DRIVE SAFE
Over the past month Drive Safe (Gavin Styles) brand new solo project has exploded onto the Australian music, releasing his hit first single “Nervous Energy” on the 30th of November, and quickly following it up with another amazing single “Delayed Maintenance” just released on the 10th of December. Make sure to get down to one of Drive Safes gigs over the summer. Hazy Days Music would like to thank Gavin for taking the time out and having a chat.
After releasing your first single "Nervous Energy" at the end of November, Drive Safe has quickly been making a name for itself across Australia. Could you tell us a little bit about starting this project? Was there a focus on making Drive Safe a solo project and is your approach any differently to when you played in bands?
I moved up to Canberra for work back in February just before Covid 19 happened. I am originally from Melbourne and have been playing in multiple DIY bands for over 10+ years now, one of the last ones I was playing in before moving was Frowny Dads. I had played a few solo shows along the way, but never had the idea or the want to play as a solo artist.
I never had any intention of starting a solo project before moving up to Canberra, but when the lockdown started my band in Melbourne ended up splitting up. No shows were happening anywhere and you couldn't even practice in the same room with anyone, so that idea of starting a new band in Canberra when out the window pretty fast. I just started writing music to fill the space and give me something to do with all this spare time, and after a few weeks, it had accidentally turned into this solo project with a full EP ready to go haha. I had no intentions to do anything with it, but hey, here we are days away from my second single about to come out and a month or two away from my EP being released. I couldn't be happier with the end product and excited that other people are slowly starting to get a taste of Drive Safe.
The EP is going to be about 50/50 new material and old reworked songs from past bands, but you would never know they were the same songs. My first single "Nervous Energy" is one of those reworked tracks and it sounds completely different now to how it used to be played.
I have always been a very DIY person when it comes to music. I was very lucky to be a part of that community back in Melbourne, and just as a person, I have always been hands-on. But it’s no different with this project, I recorded everything myself, and am excited to be promoting it and finally have the opportunity to start booking some shows.
Your second single "Delayed Maintenance" is out on the 10th of December, it's a pretty vibing, upbeat tune, but lyrically it's a bit of a different story. Could you share what “Delayed Maintenance” is about and how it was writing and recording this song?
When I first moved to Canberra every weekend I was driving back to Melbourne for shows or commitments with friends, it was really starting to burn me out. Originally it wasn't that bad being somewhere new, if I wanted to go back home it was only a 7-hour drive, but when the Covid lockdown started and the borders shut, it was like ahh shit and everything seemed further away.
The lockdown is what led me to overcommit to this project, it wasn't meant to be anything and then all of a sudden I've put all my focus into it and have an EP ready to go. That tends to be a common theme for me, I’ll give something a go and end up overcommitting to it and 3 weeks later I've invested all of my time, money and effort to the project, always taking it to the nth degree without really meaning to.
Not intentionally, but it happens to be a detriment to both my health and mental health. It just sort of happens when you are so caught up in something, you don't take the time to look after yourself. It also means I put off things like getting my car serviced because I need to drive back to Melbourne and don't have the time to leave it at the mechanics, or my bike needs fixing, but I don't have to time that weekend to get it fixed. It's always "maybe next weekend or the one after or whenever I'm home next."
I get caught up in something and other things take a back seat and they will get done when I have the time. And of course, I never end up making the time for it, that's what "Delayed Maintenance" is about.
This is the first time I have tried writing and recording everything myself as a full band. Back in Melbourne, when I would record with my old bands, each member would only write their own parts and I'd just focus on me. So to go from that to start programming drums, playing synthesisers and writing lead guitar parts was a challenge for me to figure out. Not having that safety net of being able to rely on someone else to figure out the melody, or if I have this really good part for a song, I can let everyone else figure out parts that will go along with it. This process made me think a lot more about writing each song in the full context of a band, rather than just an instrument, thinking about how each will connect with each other and flow together throughout the song.
The whole EP is being mixed and mastered by my beautiful friend - Nic Wood, who plays in the band - Newtown Story. It was great working with him again, he worked on a lot of my older projects and he is helping out with the backing vocals for this track. I really love the work he does. Cal from that band also did lead guitars on the track and they're amazing.
I know a lot of artists this year have put this unnecessary pressure on themselves to be extra creative throughout the lockdown periods. Did you have that same feeling towards Drive Safe, that you couldn't waste the lockdown and come out with nothing? I like that you are following up your first single “Nervous Energy” really quick as it was only released a few weeks ago on the 30th of November. Have you intentionally emphasized releasing as much music as you can as often as possible?
The Covid break was an interesting time. It was nice to have that time to sit down and work on music. It was great that I was working from home and when things were slowly opening back up I wasn't rushing outside. I didn't really know anyone up in Canberra then, because I arrived there just before the lockdowns started, so I didn’t have that opportunity to make those friendships and connections, so I would stay home and work on my music.
I didn't really feel any pressure to make music throughout the lockdown, Drive Safe is a brand new project, and no one had any idea that I was working on anything. I didn't rush it and try pushing it to turn into something, it just happened naturally. I wasn't too stressed about using my Covid time to try and create as many songs as I could, or that I couldn't waste this time and get to the other side of lockdown with nothing. I am usually a pretty slow writer at the best of times, so at the end of lockdown having 2 or 3 new songs was pretty on par for me haha. I'm really happy with the EP, and I hope people will like it.
"Nervous Energy" actually came out a few weeks before it landed on all streaming services. It was released as part of Stay At Home Sunday's - Girls Rock Canberra compilation. Initially "Nervous Energy" was going to be its own stand-alone single and not be a part of the EP, but the song just fits the vibe of the EP so well I just had to put it on it.
Releasing it so soon back to back is a great way for me to keep the momentum moving forward on this project. This year has been such a weird one, and an even weirder time to start a new project, I always had the thought that I would follow the first release up pretty quick, keep it moving and keep me engaged in the project. Without being able to go out and play gigs and promote my music the normal way I am used to, I think that's put an emphasis on exploring new options to keep the people engaged and continue getting my name out there.
Does Drive Safe have much planned for the rest of the year/start of 2021? You are playing a gig on the 13th of December (this Sunday). Will you be playing solo or with a band?
The EP will be coming out either at the end of January or start of February, the date isn't locked in just yet, but should be around that time.
I am playing a show this Sunday, it's a single launch show for "Delayed Maintenance" and that's going to be a solo one at Canberra's venue Gang Gang - More info and tickets available here. I've got a few shows planned in the New Year that still need to be locked in, so keep an eye on my socials for those updates and announcements.
The band is slowly coming together. It's just been difficult to organise five people in the same room and give them enough time to learn the material when we haven't been able to be face to face and practice till a week or two ago.
DIY groups Undine Records have been huge in restarting the music scene in Canberra post covid. They've been holding residencies and it's great to be able to go out and see live music again.
Stay up to date with Drive Safe on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.