Aloe Vera
Out of the Northern Beaches of New South Wales, Harry Barwell’s solo project Aloe Vera is one of the best things to come out of 2020. Releasing his debut EP "Escapism" on the 11th of December, it's the perfect vibe to relax and enjoy the summer too. Hazy Days Music thanks Harry for taking the time out and having a chat.
It's been so great to see such an amazing response to your new solo project Harry, how and when did the idea for Aloe Vera come about?
I started Aloe Vera as a solo project in early 2020 just as something new I can focus on and put all my creativity into. I have played in a lot of bands around the Northern Beaches of NSW, and I currently play in Astral Plane and Sun Dress.
Aloe Vera is my first project where I do everything myself, from writing all the music to recording, producing and mixing.
When it comes to live shows though, I will have some friends join me on stage. I think it will be a mixture of members from both of the bands I play in.
The idea for Aloe Vera started around the time of the first lockdown. I was studying a diploma in Audio Production and when the lockdown hit it moved to studying from home like everything else. Getting all this extra time to work on writing and recording music, that's when the idea popped up, and the songs for Aloe Vera started flowing.
I recorded my debut EP "Escapism" on my two weeks off from Tafe on the June/July holidays. I am always writing and working on music. I knew I had this little bit of time off coming up and that this was the perfect opportunity for me to put my head down and really focus on recording this EP.
"Escapism" EP is one of my favourite releases of 2020, could you tell us a little bit about writing, recording and releasing this EP? Were all these songs written over the lockdown period?
All the songs for Aloe Vera are brand new. They are all written from that period of time between March and July 2020. I love writing and working on new music. It's something that I am continuously working on. The first song (Booze Bust) and last song (Get with the Times) were both written pretty quickly, both in a day actually, which was pretty surprising, I find that the quick ones are normally the most fun songs to make.
It was a pretty strange time for me when I recorded this EP. I recorded everything at home in my bedroom studio, it was weird for me to lock myself in my room for two weeks straight when we were already on lockdown, and couldn't go outside anyway. So to locked myself in, even more, I got a bit tired and fed up of being in the same small room towards the end, and recording like this is so different to how I would normally record.
Leading up to that time, I knew I had this two week period coming up, and this was the perfect opportunity to put my head down and really work hard on Aloe Vera. Whenever I would work on Aloe Vera, I would use it as an escape, just go into this room, work on some music and switch off from the outside world. This was a great way for me to escape everything that was going on. I would get caught up with all these thoughts about Covid and the pressure to finish my audio production assessments. Having this outlet for me to put all my thoughts and feelings into was great.
"Get with the Times" is one of my favourite songs off the EP, it starts out slow and is pretty chill, it's about having that uncertain feeling of does this girl like me or not anymore? The song really grows and builds up to this big release, I think having that ending was the perfect way to finish the EP, and it probably reflects my mood after being locked in my room for 2 weeks, you can definitely hear the frustration coming out haha.
Doing all the behind the scenes stuff and releasing everything myself was another good challenge to learn and go through, I really respect the people who do that for a living. Getting all that stuff sorted took a lot longer than I originally thought, it can get a bit challenging and you definitely have to put a bit of research into how to get it done correctly, but if I can do it anyone can haha.
I have been obsessed with "On My Own" from the first time I heard it! What's the story behind this song? The film clip looked like it was a lot of fun to make, when and where was that filmed? Did the restrictions make it difficult to make this video?
“On My Own” was the first song written for this project and writing this song got me really keen and focused to put all my time into Aloe Vera.
The song was written about wanting to leave your family home to become independent, but it somehow managed to fit in pretty well with the Covid lockdown situation that was starting to grow back then. I think it's pretty easy to think of it as a Covid song haha the idea of being stuck at home, drinking too much and wanting to leave the house to go anywhere else became pretty relatable.
“On My Own” started out with this drum machine loop that continues throughout the whole song. I then added this groove that fits in really nicely with the beat. I wanted to make it a dreamy song, with the idea of escaping your own home and having a bit more freedom.
Before Covid hit, I had this house party that got a bit weird and I kind of just kept drinking way too much into that first period of lockdown, looking back probably not the ideal way to be spending my time.
For the music video - I had a single launch party for “On My Own” back when the restrictions were easing but still pretty strict. You were only allowed 20 people over at your house at the one time, so we shot the music video that night as well. We had a dad cam floating around all night shooting everything that happened. I am really into that grainy Super 8 style of footage. I think we all had that feeling over lockdown, so I really liked that idea of getting a few friends together and turning that individual experience into a communal one.
Aloe Vera has its first headline show coming up very soon. It must be very exciting to be playing live again, what are the details for the show and are there any tickets left? What do you have planned for 2021?
I'm playing on the 29th of January at The Chippo Hotel (Chippendale, NSW). There are still some lockdown restrictions still in place, so we are playing an early show (6:30pm), and a late show(9:30pm), my good friend Lux Trevus will be supporting us and both shows are seated with limited capacity. There are still a few tickets left for both shows, but not many, so you'll have to get in quick, you don't want to miss this one! Event info - here
I’ll have the full band joining me on stage too, it’s going to be a fun night.
I do all the artwork for Aloe Vera as well, I have a few lino prints up on Bandcamp, and I might get some shirts and stickers done for the show.
2021 - I'm planning big things for 2021 haha the next move is going to be big!
I would like more of a live band feel on the next recording, so bringing in some live drums and collaborating with some other musicians is something I’d like to do in the future. I really enjoy writing music that way and sharing that experience with other musicians.
I have some more shows in the works, a few support spots and I’m looking at booking in some more headliner gigs later in the year. Be sure to keep an eye on our socials for those announcements.
I'll keep on releasing music throughout this year, hopefully, put out another EP in late 2021. I'm keen to work on each song individually, rather than as a collective group of songs like on my first EP. I want to get a bit of hype around each single, look at recording more music videos now we have a bit more freedom.
Over the past couple of years, I have been adding to my home studio setup. I would love to be a producer in the future, and I'm looking to do as much recording and production work as I can this year. I'm currently producing and mixing an amazing EP for Ava Martina, I'm also working on some mixes for my other bands and last year I worked with local artist Amber Rose, recording and mixing her debut EP.
I’m more than happy to help anyone out with recording and mixing, feel free to get in touch via my email - harrybarwellmusic@gmail.com, or you can hit me up at my Aloe Vera Insta or @hbarwell on Instagram as well. Feel free to reach out, I'm keen to chat!
Follow Aloe Vera on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.