Get to know million, a fresh new three piece out of Melbourne who used last year’s Covid lockdown to come together and create their debut single.
They tell us that ‘problem’ is a cross between “today’s modern sounds and the nostalgia of ’80s pop”. So it’s totally up our street.
It’s a gorgeous track too; everything from the production to Jacinta’s honeyed vocal oozing warmth.
Turns out something very good came out of 2020 after all.
But what about the band behind it? Who are they? How they did they get here? And where are they headed?
Come along and join us as we get to know million.
01. Band name : million.
02. Where are you based? Melbourne – South Eastern suburbs.
03. Who are your members? Lil Friedmann, Craig Kemp, Jacinta Le.
04. And what role do they play in the band? We all have a part to play in each others’ roles as it is a hugely collaborative process. However, in a nutshell – Jacinta is our vocalist, Lil is on keys and synth parts, Craig is on guitars, bass and production.
05. How did you choose your band name? The name ‘million’ is one of those classic moments where you brainstorm for hours, days and weeks about a name that won’t sound silly. We eventually landed on ‘million’ as we like concept of there being a million stories and experiences out there for us to write about.
06. Give us five words to best describe the band.
Snacks.
Snacks.
Sandwiches.
Snacks.
Snacks.
Or alternatively…
Fierce.
Family.
Manic.
Perfectionists.
Snacks.
07. How was the band formed? We all met and studied at a music university years ago, however we were all in different intakes/year groups so there was no direct crossover. This led to us occasionally working with each other over the years, but never as a trio or in a pop sense. It was only after Melbourne’s first lockdown we got in contact and decided to see if we could put together some tunes.
08. Tell us a little bit about your sound. We are still figuring out what makes million, million. That said, we are trying to write interesting pop songs that go a little further than some modern arrangements. We also borrow many of our sounds from 80s inspired synths and are trying to bring back a little bit of that nostalgia from pops past.
09. If you had to compare yourselves to an already established act sound-wise, who would it be? If we were to say who we wish we sounded like, it would be HAIM but with much more synth.
10. In what ways has the band changed from when it was formed to today? Given we basically formed in lockdown, all our writing was done over voice memos and Zoom calls. Now we can get together and actually write/play in real time.
11. What are your members’ favourite songs of all time?
Lil – ‘Do Not Let Your Spirit Wane’ – Gang Of Youths.
Craig – ‘Blood On Me’ Sampha.
Jacinta – ‘A Case Of You’ – Joni Mitchell.
12. Which song from history do you all wish you’d written?
Lil – ‘Jason’s Song (Gave It Away)’ – Ariana Grande.
Craig – ‘Africa – Toto.
Jacinta – ‘Want You In My Room’ – Carly Rae Jepsen.
13. What’s been the biggest highlight of your band’s journey so far? The release! We have had such a great response so far. None of us had really released anything for a few years, so it was just such a nice experience to have after working all the way through lockdown.
14. What’s been your strangest experience as a band? Jacinta actually likes tomato on sandwiches… I mean what?
15. Who’s your most passionate groupie? The one, the only, Hughie Le (Jacinta’s dad).
16. Are you hotel trashers, cup of tea drinkers or somewhere in between? We wish there was a great story for this, but we are definitely the tea drinkers. Although if Craig’s coffee addiction sets him over the edge, who knows…
17. If you could score the support slot for any act, who would you choose? HAIM, HAIM and probably HAIM.
18. Tell us about your debut release. ‘problem’ was written through Melbourne’s lockdown during 2020. It’s a breakup song with layers – looking at the idiosyncratic nature of relationships and the push and pull that comes with ending one.
‘problem’ is in equal measures a swift parting-of-ways story and a lesson in self-worth, a resentful lament on what could have been, an anthem for self-respecting single girls everywhere.
19. What do your plans for global superstardom involve? We really just want to release music we like, and if other people like it also that’d just be awesome… but also, GameStop stock.
20. Where can our audience catch you live? Considering we were in lockdown all last year we are still putting the nuts and bolts of the live set lessons.
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