Jen chats to Jake from Inventions to catch up on their news.

INVENTIONS is Simon Delmastro (bass), Jake Leaney (vocals, piano), Sean Morris (guitar), Joey Knight (guitar) and Ryan Fallis (drums),

Over-worked and speeding up, the past year has seen Inventions support the likes of MewithoutYou (USA), Emery (USA), D At Sea, Masketta Fall, and Violent Soho, as well as embarking on their own Australian tour this October.

 Inventions are focusing on launching the new single and touring before buckling down to start writing and recording their debut full-length album. 

Hi Jake, thanks for your time, I know you are super busy!  You guys are from all over the world, can you tell us where you all come from and why you chose Melbourne as your hometown?

Our bass player Simon is the only one from overseas actually, he’s from Japan – it really does feel like we’re from all over the world though, because Australia is so big! I’m from a small town called Mullumbimby (somewhat near the Gold Coast), Ryan (drums) is from Perth, Sean (guitar) is from Hobart, and Joey (guitar) is from Wagga Wagga! We all chose Melbourne as our hometown because we just love it as a city! It’s the most accepting and diverse place I’ve been to in Australia, and is the more relaxed option compared to Sydney. We all fit in here really well, and we are all suckers for the delicious food Melbourne is known for!

I was looking at your facebook page and noticed that you guys really got into the Halloween spirit! Costumes, pumpkins and even a song about it. 

I’m glad you noticed that! Halloween is personally my favourite holiday of the year – I love things that are dark/macabre/creepy but fun, and that’s exactly what Halloween is. The imagery and ideas that go with it are very inspiring to me, and I actually have another song or two written on Halloween that I’m saving for a rainy day – it’s kind of becoming a tradition for me!

You are very good at communicating with fans, is this something that you hope to maintain in the future? 

One of the biggest perks of this job is having the chance to meet and connect with like-minded people, so we love communicating with our fans! We will always do our best to reply to every comment or message that we get – especially when on tour it keeps entertained in the car!

 

Your single “I said Goodbye’ is described in your bio as a Gem and I agree. The lyrics strike me as written by someone who has experienced anxiety, is this the case or do you have the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes?  

Thank you! That song was actually recorded and produced by us so we are particularly proud of it, and love to hear when people get something from it. It was a bit of an experiment and we’re glad it worked out! I wrote the lyrics based on my personal struggles with anxiety, and how I imagined I would feel when the relief of realising it was gone would make me feel. Anxiety is something that has affected other band members and friends in my life too, so this song was really for all us and is really special to me.

 

I really like that you are teaming up with Heavy Hope to promote youth mental issues as it is more prevalent today than ever. Can you tell us how that came about and what that entails?

We are very lucky to have been working with them in the last few months, Carly from Glory Music Promotions runs it and she is such a passionate and caring person! Basically HeavyHope is set up to connect musicians with music fans to use music as a way to deal with mental health issues a little easier. We used them as a platform to share our message and vice versa, with the aim of making people aware that they are not alone and that they can get help.

Your single launch at The Toff in Melbourne was to raise money for Headspace, was this a successful fund raiser?

It was very successful! We were incredibly lucky to have our small family show their support for us and the cause. Between ticket sales and merch wemanaged to raise and donate just over $300! Hope

 also generously contributed to that small figure from their tshirt sales! 

As well as being a band yourself and Ryan both have other jobs in the music industry. Is this a bonus or can it be difficult to meet to rehearse or to book tours?

YES! Fortunately I like being super organised, so our rehearsals are generaally booked far enough in advance to work around all of the crazy things that we do. Sometimes we will work with other bands at our studio on the same day as our rehearsal, so we have no excuse not to be there! 

You wrote a song with Metronova, what was that for and was it released? If so can I have the link please? 
We were only just in the studio at the beginning of this week tracking the song, so as of now it is still not quite ready! Fingers crossed we can get it out there soon, I really love producing other songwriters and bands – I believe it will be a stand alone single for them.

I read that Jimmy Eat World is one of your inspirations, they happen to be one of my favourite bands. In what way have they influenced your sound?

They are certainly a massive inspiration, not only their music but their career! We love how their sound changes with every album, they never write the same song twice or overuse an idea. That’s something we are quite conscious of in our own writing, and they are proof that it’s a great thing to do! Although I wouldn’t say we particularly sound like them, we really look up to them from a songwriting and production level 

Who is your ultimate band to support or headline with?

I think it would be different for all of us, but we love jamming out Paramore songs every now and then so I think they would be our go to if we got to choose!

Is there any other news that you would like to share? Happy to promote what is coming up next for you.

We are currently going back and forth with producer Forrester Savell (Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus) trying to finalise some plans for our next release, we are hard at work in the studio banging out demos ready to record early next year, with plenty of touring coming up around that time too!

Thanks for your time Jake! Wish you all the best for your future.

Thanks Jen