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Michael Clifford is no stranger to arenas full of screaming fans as a member of 5 Seconds of Summer, but he’s now venturing into the uncharted territory of solo artistry with his debut album SIDEQUEST. The guitarist-turned-frontman caught up with Kyle Meredith to talk about how the record came to be, the joy and anxiety that came with doing it alone, and how becoming a father restructured his creative compass. Listen above or wherever you get your podcasts.
While SIDEQUEST is certainly a departure from 5SOS’s collective sound, Clifford doesn’t go full scorched earth. “My DNA is always going to be in there as this kid who grew up listening to emo,” he admits. But instead of banking on nostalgia, he chased something more elusive: the sensation of hearing something for the first time. “Watching my daughter discover things kind of unjaded me,” he says. “It made me want to inject that into my music.”
That approach echoes on tracks like “KMFA,” a fully fleshed-out song that’s conspicuously missing a beat. “There’s just this chunk that’s missing,” Clifford says of the no-drums experiment. “And I love that feeling — like, ‘Why didn’t he add drums?’”
That childlike unpredictability permeates SIDEQUEST, especially in songs like “Eclipse,” a chaotic but emotional finale that Clifford says is structured to mimic the rollercoaster of parenthood. “You don’t know the structure of the song,” he explains. “It could be loud noise out of nowhere. It could be silence. I wanted it to feel like anything could happen at any moment.” He also breaks the fourth wall lyrically throughout the album, referencing his own fame and band history in ways that only he could: “Nobody else is gonna be able to say, ‘I’m the guy who caught fire with the colored hair in the band about underwear.’” No arguments there.
Listen to Michael Clifford talk about SIDEQUEST, solo vulnerability, and more in the new episode above or by watching the video below. Keep up on all the latest episodes by following Kyle Meredith With… on your favorite podcast platform; plus, check out all the series on the Consequence Podcast Network.
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