SPILL FEATURE: BAND LIKE THAT – A CONVERSATION WITH HANNAH JUDGE OF FANCLUBWALLET

BAND LIKE THAT

A CONVERSATION WITH HANNAH JUDGE OF FANCLUBWALLET

For the past couple of years Hannah Judge’s musical project fanclubwallet has been one of the most exhilarating and entertaining indie acts. Breakthrough hit “Car Crash In G Major” has garnered over 13 million plays on Spotify, they have toured alongside CHVRCHES and Penelope Scott, and their debut album, You Have Got to Be Kidding Me, was an irresistibly catchy blend of bedroom pop, indie pop, and alternative rock. I recently had the opportunity to talk to Judge about Our Bodies Paint Traffic Lines, the latest EP from fanclubwallet.

Up until now Judge was DIY in her approach. Joining fanclubwallet are Judge’s close friends and members of her touring band, Eric Graham (guitar), Nathan Reid (bass), and Michael Watson (drums). Our Bodies Paint Traffic Lines is the first record by fanclubwallet as a full band. Transitioning from working independently to collaborating with a team is a huge change, but for Judge, it went smoothly, exclaiming, “The transition felt pretty easy, but I think it’s cause I did it with friends. It probably would have been harder otherwise. But the reason it happened is because I was having really horrible writer’s block, and I just happened to be with them one day where I was stuck on a song, and we all kinda jammed it out together, and it felt so easy after a year of everything feeling so hard.”

Bringing in close friends to join fanclubwallet was a rewarding and fun experience for Judge. She comments, “They are all in other bands and have been in different bands together without me, so it was interesting to see all the kinds of music they’ve made come into play with the kind of music I make and interesting to see how that combo worked out. At first, I was worried it would sound like their other bands, but it didn’t. It sounded like our band, which was really nice. I think that’s like the gratifying part of that.”

The creative process “was pretty silly”, smiles Judge. “We went to a cottage, and we’d wake up, make breakfast, and just jam for like hours, which is new for me. I’m not usually someone that does a lot of jamming. But it was easy to do with them. And, yeah, it was a lot of taking voice memos and sort of tinkering with ideas, and then we’d also play basketball and watch a movie. So, lots of just hanging out.”

OUR BODIES PAINT TRAFFIC LINES REVIEW

A common theme of Our Bodies Paint Traffic Lines is the experiences of working in music. Touching on her musical journey, Judge said, “I’m also a cartoonist and my plan in life was to be a cartoonist until like a couple of years ago when the music thing started really kicking off. So, it almost feels like being a kid and suddenly like being ‘being thrown in the deep end of something,’ so I think that has really sort of shaken up my life and my world. I mean, the album is a lot about things that we’ve learnt together, or I’ve learnt about how I feel about music as a whole in general.”

Judge’s music and cartooning will occasionally overlap too. “I always say if I have a feeling and I can’t get a song out from that feeling I’ll do a comic or vice versa. If there’s something I want to put in a comic and I can’t get it out through a comic, I’ll make a song about it instead.”

One of Judge’s favourite tracks from the record is “Easy”. “I really like “Easy” because when I was writing it, I was writing it about how when I was younger, I had really bad stage fright, and I was super shy, and I was just thinking about like how younger me would’ve felt seeing me do all these things that I would’ve been way too shy to do before. So that one is special to me.”

Stage fright and shyness are common fears and can be incredibly difficult to overcome. Reflecting on how she overcame these fears, Judge states, “Honestly, the power of friendship. My first band ever was called Gullet, and none of us knew what we were doing. I remember we were so scared to play our first show, but we were all scared together. I think that feeling of togetherness with them helped me to be less shy when it came to making my solo music.”

“Band Like That” was the first single from the record and the first song fanclubwallet released as a full band. Judge shares, “We were on tour, and I was listening to music just in the van, and I started to write the lyrics for it cause the bands I was listening to were just so good! I feel like I got that overwhelming feeling of like, Oh, my God, they’re so good I wish I was in that band. So, I guess that’s where it comes from. Being obsessed with other people’s bands.”

In describing the sound and style of Our Bodies Paint Traffic Lines, Judge states, “I think kinda like a 90s sound. Also like a Canadian sound. I love Metric, Tegan and Sara, and Broken Social Scene, so I think we were like, we want to make a 90s Canadian indie rock record.”

“I honestly don’t know what the exact difference is between a Canadian indie rock band and an American indie rock band, but I just know it’s there. Like, I know when I listen to Metric, I’m like, that’s Canadian, and I think other people can kinda get the vibe. There’s just like some random Canadian magic about it.”

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Photo Credit: Cole Yearwood