other people’s material, backing lead artists and making the whole operation sound considerably more competent. Now, alongside vocalist and guitarist Sam Tomlinson and the rest of NIGHTDIVE, they are putting that experience behind music carrying their own name.
The band released its first material in August last year and has moved quickly since, following its debut EP with two new singles, a second EP and its first national tour. BIGSOUND arrives before NIGHTDIVE has even completed its first full year, which is a decent result for five musicians still passing demos around Dropbox and politely debating which version is least likely to cause an internal incident.
Jack has performed at BIGSOUND several times with other artists, but appearing there with NIGHTDIVE means something different. This time, the band is not supporting somebody else’s work. It is arriving in Brisbane to present its own songs, identity and ambitions to audiences containing fans, media and a considerable number of industry people pretending not to assess everything happening in front of them.
Previous experience may have helped NIGHTDIVE gain early opportunities, but Jack is realistic about its limitations. A respectable résumé might open a door, yet listeners remain stubbornly interested in whether the music is actually good. Fortunately, the response to NIGHTDIVE’s releases suggests the songs are doing their share of the work. The band will head into BIGSOUND immediately after touring nationally with Plini, Delta Sleep and Synovia. That run takes NIGHTDIVE through Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, placing the group in larger rooms and giving it several nights to sharpen the new material before the Brisbane showcases.
Musically, the band occupies a heavy, atmospheric space shaped by alternative metal, shoegaze textures and strong melodic hooks. Mitch describes it as somewhat Deftones-adjacent, although NIGHTDIVE does not approach songwriting with a fixed genre in mind. The five members bring different musical backgrounds into the process, and every idea must survive each person’s input before becoming a finished song. Some members lean further into heavier music, while others bring melody, production and texture to the foreground. Because the band is spread between different locations, much of the writing begins remotely. Riffs and demos are uploaded, rearranged and returned until NIGHTDIVE eventually meets to remove the excess and make sense of whatever has accumulated. As the drummer, Jack is also required to translate drum parts programmed by guitarists into something that feels natural.
Mitch describes the early process as “a bunch of guitarists in a room with a mouse”, leaving Jack to provide the movement, breathing space and basic acknowledgement that a drummer is an actual person. Sam handles most of the lyrics, drawing from personal experiences and more abstract ideas. He also takes care of much of NIGHTDIVE’s visual content and social media, filming and editing material while steering the rest of the band through the promotional demands now attached to releasing music. For Jack and Mitch, that level of involvement has been one of the largest changes from session work. NIGHTDIVE requires them to participate in everything surrounding the songs, rather than arriving, playing their parts and leaving the administrative suffering to somebody else.
It is considerably more work, but it also means the band retains control over how it sounds, looks and develops. BIGSOUND now gives NIGHTDIVE the chance to place all of that work in front of the Australian music industry across two live showcases. The members have spent years helping other artists stand at the centre of the stage. In Brisbane, NIGHTDIVE finally gets to claim that position for itself.
