The groovy duo Foley has dropped their latest EP Vacation and it will be the soundtrack to your incoming summer. The chemistry between Ash Wallace and Gabriel Everett is embedded throughout their music. Who better to make art with than your best friend? Together they have us all over the place. We go from spinning around in the high-daze, high-energy song “Vacation,” to swaying to the R&B reminiscent love song “Better Than Love.” Wallace’s clean vocals over funky beats have us dancing on the beach, by the pool, and in the shower. We will go everywhere with Foley.
The chic duo continues to serve us with our adolescent guilty truths. In their song “Rendezvous,” she sings, “Crazy for you / crazy I’ll admit this once / Craving all the cravings / I can’t taste enough.” They continue to put words to our overflowing feelings. Foley has nailed it. Their colorful image matches their colorful music. Their feel-good warm collection of songs is wrapped in a bow to take on our vacations. For it only being their sophomore EP, it is a very impressive collection coming from the 20-something kids who are just sharing a piece of their hearts with us. We got to talk to the New Zealand-based artists about where they go for inspirations, the highs and lows of being musicians, and working on their new EP Vacation!
How did ya’ll meet each other? When did you decide to make music together?
We met quite a while ago, at a high-school band competition here in New Zealand. We were in separate bands but practiced at the same rehearsal space so both our bands became this big friend group eventually. We were best mates for a couple years before we started writing music together, which was awesome for when we decided to write together as the trust and companionship was there!
What’s the scene like in New Zealand?
Ash: The scene is awesome — especially at the moment because we can’t go anywhere else so everyone has looked at our industry and realized how much incredible talent we have here. New Zealand spans a lot of genres and influences and we just soak it all up and create awesome unique stuff! I love that the industry is really collaborative and supportive because its fairly small as well.
What was finishing the EP like? How long did it take to finish? Do you have a favorite song or one that poured right out?
Putting together an EP is so rewarding and in our limited experience it’s different each time. For Vacation, we were writing songs almost before we’d even finished our debut EP, and really hit our stride shortly after that was released. We spent a few months writing and then the EP just took shape fairly naturally — it’s impossible to pick a favorite, but we’re really proud of the last song that we wrote for the EP: “Keep Me On My Toes.” That really did fall together in two days. On the first day we wrote a complete song and decided at the very end that the chorus and verses weren’t good enough and scrapped almost the whole thing, then came back early the next day and we wrote what you hear on the EP almost instantly!
Where do you pull inspiration from? Where do you go when you’re looking for it?
Everywhere! I feel like inspiration is all around all the time and sometimes it isn’t as obvious as looking for it, but it just happens to you without you knowing. I feel inspired by my family and friends mostly – just the discussions that we have about life and what it all means. Deep! Those discussions are the main source of new ideas and energy for me. I think if I get stuck for ideas, I listen to music that I love and it always get me moving and shaking.
What’s your favorite thing about making music? What’s the hardest part?
Almost impossible to nail that down because we love songwriting and collaboration AND playing live, but it’s just so rewarding to be able to do both and we’re super lucky to be surrounded by such a supportive community. There are some amazing people making music and amazing people listening to music, and being able to interact with all those people and just express yourself is incredible. Making music can be really challenging though, whether that’s finishing tracks and getting them just right — or finding the time to be creative and the space to feel comfortable with sharing your thoughts.
Who are some of your musical icons? Dream collab?
Ash: Fleetwood Mac — Stevie Nicks is my absolute icon! She is everything. Dream collab would have to be SZA just because she is also everything.
Gabe: Prince for sure, needs no introduction but every aspect of the artistry is just incredible. Collab would be My Chemical Romance, no reason other than to make my childhood dreams come true — why not!
Highlight of your week?
Ash: Seeing my dog!!!
Gabe: Spending a lot of time with my girlfriend! AND seeing my cat
