Welcome to In Conversation, a special interview column on the site where we sit down with artists and dive deep into everything music. Dobbin chatted to Michelle Malley (guitar and vocals) and Graham Walker (guitar) of Iress at ArcTanGent 2024 on Friday, just after their set. Photography © by Kieran C White, contact before any usage.
Dobbin: Sleep Now, In Reverse has been out for about two to three weeks. I had a lovely time listening to it for my review, how are you feeling post its release? You’ve basically been on tour since, so perhaps you haven’t had time to touch base.
Michelle: We’re excited – we were dying to get it out there. I think, personally, it’s my favourite album we’ve ever done. I’m really proud of it and happy it’s out.
Graham: I joined the band three years ago, so this is the first full length Iress release I have contributed to. I’m over the moon about it. It was a really collaborative writing process, so it’s really satisfying to see it all come together. We’ve had a good response from people, too.
Dobbin: One of my take-aways from the album was how consistently strong it is, from front to back. Especially the second half of the album where those two singles, “The Remains” and “In Reverse”, are. Each track is also unique. How did your writing process enable this?
Michelle: When Graham joined we released an EP, Solace. We started to realise the chemistry between the four of us is insane. So our drummer Glenn Chu would write, our bassist Michael Maldonado would write, and Graham would write. I’d never written music in the way that Graham does, where you demo full songs. I would just write and show the band, but he introduced that approach to me. So he would pass me an idea, I’d be obsessed with it, and I’d write a melody to go with it.
Graham: It was really collaborative this time. I would write a demo, maybe not start to finish, perhaps two parts. I’d send to to the group, Michelle would return it with a vocal melody, Glen wrote some guitar parts and chord progressions, I’d learn it and add to it… It was very much passing pieces of demos around, back and fourth, building on it like that.
Michelle: I think that’s what made it beautiful. We’re all so different, with so many different inspirations, and it brought together all these genres.
Dobbin: Did it feel like a new band then, with the process changing?
Michelle: We went through a lot in 2020, losing a member, plus all the things that happened in that year. Graham coming in, it kind of brightened us up, and the inspiration has been the same. I wouldn’t say a new band, but perhaps a refreshed version.
Graham: We met in 2012. My old band wound up on the same bill, I was immediately impressed by them. We ended up in the same circle of bands. We’d end up playing several shows a year together. When she asked me to join, it was a fun challenge to bring my own element to it, but not change what Iress is. Finding that balance, whilst keeping it in that realm and bringing my own artistic vision to it, was a fun experience.
Dobbin: I have Iress down as a kind of “eras” band – each of your records is almost startlingly different. They make sense together, but they are quite different. The first Iress album, Prey, has a more straightforward sound that would still land – with those moody, dark lyrics relative to that music. And Flaw takes us to a very different place atmospherically. What are your thoughts on your “eras”?
Michelle: We still play “Wolves” to this day, and I love playing “Hand Tremor” from Flaw in stripped down form. I’m very attached to those songs, but equally, I am really excited for this next chapter, to move forward, and keep experimenting. I’m also interested in different bands now. Flaw will always have a special place in my heart.
Dobbin: “Wolves” was your closer, right? You can tell that was a bit of a different track in concept – dropping the guitar, bringing a different vibe. On Solace, it’s kin to Sleep Now, In Reverse. The EP only came out last year, so you must have been sitting on those for some time.
Graham: Some of the songs on Sleep Now, In Reverse were in process when Solace came out, but for a million different reasons, we decided these were the ones that were ‘ready’, and the others kept developing. There’s a song on Solace called “Soft”, a quieter song that doesn’t have any drums and doesn’t get heavy. Michelle asked me to join for a solo show, adding some background stuff. We weren’t even going to play that song, but she played it in the rehearsal room, and I said “I kind of have an idea for this, would you mind if I did it?” That song is an outlier compared to the rest, but it was actually the start of the new writing process, the first we wrote together.
Dobbin: I see Solace as a necessary prototype for Sleep Now, In Reverse. The production is good but it was sort of ‘practice’ for the LP, which is flawless.
Michelle: It was saying, “get ready for the next thing.”
Graham: I feel the same way. They were both recorded and produced by Alex Estrada at The Pale Moon Ranch, and our stronger group dynamic also developed between them. We had a clearer vision of where we were going.
Dobbin: “Vanish” has done really well on streaming. That’s really interesting because I don’t think it makes sense outside of its context, it’s such a lead-in for the next song. What’s the story there?
Michelle: Michael, our bass player, wrote the guitar for that, and he showed it to us. When the others show me something and I’m inspired, I immediately said “let’s go”. Maybe it’s done well because it does showcase the super soft part of Iress, and then it gets kind of heavy. It’s got both worlds.
Graham: Part of it is the abstract nature we can’t control of how streaming works. It wound up on a playlist here or there, we don’t know why or how, it’s out of our hands, but we’re happy for more people to hear it.
Dobbin: It’s a good song – Iress in two minutes.
Graham: It’s a good tease, hopefully it makes people want to hear the next song too.
Dobbin: “Ricochet”, also from that EP, was lovely live. The Sleep Now, In Reverse material is kind of new, so what went into your thought process when putting together your set list?
Michelle: We went with two – two – two, from Sleep Now, In Reverse and Solace, then a duo from Flaw and Prey, because we’ve never been here before, and I know there’s people who have been fans since Flaw, so we didn’t want to miss playing some of those songs. We’re eager and excited to play the new stuff, and “Blush” and “Ricochet” are also great.
Graham: Back home in LA, we did a set and it was all new stuff. But for all the fans who have been with us and loyal, we didn’t want to leave them out.
Dobbin: The way you play those songs is also within your ‘newer’ style too. How has your tour been going so far?
Graham: It’s been a bit chaotic, not in a bad way, though. It’s our first overseas tour, so we’re learning all the little things about travel logistics. It’s not ‘our’ tour, but we are hopping on and off with other bands. We’ve been driving up and down, lots of late nights with no sleep, but hey, that’s what it’s like on tour.
Michelle: We’re rock stars now, that’s what we do! The UK has been treating us really well, the green rooms have been great so far.
Graham: The difference between playing here and LA, it feels like there’s a team here at every venue. When we show up in LA, they say “you figure out how to get your gear in, figure out this, figure out that, we’ll work with you only once it’s all on stage”. Last night we showed up, there were three people waiting for us; those little things mean a lot to us. Obviously it’s only been four shows, but we’re feeling really positive.
At this point in the interview, Kulk walked in, so we took a timely pause so the bands could meet for the first time. They were about to do a set of shows together.
Dobbin: Speaking of the UK, you signed with Church Road for your release. What was it that attracted you to that label, and a UK label over a more local one to you.
Graham: Church Road actually reached out to the band a while ago, and it fell through the cracks and didn’t work out. Years later, they reached out again, and this time it worked. One of the main reasons is so we could have a UK distro, because we have a lot of UK fans. People would previously order vinyl and it would be so expensive to ship it from the US. It would cost people a ton of money just for the shipping.
Michelle: Church Road said they were big fans of us for a long time, and really wanted to work with us, and put an album out too. We were choosing between them and someone else, but when I met with Justine, I was like – no, I want to work with her. She is so cool, amazing, such good vibes. I think it was meant to be. We met Sammy and Justine the other day in Brighton, and we’ll meet them in London too, they’re so cute.
Graham: Meeting them after the show was so fun. They’re such nerds. It doesn’t feel like work at all with them.
Michelle: That’s exactly what I wanted.
Dobbin: Michelle, I couldn’t help but compare your vocal techniques to those of Kristina Esfandiari from King Woman. Loads of people have been really struck by her vocals, and lots of people I know who really like that band have also championed Iress too.
Michelle: I’m a big fan of King Woman, and Kris is amazing. Everything she has a hand in, all her projects are amazing. It’s definitely a big compliment. I do think we are super different, but being compared to her, I love that for sure. The passion and emotion is perhaps the common thread between us. Her performance is really emotional, and I feel mine is too.
Dobbin: Silly question time: we’re gonna do “binge, marry, kill” for ArcTanGent headliners of the past. Firstly 2024: Explosions in the Sky, Meshuggah, and Mogwai.
Graham: I would say marry Explosions in the Sky.
Michelle: I wanna marry Explosions in the Sky!
Graham: I’m gonna say, binge Meshuggah, on behalf of our drummer, Glenn, who is a massive Meshuggah fan. Their style informs a lot of his playing. I’m reluctantly gonna kill Mogwai, even though I am a fan, but that’s just the last option… For the record, Mr Beast, I listened to that a ton in my college years. I love the hell out of them.
Dobbin: 2022, which was a really heavy year. Cult of Luna, TesseracT, and Opeth.
Graham: I honestly don’t listen to any of those, but if Glenn and Michael were here, they’d give you a fantastic answer. And that’s actually why our dynamic works as a band, combining the heavy stuff and pretty stuff.
Michelle: We still like metal, but we all like different kinds of heavy bands.
Dobbin: OK, let’s do a year with some pretty bands. 2016: Mono, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and American Football.
Graham: I can get on this one… I’m gonna marry American Football, and I’m going to… Binge Godspeed You! Black Emperor. And no disrespect to Mono, but I don’t really listen to them, so I guess…
Check out our review of Iress‘ Sleep Now, In Reverse.