Australian rock band Ceres are back with their first new music in five years. Their fourth studio album, Magic Mountain (1996-2022) is out on October 10th and it’s some of their most formative work yet.
Laying pretty low over the last five years, it was assumed that the group was on hiatus, and when they made an ambiguous Instagram post with the caption “1996-2022”, fans accepted that the group had officially broken up. Little did they know, this couldn’t be further from the truth, because over the last five years Ceres have been working on Magic Mountain, a massive 25 track double record, and they’re more than ready to share it with the world.
I had the incredible pleasure of chatting with lead singer Tom Lanyon, who has spent the last few years pouring his heart and soul into Magic Mountain, about all things from writing and recording to love and loss, and how his life experiences deeply impacted this masterpiece.
How does this new era of Ceres compare to where you guys were five years ago?
“That’s a good question. I don’t know. I think it feels-it’s funny, it feels like a different era, but we’ve been working on the record for basically ever since we stopped in 2019. So it hasn’t felt like I’ve gone anywhere creatively… It was definitely a point to not say that we broke up, it wasn’t a hiatus, we didn’t say anything. I think technically I was like, ‘I’ll be able to get this record done in a year or two, and then we’re back out and about after COVID.’, and that definitely didn’t happen. And we basically just finished the master of the record a couple of weeks ago, so it’s just absolutely taken way too much time. So I feel like there’s no eras, I guess, for the band right now. I feel like it’s just a continuation. But I understand like from the outside in it looks like we just fully went AWOL and now we’re back with a big old record, so that’s cool too, I like that. But yeah, no, it’s just same old band I think.”
You’ve been working on Magic Mountain for the last four or so years, what can you tell me about how this album finally came to be?
“That’s a long story, but I’m sure we’ve got time. In 2019, we were looking at a regional tour for 2020, I think… Management was like, ‘go do the regional’ and I was like ‘fuck that, I don’t want to do that’. Everyone was kind of feeling a little burnt out on stuff, because we went pretty hard in hindsight.. I think we were all feeling like we needed a break, and then COVID happened. We practiced a couple of times and wrote a couple of songs in January 2020- they’re not on the record, but we were like, ‘oh cool, I guess we’re just starting to write a record again, maybe we’re going to go on this regional tour and then release an album.’, and then obviously COVID happened.
I had a studio set up at home, so I was just constantly writing songs, but it was different because I used to write songs on just an acoustic guitar and take it to the band when we could all get together and flesh it out that way. And then this time, it was funny because we couldn’t do that, we couldn’t meet. So, it was an interesting way of writing for me… I wasn’t writing for a Ceres record, I was just doing it because I love doing it… So, I don’t know what it is but I’m just writing songs, and then, like, I really like these songs, so I’m like, ‘fuck, I need to do something with them.’ I thought that maybe I’d talk to the label and they’ll put it out as a solo record or something like that. I felt way more comfortable for it being a solo record because I’d written everything for me. I spoke to my manager and he’s like, ‘nah, it’s gotta be a Ceres thing.’ So, I sat the band down when the pubs opened for a little minute, and I just said, ‘oh, I’m writing this record and the label and management really want it to be a Ceres record, do you mind if I do this one by myself?’ And then were like, ‘yeah, totally do what you need to do.’ So that was awesome.
I don’t even really remember how we decided to start putting the songs together as real songs. The whole thing was just demos, and basically for Magic Mountain we used 90% of everything I did in the studio which was crazy, because some of the vocal takes were only one take.”
Was it always the album always going to be a double record?
“I thought it was maybe a solo thing, but then it turned into a Ceres thing, and there was no way it was going to be that long, but suddenly it happened. There was never going to be a long record, especially because I was like, ‘cool, I’ll just punch out a 10-song record and it’ll be cool but we’ll get back to regular Ceres programming.’ My partner and I moved up to the mountain where I grew up- Mount Dandenong. We moved out there, we were trying to start a family and it was real crazy. I didn’t realise what I was doing and moving back home, all this nostalgic stuff was hitting me- all these memories… so, really that first half of the record was all to do with the nostalgia of moving home.
It was really weird, looking back on it now. We’re not there anymore, but it was odd that I did that. The whole time we were trying to start a family and have a baby and it was just hard, hard work, and we had miscarriages and stuff. I’d sort of finished the record, and we were finally. Pregnant after four years of trying, and then we had a miscarriage. I was just like, ‘fuck, okay, I have to write about this.’, and every song after that was just about that, it was sad. So halfway through the record is where it drops off. There’s a song called Holy Hill, which deals with that. I wrote that song the day I found out.
I didn’t really want to call it a double LP, but it makes to do that but to me there’s just two halves of a record, but it’s one long 25-song record.”
It’s an extremely introspective album, as you’ve gone into a little bit. It’s very story-rich and deeply personal, is it hard to write about these things and share them with the world?
“Nah. It’s the only way I can do it. I couldn’t do it another way. Like, I don’t want to- I’ve never made up a story or anything. That nostalgia thing in the first half of the record was really cool, because I need true things to think about, I guess. Every record I ever finish I’m like, ‘I don’t know if there’s gonna be another one.’ After We Are A Team I was like, ‘I’m done, what else is going to happen to me? Like, fucking hell, I can’t keep going on about a dead dad, we’ve heard that Ceres song a lot.’ I don’t know any other way, so it’s not hard. But you’re right, it’s harder for other people to listen to it, I think.
My poor partner, her name’s in the second song, I’m singing about her and name-checking her. I don’t ask her this shit, I really should sit her down and go, ‘are you okay with all these 25 songs about our life’? Maybe I should give her a call. But that’s the hardest part, and I’ve been doing it ever since I picked up a guitar.”
Did you feel more pressure in the lead-up to this record since you guys had gone away for so long?
“That’s a good question. Firstly, when that Instagram post went up, I was worried… everyone thought we broke up and that it was the end of Ceres. And I’m like, ‘oh shit! Are we in trouble?’ I didn’t know how it was going to go when the next day we were like, ‘New single! What’s up guys? Hey legends!’ But the label was like, ‘trust me mate, it’s going great, don’t worry.’
I think I feel more pressure because it’s all me. I did everything on this one… but it’s only a marginally more increased pressure, I think. I don’t really mind. We Are A Team was probably more pressure, because we were ascending as a band and there was certain milestones we wanted to hit, which we did. But this one, it’s just like, we’re just back and we wrote a too-long record and we hope you like it.”
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Magic Mountain is out everywhere on October 4th.
You can stream it wherever you listen, or click HERE to pre-order the physical copy on vinyl.
