The Lyricals On the Making Of “I Want To Make You Mine”
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind "I Want To Make You Mine" and the story it tells?
Dino: The main inspiration, sorry to get sappy, was my lovely girlfriend. It's based on the story of how we got together. We were friends, we were meant to be out with another person but ended up just being the two of us. We both had feelings for each other but the other never knew and it just took a nice evening for us to start dating. Fortunately, it worked out well and we are still very much together and happy. The song is about just that, taking chances to find happiness.
Josh: I can't really add more than what Dino has said, this song is really his project and I was more than happy to let him take the lead on it because the feeling behind it was so strong. Once I heard the initial demo I got to work on the synths for the track, and we molded the lyrics Dino had written around the song.
How do you feel this single represents your artistic identity?
Josh: The song is really a natural progression in what we have been doing for a long time now: combining alternative rock with electro. We've learned both styles at different points in our time as a band, and I think we are becoming more streamlined with our identity, especially with this track.
Dino: It represents everything about this band. We have always been about turning our experiences into relatable, catchy songs and this one is a textbook example of it. It also continues our more guitar driven sound which we absolutely love and have always resonated with.
What did you enjoy most about making "I Want To Make You Mine?"
Dino: I think the excitement of writing something for someone. I had to keep it a secret from her for months which was annoying. I only had certain days I would be alone to work on the song. But ultimately I loved the process and the songwriting along with Josh has been fantastic as we both really brought to life what we wanted to say.
Josh: For me it was great being able to see Dino take the lead on the project. It's always been a collaborative effort, but I think Dino being so hands-on with this track has been awesome to see what he was capable of as a producer along with being the bassist and vocalist. It was great to see his vision unfold with this one.
Can you tell us more about you as a duo?
Josh: We started The Lyricals five years ago now, and our music has really changed over the years. We went from Lofi electro home recordings, to lockdown inspired 80s synth, and now we are onto a more grungy alternative sound, but we've worked on keeping elements of that sound throughout all our releases. Our roles in the band have progressed a lot too, I used to do most of the production on my own but Dino has taken more of a lead recently which is great to see. We've found what our strengths and weaknesses are and have grown together in a lot of ways musically.
Dino: Josh is my closest friend and music is something that has always bonded us. To start making music with him was an absolute no brainer and we both complement each other very well. We both produce, write and create individually and together and the other always adds to it in a crazy good way. For example, in this single, the guitars had a natural hum to them in the chorus and Josh enhanced them with his synth to make a really ethereal sound backing the guitars which I love.
Can you walk us through your creative process when writing and composing music?
Josh: I used to write A LOT of lyrics when I was younger, with varying degrees of success haha, but most of my old songs have served as a basis, even a very rough one, of the music we create now. Even just a little melody from a recording I had stuck in my head when I was 13 can be recycled and used in some way in our music. If its a demo I’m working on I usually send it to Dino and he will add bass and vocals, and then bit by bit we develop the track until we are happy enough to release it. We do all our own promotions too so that part is challenging, but fun too. We are very DIY and pretty proud of it. Music in all forms should be available to anyone to try as a creative outlet and I think we are examples of this.
Dino: it usually starts with an idea of a riff. For me, my relationship with rhythm is a hell of a lot better than my relationship with words, which sounds incredibly ironic given I’m in a band called The Lyricals! I'm very much a "music first, lyrics second" kind of guy. I would usually build around a cool guitar or even bass progression and go from there. Then I'd usually show Josh and he'd add some of his own creativity towards it. Every song has been different, to give an example: we released a song called Barron Days a while back which, compared to this single, my contribution was very small as I only added vocals to it. Our overall creative process is that we take each other's ideas and allow for each other to build on them - no contribution is too small or too big, it’s always about creating something we are both really proud of.