Pigeon Spins Featuring an Interview with Thickshake

Thickshake - Through the Daylight

Through the Daylight stands out as a vibrant and infectious tune that captures the essence of love and escapism. In a world filled with responsibilities, Thickshake's song offers a refreshing escape, inviting listeners to bask in the joy of spending time with loved ones. Recorded in his music room at home, Thickshake's unique approach to the recording process, where he handled all aspects from inception to production, shines through in this catchy and feel-good track.

Interview with Thickshake

(º)> Through the Daylight is described as a vibrant, infectious track about love and escapism. Was it important for you to create a feel-good vibe, or did that emerge naturally during production?

Completely naturally through the production. The very first lines of the song came into my head, and I thought originally it was going to be more of a slacker-indie vibe. However, as the song progressed, it naturally felt better as a more upbeat indie pop song.

(º)> You handled every aspect of the song yourself, from writing to mastering. Does managing every step ever feel like a creative burden, or do you enjoy having full control?

I guess the truth is that it's both of those things. It can be a burden because I can't just turn up, record, and then let someone else figure out how to mix and master it. But on the other hand, I enjoy it because I get to take as much time as I want to play around with the song, and I'm not restrained by paid studio time, or having to leave my family to go and record something. Plus, I enjoy the process of learning new skills.

(º)> The song was performed live at the Rockhampton River Festival in a stripped-back version. How do you adapt a fully produced track for live settings without losing its energy?

With a really good partner on stage. I had a mate of mine who is a talented singer and musician in his own right jump up and perform it with me on keys. I've recorded and acoustic guitar only version of the song, and it's a slower more casual vibe for the song. Kind of like the lazy Sunday version of the song, if you will. But having him on the keys meant that he could play the lead guitar section, plus some backing chords, and then add a little extra flare while I was just strumming along and singing. Also his backing vocals helped to bolster the energy of the chorus.

(º)> Your inspiration comes from artists like Blanks. How do you balance paying homage to your influences with creating something that feels uniquely yours?

I think that given the limitations I have with production, in both knowledge and equipment, I'm naturally going to have my own sound and feeling through my songs. I have such a wide variety of musical tastes that everything kind of bleeds into it in some capacity as well. With Blanks in particular, he was really the catalyst for showing me that I can just start recording stuff and releasing it. I think without seeing his YouTube videos and listening to his music, I probably wouldn't have even considered starting releasing my own stuff.

(º)> The track is about escaping responsibilities and enjoying time with loved ones. How do you make sure the lyrics and music feel relatable without being too generic?

To be honest, I don't know if they aren't too generic. I think that's the biggest reservation I have with a lot of my songs. Are the lyrics too generic or boring? I just try my best to write whatever feels right for that moment of the song and hope that it also resonates with people.

(º)> Recording at home can bring both intimacy and limitations. How did your home setup influence the final sound of the track?

I think the biggest influence it had on the track was how the drums sounded. I only have an electric drum kit at home, and the sound samples are fine on them, but I ended up buying a virtual drum kit to use with a midi controller because it gave me more variety of the sound of the drums. However, with that came the limitation of what I personally can create on that virtual instrument. I'm overall pretty happy with it, and I don't think much would have changed if I could record a full drum kit live. But I think given the importance of the drums when it comes to manages the energy of a track, I felt quite limited in that sense.

(º)> You’re a multi-instrumentalist. How does playing every instrument yourself impact the cohesion and personality of the song?

It can be a bit of a challenge sometimes. The creative process can be a bit longer because you come up with a concept for what you think you should play, then you record it with the other instruments and listen back only to realise that you could clean it up a bit, or change it entirely. Which means either fixing up a small portion of the song, or even re-recording the whole instrument again. It's harder to feel out those vibes on your own with just the recordings to bounce off. When I jam with my mates, it's much easier to play around with a song and feel out those changes on the go.

(º)> Infectious, upbeat tracks can sometimes risk being overly simplistic. How did you ensure Through the Daylight retains musical interest throughout?

With Through the Daylight specifically, I did a few things to try and keep it interesting. No intro, just bam! straight into the song; an unusually short pre-chorus that kind of builds into the energy for the chorus; a little guitar riff at the end of the chorus; then altering that guitar riff to become the solo; and finally just changing the vocal line and the lyrics slightly for the final chorus of the song. I think that was enough to just hold interest for the whole song.

(º)> Your music emphasizes joy and connection. How do you see your style evolving in future releases—still uplifting, or exploring other emotions?

Through the Daylight is indeed quite a joyful and upbeat song while also having that undertone of "I wish for this escapism, but I know I can't quite have it today." I have a couple of other songs that are kind of two-tones for lack of a better term. There's a bittersweetness to them, such as 'You & I' which is a break-up song while also being a song about moving on from that break-up, and it's a rock/electronic song. But I also have a very melancholic song in 'Broken Jewel' which is a very indie acoustic sound with multiple layered guitar and vocal tracks. I have a song that will come out some time in 2026 that will just be a kind of funky song that will hopefully make people want to dance, so I'm really looking forward to that coming out as well.

(º)> Finally, after releasing Through the Daylight, what statement are you trying to make about Thickshake as an artist in 2025 and beyond?

I thank that looking beyond 2025, I'm keen to keep diversifying my catalogue of songs. My musical interests are so varied, and I love being able to find a song that resonates with a feeling that I'm having at any given moment because of that. So I think my catalogue of songs continues to fill itself in the same manner. I don't care about sticking to the one genre. I think a lot of my songs may find themselves falling to a particular genre, but it's certainly not a specifically intended decision to make them like that. If anything, I try to intentionally diversify it as much as possible because I also don't just listen to the same style of music constantly.

(•)> That's all, Folks! Check out wsemsz on the Pigeon Spins Playlist