MARCUS WYNWOOD // Digging Into Something In My Eye

Long-term fans of Captives will recognise the name Marcus Wynwood. For close to a decade, he toured, wrote and riffed with the band, but now the songweaver has stepped out on his own with the blistering, Something In My Eye.

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If you checked out our review (and if you didn’t, go do it now!), you’d know we bloody loved the track. And naturally, we wanted to find out more about it. So following its release, we got Wynwood on the line for a chat.

Hysteria: Give us the rundown of your journey as a solo artist.

Marcus: I was in Captives for almost a decade. I left the band just before COVID hit, and that sort of slowed down everything. I was at home like everyone, but I spent most of that time writing. So I wrote probably 40 songs in that time. And then just bounced ideas off mates and things like that. And I ended up with a handful that I really liked. And then, once things started to open up a bit, I ended up recording this track. I did it at home and played all the instruments. The song’s about doubting yourself. Everyone’s got their own internal self-doubt, whether real or perceived. This song talks about how you can break those doubts down and how they make you feel.

It must’ve been so cathartic too.

Yeah, totally. Especially going out solo, because being with the band for so long, it sort of felt weird. But once I got into the swing of writing again, I realised it was really just a perceived barrier.

So what did you find most different about creating as a solo artist compared to being in Captives?

In a band situation, you’re in a jam room, smashing it out, and you can instantly give feedback. Like that bit was shit, or that one was great. But solo, you’ve really only got yourself to bounce ideas off to start with. So there are all these questions about if something will work or not. There weren’t five other guys I could bounce ideas off. I really had to trust myself a lot more. Once I leant into that, I realised it was really liberating. I could make choices that I probably otherwise wouldn’t be able to and take the music where I wanted it to go a little bit more.

Everyone’s got their own internal self-doubt, whether real or perceived. This song talks about how you can break those doubts down and how they make you feel.
[ Marcus Wynwood ]

The music video fits so well, tell us about the experience of putting it together.

I live in a town called Penguin in Tassie on the northwest coast. And we filmed that, about a five or 10-minute drive from my house. I can nearly see it out of the window now. It’s a mountain range called The Dial Range. When we talked to Dave Sturges, who filmed it, we thought the track sounded like someone was running from something. So we thought what we’d do was blindfold me just to go with the something in my eye, can’t see vibe. And then actually just run through the bush. That was the idea.

So many trees did you run into?

(Laughs) I actually ran into one pretty well. I had a lump on my head for a week or two afterwards. It’s kind of funny. I’ve got it on film, which is great. Dave mentions it now and again! It was bound to happen!

Who are some of your key influences?

That’s a pretty tricky one. I like bands like The Bronx and Queens of the Stone Age and that type of stuff, but I’m also really into Radiohead and some more abstract stuff too. So Sonic Youth, Pixies, that sort of post-punk stuff too.

We got old school Oz rock and punk vibes from the track, but it was hard to pinpoint it.

Yeah. I can hear that – late 90s, like Tumbleweed and Spiderbait and that sort of stuff.

Give us a standout moment from the recording process.

There was a lot of pre-production at home and shuffling the song around, and that sort of stuff. But I have a home studio, and I did the actual recording all there. It was a very different experience from what I’m used to, which is booking two weeks of studio time. You go in the studio every day, like at nine, and you don’t get out till midnight or whatever. This was a little bit more relaxed just because it was at home. So I could go and lay some guitar parts down. And if they weren’t how I wanted them, I could just do them again the next day.

And I guess with the cost being a lot lower, I could spend more time getting it just how I wanted it. Especially the songwriting. To me, getting the song structure, dynamics, and parts in the right order. Being able to do that at home was really good because I could shuffle it around without worrying about paying for studio time and producers and things like that.

What’s next?

I’m hoping to have another track out early next year. I’m just working on the clip for it. It’ll be underway in the next week or two. Aiming to release that in late Feb, and then aiming for an EP in late 2022. But I’ve got a whole stack of new music.