When did the initial idea for your latest single come together?
The track was just one of 13 that we wrote for our upcoming debut album ‘Look At Me Now’. It was written at some point in the summer of 2020, along with the rest of the songs that ended up on the album. The bands bassist Freddy wrote the original instrumental demo for it, recycling a melody for a song he wrote when he was 18. The initial idea was to write something like the Voodoo Lady song from the Monkey Island games but he was struggling to come up with anything beyond that. It was sent off to Kitty, with the expectation to scrap the whole song, but instead Kitty changed the song structure a little bit and wrote her vocal parts on top of the demo. After that, the direction for the rest of the song became very clear and it all tied together perfectly.
How would you describe the track, to a reader that is unfamiliar with the band?
We like to call it a cabaret-inspired horror theme. Inspired by bands like Trepalium, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Devin Townsend, ‘Medusa Medusa’ could possibly be our catchiest song yet. It’s full of twists and surprises, it has intense synth parts, a full brass section, gang vocals, blistering solos, unusual structures, and yet it somehow all works to create an incredibly fun and groovy song. It’s awesome.
Can you tell us a bit more about the meaning behind the track?
It’s about the origins of the Medusa myth. Most people just know Medusa as being this evil Gorgon that’s just super angry and turns men into stone, but not many people know HOW she became a Gorgon. I won’t elaborate on it too much, but in summary she was a super attractive mortal woman, and the punishment to turn her into a gorgon was an extreme case of victim blaming. It’s pretty horrific.
How would you say that the track compares to anything you’ve done before?
It’s definitely one of the more ambitious songs we’ve yet to release. Production wise, Freddy went absolutely ham on it and the song definitely stands out (in a good way) from our previous catalogue. The song is super fun and catchy, and in that sense is very much in line with our previous releases, but the underlying message behind the lyrics is a bit more serious than you might think at first listen. It’s definitely a progression from anything we’ve done before and it really showcases how we’ve “matured” into our own sound.
What was the hardest part about putting it together, and why?
Mixing this song was the hardest out of any songs from the album. Freddy spent about 4 days straight mixing just this song, re-starting the whole mix about 3 times in the process because it was so dense and full of different parts. Writing wise, a lot of time was spent trying to work out how to make the “bridge” sections blend with the rest of the track. We tried all sorts of synths, brass sections, crazy instruments, but in the end we just stripped it back and added a fat, percussive synth line underneath the guitars. But it took a LOT of trial and error to get there…
Why should a reader check out the track?
Because it’s fantastic. Not only does it sound great, but it also has an awesome music video filmed by Ben Gladwin and Jon Stonehouse, edited by our own Freddy, and it features the winner of Alternative Model of the Year 25-29 Kitty Massacre as our resident Medusa. But for real, the song is super catchy and your listeners will NOT regret checking it out!
What else can you tell us about the track, that we haven’t covered in this interview?
The original “bridge” section was initially a heavy metal ripoff of the brass section from ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’ (you know what section we’re referring to 😉 ) until we altered it. That’s why there’s a little reference to that riff after the guitar solo.
Medusa Medusa on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dM1W-w0LdI
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