Sparrow-Folk trying to “Ruin Your Day” one song at a time!
Juliet Moody (Lark) and Catherine Crowley (Fox) are a comedic musical duo Sparrow Folk from Canberra.
Their song “Ruin Your Day” went viral in February of 2014 and from there, their “nest” following has grown.
I had a conversation with Moody and discussed how they are funding their albums and other aspects of how they formulate and create their CD’s.
Q: What is the “Tit Biscuit Drive”? Where did this idea come from?
After successfully funding our first album through crowd funding, we decided to fund our second album a bit differently… through a tit biscuit drive. We’d had a lot of success with our song Ruin Your Day and had created homemade tit biscuits for a photo shoot relating to the song. Inspired by the Girl Guide cookie drives, we thought, “why not bake our way to our next album?” I think the total biscuit count in the end was around 2,000 that came out of Lark’s kitchen.
Q: Alongside Pozible; how does the Tit Biscuit Drive impact and move your work past the challenges you may face?
The tit biscuit drive created a unique way to engage with our fans (Nesties) and a talking point in both social and mainstream media. We’ve always been centered around making our loyal fan base feel special and that they are part of our Nest. This crosses over to our Pozible campaign, as our rewards are also a unique way to say thanks to our fans. They are often hand made by us or create a unique experience for our fan base to let them know we appreciate their support.
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Q: Do you model your albums around a theme? If so, how does this effect the writing portion of the albums creation?
As much as we’d love to say “yes”… we’re really not that clever. We write songs to make each other laugh and about real life experiences. Being best friends, we share a lot of ideas and experiences so it’s generally not hard to thread them together when it comes to crafting our album.
Q: Songs like “Ruin Your Day,” “Love the Vagina,” and “Homophobic,” cover topics that are often discussed within the Australian media. Do you worry about the reactions you may receive because of the subject content?
I don’t think we’ve ever taken ourselves that seriously and we still write for pleasure so I’m not sure we’re ever consciously thinking people will hear the end result during the writing process. In the case of Ruin Your Day, it was written as a reaction to a real life experience and I don’t think either of us thought it would reach the audience it did. We generally don’t get caught up in the comments or reactions to our songs, as we’re usually focused on the next thing. It’s comedy – we don’t really take it that seriously what people think.
Q: As a short person, I 100% relate to your song “Fairy Penguin,” Where do you find the inspiration for these topics that speak to whole sections of the population?
Well obviously that song isn’t autobiographical… we had to do a lot of research on what it’s like to be… We went to shopping centers and did a lot of research… ok, who am I kidding. It’s a song about me. I’m short. I’m the short person. I just wanted people to feel my pain. In all seriousness, I think the true craft of comedy is drawing on an authentic story and making it relatable to your audience. Our most successful songs often come from a deep seeded truth that’s been manipulated and exaggerated enough for the audience to be shocked into laughing.
Q: Does being in Canberra give you a greater understanding of what is going on in the Australian Political climate? If so has this helped in forming material for your latest album?
I’m not sure our location has created the political inspiration, but rather the current political climate. We’re not politically motivated necessarily in our material but it does creep in when issues grab our attention. Living in Canberra creates a unique opportunity to access certain political sites and commentators that makes it great fodder for the odd political satire song – such as Homophobic.
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