Q: "Carry Me Home" is your latest release. What initially inspired the song, and what was the first idea or lyric that eventually developed into the track?
A: Carry Me Home was born out of the chorus itself. It’s an ode to people who feel deeply, who take too long to forget and too long to move on, and the search for distraction and meaning to fill the void created by missing someone deeply. Think sun setting at a festival, people on shoulders screaming their lungs out. Driving, emotional, picking you up and pushing you forward.
Q: Was there a particular lyric, melody, or musical moment that became the foundation for the entire track?
A: Absolutely; it really all started with that hook in the chorus, starting with ‘hush baby’ and ending with ‘darling can you carry me home’. We kind of worked backwards to reveal and explain what that line meant to us and the story in its entirety within the verses.
Q: What was the songwriting process like for "Carry Me Home"? Did it come together naturally or did you spend considerable time revisiting and reshaping it?
A: This song definitely took a different path what we’d consider our normal work flow; it all kind of fell into place quickly in one afternoon writing lyrics together. It felt easy because we were drawing straight from our own feelings - things like the mood and the atmosphere of the weather were exactly how it actually was that same day. Being such an anecdotal song it really came together so quickly.
Q: Was there anything about the final recording that surprised you compared with the version of the song you initially imagined?
A: Not really - the mix itself is quite live and full which is what we always go for initially… Sometimes we then work on creating a more intricate refined studio sound but for this song the liveliness seemed to suit.
Q: What was the most challenging part of creating "Carry Me Home", and what did you learn from that experience?
A: We have a real obsession with perfectionism at the mixing stage - you combine this with three different sonic opinions and it means with nearly 99% of our music the mixing engineer revisions are the most challenging part.
Q: Is there a particular lyric in "Carry Me Home" that you're especially proud of or that feels particularly representative of where you are as an artist right now?
A: I think the whole chorus is a really nicely tied up rounded story itself which perfectly sums up the sentiment of the whole song ‘hush baby quiet when you talk to me, ‘cause I’m down and I need a little company, I’m all alone, darling can you carry me home'
Q: Do you think the meaning of a song ultimately belongs to the artist who wrote it, or does it become something different once listeners attach their own experiences to it?
A: When I listen to music, I link it very much to the memory of the time where I discovered it or consumed it a lot. That is something that I control as the audience, whether or not the artist intended it. Given just how much we all extrapolate unintended meaning from our favourite songs and associate them with feelings or memories in our life, I think it’s very fair to argue that the meaning belongs to each and every listener in their own way.
Q: Who are some of the artists who have had the biggest influence on you, either musically or creatively?
A: M83; those unbelievable walls of synth that repeat and repeat and repeat until you’re just about in tears are unbeatable. Early Coldplay; a band that evoked so much emotion with so little and such simple words… The very best Coldplay hooks are lines that you just couldn’t fathom the simplicity of but they kick you in the guts every single time. LCD Soundsystem; James Murphy taught us what being cool looks like. A lot of great metal and punk bands; this is the best place to learn what a great live set can look like.
Q: What inspires you outside of music? Places, books, films, people, etc.
A: People that work hard. It doesn’t really matter the industry or the expertise, any one that works enormously hard is always a pretty wise role model for how to make shit happen.
Q: What initially made you want to pursue music, and what continues to motivate you to create today?
A: We all fell in love with music from a live performance background. Henry and I began busking together when we were roughly 13-14 and pretty quickly learned how much we enjoyed finding and connecting with a live audience. These days we still very much view our shows as the fuel, but seeing people relate with our releases and the way in which every single song allows us to tell some kind of different story is what keeps us creating daily.
Q: How has your definition of being an artist changed since you first began making music?
A: It’s more a lack thereof; artists, bands, producers, performers, mixing engineers, etc all come in different shapes and sizes, all have different schedules, all have different lifestyles. We’ve learnt that there’s no mould we have to fit into, we just need to be unequivocally ourselves.
Q: What kind of environment or atmosphere do you want to create when people come to see Tonix perform?
A: A party. A big big party. They are pretty energetic sets and we want it to be like a force that smacks you in the face (and in the heart during certain songs).
Q: What does the relationship between an artist and their audience mean to you?
A: It means everything. Without the audience there is no show. We might still get away with making music even if no one listens to it but if there is no audience to come sing with us live, to come dance and smile and hang, I’m not so sure what we’d do.
Q: Now that "Carry Me Home" is out in the world, what are you most excited about working on next?
A: Our brand new single ‘One Day’ comes out this Friday 14/08, and after that there’s some pretty exciting news coming which will explain why we’ve just gone bang bang bang on the last three singles…
Q: Are there any dream collaborators, producers, songwriters, or artists you'd love to work with in the future?
A: We want to meet, learn from, write with, study, and build relationships with so many great artists. BUT if there had to me one it would be with Anthony Gonzalez of M83!
Q: If you could accomplish one major thing with your music over the next year, what would make you feel that you've taken a significant step forward?
A: We just hit a pretty large milestone with 400K on If I Can’t Be Yours on Apple Music and whilst streaming isn’t the real world, we’re keen to see some numbers like this in the Spotify ecosystem! But most importantly we have a big project coming out and however that’s received doesn’t take away from the proudness of having made and released it.
Q: What is one goal you're chasing right now that you're especially determined to make a reality?
A: To tour internationally! We have some pretty concrete European plans for November and elsewhere in early 2027 so right now a lot of our energy is pouring into that. Our goal is also to continue growing our audience; our little family I suppose; so that more and more people can use the music for their own purposes.
Q: Finally, if you could leave a message for someone who's about to hear your music for the very first time, what would you say to them?
A: Treat each song as a story and we hope you like it!
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