More about: happynessThe Close Encounter Club

We kidnapped Happyness. Sorry about that. Most of the blame does lie with The Close Encounter Club, though. They orchestrated the whole thing, beaming the band up into their specially-made spaceship and asking them to perform for us. The grunge outfit absolutely killed it with a live version of their top track 'Vegetable' - a loving blend of Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer.

The duo, fortified by their amazing band, propped up our latest collaboration with The Close Encounter Club, bringing some much needed joy to a day punctured by the latest election results. 'Vegetable' is the perfect soundscape to surf your tired brain upon, and a call to arms for people who just want to chill the fuck out. We caught up with Happyness to ask them a bit more about it. Plus, bathe in the beautiful sounds of 'Vegetable', live from The Close Encounter Club.

Gigwise: How was your experience at The Close Encounter Club?

Happyness: It was the day of the election result so I think everyone was pretty fucking deflated when they showed up. But it was nice to be in a parallel universe for a couple of hours sharing the love.

GW: Can you give us some background to your track ‘Vegetable’? How did it come about?

H: [It's] kind of the song equivalent of when you say, “fuck it, we’re all going to literally just die and not exist, so maybe I’ll just go buy a Fanta and not freak that I might not know where to look while the card reader’s loading, because card reader person is going to die too and literally so many more people won’t care than care, and pretty soon the people that care will fucking just fall over and die too so maybe I’ll just eat a late night fucking ice cream sometime or like kiss someone on a bench or fucking write a book that will be like a 1,000,000,0000,000,000,000,000th of a footnote in the last memory of another dying thing somewhere far far in the future in the beginning of the end of the middle of the fucking looping treadmill of some shit I don’t understand, and it’s insanely fucked that I’ve been thinking in someone else’s voice for my entire life so maybe I’ll try and stop doing that, and oh shit I’m DEAD”

GW: Can you talk us through the other track you played?

It’s called 'Anvil Bitch'. I think most bands start out with a grand vision which gets lost in the daily grind and the hoop-jumping and the logistical bullshit. We’re not 100% sure what our vision used to be but we have a vague memory of it. It’s a love song to what you were going for before you forgot what you were going for. Like 500 Days of Summer if Summer is the band you started in your early 20s and Autumn is a drag queen and a guy with a buzz cut. Visions change and that’s ok!

GW: When can we expect more new music from Happyness?

H: New single coming out in March. That’s an exclusive!

Find out more about The Close Encounter Club here.

More about: happynessThe Close Encounter Club