Interviews

Andrew Fisher - Basement ‘You’ll See Five People That Are Just So Happy’

Walladmin

Heavy Metal Wordsmith

Nov 8, 2024

7 min read

Last year, New Bloom Festival took Australia by storm, developing a warm, welcoming, and bright community that celebrated the niche but appreciated genres of emo and post-hardcore. With a stellar inaugural lineup, the festival had big shoes to fill… but boy did they deliver.

Leading the lineup in 2025 is United Kingdom enigmas, Basement. In the span of a few hours, the uproar for the five-piece has been indescribable, showing that Australia has more than open arms, but is anticipating their return with eagerness and desperation.

Throughout their journey, Basement has been pivotal yet mysterious. Constructing albums like colourmeinkindness that have forever shaped the realm of the subgenre. They too also left much of their impact to the imagination, pursuing other avenues of life within the most bustling moments of their career. Despite their, at times, unconventional methods to the madness of the music industry, what remains now is longevity driven by passion, experimentation, and vulnerability.

In celebration of New Bloom Fest's announcement, we had the privilege of chatting with vocalist Andrew Fisher about the new era of Basement. From lessons learned in hiatus, to retrospection that has influenced their development, Basement are back, Basement are active, and Basement are here to show us all they have to offer.

Continue reading, or watch the interview below!

Yesterday, you were announced as the headliner for New Bloom. And for Australia, in only its second year, it's been very well received, even though it's quite a niche festival very much adjacent to the post-hardcore and emo community. You've seen these genres develop and you've been within them as they're developing. So what do you think attracts people to these genres within this modern realm that makes these festivals so important?

I don't know. I guess I'm going to try and answer it from my perspective in terms of that music. And in order to do that, I feel like I need to go back to when I first started getting into that music. And for me, it was like, at the time, it was a very small community of bands. And I was always really attached to any music that was emotional. So the fact that you even mentioned Emo, I was just like... People used to make fun of me and a close friend of mine that all of our favourite bands couldn't sing because everyone just sounded like they were crying and they couldn't sing. So I would like to think there's some connection between just how all of the bands that are in that world are just very open about sharing how they feel. So I think it's probably something to do with that.

In terms of sharing how people feel, the reception to you guys coming to Australia has been wild. If you look through those comment sections, the amount of people losing their minds over Basement is insane. Considering this audience you continue to garner and even on TikTok with songs from years ago very much trending, was this longevity ever something you expected or considered, particularly within your major hiatus? Did you think you'd come back and still remain as big?

Absolutely not. It's been crazy. I feel like anyone who starts a band, especially like you said as well, within the world of hardcore or punk, you do it because you have to, you do it because you love the music and you want to be part of something. You find a community and you want to create and put stuff out there and have fun with your friends. And then that becomes more of a thing. And for me, it was very much an emotional outlet and a way to understand and process feelings. So there is no idea of longevity. There is no plan. You just do what feels good. So the fact that we've taken breaks throughout for various personal reasons and been able to come back stronger each time is wild. And all I can just say is that we're incredibly grateful for it, and we're really, really excited to come back to Australia.

You are reflecting that a lot of it is about having fun with your friends. Is that a new outlook you're taking for the band? It's not as serious or imperative. It's just something like an outlet to have fun, to be together, to produce creativity.

It started like that, and for the longest time, it was just that. And I think I used to kid myself and put that on the face of it for a while. But I think having time out since, I realized it's actually... It is a lot more important than that, and it isn't just about having fun anymore. Although ultimately, if it wasn't fun, I wouldn't do it. I realized for a long time it has been a lot more important than that. It's been, like I said, something I felt like I've needed to do. It's been something that's been very personal to me and very emotionally important. So although I'm still having so much fun, it is more than that. And it has been more than that for a long time. I just think I was always embarrassed to admit that, but I'm getting older and more aware of my feelings and stuff, and I'm happy to admit that now.

I think that leads to my next question really well, this air of retrospectiveness. In the time Australia has missed you, you celebrated the anniversary of colourmeinkindness, and it's had an influence that's not to be understated, of course. But looking back at it now, even more than 10 years later, the things you learned when you took the time off, how do you reflect on that album and what does the experience of that album mean to you now?

It's hard because part of me wants to go “Don't talk about that album. We're making new music. That doesn't matter anymore”! But I get it. Everybody who has a favourite band has a favourite album, and the album was incredibly important for us. Without that record and without Run For Cover, there is no way that we could have been able to have this level of longevity and continue to have these experiences. It's hard to think about it because we did it in such a strange way. We recorded it and then broke up or took a break. So it's weird. It's hard to actually reflect and think about what it meant. I can certainly say now it means a lot because we've been playing the songs for so long and they feel like such a huge part of us as people as well as us as a band. Again, I'm just grateful for it and for those songs and for what they've allowed us to do.

Obviously, the songs have resonated here. It has been a considerable number of years since you've been to Australia, though. Do you find yourself defined by any expectations of what your live show was back then, or is there a freedom to indulge in new and old audiences and show them what the new era of Basement is?

I feel we've always had such an amazing time in Australia, and we've always been greeted with amazing shows and amazing reactions. So I'm sure there is a level of expectation for sure, but I think we're just really excited to come back. And we love it. We love it there. We all always say, when we were talking about doing stuff again, we knew we wanted to go back to Australia. We're just trying to find the right time in our schedule and stuff. So I just think we're just really excited to come back.

Of course, Australia isn't the only place you're visiting. You're on quite a considerable run right now. And I'd say it's been one of your longest runs for quite some time. So how did you deal with getting back into touring life? And was there anything you definitely had to change from how you used to tour?

I think with everything now, we're just being way more open and better with communicating with each other. I think as we've gotten older and we've got to know each other better, we just realized that you can't hide stuff, you can't keep stuff in, you just have to be honest. So we're all trying to be as open as possible about how we're feeling. And that could be down to even just on a particular day. But I'm talking more so about, “Hey, how long do we want a tour for”? “How much time do we want in between tours”? Because before, for several years, it was every other month. We were out of home, come home, out of home. And that puts a lot of stress on each individual person, on relationships at home, on how you feel when you're at home. You feel very disconnected to stuff. So we are just trying to be as aware and open as possible to make sure that we are all on the same page and we're all just sharing how we feel as we go to make sure it is as enjoyable as possible.

Is that something that's also been reflected in any new writing?

I think so, because I think any important conversation and sharing of emotion is going to filter into what I'm doing vocally. But musically as well. We're just trying to be more communicative. People have expressed things in the past about how they didn't like how things operated, and it was no fault of anyone. When you start to do stuff, it takes over and becomes your full-time job. You just strap in and let it happen. And unfortunately, that means that some people don't get as much of an input or a say as they might want. And it's hard at the time for you to say, “Hey, I don't like this” because I don't want to upset people. In the same way that I probably could have gone, “Hey, are we okay with this”? Because I don't want to rock the boat. So now I think we're just making sure if you have a problem, please just say it because no one's going to be upset or offended. We just want to make sure everyone's happy. So I think these things affect not only the way that I'm writing, but the way that we are co-existing as a unit.

Absolutely. And in terms of that, is there any light you can shed on some of the prospects coming for Basement within the next year or two?

We've got New Bloom announced. We've got Knocked Loose in Europe just after. We're writing. We have been writing for a while now. We've got some time penciled in to record. That's our main focus. We really want to be putting out new music. And I think that's why my reaction earlier to the colourmeinkindess thing was the way it was because we're really excited about the fact that we are still a band, we're still an active band. And the most important part of that is making music and continuing to put out a creative outlet. So that's the main focus, I think, for all of us. We're just very, very excited about making new music.

Going back to the festival chat and saying you are now an active band, it begs the question, what is Basement bringing as a headliner? What can we expect from you guys and what makes you a good headliner?

I don't know if I can answer what makes us a good headliner because that's a hard question! Hopefully we're worthy of headlining! I don't know. I think I was anticipating a question like this because usually I'm quite pushbacky when... Pushbacky? That's not a phrase! I find it hard and want to push back when people ask what to expect from live stuff as well, because I feel like it leans into artists responding like, “It's going to be crazy, man”. And this is going to happen. And it's an opportunity for people to pump themselves up. And I always struggled with that. And I was thinking, “how am I going to answer this”? What I would say, though, is now you're going to see five people that are just so happy. The way that we've been playing these shows recently, we've been trying to really take a step back and be in the moment and acknowledge each other. Because I think when we perform, we're so in it. Sometimes it's almost like you forget that there's people around you, but you're just so trying your hardest to do your best that you just focus on yourself. And I've been making such a conscious effort to step back and look at the people on my right and on my left and behind me and even just go around and maybe just give them a thumbs up or a smile because we are just so happy.

So hopefully we'll perform well, and hopefully people will see how grateful we are that we've been given another opportunity to play shows, and that hopefully will then show in the way that we perform.

I think you're in a very safe place. If I took anything from New Bloom last year, it was a very happy, exciting environment. And gathering from what everyone's saying, everyone is very, very excited to see you, and you're very welcome at the festival. So it'll be a great time.

Interview by Georgia Haskins @ghaskins2002

You'll have your opportunity to see Basement when they touch down for New Bloom Festival in 2025! What date will we see you at?

Pre-sale begins Monday 11 November @ 5PM AEDT

General on-sale Wednesday 13 November @ 12PM Local

You can secure your tickets here