Borderline wants to make people feel less alone

Borderline might hail from New Zealand but the band are making waves far beyond the Pacific — for one, the four-piece have just signed to American label EMPIRE and rounded up their first US tour, where they were “pleasantly surprised” to learn that they actually do have fans in the States and weren’t going to spend a couple weeks playing to empty venues. Closer to home, though, the indie-pop group — two members of which started off in bands together aged seven and eight(!) — have featured in Rolling Stone Australia’s ‘In My Room’ series, where they performed their latest single, “When It’s Raining”, in frontman Ben’s bedroom. Paired with gritty black and white visuals, the guys describe the tune as one “you can scream along to when you’re angry, or cry to when you’re upset”. Essentially, the band builds from emotions rather than stories. That’s probably why they’re accruing listeners from all over the globe with songs that make people “feel less alone”.

So, what do you feel each of you bring to the band?

I think we all bring something different to the table, we have our individual strengths and weaknesses and can cover all the bases we need between us. I think that’s what makes us so strong as a unit. 

You’ve had a great start so far and just been signed to EMPIRE. Congratulations! How does it feel?

Thank you so much! It feels absolutely surreal. Since we were kids we’ve dreamed about signing a record deal and we couldn’t be luckier to be signed with EMPIRE. They are some of the most genuine, kind, fair and accommodating people in the music industry globally. We’re so grateful to be able to work with the best of the best and we can’t wait to share more of what we’ve been working on.

You guys are from New Zealand, right? How do you think your background influences your sound?

Yes, we are! I think New Zealand has a really genre-diverse music industry. You can hear pretty much any kind of music coming out of New Zealand, whether that be pop, rock, reggae, indie. I think we’re all such fans of the music, and New Zealand as a country, too, that we took inspiration from what other people were doing and made it our own.

As well as your sound, do you reckon there’s a particular ethos you guys have as a band?

I think we want to stay really genuine and keep doing music for the right reasons — because we all just really love making music together. We don’t take anything for granted, and we’re so grateful for all the opportunities we’ve gotten over the years, and we don’t want to lose that appreciation.

You’ve also just released “When It’s Raining”, which first previewed during your ‘In My Room’ session for Rolling Stone Australia. Was that experience pretty surreal for you?

It was very surreal, we have all dreamed of being on Rolling Stone, and it was heaps of fun recording these slightly stripped versions in Ben’s living room.

The song taps into the themes of loneliness, isolation and hopelessness. Can you tell us more about the story behind the song?

I think the song is more of an emotion rather than a story. We tried to capture that desperation and isolation through the music and the words, which we hope makes people feel something special.

You’ve previously mentioned that these feelings are “universal” — what kind of message do you want to get across through “When It’s Raining”?

Everyone goes through tough times, and with this song we wanted people to be able to resonate and feel a bit less alone. It’s a song you can scream along to when you’re angry, or cry to when you’re upset. 

Your music video for the single is also raw and gritty. Is that representative of the vision you have for the future of the band?

Not necessarily — every song has a different identity for us. That rawness is just what “When It’s Raining” called for. I can tell you, the next single is very different in sound and visuals to the last one. That’s part of what’s so exciting for us with each single cycle — creating a new world that’s still cohesive with the whole project.

You’ve also just done your first US dates! What were the best and most daunting parts of playing in the States?

That tour was just a dream come true — everything about it was so special. I think the best part was seeing that we have actual fans over there, some of whom travelled hours to see us and sung every word of every song. I think we were also pretty nervous that no one would show up, so we were definitely pleasantly surprised. 

So, what’s next for Borderline?

We’ve got lots of plans in the works at the moment. What we can tell you is that we’ll be touring a bunch more countries this year, and we’ve got lots of new music that’s gonna come out alongside that, too.