Melbourne artist Eugene Fox has just released his debut single; a stirring folk track titled “Miss The Goalie”. The track oozes with the charm of clever songwriting and sweet, plucky guitar melodies, and was written and recorded in his home studio in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne. We reached out to Eugene to discuss the making of the track, and some of his personal challenges, triumphs and inspirations that he has faced along the way.
How do you connect the personal themes of love, respect and powerlessness with the universal themes of hope and regret?
I connect them intuitively and at the speed of light. Like it’s from a pencil in the sky. If you think about it too much, you won’t write it. But I do think about it deeply afterward, and then I keep building the story.
There’s powerlessness, yes. But there is a triumphant respect for others in the song. And hope. Always hope. And that’s, “Another baby. Love is bold”. It’s about parking our selfishness in the hope of another new life that isn’t corrupted, so we can put our faith in it, even if we don’t have any. It’s about finding love in the mess of life.
The single came together quickly. How did it feel once the song came together and you listened back to it?
I was incredulous. It was quick. I knew when I started to just get some clicks in there for some percussion that it would come together fast. I could just feel it, feel it in the guitar. And it certainly connects to the idea of conception. The immediacy of an idea. Click your fingers and then there’s another life. It just had such motion. Beyond my art, beyond my hyperactivity. There was a freedom to it, and I remember feeling like I needed to write the dance straight away. I trusted my impulses, and it got done because I was allowed to be me.
You look for the positives in pain. Can you say that all stimuli have a place in music?
Categorically, yes. Yes. I dress my sadness pretty, so I can approach it more freely. I believe that all the worst, most awful things that have ever happened must be become music. It must be music. There is beauty in sadness and you can explore those feelings and find hope and optimism through art.
As a neurodivergent, you can see the music. I imagine that this can be both overwhelming yet beautiful at the same time. How do you regulate the inputs to create a positive output? Have you learned to control the inputs better over time?
It can definitely be overwhelming. It‘s too much information coming in. I don’t know all the tricks to manage it, but I think letting it just be unpredictably, spontaneously brilliant is important. Ultimately, it’s about creating a safe space to practice your art. You must have space, and it must be safe. If any neurodivergent people are reading this, I believe you can definitely learn to control the inputs better over time. You can learn the tricks of your own independent mind, but for me it always comes back to creating safe space – minimising other sensory inputs that might upset the balance, like too much light or too much sound. Taking the pressure off and just being present. Being safe to be yourself is where the magic happens.
You were recently diagnosed with autism and ADHD. Did this diagnosis make you understand the world and your reaction to it clearer?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Still yes. Always yes. And no to everything else that preceded the diagnosis. It completely changed my life. They say that neurodivergent children receive between 40,000 and 60,000 more negative messages growing up than their neurotypical peers. It’s been a lifetime of learning and unlearning and finally understanding that it wasn’t all my fault. I’m grateful to be alive to understand that, and to say yes, yes, yes to this new world, a world of a pop music revolution and knowing who I am. It’s been very affirming.
After spending many years creating music for yourself, how does it feel letting go of your music into the world for others to experience?
I never thought I was making the music for myself because I never really felt I was the one making it. Songs are written every day – it’s a process that has always felt separate to me. It sort of just happens. I started writing when I was extremely young, and I’ve never stopped. If you’re hyperactive, you’re always writing. I guess I feel like, I hope the song’s ready. It is scary to have it leaving the nest, because a song is like a child. It’s really personal. It’s a piece of me, but then it goes and becomes something else. I guess I do literally feel exposed, yeah. And that’s hard. But I’m more worried about the song than I am about me. With all my limitations and lack of support, being able to get the song somewhere near some people to hear it, it’s enough to make it something where it can stand on its own two feet and it doesn’t have to come back to me.
Who or what do you look for for inspiration for your songwriting? Do you have a favourite topic? Are there any taboos?
That’s quite a few questions there and all of them are brilliant. First and foremost, what’s the first question? Who or what do you look for for inspiration? Everyone and everything. I don’t look to any one person. I would mainly use inanimate objects, plants and animals. That’s the main genesis of the vast majority of my creativity. And then going deeper and exploring what’s the real truth of it all. It’s always been about angles. Looking at things differently, through different lenses, different eyes. Then finding the heart of the song and letting it shine.
My favorite topic will be love, categorically, through everything, love is there. I mainly sing about positive hopeful fucking love and anguish.
As for taboos? There is no fucking taboo. The job of the artist of the day is always to explore the taboo with fear or without fear, and to do so with absolute bravery. Otherwise what are you doing in the arts? You’ve got to be brave, take risks. Taboos? The answer is zero. We will talk and sing about everything, all morning and night, and we will make it fucking beautiful, even if it’s harrowingly isolating and sad. We might get it wrong, and that’s our risk, but no there are no taboos. Everything is on the table in art.
Eugene Fox‘s single “Miss The Goalie” is released on November 7th. Listen to it above or head to his official website https://www.eugenefox.com.au/ for all the other links.
