Q & A with Hemingway

Brisbane's self proclaimed Cosmic Ambassadors Hemingway are inviting you to climb aboard a sonic cosmic adventure rocket ship to the Mystic Kingdom. 

The band release their long awaited EP Mystic Kingdom today after extensively touring Mystic Kingdom Pt 1 and Me & You in 2017.  The 6 track EP includes Mystic Kingdom Pt 2, a  finale to Mystic Kingdom Pt 1 that left fellow cosmic travellers on the precipice of a metaphorical ledge for almost 9 months.  

With a big run of dates coming up, including a few appearances on the Sunshine Coast, we caught up with team Hemingway for a few questions...

Hey Team Hemingway!  Congrats on the release of ‘Mystic Kingdom’.  You guys have been on a pretty mystical musical journey, yourselves, over the past 12 months… how would you sum up the feeling of finally releasing this EP?

Hello The Point! Thanks heaps, so far it has been a great journey, one we’re thankful for everyday. Releasing this EP feels great, its been 3 years since our last EP. We had covered a lot of ground and toured a lot in between sitting down to write these songs, so we were itching to get something out asap but the process of writing and life ending up drawing that longer than expected.

You’re teaming up with fellow Beats Cartel mates, Cheap Fakes for a few shows, including one at Solbar very soon. I’m assuming this is also how you came about working with Scott French on the EP?  How was that experience?

We had met Scotty and the guys from Cheap Fakes a few times, and played with them a few times. But it wasn’t until we were hanging out at jungle love last year when we pitched the idea to him, as soon as we got the first mix back we said “this is our guy”. He’s a wizard behind that mixing desk and he got our sound straight away, it felt like fate that our paths were crossed once we got that first mix back.

The lyrical content delves into the realms of Hemingway’s favourite late night rambling topics… love, unity and oneness. The latest single, ‘Medicine Man’ is a metaphor for the catalyst to your happy place.  Would this be auto-biographical at all? Could imagine a massive sesh at the Hemingway house resulting in this journey…

'Medicine Man' is auto biographical as much as it is open to interpretation, theres no one way to the Mystic Kingdom, what’s your locomotive? Drugs, alcohol, gaming, sex… Everybody’s looking for an excuse to get loose.

The band has had major changes over the last few years, which has evolved your sound as well. With ‘Mystic Kingdom’ finally released, and now looking into the latter part of 2018 and into 2019, what is the next phase of Hemingway looking like to you?

Finally bringing a drummer back in, we lost our drummer and decided to go down the ableton route for a while, originally it was birthed over wanting to keep our NZ tour booked, and it took off from there. But 2018/19 sees us as a 3 guitar, one bass, one drummer line up and hopefully an album? We will tour this EP first and see what happens..

You’re about to head off on a pretty decent run of dates, including some festival stops, which also sees you performing at this year’s Caloundra Music Festival. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this is your first time playing at CMF?  You guys must be stoked, regardless… anything tricky up your sleeves for one of the biggest festivals in Australia?

Yeah we are definitely stoked to be on CMF, its our first time playing there but thankfully not our first rodeo. We are always honored to be consider on similar par with some of Australia and abroad greatest artists and CMF is no exception. Regarding our sneaky tricks, we will have to keep that one a secret for the day ;)

And lastly, you guys use the word cosmic a lot… and love the Hemingway house (aka the Mystic Kingdom)… any truth to the rumour that the house is just an interstellar craft in disguise?

It's called the Mystic Kingdom, and it lives up to its name. We have only one rule in this house, satisfy yourself. We hope that answers the question haha.

Thanks guys! Enjoy the tour, and we’ll be seeing you at Solbar on July 28th, Peregian Originals (September 9th) and Caloundra Music Festival.

Thanks guys. All the best.