Fifteen Minutes with The Beths

Words by Hannah Powell. Images by Kenzie Pigman.

Yo Vocal had a chat with Liz Stokes from the indie-rock-pop band The Beths. In the midst of writing songs, Liz takes a quick break to talk to us about the band, a new record, and the upcoming Nostalgia festival.

Asking what they're up to at the moment, Liz replies "it's a strange time. Normally where we would be now with the cycle, having released an album last year, we would be deep in touring that record. Now having toured New Zealand, that's kind of all we can do at the moment". Having to postpone their US and Europe tour, Liz is making the most of her time at home writing new material for a third album. When one door closes, another opens.

"[I'm] writing as much as I can," she says. "Trying to write as many songs as I can following the course of the summer, and then we'll start doing pre-production, I guess, basically on another record". If they're not touring by the end of the year, plans are on their next release. "It's wild," Liz says, to potentially release so soon after the last one. Keep your eyes peeled, as we may be in for a treat.

The Beths began when Liz was teaching the trumpet. "I finished uni where I was studying music, playing between different bands and things," she says. "I hadn't written songs, but I did write songs in high school. I think I was twenty-three, twenty-four, and I was like, 'if I want to start a rock band, I should probably do it now'". Almost six years on, and the Auckland-based band has been nominated for five Vodafone Music Awards, winning Best Alternative Artist and Best Group back in 2019 after the release of their debut album Future Me Hates Me. Liz Stokes is on vocals and guitar, Jonathan Pearce on guitar, Ben Sinclair on bass, and Tristan Deck on the drums, with all four members on backing vocals. Jonathan mixes and produces their tracks, too, and the band is signed with Carpark Records in Washington, DC.

Their sophomore album Jump Rope Gazers was released in July last year. Exploring themes of distance, Liz says "I found the record had a lot of distance in relationships, feeling closer to people and far away metaphorically. We were touring a lot, and a lot of the songs were written when I was back in Auckland and friends were moving and things like that. In the course of a year and a half, two years, [distance] became a bit of a big thing". She explains the record name Jump Rope Gazers as being inspired by Double Dutch, "moving around each other but not touching," she says. The feeling of connection, but in separation. One of her personal favourites on the record is 'Out of Sight', a song about distant relationships and severing ties (please correct if wrong!).

Now writing a lot of songs in her room, I ask Liz what her song-writing process is like. Nominated for two Silver Scroll awards, her song-writing is one to shine. She tells me she likes to write on her own, pen to paper, in her room, playing with prose. "I'll go back to last week, or a year and a half ago, and leaf through phrases or words that stand out," she describes. "Sometimes it will be like I'm feeling something now, but I find something I wrote down six months ago that kind of fits with that. I'll build around that. I feel like I'm quite focused on melodies and rhythmic phrasing."

 Asking about her own personal growth, as well as the band's, she tells me everyone has grown in various ways. With Future Me Hates Me, The Beths did an NZ and AUS tour for the release. By the second album, they had played two hundred and fifty shows since the first. "As a band, I think we were more sure of who we were," Liz says. "The growth that happened with me is different as well; I feel like a different person two years later. Also, not that different, which is comforting," she smiles. Self-describing herself as "a bit of a bummer", she's now trying not to take herself too seriously, something she says is far too easy to happen when you're left to your own devices. "Writing songs in your room, it becomes very sad."

Playing at Nostalgia festival on the 13th of February in Christchurch, I ask what we can expect for their set. "A fun time, some of the bangers," she says. "We'll try and keep it fun, keep the energy flowing. We'll probably throw in a fun cover [too]." Two years on from their last stint at Nostalgia, Liz can't wait to be back. "I'm super looking forward to Nostalgia, it's like all my favourite bands – Bic Runga, and Hans Pucket's playing, and Wax Chattel. I'm frothing to get down there," she says.

After the festival, they've got a handful more at the end of the summer. "After Nostalgia, we're looking down the barrel of 2021 proper," Liz says. "In the meantime, we'll just be trying to write and record as much as we can and try to be ready for when touring does come back."