David Gilmour and Roger Waters had a long-running rivalry, Keith Richards insulted Mick Jagger in his memoirs and LeToya and LaTavia were ousted from Destiny’s Child. The notion of the feuding band mates is as storied as that of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.
Not so for L.A.’s the Internet, whose public life as a band - their sonic output and onstage connection - flows into a private life that’s similarly harmonious.
The band, comprised of founding members and Odd Future alumni Syd (tha Kyd) and Matt Martians, Steve Lacy, Christopher Smith and Patrick Paige II, speak every day. But that’s not to say they’re co-dependent. After bringing their Grammy nominated third album Ego Death into the world, each member of the Internet released their own solo project: a means of expanding and exploring their creative prospects while providing outlet for those songs that wouldn’t necessarily fit within the realms of an Internet album.
When we speak with Martians and Syd in the lead-up to their tour with St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival, they’re holed up at Syd’s family home in L.A., in the process of recording album number four and enjoying being back in it together. “It’s not like there’s one person where we’re like ‘aahhhh’,” explains Martians of their dynamic. “It’s a really good process in that ... if you want a song on the album and it really fits what we’re trying to do, then there’s really not a lot to say.”
“And that’s why we all have solo projects,” adds Syd.
If there ever is an argument, says Martians, it’s centred on “wanting something to be better”.
“To be honest she and I have very similar ears – and eyes.”
“We all hear if there’s something in there, we all want the best product ... so we eventually compromise and get both the things we both want in there ... The last album we were all in the studio - but we weren’t all necessarily in the studio when things were being made. But this album it was all of us, at the Airbnb, crouching over the box, and it’s tight, I don’t have to go to Syd and go, ‘Do you like this?’ or go to Patrick and be like, ‘Do you like this?’ They’re there!”
It’s this positively-charged sense of togetherness that has the band feeling optimistic about projects to come, collaborative or otherwise: “We’re just gonna keep making more albums, making music, more solo albums, just keep the formula you know,” says Martians. “I feel like it’s really about making better music, and trying to get better every time. You know when you feel you’ve reached that level and can always go further.”
The Internet play St. Jerome's Laneway Festival in Singapore, Auckland, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle.
