Kid Lazuras On the Making Of ‘It's A Cure!’
How did you come up with the idea?
I had the lyrics and melody for the chorus for about a year before I figured anything else out… I was thinking about how as a culture drugs just seem to be treated as ‘the big fix’, sort of nullifying or distracting from problems rather than trying to confront them. It seems really weird that a daily user of an illegal drug is classed as an addict and a burden on society, whilst a daily user of a prescribed drug like oxycontin is classed as a patient being cured. But in reality what really is the difference between self-medicating with an illegal drug and getting put on a prescription for a legal drug, if both are doing the same thing, I.e., nullifying pain, or anxiety, or whatever. Wondering about that stuff forced the chorus into my mind, I just had those lyrics and melody playing over and over in the back of my head for like a year. After I ended up on prescription drugs, about a year later, it took on a new form - it felt much more real, almost damning. The chorus just stuck in my head, mocking me. In the middle of the night, I went to the local park and sat there, and tried to write something sort of meaningful about that how the combination of a culture that demonises recreational drug use but pushes drugs as miracle cures at the same time, but my head was too muddy. I just ended up writing down on my phone what I was doing, what I was seeing, what I was thinking, more for catharsis than for making it into a song. I looked back at it a couple days later, it felt kind of powerful. Very personal, quite literal, but at the same time it could be about anyone. It’s such a universal feeling nowadays, especially with people my kind of age. You’ve got that black dog, you don’t know if you deserve it or if it’s just bad luck, but thinking about it hurts, so you use drugs - whether recreational or prescribed - to distract from the issue. Everything grew out from there, writing and recording parts that felt like the feelings wrapped up in it. There’s the very real, angry guitar - that’s kind of the outburst, the frustration that sits at the forefront. There’s the low, growing bass - that’s the depression, the inescapable lowness. There’s the interplay between my vocals and Ziggy2000’s - in the song, I’m the voice of the person, and she’s the voice of depression. And there’s the lighter, more bubbly synths, tucked in the background - the fake, manufactured ‘happiness’ that the drugs give.
What impact do you hope ‘It’s A Cure!’ Will have on your audience?
I hope it helps people see they’re not alone. Everyone struggles with their mental health, that just seems to be the condition of living in a hyper-individualistic, hyper-commercial capitalist society where everything and everyone can be put on a scale of how much you’re worth. And a lot of people use drugs to try and escape from that, or to try and ‘cure’ themselves, whether with recreational or prescription drugs. It’s personal, but it’s not about me. It’s personal to so many people. It’s such a common, fucked up experience and fucked up thought process. But even though it’s so common, it always feels so lonely. So I hope, for the people who resonate with what I’m talking about, ‘It’s A Cure!’ can offer some catharsis, and let them know they’re not alone, there are so many people who understand them and love them. And for people who don’t resonate with the experience for whatever reason, I hope they at least can enjoy the song as a song.
What do you like the best about ‘It’s A Cure!’?
Probably the interplay between parts that just wouldn’t normally be together. Loud, aggressive, distorted guitars and bazoukis almost screaming, combined with soft, bubbly synths in the background. My agitated, more spoken vocal, combined with Ziggy2000’s angelic hooks. And the way things just keep crashing in and out and in and out, almost like a vicious circle.
How did your band members initially come together?
Well… we’re not really a band! Kid Lazuras is me, and I am Luke. But I’ve got a beautiful group of friends who get involved with most songs, singing certain parts or playing in saxophone or drums or whatever. It’s a really interesting way of making music, being a solo artist but really not, because most songs will have at least three other people who’ve contributed something to it, and the things they contribute tend to be the things that make me love the songs, I’m forever grateful for having a group of friends who are so talented and happy to contribute to my process.
Can you walk us through your creative process when writing and composing music?
Not easily to be honest… lyrics just sort of come, usually when I’m not in a good place, and I just write what I’m thinking. In my head, I hear music almost acting as a soundtrack behind my thoughts. It’s almost like when I think it’s already in a song. I think a lot of my process is just about trying to translate what I hear in my head, as well as I can.