Wotts: he spoke with conviction
Photo Credit: Rainbow Studios
Punk Head: “he spoke with conviction” sits in that hazy space between truth and illusion. What moment or feeling first sparked the idea for this track?
Wotts: I was going through something pretty heavy, and I’ll admit, for the first little bit, I was in denial about what was actually happening. It was only when I got to the other side that I realized that I’d been living in this in weird spot between real and fake. Denial or cope, whatever it was, I wanted to try and meet that moment head on.
Punk Head: You leaned heavily into psychedelic textures on this one — guitars, analog synths, vintage drums. What sonic references or experiments shaped the atmosphere?
Wotts: From a production standpoint, the track’s heavily inspired by Currents era Tame Impala. We’ve always loved Australian psych pop and that record in particular. Given the theme of the song, it just felt right going for an otherworldly sound that was a bit glossy and uneasy.
Punk Head: Jayem, you mentioned “world building a dream” in the production. What did that dream look like in your head as you built the sound?
Wotts: I’d say it was a world that looks normal, even a little beautiful at first glance, but that starts to fall apart the longer you stare at it. When I started sketching the track, I thought back to Spielberg’s A.I. movie and the part where the main character got to recreate one last day with is mom. The whole thing existed in this fragile, artificial bubble. It helped me calibrate my idea and build a world that was comforting, but also temporary and unsettling.
Punk Head: COPE explores coping mechanisms in all their forms — healthy and not so healthy. Where does “he spoke with conviction” sit on that spectrum for you personally?
Wotts: For me, it sits on the far end of the coping spectrum. The song at its core is about lying to yourself. Not in a malicious way, but more so to protect yourself, because accepting the reality is too much to handle. Definitely not healthy, but it’s probably something we all do at least once in our lives.
Punk Head: FLANK! dealt with loss, and COPE deals with what happens after. In making this new EP, what surprised you most about how grief evolves over time?
Wotts: FLANK! dealt with the sharp edges that came with the immediate loss. When we were making the songs for COPE, I realized that the pain may dull, but it never really leaves. It slips into the small spaces of your life and shows up in different ways at different times. I know we all handle grief differently, but before all this, I had thought it was something you overcome, now I know it’s something you learn to carry.
