Windwaker’s Liam Guinane On His Rap Past And The Making Of ‘dna’

Windwaker’s Liam Guinane was rapping under an alter ego in his teens, and those early experiments help explain the range of voices on the band’s new album, smile, you’re on camera.

We caught up with Guinane who said hip-hop has been a major part of his listening for years. Childish Gambino, Tyler, the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt were early influences, with El-P, Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA among the artists he also names.

He doesn’t tend to publicise those teenage recordings, but Windwaker gives him a way to keep exploring rap alongside clean singing and screaming, choosing the approach that suits what he wants to express.

Released on October 23rd through Civilians/Fearless Records, the band’s third album reached No. 9 on ARIA’s Australian Albums chart. Guinane describes making it with more confidence than HYPERVIOLENCE, which arrived as he was establishing himself as Windwaker’s vocalist.

Liam Guinane (Windwaker) interview

Overseas touring and time together had helped the band settle into its lineup, easing some of the pressure around writing.

“I think it was just like this feels like the logical step for us and it just kinda happened organically.”

The album title began as a working name for ‘click.’, growing from ideas about surveillance and privacy into a broader look at the pressure to perform a version of yourself online.

For the ‘dna’ video, Windwaker wanted to show more of the Australia they knew, with several scenes coming together by chance. The band spotted a man shadowboxing on his way to a bottle shop, asked him to join the clip and bought his drinks. A sugarcane burn-off near the shoot also sent them rushing to film in front of the flames.

As Guinane puts it, “we were super lucky to get like the shots that we did.”

Windwaker ‘dna’ video

Our conversation also covers performing ‘click.’ with RinRin, the Australian tour that wrapped in Brisbane on November 7th and his habit of rewatching The Mentalist between flights.

smile, you’re on camera tracklist

1. low
2. closer
3. click. (with RinRin)
4. do or die
5. dna
6. burn
7. victory lap
8. lie to me
9. wait for me
10. loser (feat. Mikaila Delgado)
11. overlord
12. some days

smile, you’re on camera is out now through Civilians/Fearless Records. Listen here.