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Five lessons Eves Karydas wishes she knew before she moved to London

15 February 2018 | 10:27 am | Emma Jones

Moving in general is difficult, but moving countries is a whole other ballgame. Eves Karydas takes us through the lessons she learned after her move.

The once Brisbane-based, now London-living artist EVES KARYDAS (fka Eves The Behavior) made a triumphant return late year with a glorious new single in 'There For You', and not even two months later she was back again with 'Further Than The Planes Fly', making it known to everyone across the world that she is well and truly back.

Having taken some time to herself for the past couple of years when she was seemingly beginning her rapid rise, playing at the 2015 LANEWAY and SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS festivals as well as a sold out run of her own shows, she's readjusted and realigned where she's at and where she's heading. The result of this time is now unfolding, and the two tastes we've had so far show a much more developed and mature artist with a deeply refined sense of artistic self and direction ready to explore female strength, owning your sexuality in a way she has never done before. With over 50 songs created in the time she's been overseas, the best have been selected for a debut album that will be released later this year and it promises to stand up to the exceedingly high expectations we have for Karydas.

It's no secret that moving in general is a difficult thing to do, but moving countries is a different ballgame altogether. No matter how prepared you might be, there are always lessons that you'll have to learn on your own when you get there, and Eves Karydas' journey was no different. Before she makes her long awaited return back to Australia for some live performances supporting CUB SPORT, she detailed the five things she knows now that she wishes she knew before she went overseas. These lessons are important for anyone, but ring especially true for Karydas and this new chapter she's now embarked on - it's only up from here!

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It’s okay to disappear and take the time you need

I had a big fear of losing momentum and not keeping up with a certain pace and I had to kind of face that fear when I moved to London because I tried to land on my feet and it just took me a while. It forced me to step away from everything and disappear from doing things publicly on social media. It was just really good for me and gave me a lot of perspective and taught me a lot about myself and how I like to work without that pressure. I definitely think quite a few artists relocate for those reasons. I think some people relocate because they like being inspired by a certain city. I didn’t move to London to be inspired by London specifically. I just moved somewhere – away from where I was from. I didn’t know what I would find when I got here. That’s the thing that made it all worth it because I didn’t have any expectations or pressure, I just moved here and figured out what was good and what was bad and how to figure it out amongst it all.

Having no friends around is a really great thing for writer’s block

I really didn’t know many people when I moved here and I didn’t really have a job that allowed me to meet many people, so it worked on two different levels. I would spend all my time writing because I didn’t have friends to hang out with and also, not being around people influencing me kind of let the creative juices start flowing in a way that wouldn’t have if I was around people amongst a scene.

I’ve definitely pushed it into a positive and discovered the way I like to work and that I like to be isolated and I like to work on my own, beside the handful of people I like to collaborate with rather than being around a scene for the sake of being in a scene. I don’t really do that anymore.

Listen to your intuition above everything

This was something I figured out pretty quickly after moving here. It was like my guiding light getting me through the first year – not just of music but also the rest of my life down to where I would live, to the people I wanted to see. I just decided to go with my gut instinct rather than over analyse and when I started making decisions like that I found it was really benefitting me, especially with my writing and I got rid of that voice in the back of my head questioning whether my writing was good enough or relevant. Instead it was just, “This feels right in the moment – let’s just go with it.”

Relocating is hard but provides for huge opportunities

There’s more opportunities for me to meet people because there are so many more people for me to meet here. It’s so multicultural and even the main collaborators – none of them are English. Sam is from Australia, Chris is from New York, so I just kind of found myself in London with a bunch of expats and I found that was really special and sweet and London is just like that in general. I feel it’s like LA – people just move here to try and make something of themselves. A lot of people are also from here, obviously, but in the creative fields it’s like, “Oh hi, you’re from this part of Europe,” or “You’re from the States,” etc. It’s quite enlightening because everyone brings something interesting from where they’re from and it makes me learn a lot.

International music scenes are incredibly fertile and experimental

I’ve walked into so many different studios and seen so many shows at random, different little spots. I even went to a show in the basement of an homewares store not long ago that was really weird. You’re walking through all these kind of expensive homewares and they just have this kind of venue room. That was cool. There’s such a strong culture here – such a strong live music culture.

Catch Eves Karydas supporting Cub Sport on the following dates:

Cub Sport 2018 ‘BATS’ National Tour

Thursday 22nd Feb: Jack Rabbit Slims, Perth (18+)

Friday 23rd Feb: Jack Rabbit Slims, Perth (18+) SOLD OUT

Saturday 24th Feb: Fat Controller, Adelaide (18+)

Saturday 3rd March: The Corner, Melbourne (18+) SOLD OUT

Sunday 4th March: The Corner, Melbourne (U18's matinee)

Sunday 4th March: The Corner, Melbourne (18+) SOLD OUT

Monday 5th March: The Corner, Melbourne (18+)

Saturday 10th March: The Triffid, Brisbane (All Ages) SOLD OUT

Sunday 11th March: The Triffid, Brisbane (All Ages)

Saturday 17th March: The Metro Theatre, Sydney (All Ages) SOLD OUT

Image: Supplied

Introduction by Emma Jones

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