College Try: The Transcript

This interview was recorded on the 9th of March 2o25

I sat down to talk to Kloey Shaw from College Try as part of Roots Volume 01. Here's what we talked about:

Where are you from? Where did you go to high school? What's your name?

My name is Kloey. Um, I went to high school in Nelson, Nayland College, and I grew up there mostly.

What instrument do you play?

I do vocals, and I also play a little bit of rhythm guitar and keys. I've learned keys for a long time.

You're in the band College Try. Do you have any solo projects as well?

Yes, I actually do. Um, I have a solo project that's called kloey. And um, yeah, I've released one song and I'm releasing another one around May.

Exciting. And what are you studying and where are you studying?

I study a Bachelor of Commercial Music Practice at Massey. Specialising just in practice. And I'm currently in Wellington. I'm in third year, so this is my last year.

Have your studies influenced the way you approach music?

Um, yes and no. I feel like, I don't know. I think it's influenced the way that I've learned how to communicate with people.

I think that at Massey, it's all quite like a collaborative process and like not even in the things that we learn I feel like just being around different people and the way they learn has contributed to the way I think about things and the way I write music. So that's been really cool .

How did your band form?

We met at Massey, me and Renée met and then we met Jake and we just kind of like jammed and hung out quite a bit and then, yeah, we just kind of got going. And there was a gig at Hamodava, at the cafe, and we were like, “Yo, let's do it.” And we just did like an acoustic set, and it went really well, and we were like, “we should make a band.”

And Jake was like, “Oh, like, I know this drummer.” And we were like, “Oh, yo, like, let's get together.” And we actually, like, became really good friends.

So you guys all study at Massey?

Apart, everyone apart from Kairau. So Kaido is at Vic, but he does a little bit of music at Vic as well.

What's the story behind the band name?

That's a good question. Um, honestly, Renée came up with it, and I had no idea what it meant. Like, I was like, I've never heard that expression before, like, “what the hell?” But, um, yeah, she just was like, looking through old sayings, and she came up with it. And she said College Try, that sounds perfect, because we're in uni.

And it basically means, like, give it your best go, in a way. It suited us, and we were like, we'll have it for a little bit, see how it fits, and then we ended up really liking it.

How do you approach songwriting as a band?

As a band? We've kind of been mixing it up a lot more recently. Um, I think most of the time Renee will come up with something like a riff or something, and I'll have a whole lot of lyrics down, and we'll just jam and it'll fit together, but sometimes Renee will write something, and then I'll add a verse.

And then add ideas, or the other way around, but I think me and Renée are probably the solo lyric writers, and the boys just kind of come up with really cool bits and pieces to help the structure, I feel.

I’ve read online that you've been described as a “vibrant pop rock band.” How would you describe yourself in your own words?

Good question. I think pop rock is probably what we're aiming for at the moment. I'd say we've got a bit of indie in us. We're very energetic. I'd say we're an energetic group. I think vibrant is a good word.

Who are your biggest inspirations?

Definitely Spacey Jane, and I'm going to their concert.

Same! They’ve been my top artist for so long.

I was like, thinking and thinking about it, and then I was like, no, I have to. I have to go. Yeah they are such a big inspo.

And then, um, Our drummer is majorly influenced by Paramore. Pretty big Paramore fan. So we've done a couple covers of that, and I feel like his drums are quite big and match, match Paramore.

Um, And we've also, we're also all really into WUNDERHORSE. Yeah, they're really good. Um, I think that's the top couple at the moment, but yeah, definitely Spacey Jane. But a bit more like, I don't know, poppy, poppy.

What kind of music do you make with your solo project?

Um I've kind of like, been trying to work out what kind of genre we can do at the moment. I like, I released Black Cat and that's a lot more low key and it had kind of like, true, cinematic elements and it had keys and it was quite acoustic.

But then we've made this new song, with my producer Kahu, and it's like, very poppy, like, I don't know, it's just a completely different vibe.

What was your first time playing live like?

So we played at Hamodava Café for CupaDupa, um, I think that was our first gig. Oh, but before that I think it might have been a flat gig, I think the flat gig might have been our first gig, potentially.

 And then After CubaDupa. we did a flat gig for like a uni project. It was really funny, we got sound policed. That was really cool. But we also got rained on, we had to like bring everything inside. It was like, it was so fun.

I also have here that your debut headlining show in September sold out?

Yeah, that was really cool. Um, Yeah, we headlined with American Muscle and Raffla. And we were working with Ben Bonetti, and he's really good at marketing, and he was like, “guys post every Sunday and post consistently” so that was like really good. Yeah. Yeah, we sold out.

And how did it feel seeing that kind of support with a sold out show?

It was pretty cool. That was a really cool gig.

How do you feel the Wellington music scene has supported College Try so far?

Um, I think it's cool how close knit everyone is and I think Once you start to meet people and get in a group, you kind of are in the group. Like, we’ve made some really good friends.

Like, Shehatesjacob is Renée's producer. And we've kind of become really good friends with them, it feels like we've got a lot of opportunities. And I feel like meeting people in Wellington is good because it's so small that everyone knows everyone. Um, yeah. And it's been really cool.

Like, even in first year seeing bands like Wet Denim. I love Wet Denim, yeah. And being inspired by them and it's been, and they're really lovely and like, one of their guitarists sold Renée a pedal and like, stuff like that. Like, it's just really close to that and that's pretty cool.

What's next for the band? Any releases or shows coming up?

We are thinking of releasing another single. We're gonna do some recording actually next weekend. We've got Cuba Dupa.. We're aiming on maybe booking out Meow or doing a show in like a release situation, but nothing confirmed yet.

That was all of my questions. Thank you.

Thank you for having me.