Slacker-pop princess Lauran Hibberd has been making waves for some time now, creating fizzy indie-rock bangers that are oozing with sass and style. Today, Lauran’s debut album ‘Garageband Superstar’ has been released and to celebrate, we caught up with Lauran to talk music, podcasts and one woman sketch shows.
As per, big love to our Kelly Morrison for this gnarly illustration!
As per, big love to our Kelly Morrison for this gnarly illustration!
Hey Lauran! How’s your summer going so far?
Yo! Summer is HOT this year, and I’m out here struggling to not get raging sunburn but festival season is booming and I have an album out so I won’t complain!
Yeahhh you do! You also recently released your awesome new single ’That Was A Joke’ – can you tell us what it’s all about?
Thank you so much, it’s a funny track about being in denial. It measures just how far I was willing to take that. It deals with the embarrassment of heartbreak I guess, especially when you are young and too proud to admit you care at all. It’s an anthem for people who laugh when they cry (me included). It’s super tongue in cheek but also kind of hits you where it hurts as well. I love the contrast between the depressing lyrical tone and the theme park influenced happy go lucky instrumentation.
What’s your favourite joke?
Okay this is cringe but: ‘Have you seen the dog bowl?’ ‘No, I didn’t know he could do that’.
That is pretty cringe but we’ll let you off 😉 Please describe your sound in five words to our lovely readers:
Funny, Nostalgic, Rock, For, Losers
What’s your songwriting process like?
It can be quite longwinded depending on how much free time I have. I feel most inspired when touring but it’s a hard environment to write in so I normally just make loads of notes including potential song titles, lyrics, melodies etc and revisit them all when I’m home. I refer to those when I’m next sat with a guitar and ironically just kind of wait for something to fall out. It either happens all at once for me or not at all. I then just come back to it everyday for a few days and check I still like it before demo’ing it up and making a meal out of it.
Your new album ‘Garageband Superstar’ is out now and we’re already obsessed with it. You’ve described it as ‘dad rock for your daughters’, which we feel is pretty apt, but who were your favourite dad rock bands growing up?
My favourite dad rock bands would be Feeder, Beastie Boys and Fountains of Wayne (and the American Pie soundtrack). It’s the ultimate genre, and you can always count on dads for a cracker of a Spotify playlist. If you can win over the dad and daughter combo you can win over the world.
Preach! Some awesome bands there as well. Who would you say are your biggest influences?
Weezer, Avril Lavigne, Liz Phair and Limp Bizkit. A crazy combo I know, but they say good artists borrow and great artists steal so as long as all the artists I steal from are far enough away from each other I won’t get caught haha. Seriously though, everything I have done to this point is probably inspired by one of these bands or artists. You can’t argue with Avril am I right?
Damn straight! Featured on the album Brendan B. Brown of Wheatus, DJ Lethal of Limp Bizkit and Viji – how did these amazing collars come about?
I always wanted an album full of collaborations, it doesn’t seem to happen to much in the rock world and I don’t know why that is. Oddly this album feels nostalgic to me, I think bringing people onto the record that inspired me to make it was the key behind that. Those being Brendan of Wheatus and DJ Lethal of Limp Bizkit/ House of Pain. It’s just crazy to me they said yes, sliding into the dm’s really can work guys!! It’s also great to have one of my good friends Viji on the record, I’m obsessed with her vocal and have been dying to work with her since her first EP came out.
If you could collaborate with any artist – dead or alive – who would it be?
10000% Rivers from Weezer. I hope if I mention it enough times in interviews he will just buckle under the pressure. Honestly though, Rivers if you are reading this. I am so down. Like, so down. I’ve been obsessed with Weezer since the Blue album got stuck in the CD player of my first car.
Hahaha amazing. What advice would you give artists starting out in the music industry?
Don’t believe anything anyone tells you, don’t be a carbon copy of anyone else, just trust yourself and do it your way. Always remember why you are doing what you are doing, and keep that at the core of everything. It’s important to not get sucked in by all the frills and remember who you are.
Are there any Isle of Wight-based emerging artists you’d recommend?
Spartak and Eugenie are awesome!! Some of the coolest people I know and they make equally cool music. Flo has an amazing vocal. The Isle of Wight is getting famous now, with Wet Leg taking over the world and it’s awesome to see. It’s great running into Coach Party all summer at festivals too, it feels like a proper scene is starting.
What are your plans for the rest of 2022?
I’ll be touring the album until I’m blue I’m the face, as well as getting out to the states and recording more music asap. I’ll probably also start a podcast and a one woman comedy sketch show.
Love that.Any final pearls of wisdom?
Live, Laugh, Love. Words to live by. Thank you and goodnight.
Thanks so much Lauran ❤️