In Conversation With: Lauran Hibberd
Lauran Hibberd has just released her debut EP ‘Everything Is Dogs’, and we can safely say it is everything we expected and needed in world right now! Lauran took a moment to talk us about her tongue-in-cheek humor when it comes to her songwriting and how the EP all came together.
What does ‘Everything is Dogs’ mean to you?
It feels really good to be able to release a collection of songs. I’ve only released singles up to this point, so for me - it’s great to see the songs as one, in the way I intended people to hear them. To be able to hold in it my hands as a product, in the shape of a purple vinyl is also pretty dreamy for me. It’s my debut EP, my first baby - so it’s really important to me.
Where was the EP recorded and how long did it all take to come together?
It was recorded in my home town on the Isle of Wight with Boe Weaver at Studio Humbug. I have been working with these guys (Jim and Rob Homes) since day dot. I’m recording my next batch of releases with them as we speak. It’s a great fit, we sit and worship for Weezer for hours on end. The EP took a few months in total, only because I didn’t know it was an EP when I started recording it. So it was all created separately really, well in two halves. I think it’s better when things like this take shape organically though.
Was it difficult deciding which songs would make the cut for the EP, seeing as it’s your debut?
Definitely. I argued with myself mostly, over the track list order and how it made sense to me. There were obvious contenders, but it was ‘Shark Week’ that kept throwing me off. I tried not to overthink it, but I wanted this debut to show a couple of different sides to me musically but also flow as one thing, and roll as one concept. It feels quite coming of age to me.
Talk us through some of the inspirations behind the songs?
A lot of my song topics are quite tongue in cheek, you can probably see this by the titles alone. I like to draw influence from the bleak in everyday life - this was my main inspiration for ‘Sugardaddy’ at least. I make funny solutions to all of my problems in my head, i.e having no money. But there’s no rhyme or reason, Frankie’s Girlfriend was based on a dream I had and Shark Week is not about sharks at all.
Are there elements of truth hidden behind your witty lyricism?
Definitely! I am quite good at laughing and joking my way around things, but that doesn't mean they aren’t true or maybe I’m hiding behind the joke. I feel like this is quite evident in ‘Hoochie’. The whole song is based on me oozing with self - confidence, however that definitely does not filter into my real life. On a simpler note, it does smell like sweet perfume in the back of my citroen berlingo van so - that's the truth.
You definitely have a bit of dark sense of humour. In songs like ‘Sugar Daddy’ and ‘Frankie’s Girlfriend’, how do you know where to draw the line?
I imagine there is no line ha! I think it’s important for me to be myself in my writing, and I am dark humoured and dry. But I’m also sensitive and open minded so I think I even myself out in that sense to ensure there’s no law suit on my hands ha!
Shark Week is a completely different change of pace, as opposed to everything else on the EP. How did this song come about?
I don’t know if this is normal or not but I just sat in my room last winter and it’s like every emotion I have ever had just hit me at one time. I wrote Shark Week the next afternoon. I was basically in love with this dude, and maybe he wasn’t in love with me or maybe he was but whatever. I was hung up, but not on him, at the feeling, at the world. It made me think about everything, even people dying etc. It really put everything into perspective for me. The song starts as a love me back whim, and ends in a way that makes you forget about him, me or that feeling, for me it feels so much bigger than all of that. It feels quite beautiful to me, and I don’t really get to do beautiful much.
There’s a huge sense of not taking yourself or others too seriously. Explain the lyric: “Did you hear Karlie Kloss was a dude?”
So this relates to a game I used to play called ‘Fake News’. All my songs are super personal really. I used to sit in my car with this dude and we’d play it. So you made up / or read out a true news piece and the other has to guess whether it’s fake news or not. I knew he always had a mad crush on the model Karlie Kloss, so I made up that she was a dude. But told him it was real news. He was gutted. I was gutted. We were all gutted ha. She is definitely not a dude though. 100% model women.
Do you ever worry about people not understanding the light-hearted undertones in your lyrics?
Yes and no, I think the people that want to understand it will. I try to not let that affect the way I am, or write. You can never please or impress everyone anyway.
What do you want people to take away from ‘Everything is Dogs’?
I want them to feel like they’ve just watched Perks of Being a Wallflower or 500 Days of Summer for the first time. I want them to dance, laugh, cry, run in slow motion, tell someone they love them, then take it all back.
What’s next for you once the EP is released?
We are touring non stop for the rest of the year, headline shows as well as supporting The Regrettes around the UK and Europe. Plus, I am still releasing! I have a tonne of tracks ready and waiting, and another something new before the year is out. I hope next year will be fun too, I have stacks of plans - but can’t talk about them yet :)
Live Dates
08 Oct – Hare and Hounds 2, Birmingham
09 Oct – Think Tank Underground, Newcastle
10 Oct – Poetry Club, Glasgow
12 Oct – Neighbourhood Festival, Manchester
30 Oct – Boileroom, Guildford
31 Oct – Komedia, Brighton
01 Nov – The Anvil, Bournemouth
02 Nov – Mirrors Festival, London