LIFE ON EARTH

Words: Keeley Thompson

Images: Rachael Baskerville (@rachaelbaskerville)

A camp fire gently crackles in the background, sweet marshmallows turn soft, then toasty over its warmth while shared laughter fills the canopy above. Passion and smiles are shared around the group like an energetic potluck with everyone's contribution valued and enjoyed equally. The stars watch from their astral perch as their human iterations create beauty from chaos and prove that not all burning is bad.

Life on Earth is a Meanjin (Brisbane) improv collective combining jazz beats with unfiltered, unashamed hip-hop lyrics. A sort of energy chameleon, each Life on Earth show builds on the collective spirit and reflects it back with skill and understanding - whether the audience realises or not.

A call to the soul and to the shadows, Life on Earth wanders into the chaos and intricacies of life and surrenders to it with admirable power and playfulness. The project of local music heavyweights Roman (Vocals), Nathan (Drums), Brandon (Guitar), Rohan (Synth), Tristan (Trumpet) and Lachlan (Bass), Life on Earth display a powerful level of talent to create stirring music that traverses the spectrum of existence with passion and grace.

And what is it to live this life on this earth without a bit (or a lot) of improvisation?

KEELEY: Tell me about Life on Earth, how did it come about?

ROMAN: Life on Earth is a project which (I just realised the other day) has been running for almost four years which is actually proof that the pandemic destroyed our sense of time. It still feels like a new project if I’m honest, but maybe that’s because of its nature.

Essentially, Life on Earth exists to push improvisation in a new style of jazz blended with hip-hop. We formed to create an improvisational language that focuses not just on jazz and funk but combines it with a sense of fast, hip-hop songwriting. We are always looking to find meaningful sonic and thematic sensibility and to really make magic happen.

Also, our low-key subtextual aim was to do all of that whilst encouraging people and being a force for good in some way, no matter how it sounds.

KEELEY: I’ve been to quite a few Life on Earth gigs, and you’re really able to foster an immediate sense of community and belonging at your shows and I think that’s so special

ROMAN: Yeah! I think that’s the cool part of bringing in the audience to be such a key part of the creation of the art. It thrives off the energy that’s in the room as much as the energy that we have on stage.

As a band, we know that everyone has an ego (and you can’t help but bring it with you) but we’re all there, surrendered to it to allow it to just be a giant group creation.

KEELEY: Do you draw any inspiration from other artists, approaches or performances?

ROMAN: I think we’d probably all have a lot of different answers to be honest!

I got into rap music in my later years and was originally just an English nerd and would say that’s kinda been my approach to music/freestyling. I would say for myself, musically my biggest inspiration would be The Roots, Tariq aka Black Thought. In my opinion, he is one of the greatest emcees ever and is just getting better over time - like a fine wine. As a guy in my thirties that raps, it’s super inspiring that he’s almost in his 50’s and is a double PHD level, Hemingway sort of musician.

Generally speaking, I think the original jazz improvisation movement is the biggest inspiration for us musically as a band. That whole ‘creation from a place of pain to heal yourself’. I think everyone is carrying their own sense of pain and I think the project emerging around the pandemic really made us want to create something that would foster the sense of hyper-connection.

KEELEY: You take a very non-traditional approach to music by not focussing on recording/releasing music. What motivated you to do improv?

ROMAN: I think the easiest answer to that is to start with the name of the band. The whole approach and calling it Life on Earth is because it’s an existentialism thing. Our tagline used to be “It’s live, it’s improvised, it’s for a limited time only” which is meant to be a play on words about how we’re all just out here. We’re just out here, on this giant celestial cosmic what-the-heck and maybe it’s okay to play and be silly and speak from the heart and be super vulnerable.

Or not. And if it doesn’t happen, then that’s okay and that’s what makes it so special when it does.

Since playing in other projects, I’ve always had this approach to music where (and this is a bit dark) before I go on stage I imagine or ask, “what if I die after this show?”. What would I wish I had tapped into at that moment? One, it helps me realise it’s not about me, and secondly it reminds me to just add one more line of goodness, kindness or connection into the book of everything because you may as well while we’re out here in this big-whatever.

Life on Earth is a big nod to the impermanence of everything. We’re kind of like… let’s just make one more song that didn’t need to exist and won’t ever exist again... just like us.

KEELEY: Do you have any general approaches or a structure you follow when going into a gig?

ROMAN: Genuinely, the only expectation we have is there will be sound at some point, and that I will probably rap at some point.

The general intention is to always improvise ‘songs’ as much as we can and semi-adhere to that traditional structure of a song.

The goal is to create moments that you’ll miss. Which is like life, I guess.

KEELEY: Totally! In life there’s always the risk (or guarantee) that good things will end. But that impermanence doesn’t make the good things any less good

ROMAN: Straight up. Life on Earth was actually a childhood dream of mine (and I was reminded of this by a friend!) and I started it because I wanted to make the cool thing exist. I remember when we played our first festival, Yonder 2020 and I texted my friends saying “Yo! I’m about to check into a festival for my project… It hits different to forge a path for something rather than joining something that’s already in motion”

My friend messaged me back saying “wasn’t that the dream you always talked about? I remember when you started rapping you’d always talk about a band where everyone is freestyling together."

It was such a special show. It just feels so rare to achieve that childhood dream.

Honestly, it’s such a joy to be in Life on Earth. It’s like entering that childlike state of play and fun again, which is actually the fundamental idea of the band - remembering the spirit of play (as a musician, audience member and general human being).

KEELEY: Have you had any breakthroughs or challenges? I suppose as an improv band, every gig presents the challenge of coming up with something brand new?

ROMAN: I think I can get a bit hung-up on the feeling that we owe the audience the same level of gig each time. That feeling that we have to make magic happen. I suppose it’s that impossible, infringing sense of capitalism that we owe an asset to someone that’s paid for something. I guess I can struggle with not overthinking that transactional aspect of the music and music industry.

Outside of that, I’d say it’s probably one of the easiest projects I’ve been in because we have such a low metric for success. We’re not trying to be a Triple J hit and we’re not aiming to be a Coachella headliner you know? Our goal is always just to stay playful.

Also, for me the project gives me a regular point where I have to be honest with myself. It’s kind of like free therapy because it’s impossible to freestyle if you’re muting/censoring or suppressing something within yourself. Around every gig I have a big existential crisis where I’m like “Ahhhh I’m not actually happy with x, y, z” so something has to happen for me to be able to perform. It’s like an accountability mechanism - because it’s impossible to do a show when you haven’t faced yourself lately.

KEELEY: Are there any moments you hold dear?

ROMAN: One moment that comes to mind is Yonder. That was the first time we played a festival as a band and having it under the stars was really special. For me, the stars are this beautiful reminder that no one knows what’s going on and we all have that in common. You could speak to someone from thousands of years ago and both be like “yeah what the heck, right?”.

During COVID I developed really hectic anxiety to the point where I thought I’d have to quit music and never attend a live gig again. My first gig back wasn’t with any of my other bands but with Life on Earth. Before the gig, I told the guys “If I pass out just keep playing” because Life on Earth is bigger than anxiety, it’s bigger than my own shit.

KEELEY: And finally, what’s next for Life on Earth?

ROMAN: Coming up we are going to release our very first live album and have started getting the call to open for international touring acts, so people can look out for us more there.

Otherwise we plan to keep playing our monthly residency at ‘It’s Still a Secret’ in Brisbane

LIFE ON EARTH - 27TH AUGUST TICKETS HERE

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