Following the recent release of new single ‘Attention’ as well as an eagerly awaited Tivoli show supporting Australian band Short Stack at their debut album’s 15th anniversary show and tour planning, Friends of Friends are raring to go for a busy year ahead.
As part of Music Is To Blame's, What's to Blame? Interview series, lead Singer Barnaby Baker shares everything from his key lyric of new single ‘Attention’ to Garageband origins and how their social media is a nod to Radiohead’s comforting weirdness.
Tell us about your band name - who’s to blame for its inception?
Friends of Friends came from our inception as a band. We were pushed together by mutual mates, and over time, the name started to feel like a mission statement. It’s how we treat our fans now - like we’re all part of the same inner circle. It’s inclusive, slightly chaotic, and rooted in real-life connections.
What would you say is to blame for your music career?
GarageBand. It kicked off a long addiction to cathartically dealing with stuff through writing. It was this weird mix of therapy and obsession. Putting good and bad feelings onto stone - and then sharing them with strangers.
Your latest single ‘Attention’ just dropped. How would you summarise the track in one lyric, and what’s the meaning behind it?
“A full riot, 100 dead kids. Watched some dumb video and kinda slept through it.”
It sums up that online numbness we all have - how we scroll past some of the most horrific things ever posted and don’t blink because the next thing is someone doing a TikTok dance or a meme. It’s a bit of a scream into the void.
What is to blame for your visual image?
Limitations, mostly. We’ve leaned into what we’ve got - Blender (3D software) because it’s free, and doing things digitally because IRL shoots are hard to plan around life. Barnaby handles all the 3D stuff. The ‘Dear Diary’ concept came as a way to vent, or satirise, but still say something real. The Apple voice ‘Fred’ narrates it - it’s weirdly comforting, and a bit of a nod to Radiohead. There’s irony in using AI voice tech while being anti-AI art in general. It’s DIY at its most self-aware.
How do you balance your social media persona and real life, especially now when being online is more vital than ever?
It’s hard. Like, just making good music is enough work. Running a marketing department on top of that? Nightmare. We’ve stopped trying to do what we should and started posting what we love - and hope the people who resonate with it stick around.
What, in your opinion, makes the Gold Coast music scene the best to be a band in right now?
It’s weirdly artificial - the nightclub capital of Australia, always seen as a bit of a joke. Kind of like our Vegas. But that’s driven us to be as real as possible. There’s actually a lot of incredible music brewing here - Amy Shark, Casey Barnes, and others have broken out from this place, and I think it’s just the start. We’re seeing a shift. Something raw underneath all the gloss.
The lyric video for ‘Attention’ is a very cool concept. Who came up with it, and what was the creative process like?
We did. The song’s about the internet, so it felt right that the video would be made on the internet. Every lyric is pulled from actual screenshots - Reddit, YouTube, fan comments, news articles, even our camera rolls. It’s a weird collage of everything we’re exposed to. The photos that flash past are just the last few months of our lives. It’s chaotic, personal, and entirely DIY - very much the Friends of Friends aesthetic.
What are you most looking forward to doing this year as a band?
Playing the sold-out Tivoli show with Short Stack is going to be unreal. That stage has history. We’re also deep in planning for our headline tour in October - we’ve got some pretty wild stuff up our sleeves. Visually and musically. And moving forward with the EP feels massive too. It’s all part of building something that’s bigger than us.
What’s to blame for touring/playing with brilliant live acts like Kasabian, Sea Girls, and The Wombats? What’s the biggest thing you’ve learnt from them?
Biggest thing? Preparation. Not just playing well, but having a super streamlined setup. When you’re doing fast changeovers and huge stages, having your gear and systems dialled is non-negotiable. Playing with those bands taught us to be tight, efficient, and not to take ourselves too seriously. Things go wrong - and the pros just adapt and smile. It’s a whole other level of professionalism, and it’s shaped how we run everything now.
