Exclusive Interview with Cry Club
Written by Liam M. Hennessey
To say that queer alternative pop has been going through a renaissance in the 2020s would be a profound misstatement. Given the United States is the current cultural hegemonic center in the west, it’s not all that shocking that many of the leading figures in this musical movement are Americans: Chappell Roan, Doechii, Tyler the Creator, and many more.
Nevertheless, on the edges of the first world in Naarm, Australia lies Cry Club, a project that's steadily been gaining notoriety ever since their masterpiece God I’m Such A Mess dropped in 2020.
Vocalist Heather Riley stated that the name Cry Club came from “a couple different places. I think initially when [Jonathon Tooke and I] first met each other, we were talking about a show that made us both cry. That was one of our first conversations. It kind of just came up really naturally when we were looking for names. I think I was like, we should be ‘Yell Club,’ and Jonathon was like, ‘Well, Cry Club is right there.’”
The other half other duo, guitarist and producer Tooke, continued further on how their catalog up until this point could be misleading for what to expect on their new record, High Voltage Anxiety: “We started almost like a pop band, and as we've continued, we've just gotten heavier, and heavier, and heavier, to the point where it's borderline metal music in places. I think if someone was to come to us now, they would be like, ‘Oh, yeah, there's this industrial rock, metal pop band.’ I feel like we’re at a really fun place for people to meet us because at each point in our discography, it feels like someone would find us and think it was a completely different band.”
High Voltage Anxiety is Cry Club’s first self-produced record, which Tooke explained was a response to feedback they received. They wanted to experiment with the sound they have produced on their own instead of thinking about the possibilities that could have happened if they worked with someone else.
An interesting detail is that Tooke maintains the guitar being front and center in an alt pop group with an increasing industrial bent throughout the years. He said, “I'm thinking about how so many of the songs now have guitar, but they've been sampled and repurposed like you would expect of hyper pop production online. Because the source instrument is a guitar, it still has a grounded rock quality to it sometimes. I think just because it's my primary instrument, it's really easy to reach for.” He finds it interesting how he has played guitar less over the years but still has a significant impact in releases.
When asked how being queer influences their artistry the most, Riley said, “I think a big part for us is just it being a fundamental part of who we are as people. It reflects that the queer community has given us the space to explore.” When delving more on this, they said that “it's like such an important part of what we do, drawing on this long history of camp and queer punk and pop. Doing everything we love in the exact way we want to—it's really empowering.”
It was also eye-opening to hear from Riley how being an AFAB non-binary artist with increasing notoriety affected their ability to be seen for who they are, as opposed to what people might assume at first glance.
“It's always a barrier in music spaces as well. I'm always thinking about how I'm gonna have this moment where I show up and maybe the staff at the venue don't know us, so they're just assuming I'm a woman. For the first few years that we were a band, we ended up on a lot of International Women's Day playlists, and we ended up having to tell people like, no one in the band is a woman, so we shouldn't be on this playlist,” Riley recalled.
They love being able to play around with how they’re expressing their gender identity, as it directly coincides with the music and performance. However, Riley also stated that “It's kind of a double-edged sword, the more shows we do or the more we're exposed to more people; it’s something that I have to deal with more often. Specifically having to deal with correcting people or people asking why I use they/them pronouns, or venues not being equipped to deal with, like, people that don't fit into a specific binary. They're like, you can just use the accessible toilet.”
Riley ended on a positive note with, “Every time I have to explain myself, I get better at doing it. I become more sure of who I am and who I want to be, how I want people to see me versus whether I was trying to fit into something that was a little more comfortable for [others].”
Cry Club continues being unapologetic in their art and activism with their unique blend of social commentary through camp. As Riley stated, “You're not going to be able to stop us from making music. You're not gonna stop us from being a queer band. Nothing you say is going to dim the fire we have.” After all, firebrands burn stronger together.
