Arela Jiang (he/him)
This week, Craccum’s resident Beths fanboy and staff writer, Arela Jiang, had a chat with the band’s lead singer Liz Stokes on the new album, University life, and what comes with being considered a ‘Kiwi artist’.
A: So I know you guys met through studying at the Auckland University Jazz School and that’s how the Beths formed. What do you think are the most useful and useless things you got from your University experience?
L: I really enjoyed university at the time. We graduated a long time ago, like 10 years ago. And so university is one of those things where I’m sure a lot has changed. I think the most useful thing was that I got my degree.
A: [laughs]
L: It was just a really practical degree, and it was a lot of long playing and a lot of musicians just all in one place who were all super nerdy about music. And having to make collaborative music! Particularly with jazz, it’s not something that you really make on your own. You practice on your own but then the execution is almost always with other people and it’s pretty rare to play by yourself. And I think it also made for a kind of diverse music group, of people (in theory) that were very collaborative and supportive playing in projects and playing with people who are not studying the same thing as you. There were people playing reggae bands and some of them were making like EDM music on the side. There was a good mix of useful stuff. But, I feel I never really regret learning something. Even if you learn it and use it, and feel like it’s wasted time, it’s not not useless until you forget it.
A: That’s a real diplomatic answer but not in an offensive way! I have a friend at the music school who told me the most useful thing he’s gotten is getting free access to instruments.
L: [Laughs] I guess I can’t be too harsh, since I don’t know how university is going at the moment.
A: Thinking about what current music students are thinking now, some who have big aspirations outside New Zealand got me thinking. When I’ve seen media coverage of the Beths, especially in international media, there’s a lot of attention on you guys as New Zealanders and being ‘kiwi artists’. How do you feel about that term, and do you feel there’s expectations from it when you’re out there representing New Zealand music?
L: Yeah. I’d say that I do love [New Zealand music], and I’m proud to be part of it. And I wouldn’t say that means I think that our community does everything right. I love my music community, and I assume that it’s changing. I feel a lot of that [change] is the reaction to when I grew up, there was a bit of cultural cringe about being from New Zealand. And so you know, you wouldn’t hear the accent even in bands that were really strong. I feel as I got older, I think something’s really helped with getting over that cultural cringe of just being like “No, it’s okay to just, you know, be what you wish, not be what you have to be.”For us, we didn’t go how are we able to have to kinda embody some kind of different aesthetic” or something like that in order to be taken seriously at a business level, or even take seriously at a local level.
A: So you guys didn’t consciously set out to be labeled as a ‘New Zealand band’ and everything that goes with it?’
L: Not the very start, because I think when we first started we didn’t have huge international ambitions. When we first started it was just finding our own sound and figuring out that we were comfortable with something. And it wasn’t till we started touring and the record came out in 2018 that we were, I guess, started to feel [like a ‘New Zealand band’]. Because you don’t feel like a ‘New Zealand band’ and then it started to click when we started seeing other bands. You know, playing with a different band and realising the ways that we were different, you have that comparison. It’s a small, wonderful thing.
A: What I really loved about the new album is that it almost embraces how people get emotionally all over the place when in a relationship. And I think it’s something young people get ripped into a bit for. I was really tuning into the lyrics, and they have so much emotional intensity that I felt a bit cringe for relating. But at the same time, I felt relieved because you’ve articulated those very real feelings so well. When you were writing the album, did it cross your mind to convey some sort of life lesson, or did you just want to word vomit into the void?
L: Not really. I think there are lots of reasons to think that there’s some sort of lesson you know, you can provoke some sort of reaction or thought, I think it’s really interesting. But I feel like that’s not the primary reason why I make music. I want to be understood, and I want it to be that sometimes I feel this specific way. And I know that I’m not special and unique enough that I’d be the only person who’s experienced this. And I’m trying to just express it. But also, it means a lot when people do relate, you know, and being relatable in some kind of way. Because, yeah, I’m gonna be honest: I know that I’m quite often pathetic. But I also feel that it’s relatable. It’s feeling emotions and sincerity. It’s super cringy, it’s awful. But it also can feel good.
A: I suppose then, have you struggled with oversharing in your music? Do you ever worry about that, putting too much out there or is it all part of the game now?
L: I don’t think I’m oversharing. I find it easier to be cathartic in music because it feels like you can really put a lot of yourself into [the music]. The other part of it though is I feel sometimes it’s also being a public persona and sharing it. It’s amazing to me that people can admit everything that’s going on with them, and I think people really connect with me because of that. But honestly, I’m less comfortable with that side. It’s curated honesty and vulnerability. So you can put it in a way that you want it to be and you don’t necessarily have to reveal more than you are comfortable with. I think you’re never the only character in the story as well, so that’s something to think about when you’re writing vulnerable things or things that are based in reality.
A: I’ve just got a chill question to wrap this up. If you could go back to being a Uni student in today’s age, would you or would you not, and why?
L: Do I still remember everything I know now?
A: Hmm, yeah why not. But you have to do a completely different degree.
L: I love the idea of being 18 again. So again, I don’t know—it feels weird to think that I would do that because it would be stupid to go and do the exact same degree. I think I would probably study something else just because I don’t know it. There’s a lot of bonus questions in this alternate reality. It’s out there, but yeah—I enjoyed the university experience. Again, this feels like it’s an endorsement of the University, but then again I don’t know what it’s like there now, it’s been such a long time. But, I don’t know. I did enjoy learning, and I enjoyed the structure of a school-type environment. So I probably would go back.
A: That’s amazing, I can’t wait to put up “endorsed by L from the Beths” on the next Uni open day. I suppose my final question is whether there was a really memorable time that you’ve had at university that was kind of pivotal? You can interpret that question however you want, it’s a very broad question.
L: I think I remember going out for what I think was the end of the first semester of uni or maybe even the first year at uni and just going out with basically everybody from my year. The number of students every year was small—it started at 25 and I think we ended up with 15. And we just all went for a drink across the road at night. And I think that was just something really special and really nice. I think later on I kind of realised that that’s not the experience that a lot of people have at university necessarily. That a lot of times it’s essentially that university is gonna be something really big and your environment, and with a lot of people it’s actually kind of hard to meet new people. And I think it was quite special that we were able to feel that. I’ve made a lot of my close friends and musical collaborators during those years rather than just consolidating my high school friends or something, or struggling. So I feel that was really lucky, and that’s something that, again, was the biggest thing that I feel I got out of studying. It’s just meeting a bunch of musically talented and creative and lovely people and feeling part of a community.
PHOTO: Frances Carter
