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Longtime friends Ian Fraser<\/strong> and Luke Gruntz<\/strong> have been making music together since 2016, and in that time Cleopatrick<\/strong> has gone from small-town beginnings to massive worldwide stages. Earlier this year, the duo released their second studio album Fake Moon<\/strong>, <\/i>which marked a bold step into new territory that leans more pop compared to their heavier debut record. Latest single \u201cGUTS\u201d dropped just last week and is already racking up streams and making waves, echoing the energy of their debut record and giving fans of their heavier sound plenty to love.<\/p>\n With a run of Australian headline shows just around the corner, I caught up with Luke to talk about Fake Moon<\/i>, their return Down Under, and upcoming music.<\/p>\n Now that Fake Moon<\/em> has been out in the world for a few months, how do you reflect on that album and what has the reception been like?<\/b><\/p>\n You know, it\u2019s kind of the first time where we\u2019ve put out music and I listen to it- not super regularly, but I\u2019ll throw it on. It\u2019s a record that brings back really fun memories of its creation and makes me feel a lot\u2026Its reception has been really fascinating. Obviously it\u2019s change of pace compared to our last record. But I think that there\u2019s been a cool mix of fans- like some people are really not down with it, other people very excited about showing a different side of this band. I guess like there\u2019s some like Cleopatrick doomsday preppers that think that this is it, this is the end, we\u2019re just gonna only sound like this forever, but that\u2019s not the case. So yeah, it\u2019s been interesting in some ways it feels like it\u2019s actually brought me like closer to understanding our audience.<\/p>\n It\u2019s funny you mention that, because I was on the Cleopatrick Subreddit and could see a few people discussing that they miss the heavier edge of the first record. How do approach that feedback- does it influence the way you think about writing new music? But yeah, I\u2019ve always operated in this band from the perspective that it\u2019s always supposed to be representing where we\u2019re at in the current moment. I don\u2019t want to put on a character and make something because I think that\u2019s what my facade is supposed to be. And Fake Moon<\/em> was the only record I could have made at the time that we made it. It\u2019s just how it had to be. And I\u2019m really proud to have pushed through with that, but I also don\u2019t look at it as a permanent thing. I look at this band as something that\u2019s fluid. I have no idea what we do next, it\u2019s always going to be twists and turns, and I still love heavy music. It\u2019s just always going to be different, cause I can\u2019t do the Peter Pan thing and get stuck in time, I\u2019m not always going to write songs like I\u2019m 22.<\/p>\n
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Yeah, when I was writing Fake Moon<\/em>, I was very cognisant of the fact that it was risky and I didn\u2019t really know what was gonna happen- well, I did <\/i>know what was gonna happen, actually. Some people would vibe with it and others would have a pretty adverse reaction. And I\u2019ve seen some of the stuff in that Reddit, it gets a little dark in there, but there\u2019s some good supporters in there too.<\/p>\n