MNZ Interview: Crying Club

Datu Beech is a busy and prominent figure in the Te Whanganui-a-Tara music scene. He continues to perform in a number of acts in a wide range of genres. He recently joined Hunter Jackson on bass but his emo band, Crying Club, left an enduring impact on the live circuit. He’s a lovely person and if you see him around you should ask him to climb the nearest building. Muzic.NZ’s Nick recently caught up with Datu:

Tell me about the lemon and the seed bowl?

It is an ancient photo, that one, actually. So, I had a nice camera when I was in high school, and at the same time, I was really into making noodles with toasted sunflower seeds on the top. The lemon was also used to season the noodles. A dumb photo that resonated with my stupid group of friends. So much so that it became an EP. I think it was a last minute ditch to find something to put on the EP.

I want to take you back: what can you tell me about Vertigo?

Whoa man, you did some digging. So, I switched schools in my last year of high school, went to Welly High. And then, six weeks into school, there was Rockquest. So I hit up the homies in our music class – two really good singers. Eli Superflyy was on the bass guitar, and Aaron, who was playing drums for Sleep in Village, he’s moved to Melbourne now.

So, you’ve obviously been playing music before you went to Welly High School.

Oh, I think I was twelve or something when I started, you know, playing Paramore and Green Day. Pop Punk was the first love. Actually, I’d say maybe the mainstream emo more.

Yeah, and then what about Mishap?

Mishap. Yeah, so that was the same thing. Welly High, with the boys. So that was the same year. We got a lot done that year, man! I mean, teenagers don’t have a lot to do. Isaac (Lundy) and Sean (Beales), who played in Crying Club, and now they’re doing Shruiken. Isaac joined in year 13, like me, Sean joined a bit earlier, I think. God, there’s so many bands that have come through there! Again, pop punk was such a good entry for kids. It’s just like, this is not going to be super technical. As long as your drummer can kick up the energy, that’s easy as shit, man. So, Mishap was quite successful for more than a few years outside of high school. We opened up for some bands at San Fran and we played at the Kings Arms, which was an awesome venue in Auckland.

Oh, and you opened for Undertones?

Yeah. Oh, it was sick, man, because they were all the bands we’d listened to as little kids. And then came Crying Club. 2022? That sounds right. Yeah. So, it was like right after lockdown, because I was a hospital worker at the time. When lockdown came through, it was just like, didn’t have to go to work at all, you know. Basically, I just stayed at home and jammed all day. Sent them through to Sean Beales, who came and played drums on that first EP. Then, yeah, Chrissy (Pantelakis) and Isaac came and tagged in.

So, you’re playing bass now with Hunter Fucking Jackson.

Back on bass. Yeah. I wanted to know what it was like at the front of the stage, I think, but like, you know, my favourite part is actually just grooving, locking in with the drummer. But Hunter’s got a bunch of awesome songs that we’re all just kind of fleshing out together. Do you know my friend Ashani? She’s really into mediaeval music, English poetry. That’s another thing I’m working on the side, putting music to those poems. Like, there’s this one called The Unquiet Grave. I think you might recognise some of the lines from it if you heard it, but it’s from the 1500’s and it’s like just this poem about a guy. Mourning her dead lover, basically. And it’s just like a poem but we put some music to it. That’s real cool. I’m really looking forward to recording that stuff.

From an artist’s point of view, for selling records, advertising as a specific genre totally makes sense. But then from a musician’s point of view, I always feel like it’s a bit contrived to say, right, we’re going to do a tech-death thing, even though it’s not the only thing I listen to. Or emo. Or whatever. So, are you a musician that says, listen, we’re going to make some music, I’m gonna see what it sounds like, whatever that may be, or are you more like, “Let’s lean into this genre.”

Well, actually, that’s why I like emo as a genre. You will run into people that argue to the death about some emo band, like, it only counts if it’s from the 90’s and this part of America, that’s not emo, that’s metal core, blah, blah. But, actually, it’s meaningless, you know. I think if there’s some lyrical content or some emotionally devastating riffs you got in the song, it’s emo. Yeah, I say, just let it be weird, whatever it is. But, also, I think it can be cool to, just as an exercise, try and write a song in a specific style. I don’t know why you’d want to lock yourself down to just one thing.