Forever Son have just released their first full-length album Ten Months, through Melbourne indie label Dark Barn, so it seemed a fitting time to have a chat with Robbins.
Kicking off in 2013, Forever Son has made a lot of progress in the intervening years. Originally a solo project of Robbins’, the band has since expanded to include Max Fletcher and James Harrison. “Forever Son was supposed to be a little break from another project that I had been playing in,” Robbins said. “We took a little break, and I wrote some solo stuff and put it out because it’s easy. Then the band didn’t get back together. So Forever Son became a name that I could put anything out under. I wanted a tool to be able to get creative and that’s what it’s become.”
Since formation, Forever Son has released a handful of EPs, splits and singles, but Ten Months marks the first substantial product of the project. “I wanted to try and give myself some kind of limit,” Robbins said, explaining the title. “I write and then record everything myself, and that tends to drag it out. Because you don’t have someone there going, ‘That’s done, time to move on,’ you’re just continuously adding things, coming up with ideas. So I thought, let’s just give it ten months.”
The songs of Forever Son have a nostalgic, comforting and often melancholic appeal to them, but it’s Robbins’ lyrical and storytelling prowess that ties the project together. “It might not be factually correct, but I always try and write from actual things that have happened. They’re always trips I’ve gone on or phrases that someone has said,” Robbins says. “It’s like a diary. I’ve put in a bunch of things that I want to remember, then I create a story with that.
“I don’t keep a diary. I never thought about that. I wonder if it’s just me trying to remember. I’ve always had a fear I’m going to get Alzheimer’s and have no idea what’s going on. Maybe this is me planning for the future subconsciously.”
There is an enthralling energy that comes through in the music of Forever Son. It’s the sort of thing that singer/songwriters often try to impart into their music, but ends up getting lost in the mix of clichés and the difficulties of creating unique music with stripped-back instrumentation.
Throughout our conversation, it becomes evident that this energy comes from Robbins’ passion for songwriting. “I definitely love writing music,” he says. “It feels amazing. It’s like you’re about to go on an adventure. And because it’s an adventure, sometimes you come upon an idea – it just happens – and all of a sudden the song writes itself. It’s like you’re feeding yourself information, inspiration, and when you sit down you’ve got that outlet and it channels out of you.
“Now that I’ve finished this album and I’m starting to write the next one, I can feel the excitement of not having written any substantial songs for a while. I feel full of ideas, I feel like it’s all there, and all I need to do is get that guitar and go for it.”
The upcoming launch of Forever Son’s Ten Months full-length will be the band’s first performance in a while, and Robbins seemed positively pumped to get back on the stage. “It’s going to be lots of fun, a big celebration,” Robbins says. “I can’t wait to get out there and start playing a bunch more shows – having some beers, having a dance, catching up with everyone who’s put in the hard yards.
“Even if you’re writing sad songs, the community around music is so positive that you could be playing sad songs but having the best time of your life.”
