Hard Rubbish is an up-and-coming music duo originally hailing from New Zealand, with a penchant for creating classic American country music-inspired soundtracks - with a modern day twist. Influenced by notable music greats such as Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and Gram Parsons, this ascending band has honed their own unique sound and barn stompin' style which their followers love them for. Most recently, to the excitement of their fanbase, Hard Rubbish has announced the upcoming release of their debut EP titled, "Bin Night", which will be available soon on all digital streaming platforms.
Coming August 26th, this new collection of songs features four dynamic tunes; "Up to no good", "Ball and Chain", "Porto", and "Not You". In just a short amount of time, their first released single from the EP, "Ball and Chain", has impressively received an overall positive reception and garnered Hard Rubbish thousands of streams on Spotify alone from listeners all around the world! "Bin Night" will showcase not only addictive foot-tapping rhythms and cheeky lyricism, but also the duo's undeniable songwriting synergy. Follow Hard Rubbish on their social media platforms to stay tuned on their future music releases and news. Listen to Hard Rubbish's music now on Spotify:
"We’re simple people with simple pleasures. We hope our music brings a bit of fun into people’s lives."
- Hard Rubbish
INTERVIEW
Hello, thank you very much for joining us today. You guys have such a creative band name! Could you tell me the inspiration behind your band name “Hard Rubbish”?
In Australia and New Zealand hard rubbish is the stuff you can’t put in your normal rubbish collection, and we thought we’re a little rough, a little weathered, but we’re hopefully still loveable enough that you don’t want to get rid of us.
What three words would you say best describe Hard Rubbish’s musical style as a whole?
Homemade hoedowns and hootenannies.
Who would you say are your top three musical influences?
Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, Lucille Bogan.
I’d love to hear more about how you two came together as a music duo. How did that happen?
Michael has another band called Hot Work and is always working on different music projects. During COVID lockdown he set up a home studio and roped Zoe into singing some vocals for some country songs he had sitting in his back pocket. The songs turned out better than expected so we decided to keep it going and as a result ended up with our first EP “Bin Night”.
What is your songwriting process like together as a duo?
Michael normally comes up with the music and instrumentation and then we write the lyrics and melody together. We like to pick classic country themes, love, heartbreak, getting into trouble, and then putting a modern day spin on it. We’ll have a few meltdowns during the process but it all comes together in the end!
Tell me about your upcoming new EP titled "Bin Night".. what is something very special about it?
It’s the first music we’ve made together even though we’ve lived together and been in a relationship for more than a decade. Sometimes the good things in life just take a little bit of time, but better late than never!
Most artists say that through their art they learn more about themselves, heal injuries… in what ways has music helped you both?
It definitely helped us during lockdown, giving us something to work on to keep us sane. Music has always been a creative outlet and even when life might not always be rosy, music is a constant that gives us purpose.
How do you want your music to help or affect other people?
We’re simple people with simple pleasures. We hope our music brings a bit of fun into people’s lives. The lyrics can sometimes be a bit tongue and cheek, a bit ironic, so we hope that people can find that playful element in our songs. We want them to have a good time, to enjoy the music, and to listen to the music for music’s sake.
In your opinion, what makes Hard Rubbish’s music so unique?
I think our music is unique as it’s inspired by the American country greats, made by a couple of city folk from New Zealand, who live between Australia and Portugal, so there’s a bit going on. We only hope we can do justice to the genre.
What is the next “big thing” the world can expect from Hard Rubbish?
Well the next thing is releasing the debut EP, so it will be exciting to see what kind of reaction we get from audiences. We’ve got plenty more material to work with so we’ll definitely be writing and recording new songs and spreading that country spirit wherever we can!
View the Official Cover Art for Hard Rubbish's new EP "Bin Night":
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