Category: Interviews

INTERVIEW: The Chariot (USA), March 2011

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

I had never heard of The Chariot before I was asked to interview their vocalist and mainstay Josh Scogin. I’m forever grateful to Australian Hysteria Magazine, as by writing for them they introduced me to a band that would become one of my absolute favourites over the next few years. Even beyond their untimely split, I still love them. No-one delivered a set quite like them, or put out music with the kind of vessel-popping intensity. I fell for them utterly and completely, and I may well draw that back to when I interviewed Josh. He was a really interesting and intelligent guy, particularly when we got talking about how his faith correlates with the music that he makes. His new band, ’68, are fucking great, too. 

– DJY, January 2015

***

They go through band-mates like you go through hot dinners, but Douglasville natives The Chariot are never ones to give up or lose momentum. A relentless beast of touring throughout their native U.S., the band will finally make their maiden voyage down under this coming April, bringing along fellow American metalcore stalwarts Oh Sleeper with them. Ahead of this exciting double headliner, the voice behind The Chariot, Josh Scogin, was on the line to discuss life on the road, tourism and what faith really means within his music.

Hey Josh, thanks for talking to Australian Hysteria Magazine. Whereabouts are you at the moment?

Hey man, no worries at all! We’re actually in Indianapolis, Indiana. Haste the Day are about to play their final ever show, and we’re on the tour with them. It’s kind of awesome, and kind of weird – it’s emotional for a lot of them. A lot of their families will be coming out for this show. Ultimately, though, it’s been really awesome – they’ve been really great shows, and they’re great dudes. It’s been a really pleasant touring experience.

How long have you guys been on tour now?

Well, we’ve been on this tour for about a month, but we were on a tour before this one. We’ve been gone since about January, I think – quite awhile! We’re pretty excited about playing this show and then getting on home.

And these shows have been with your new guitarist, Brandon Henderson – is that right?

Yeah, he actually used to be in a band with our other guitarist [Stephen Harrison]. He’s been playing with us for awhile now.

It’s well-known that the band has gone through a lot of line-up changes. Is it hard to keep things cemented as a touring machine?

I guess it should be hard, but it’s actually been a very easy process. It’s always been friends that we’ve known for awhile – it’s always made a lot of sense. It’s never been weird, y’know – the last change we had before this one was with a guy who toured with us for a year and a half, doing the lights and guitar tech stuff. When our guitarist at the time left, it just made sense – it was obvious that he should join because he’s our good friend, he’s like-minded and he knows where we want to go with the band. So, I guess it’s supposed to be a daunting task – but, like I said, it’s always just made sense. We’ve never had to do auditions or anything like that.

Yeah, so there’s been no Chariot Idol!

[Laughs] Yeah, yeah! Exactly!

It’s also pretty remarkable that you’ve been able to keep a consistent flow of new material coming – for example, the proximity of Long Live [released in November 2010] in relation to Wars and Rumors of Wars [released in May 2009]. How important was it to get that album out as soon as possible – did it come naturally at the time?

We wanted to put one out pretty quick. We thought we had a lot of good material, and it was better than just sitting on it. I write a lot of stuff, so there’s the common ground of being able to move forward even when certain members change. It was just one of those things where we were trying to get on a couple of tours, and we thought “Well, we could stay at home this summer – or we could record.” It all just fell into place – we were all writing, anyway, so it wasn’t like it snuck up on us or anything. We just went with it, y’know?

Are you the type to write material while you’re on the road at all?

I personally don’t write anything on the road. I’ll some times write down some lyric as a little separate entity or something, but I’m usually really busy on the road – it’s hard to just sit down and pick up a guitar and write. When we’re at home, though, it just comes naturally. It’s a really easy process to just hit Record on a computer and lay down a couple of ideas. So, we write a little on the road – I know our guitarist writes a bit, anyway. I think it’s when we’re at home, though, that a lot of the ideas tend to come to life.

Do you think the environment of home assists in achieving the right state of mind for creating music?

Maybe. For me, it’s funny, though; I come up with a lot of ideas that I like at the worst of times. [Laughs] Like when I’m driving, for instance. I’ve gotta just keep remembering, or I’ll just forget it, y’know what I mean? It’s kind of one of those things, though, when you’re always writing – things can come naturally. I never really have to sit down and go “Okay, I have to write a song today.” You just go for it; and when you’ve done that enough times, you don’t have to force anything. It cuts out a lot of the forcing, making it a more organic process – that’s we thrive on.

Definitely. Are you and the band looking forward to your Australian tour?

Oh yeah, of course! After this tour, we go to Europe for a couple of weeks, and then we’re headed for Australia. We’ve been trying to come down for, like, three years. I don’t know, man, it’s always just been one thing after another. But we’re so excited to finally come down there and learn about the culture and the people. Hopefully the shows are cool – that’s obviously a part of it. For us, though, it’s the ability to learn new things, and see the country. That’s what drives this band – the ability to do stuff and see things that we would have never gotten to see otherwise. That’s just brilliant to us. It’s something that we’re just too excited to do.

Are you much of a tourist, or more of a sight-seer? What kind of traveller are you?

I’m kind of both. I’ve done Europe several times, and I like seeing the tourist-y stuff that most of the locals probably take for granted. But I also really enjoy meeting someone and getting to know them – being, like, “Hey, how are you doing? What do you like doing? Where do you like to hang out in your country?” To be able to do that stuff is really cool. If we weren’t in a band – like, say, we just said to ourselves “We wanna go to Australia and visit” – we would probably only get to see the tourist stuff. Being in a band, you get to meet new people, meet locals and find out where they hang out, what they like, where they go to eat. To me, I like both. I love the tourist stuff, but in Europe we get to experience stuff that we wouldn’t get to otherwise.

Oh Sleeper will be joining you guys on this tour, as well. They’re regarded as a Christian band, as are The Chariot. Is there ever a conflict of bands that associate themselves with Christianity performing what is traditionally regarded as “the Devil’s music” – i.e. rock music and heavy music? Or is it liberating to be able to do that?

I get the reaction to a lot of earlier bands within the genre, but I don’t really get exactly why it became known as “the Devil’s music.” With that said, I don’t also necessarily get why Christianity receives its own genre in the world, either. To me, it’s funny that it would be attributed to one side or the other. Unless you knew the lyrics were full-on in talking about Hell or Satan or what have you, I don’t see how music all by itself can be Christian or not. To me, it’s just music. Just because I’m a Christian, doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like heavy music. It’s just a form of expressing yourself – it’s like art. Like, I love art, and as a painter you’d never think that “these painting are Christian, these paintings are Satanic.” If it’s just a painting without connotations either way, how can you associate it with anything? Music’s the same: just because it’s heavy, it’s referred to as “the Devil’s music.” I always think that’s pretty funny, to not necessarily have any background on it and claim it as such.

You’d think the stigma would come from rock and heavy music having that history of sex and drugs and that kind of lifestyle, as far back as Elvis and moving on to Sabbath and Ozzy and what have you. At the same time, though, you’ve got bands who are trying to break that premonition and move away from that stereotype.

Of course. I mean, I didn’t grow up in a Christian household – I’m at where I’m at today because of my life’s path and what’s brought me here. It’s not like I’m riding the coattails of some pastor or one of my parents. It’s a very mutual respect that I have with people who are either believers or non-believers – I can relate to both. I know where they’re coming from in either direction. It’s cool to just play music, to play rock and roll; and maybe one day be able to bridge the gap and make people realise that it’s just music. Hopefully, it can even be a blessing of some sort. Just because the media throws “Christian metal” or “Christian-core” on it, doesn’t mean it’s exclusive – that’s not what we’re about. It’s silly to throw a whole genre on something just because the band is from a label, or because you might tour with a band or two who are affiliated with what you’re affiliated with. You just can’t think about it that way, y’know?

INTERVIEW: Arrested Development (USA), October 2012

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

I’ve always found Speech to be a really interesting character. He’s smart, savvy and socially-conscious. Even as an elder figurehead of hip-hop, he’s still out there creating, producing and touring quite a bit. Even knowing all of this, I really couldn’t have anticipated what a fantastic interviewee he would be – I honestly got a lot out of this, and it helped me to have a greater appreciation of the group as a whole and what they’ve done for their side of hip-hop. I’d love to chat to Speech again someday, but for now here’s what happened when we spoke about legacy, downloading and a life on the road.

– DJY, December 2014

***

With the fickle nature of the music business constantly shifting and distorting itself, it’s often quite surprising to see a band maintain any interest beyond a noted debut. Some never live up to it, let alone celebrate its 20th anniversary with world touring – and, yet, this is where we find Arrested Development. Long before the name was associated with Jason Bateman and his ensemble cast of maniacs, the politically-active hip-hop collective had humble beginnings in Atlanta in the late eighties, slowly building a reputation to the point of impatience. A lot of heart and soul went into their debut album, fittingly (and specifically) titled Three Years, Five Months and Two Days in the Life Of… which spawned hit singles that have fuelled the group to this very day.

“They are what they are, y’know?” muses Todd “Speech” Thomas, the band’s frontman, spokesperson and founding member, when asked about his relationship with the band’s best-known material. “The way that I see it, our hits are our pillar. At the same time, this happens to us a lot: when we get to certain crowds, they’re calling out hits right at the top of the show. I don’t like that crowd. We’re doing an hour-and-a-half show. If you just want to hear the hits, turn on the freakin’ radio! We’re proud of those songs, but just give us a chance to show you who we are. We’re not a cover band. As much as we like playing our hits and giving the audience what they need, we want people to get some of the energy of what we’re doing lately. We’ve got a lot of eras, and we like to take our crowds on a ride as opposed to just giving them a specific moment that they’re after.”

Speech notes that many audiences are casual fans, surprised to see that the band have achieved a substantial amount in the two decades following Three Years. Despite a hiatus which saw inactivity between 1996 and 2000, Arrested Development are still a working, touring machine with plenty of new material to substantiate the aforementioned ninety-minute set. Their latest effort was their seventh album, Standing at the Crossroads. Dropping back in August on Speech’s own label, Vagabond Productions, the album was unlike anything the band had attempted before – recorded entirely on a Mac laptop, the album was released completely for free. In justification of this, Speech spoke somewhat conflictingly but fluently.

“We’re doing it for the fans,” he says. “They’ve been responding well to it, and we just hope that everybody who knows the band can get their hands on it because we want people to listen to it and enjoy it. Think of it as a gift.” In spite of this perceptively liberating move on behalf of Arrested Development, Speech isn’t as on board with the digital revolution as you may think. “I feel like music has been cheapened somewhat over the years,” he comments. “The industry is in a weird space, and I don’t think anyone understands it thoroughly right now. With that being said, I don’t feel as though music is being respected by most people the way that it used to be. I used to go to the record store, and I was excited to smell the vinyl, buy something, pull out the record, look at the artwork, read the liner notes, see which guy played bass. Today, I feel like people are more in the mode of saying that they really like Track Six, or Track Ten. They don’t even know the titles of the songs!”

Herein lies the paradox that leaves Arrested Development in such a curious position: If music is being “cheapened,” so to speak, is releasing a digital album for free only adding to the madness of it all? “What’s great about this album,” Speech responds, “is that we do have liner notes and artwork, so people can really get into why we wrote and made this album. That’s something that we grew up with, and something that we really believe in.” So it goes that the band enter into the future of the music revolution on their terms – although, it would be difficult to point out an instance in the band’s entire career where it wasn’t directed on their own terms.

It would be amiss to discuss the twentieth anniversary of Three Years without discussing the band’s relationship with Australia in that time. Although a decade separated their first and second Australian tours, Speech feels that the sunburnt country is one that truly understands where Arrested Development is coming from. “I feel like Australia has always been a place that get the group,” he says. “You guys, to me, have a laid-back attitude and an open mind. From a hip-hop perspective, Australia has never, from what I can tell, really bought into the materialistic, “let’s go to the strip club and be a pimp tonight” type of music style. I feel like everybody that I’ve met in Australia has a true appreciation for the deeper elements of hip-hop. Australia gets Arrested Development.”

INTERVIEW: TZU (AUS), October 2012

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

Poor, poor TZU. They were always on the cusp of something so much bigger than they actually got. It wasn’t for lack of trying, either – such a potent mix of conscious rap and catchy beats that ultimately left them in the cold for either side of the spectrum. Joelistics has broken out on the solo front; and Count Bounce has found a home as a formidable producer. Still, I often wonder what could have been for TZU. Perennially underrated. Super-nice to interview, too.

– DJY, December 2014

***

“Are you gonna play Summer Days? Are you gonna play some hip-hop?”

If this question had been posed to TZU, say, six or so years ago, it would have a forthright and succinct “yes” as an answer. It’s how the band started, and despite some variety in sound and a few departures here and there, it’s a sound the band remained ingrained in. Fast forward to 2012, however, with this very same question being posed by a punter up the front at a recent show, and it’s a little more difficult to answer. With their latest album, Millions of Moments, the band have moved away from funk-based hip-hop and into conceptual electronica and rnb. It’s a bold and inventive reboot of a band many had thought to be abandoned entirely following an absence of roughly three years.

“We tend to always get those kind of guys at our shows,” explains Pip Norman, aka Count Bounce; the band’s vocalist, producer and bassist. “They always end up loving it, though. I think people just tend to like us on stage, as a whole. We just have to be ourselves, and let people decide for themselves. They tend to just go with it, no matter what weird direction we end up heading on stage. And yes, we’ll still play the old stuff!” Although Norman says this jokingly, one can’t help but feel that the band have felt trapped in by their earlier material, fans expecting them to essentially present to them variations on a theme across their discography. Of course, that’s not what TZU, who started out humbly as a DIY hip-hop crew in 1999, is all about. It’s why Millions of Moments comes across as somewhat of a challenge to older fans – although Pip himself is reluctant to agree.

“I don’t think we really set out to shock people with this album,” he says. “For us, I think it’s not as weird as everyone else thinks it is. We’ve been interested in this kind of music for years. This is just the first time we’ve acted on it. When we came back together after our break, we decided that we were going to do something different, or we weren’t going to do anything at all. If we tried to make another hip-hop album, it just wasn’t going to work. To us, the decision was simple.” For Norman, it’s a matter of getting a clear perspective on where the band is, where the band has come from and where the band is headed. He notes: “I don’t think we could ever make an album like our previous three. We’re just not those people anymore. At the same time, though, we’re not ashamed of our past, and we’re not trying to hide from it. We definitely recognise that people love us for that era of the band, and we’ve come to terms with sort of accepting this somewhat uncomfortable part of ourselves.”

Seeing the band live on their current tour with Darwin duo Sietta will see the band play tracks from across their entire catalogue, mixing live instrumentation with sequencers and programming. It was partially inspired by Pip seeing the Beastie Boys live as a young man. “They’d start with their hip-hop stuff,” he explains, “then go and do their punk stuff on their instruments for a few tracks. Then they’d go and do some more hip-hop, before doing their weird, instrumental stuff. I loved it, and I loved that everyone was still into it no matter what they did.” If you’re after a show that incorporates a myriad of eclectic, engaging sounds, make sure you get along to see what TZU is up to in 2012.

INTERVIEW: Gallows (UK/CAN), September 2012

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

Everyone was pretty pissed that Frank was leaving Gallows, but as someone who was just as potty for Alexisonfire as I was for Gallows I just knew that Wade would absolutely crush as the band’s new frontman. I think Wade appreciated that when we had a chat just as the self-titled album dropped. He probably had a lot of interviewers being all “So, you’re not Frank. Let’s talk about that.” So I like to think this one went pretty well. Still a fucking great band after all this time.

– DJY, December 2014

***

There’s a classic line from The Sound of Music where Maria says that “when the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window.” It’s a bit of cheesy blind faith, sure, but sometimes it can’t help but veer dangerously close to reality. Exhibit A: The closed doors. In 2011, Canadian post-hardcore band Alexisonfire announced their demises after ten years and four albums, and Gallows’ outspoken and ruthlessly aggressive frontman Frank Carter announced his departure from the band, leaving the future of the British hardcore punks in grave uncertainty. Exhibit B: The opened window. Shortly after both of these announcements, it was announced that Gallows had found a new lead singer: Former guitarist and vocalist of Alexisonfire, Wade MacNeil. A strange enough cross-over, but certainly not one that was written in the stars – at least, not from Wade’s perspective.

“I’ve always had a weird relationship with the band,” he says on the line from Toronto. “I remember the first time I met the bass player, Stu [Gili-Ross], at a bar in England, we almost had a fight!” He laughs at this memory, noting that Gili-Ross has gone on to become one of his closest friends. He continues to speak of Alexis and Gallows touring together around two years ago, where the earliest seeds of Gallows 2.0 were planted: “I remember the last time I did Soundwave,” he says, ‘I was walking through Melbourne with Frank [Carter], and he was telling me how he wanted to quit the band. His heart just wasn’t in it. There was absolutely no fucking way at the time I would have ever thought I was going to take that guy’s job!”

And yet, here we are, in 2012, with Wade doing exactly that; joining Gili-Ross, guitarist Lags Barnard, drummer Lee Barratt and Frank’s brother, guitarist Steph. The new line-up immediately set to work, quickly silencing their critics with a blistering EP, Death is Birth, and some of the band’s most chaotic live shows to date. “Everyone’s happy with the way things have panned out,” enthuses MacNeil. “I’m definitely happy that this band is still around, because they’re definitely not done writing songs.” As for the criticism that he has drawn, the 28-year-old couldn’t care less. “Gallows is the sum of its parts,” he affirms, “and we don’t care about any of the bitching that goes on. That’s always going to happen. I mean, you’re from Australia – I’m sure AC/DC still get it all the time, thirty years on or something like that!”

Of course, being with Gallows for just over a year has come with its various rough patches and tribulations. Not that it’s let Wade lose sight of what he wants out of his new career path – in fact, it’s invigorated him further. ““At the beginning stages, it was such a whirlwind, y’know?” he says as he recalls the first few months of frontman duties. “I think that’s why it’s worked, in a lot of ways. We had the studio time booked and then the tour a few weeks later – and I was pulling my hair out!” Because of this, MacNeil sees the band’s first recorded effort with their new line-up very much a result of trial and error, as well as being a product of its environment. “I very much look at the Death is Birth EP as a demo, just a scratch of what we were trying to do at the start,” he says.

By means of contrast, the band’s debut self-titled effort, released this month, has seen the new Gallows come into their own; creating an album that’s forthright, unapologetic and plate-shiftingly heavy. “I think with the new record, it’s a little more calculated,” says Wade. “At the same time, though, we didn’t over think things. If something wasn’t working, we’d just fuck it off straight away. It’s the record I’ve always wanted to make. It’s the record the boys have always wanted to make. That’s why it’s self-titled. It’s the best representation of what this band was always supposed to have been. I know that’s a bold statement, but… fuck off!”

He laughs at his last little outburst at his critics, but one can’t help but feel it comes from a place of great vitriol and frustration. Like it or not, Gallows are here to stay.

INTERVIEW: Diafrix (AUS), September 2012

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

I knew very little about Diafrix prior to actually interviewing them. That’s probably a recurring thing from this point on in my writing; a lot of “Hey, want to speak to [x]?” and me going “Yeah, why not.” I’m quite happy I did this one – I really like what Diafrix are about, and I think having more notable people of colour in Australian hip-hop is always an important part of the progression of it here. You’ll see in the interview, anyway. It’s not too bad, I don’t think.

– DJY, December 2014

***

It’s a long-serving and tirelessly true phrase of hip-hop that goes along the lines of “it’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re at.” Much has been made of where Diafrix are from – both members are of African descent, refugees that met at a workshop in Melbourne nearly ten years ago. Where they’re at, however, is now a different matter entirely: They’re one of Australia’s most ambitious and interesting hip-hop groups, currently readying their second studio album, Pocket Full of Dreams.

“It’s definitely very different from our first album,” says Momo. It’s still got Diafrix all over it, though. We wouldn’t really know how to achieve anything else.” He elaborates further on just how far the group have come since their last album: “I think we’ve changed sonically more than anything. It was pretty much a new chapter for us – Concrete Jungle had already said what we wanted to say at the time, and we’re still very much a part of that album. We really wanted to tackle this album in a really different way.”

Of course, they don’t call it the Difficult Second Album for nothing. If it hadn’t been for a change of heart regarding the songs on the album, we may have ended up with a completely different version of Pocket Full of Dreams altogether – one that Momo would not have even been close to as satisfied with in comparison to what was ultimately achieved. “It’s funny – this record was more or less done twice,” he begins to elaborate with a slight incredulous laugh. “What happened was that we were making all these songs – about twelve or thirteen of them – and although we were digging them, they just didn’t feel 100%. The concepts were all cool and everything, but it just didn’t feel like where we wanted to take the album. So we started over again: Brand new concepts, none of the songs were rewritten bar one. We more or less just made a whole new album. It expands over a good year or so, and it definitely feels like we’ve made two albums.”

The album brings in a myriad of guests, from go-to rnb hook man Dwele and Australian Idol winner Stan Walker to local MCs like 360 and N’Fa. It was a huge part of the album’s creation for Momo – “I grew UP listening to Dwele!” he enthuses at one point – but he also makes note of the fact it was just as important for the guests as it was for Diafrix. “All the collaborations that we’ve done on here, everyone that we got to be a part of the record – I’m really happy with it,” he says. “Bringing them all in meant that we were sharing the experiences with them, learning from them and vice versa. It really meant a lot to us as a group.”

He continues: ““I’m more about individuals as artists, and what they bring to the table. You could have someone that’s a rapper, but you get them to sing a hook and they could do it better than someone that’s an actual singer – all depending on what you want to get out of the song.”

Of course, having relatively “mainstream” guests on the album like 360, Walker and Daniel Merriweather will always get a cry of ‘sell-out’ from hip-hop’s highest ranks of snobbery. The album’s slick production is certain not to sit well with some more alternative fans. It’s something that’s brought up after Momo makes a bold statement about exactly what he likes to add into his music. “I need soul in my music. No matter what style of music it is that I’m listening to, I’m all about the soul – the music I listen to has to have it.” So, how do you achieve “soul” of any kind through shiny production and Idol guests? Simple, really – it’s all in the producer.

“What made that [having “soul” on the album] very easy was Stylez Fuego,” says Momo. “The dude is prolific – the thing I love about him is that he is one of a few producers that can take tracks from a certain level and make it appeal to a much bigger crowd, while still keeping that soul in there. I think that’s really rare these days. People get confused about it, but it’s all a matter of channelling it the right way. He knows what sounds good, and his musical knowledge can be heard through what he creates.”

Pocket Full of Dreams comes at an interesting time for hip-hop, both full of bold experimentation and risk-taking, as well as it arguably being a more viable and influential product than ever. Diafrix have seen a lot come and go in their nine years as a group, but they maintain that they wish to keep as positive an out look on the Australian community as possible – regardless of who rolls with what clique.

“From the get-go,” he begins, “when hip-hop was still relatively fresh and young on the scene – the only act that was really up at the top was Hilltop Hoods, and there was a massive drop-off after that. We always stood on our own feet and created our own music. We’re really not a cliquey group – we just want to be a part of hip-hop in Australia. If a group gives us love, we will always show love back.”

Recently on Facebook, Diafrix called for there to be more festivals dedicated entirely to Australian hip-hop. Momo feels that, while things like Come Together and Sprung are great, there’s even more waiting for us around the corner. “We’re watching hip-hop really growing right now – there needs to be more festivals and more tours coming through,” he says both definitively and excitedly. “Rather than having festivals where it’s just a novelty of having just a few hip-hop artists, it’d be great to see more dedicated festivals like Sprung, which is making a lot of noise for everyone. Why wouldn’t we celebrate our music? What’s being created in our own backyard?” It’s tough to argue with him – and even tougher to not have nothing but Diafrix love.

INTERVIEW: The Gaslight Anthem (USA), August 2012

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

I picked up a little work over at Pages Digital – specifically, its subset of Groupie Magazine – through an old uni connection. Although there were problems toward the end relating to overdue payments, I still got to pick up some interesting work in newswriting and the occasional feature. I was quite looking forward to this interview, as the band’s Handwritten album had been one of my favourite records of the year. I was, however, planning on speaking with Brian Fallon. When I was told that I’d be speaking to the band’s guitarist, Alex, instead; I couldn’t hide my disappointment. Didn’t help that the guy was honestly a bit of a dick, too. Maybe we caught one another on a bad day, but I’d love a second chance to do a Gaslight feature. Someday…

– DJY, December 2014

***

Take small-town good nature, rock & roll radio and a new generation of twentysomethings trying to make sense of it all. Mix it together and turn the amps up to eleven and you’ll get a rough idea of what New Jersey band The Gaslight Anthem are all about. On their fourth studio album, Handwritten, the band continue to expand on their punk and heartland rock background, creating a definitive effort that cements their status as one of the most important working rock bands in the world today. It’s an album that evokes feelings of hope, love, loss, sorrow, regret and nostalgia; and certainly a record that evokes a strong response from the band’s fanbase.

In a recent interview, the band’s lead singer, Brian Fallon, compared the process of creating an album to a photograph, capturing a period of one’s life with a permanent fixture. However, this may have simply just been a throwaway comment: An attempt to engage the band’s guitarist, Alex Rosamilia, with an elaboration on this metaphor – perhaps as to what kind of photograph Handwritten is – are ultimately futile. “I dunno, man,” he says.” I’m pretty sure what Brian meant by that is that the whole record cycle can be taken as one section and then you move on to the next section. It’s just that whole bit, y’know what I mean? It’s almost like you can break parts of your life off into segments, make new chapters…” He ultimately trails off, perhaps confused by the question.

Although this attempt to pick Rosamilia’s brain proves fruitless, he comes to open up further about his connection to Handwritten as an album as the interview progresses. “I guess the biggest thing that comes to mind about the album is that I’m proud of it,” he comments at one stage, sounding focused and enthused. “I really love this record – I’ve never been happier with anything we’ve ever done before. We were kind of in the right mindset when we went in to make it, and we’re obviously better at our instruments now than when we first started.”

He continues, discussing how naturally the record came together. “Everything was in the right place at the right time – and not to sound pompous, but it all felt really effortless. Not in the sense that it was easy to do, but there was no point where anyone in the band was really fighting against what was happening.” As to what exactly it was that made the band feel so easy-going and confident during what is often a stressful time for bands? “We decided we wanted to have fun with it,” Alex affirms. “Being signed to a major label and all, we really didn’t want to put the excess pressure on ourselves. We just went in and wrote some fast, upbeat songs; and then tried to balance that out with some slower ones. I think writing a lot also helped with our attitude towards what we were doing – it felt great to have too much as opposed to not enough, to narrow it down to the eleven that made it on.”

Handwritten is a remarkable effort, one that’s bound to end up at the pointy end of countless end-of-year lists – and, naturally, the band’s return to Australia couldn’t come sooner. Alex is similarly excited to return, but tells fans not to hold their breath. “We don’t have anything planned yet. I know we’re trying to get down there as soon as possible, so we’re hoping for early next year. Australia is pretty much paradise for a guy like me from New Jersey.”

INTERVIEW: Tonight Alive (AUS), August 2013

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

This was my first interview for BLUNT, and I was quite lucky in that it was with someone I know quite well and have quite a bond with. There was a time where my world revolved around Tonight Alive — I met so many awesome people through their shows, and they toured so often that a lot of said friends and I would double and triple up on shows to see them as many times as possible. It was a time to be alive, I’ll tell you what for. I’ll probably explain more about it when I get to their Ten Timers’ Club entry, but just know that I love this band and couldn’t be prouder of their successes. 

Jenna’s a very smart young woman and she’s making a difference in a lot of people’s lives through her music. So I’m quite proud we got to talk about it a couple of years after meeting her for the first time.

***

When you’re a big fish in a little pond, it’s important to make the jump before you’re stuck there for good. For many Australian bands over the years – ranging from The Birthday Party and The Go-Betweens up to current acts like The Drones and Royal Headache – the most important part of their career was forging a name overseas to finally receive the respect deserved in their homeland. Although they’re not quite within the same spectrum as your Nick Caves or your Gareth Liddiards, this logic could easily be applied to Tonight Alive.

After humble beginnings in 2008 in Sydney’s northern suburbs, the five-piece took to every pub, club and PCYC you could think of; picking up international support slots and a slew of high-stature gigs without even an album to their name. Of course, once their Mark Trombino-produced debut was released, 2011’s What Are You So Scared Of?, the big fish jumped. With a fanbase stretching from New York to Jakarta, the band’s international presence has undeniably risen – and it’s something that has even taken the band aback somewhat.

“We did everything that we could without a label and without management when we were starting out,” says lead vocalist Jenna McDougall, who was all of sixteen when the band formed. “Even when we did get both of those things and started getting more of those big support slots, you can get into such a loop in Australia. You keep playing the same venues, and you keep struggling to get radio play. It’s difficult to get any further off the ground. We knew straight away that we had to branch out. It was always a goal of ours to tour internationally, but now it’s become a priority. It’s going to be really interesting to return to Australia in September to see what’s changed there.”

By the time the band gets back to Australia, they will have released their second studio album, entitled The Other Side. Comparisons between the record and their debut will inevitably be drawn, but it is certainly worth considering that the band put roughly three years of work into WAYSSO?, including re-recorded songs from their earlier releases. This album sees the band starting from scratch, and McDougall herself is the first to admit that it proved to be one of the greatest challenges when creating the material that would end up on the album.

“It really is true what they say about having a lifetime to write your first album and roughly a year to write your second,” she says. “A lot of the songs from What Are You So Scared Of? come from when we were either in high school or from when we were fresh out of high school, barely even established as a touring band. We didn’t really know enough about ourselves as musicians or as people to write a record that was going to…” She trails off at this point, perhaps unable to properly describe what she means to say. It’s only a temporary lull in the conversation, though, as she picks up once again. “I guess we didn’t really have the experience that we do now, and I think that’s really affected the songwriting.”

“We wrote this album over two years,” she continues. “In that time, naturally I faced a lot of new challenges and experiences. It was kind of like being thrown in the deep end a lot of the time, and having no clue how to handle things. I’ve learned a lot about myself as a person in that time, and the lyrics have become a lot more honest. If you look back at a lot of our older songs, there’s a bit of love and a bit of relationship stuff… it’s all quite exterior things. The songs on the new record, though, come from the deepest, darkest place. I’m not talking about death or passing or acceptance in that sense on this album, but I went through my first real break-up that opened my eyes to a lot of things. There are a few songs on the record that are me coming to terms with that, as I really wanted to share that with people. I think it’s quite relatable.”

The Other Side saw the band – completed by drummer Matt Best, bassist Cameron Adler and guitarists Jake Hardy & Whakaio Taahi – return to working with producer Dave Petrovic. As Jenna herself points out, Petrovic has worked on every Tonight Alive recording to date, either as a mixer or producer, with the exception of What Are You So Scared Of? She even considers him “the sixth member of Tonight Alive.” It’s a curious contrast – a band attempting to establish a new sound and style collaborating with such a prominent figure of their past. In this instance, however, it feels more as though the band are coming full circle.

“The whole idea of doing What Are You So Scared Of? with Mark was to break and see what we were capable of. It was a really good experience for us, and it really changed us as a band. When we were writing these new songs, though, we all knew that we wanted to work with Dave again. We have a really strong connection with him, a real chemistry… it just seemed to be the right thing to do. And it was – the album really wouldn’t have been the same without him.”

At the time of writing, Jenna and co. are in the middle of the Warped Tour, which they will also be a part of when it reaches Australia in December. It’s somewhat notorious for its gruelling nature, packing in dozens of shows across the country on an impeccably tight schedule. This marks their second go-around with the festival, where they are appearing on the DOMO stage alongside acts like Big D and the Kids Table, The Early November and even fellow Australians Hands Like Houses. The question has to be asked, given it’s an unforgiving and extensive run of dates, whether cabin fever has set in by playing the same set every day.

While McDougall doesn’t wish to dwell too long on the struggles of live touring – “I don’t like putting negative stuff out there in the foreground,” she says – she does confess to a struggle in keeping up with the tour’s demands. “It’s not that I don’t like to play live – it’s what I love. It’s just the constant performing can almost make you feel like you’re turning on a switch. I’m still stuck in this routine of playing for half-an-hour every day, so I’m pretty excited to break it up once we start doing our own tour. The new album cycle is really exciting for us,” says McDougall.

Being one of the first major victims of “comparamoring” – a lazy, sexist barb in which any and all female-fronted pop-punk bands are accused of ripping off Paramore – the band have silenced the majority of their critics and developed a devoted audience in their own right, from people following their extensive tours to anonymously writing disturbing fan-fiction (ask any Tonight Alive fan about the phrase “majestic dolphin” at your own peril). Perhaps the most notable aspect of the evolution of Tonight Alive, however, is Jenna herself becoming somewhat of a role model to younger music fans, particularly Australian girls that may someday wish to start their own band.

“I can remember being eleven years old, sitting on my bed trying to write my first-ever song on the classical acoustic guitar that I learned how to play on,” she says. “I don’t know why I started saying it, but I said that I wanted to help people that need help. I didn’t really think of it again until maybe a couple of years ago, when I realised that our music was starting to somehow affect people; changing not so much their life, but maybe their direction or perspective. That’s really important to me. I do feel responsible for our fans in that sense – today, I read a few letters that we’ve been given on tour. Jesus Christ, some of them are super heavy. If you can mean so much to someone, it feels like you’re doing something right. It certainly puts things into perspective – I can be really shitty, and then open a letter from a fan and start to think that this is where I’m meant to be.”

She takes a deep breath, and adds succinctly: “It all makes sense again.”

INTERVIEW: Jae Laffer (AUS), September 2013

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews


This was the first feature that I wrote for the BRAG, and there’s many happy returns where that came from. So far, I’ve done dozens of features for them; including seven cover stories that I’m really happy with. Obviously, we’ll get to them before you know it. Let’s get back to this, as I had a chat with the perfectly charming frontman of The Panics. Seriously underrated band if you ask me – even if, for many, they live and die by that song. This was in promotion of his perfectly charming solo album. Painless interview. Good one to start with for a place I’m still very proud and happy to be writing for.

– DJY, December 2014

***

2013 not only marks the release of Jae Laffer’s debut solo album, it also marks a milestone of ten years since the release of A House on a Street in a Town I’m From, the debut album from Laffer’s day job, The Panics. Jae exudes a sense of pride at what the band achieved – particularly at such an early age.

“It reminds me of that time in your life when you’re waking up out of being a dreamer in high school,” he says. “I listen to that album and I hear myself crazily imitating all of my heroes. It’s so exciting, though – and when it starts catching on, it’s the most invigorating feeling. There’s a great energy, and that’s the great thing about the kind of music you make when you’re in your teens – it’s naïve, but it’s not afraid of anything.”

The Panics have been on an extended break following the release of their 2011 album Rain on the Humming Wire. In that time, Laffer has been hard at work on When the Iron Glows Red – an earnest slice of folk-rock full of warm harmonies, strident acoustic guitar and a new-found sense of purpose. Laffer felt that Iron was an album that he had to make.

“I just wanted to test the waters,” he explains. “I’ve gotten to the stage where the band and I want to change up what we do and start afresh. We’re still very close, but I also wanted to keep up creativity on all fronts.”

“I felt it was a good time to do this album,” he continues. “After the last Panics album took a little longer than we wanted, it certainly had its particular stresses here and there. All I really wanted to do before starting on any new Panics stuff was just to show myself that I could create an atmosphere, write a whole bunch of songs really quickly and record them. For many years of compromising, it just felt great to be freely creative for creativity’s sake and take control of a record – produce it, play most of the stuff on it. It just felt good, and it worked.”

Laffer points to two iconic figures – John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen – as being greatly influential on the sound of Iron. “I think a lot of what I was listening to was reflecting being thirty years old and having new kinds of pressures in life,” he says. “It’s that struggle of trying to keep our dreams alive and not compromising too much, not letting things stop you from being your true self. So I found myself really relating to the worker’s ballads of Springsteen and Lennon crazily talking so abruptly about his relationship. I might not be up there with those guys, but it’s just that kind of feeling that resonated with me.”

The album will be launched with a national tour, starting in mid-October in Melbourne and winding up with a Sydney date in early November. Laffer will be joined by a four-piece backing band, and promises a mix of new solo material and some Panics favourites. Don’t worry about backlash should you request ‘Don’t Fight It,’ either – against all odds, Jae is at peace with The Panics’ biggest single.

“It’s just a cool song,” he says calmly. “As far as having a track that sums you up to people, then I feel ‘Don’t Fight It’ puts our reputation in good hands. It’s got a certain something to it… I’ll always be proud of it.”

INTERVIEW: Shout Out Louds (SWE), May 2013

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

This ended up being the last feature article I did for the AU Review. No bad blood there at all – Larry is a genuine product, and one of the best dudes in the industry. Built up a site out of essentially nothing and gave so many great writers and photographers a leg up when few other places would – myself included. Was very happy to write for this site for the four years that I did. I also think this was a pretty decent one to go out on – Adam is very polite (he’s Swedish, of course he is) and gave a great insight into what I feel were a very underrated band in their time.

– DJY, October 2014

***

The Shout Out Louds are keeping a deep, dark secret amongst their ranks. Around the mid-2000s, the band rode a wave of European indie rock bands roaring through a renaissance of cool; with soundtrack features, hit singles and world tours for all. While many bands from that period essentially burnt out, splitting with major labels and disbanding, Shout Out Louds just kept working away. They kept the exact same line-up, they never had any major public spats, they released consistently good records (including this year’s Optica) and they never compromised for anyone or anything. The facts don’t lie, and when they’re presented to the band’s lead singer, Adam Olenius, he’s simply asked one question: What’s their secret?

“I don’t really even know if there is one,” he laughs. “We were friends before we even started making albums. That was the main thing – we came together because we were friends. It’s hard to let go of something when you have such a strong, deep connection with your bandmates. Even though we’ve always been touring and still have people coming to see us all around the world, maybe the fact we didn’t really explode in the way that some of the other bands did… maybe it helped us stay hungry and want to stay creative. We’re still good friends, y’know? We still feel as though we have records to make and things to achieve.”

Optica is the band’s fourth album, which comes three years after its predecessor, Work. It was released in the first quarter of the year, and has already received some of the most glowing reviews of the band’s career. It’s a lush, intimate and engaging pop record, which sees the group – Olenius, keyboardist/vocalist Bebban Stenborg, guitarist Carl von Arbin, drummer Eric Edman and bassist Ted Malmros – expanding their palette and bringing some new, interesting sounds to the table. Although Adam still takes the central role of lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary lyricist/songwriter, he definitely feels as though the collective energy and force of the group is what makes the album so worthwhile.

“We were always so stuck in our own roles,” he says. “We had our own little bubble going for awhile. I have to say, though, on this record, everyone has been so much more involved. We produced this one ourselves, and it made us… I dunno, a little more passionate about being in a band. The attitude of this record is pretty strong, I feel. A lot of the songs were written in the studio, which is a little unusual in our group. Normally, I have a pretty solid idea of what I want out of the song, but going into the studio there were a lot of little fragments of ideas. I’d show them to the others, and we’d play around with them accordingly. This was the first time we didn’t go into our rehearsal space with this ideas as – like I said – we didn’t want to get stuck in our own roles again.”

“Every album we’ve done since our debut is a reaction to the album prior to it, he continues. “The Work album, which came out three years ago, was created very traditionally. We rehearsed the songs for about six or seven months, and then we went to the studio for two months – then, it was done. This time, we more or less did it the other way around. Who knows, next time might end up being completely different!” Adam points to one of the album’s highlights, “Blue Eyes,” as a song which sparked the creative process.

“The original version of that song was a fast track – it had a bit of a Sonic Youth feel to it!” he recalls. “We felt that it couldn’t really go anywhere, but we still wanted to do something with it. When we started playing it again in the studio, we started trying it out on different instruments and taking it down a step. We found that the groove sounds like a private jet landing at an airport! When that song came together, we really knew that we could create something unique with only a few elements. Even though it sounds very different to the other tracks, it really set the scene for the creative process.”

2013 has already seen the band touring extensively in support of Optica, which leads to a line of questioning regarding their return to Australia. Olenius has fond memories of the band’s previous tour, which took in the 2010 and 2011 new year period, including a spot at the sadly now-defunct Peats Ridge festival. “That place was like in the middle of the forest!” he exclaims. “It felt like we were playing in medieval times or something, that was a truly magical little spot.” As for when we can expect the band to come and play Optica for us in Australia again? “We’re going to try for a similar timeframe as last time around, so either very late this year or very early next year is the plan. It might be part of a festival, it might not. All we know is that we’re definitely looking forward to visiting you guys as soon as possible. We’ve always had a great relationship with you guys.” Ahh, those Swedes – always so charming!

INTERVIEW: Paul McDermott (AUS), April 2013

Posted on by David James Young in Interviews

A bit like the Patience Hodgson interview, this was a challenge insofar as I had to interview someone very well known for one thing about something else. I really enjoyed that aspect of it, however – Paul was a wonderful guy to interview. He’s someone that I grew up watching, so it was borderline surreal to be able to speak one-on-one with someone I’d come to love and respect over fifteen years. Another feature where I genuinely think it’s one of the better ones I’ve done.

– DJY, October 2014

***

If there’s two things you can instantly remember about Paul McDermott – his ultimate distinguishing features, if you will – it’s that he’s one of Australia’s all-time great funnymen and he’s got a tremendous set of pipes. After roughly thirty years of focusing primarily on the former, McDermott’s new stage show, simply titled Paul Sings, brings attention to the latter in its first proper outing. For the first time ever, Paul has put together a show of all-original material, ranging from the confessional “Bottle” to the love-lorn “Slow Ride Home.” With all of this in mind, one would think that singing had been a part of McDermott’s life from the very beginning. He is, however, quick to point out that it was never really a part of his life until he formed the infamous Doug Anthony All-Stars alongside Tim Ferguson and Richard Fidler.

“I’ve always sung to myself,” he says, on the line from Melbourne in the middle of a busy week at the Comedy Festival. “As a kid, I remember just singing to myself and singing at church with my mother. There was nothing at school, though – I wasn’t part of the choir, I never learned an instrument. I didn’t really start singing publicly until I joined up with the All-Stars, and we started busking. I never thought singing as a career was a reality in any way, so it was quite a weird set of circumstances that lead to it.”

The rest, as they say, is history. After 10 years with the All-Stars, McDermott moved onto hosting Good News Week in both its original 90s run and its 2000s revival; as well as Triple J breakfast hosting alongside longtime collaborator Mikey Robins. He formed GUD alongside notable Australian musicians Mick Moriaty (The Gadflys) and Cameron Bruce (Paul Kelly, Washington, Club Luna Band); who had a substantial run at festivals and the like throughout the first half of the 2000s. On the ABC, he also hosted The Sideshow, a variety/cabaret program which ran for one season in 2007 before unfortunately being cancelled. One thing that did come from The Sideshow of particular note was a slab of original songs, written and performed by McDermott near the end of the episode. With this in mind, it’s easy to imagine the daunting task of putting together the setlist for these shows, narrowing down a myriad of material over the years down to just 90 minutes’ worth.

“It’s been an interest process,” he admits. “With this show, we’ve just been trying to narrow it down to the sweet songs. We used to do this thing in the All-Stars when about three-quarters of the way through the show, we’d do a song like “[Heard It Through the] Grapevine,” “Throw Your Arms Around Me” or “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” They were always used as a counterpoint to the more visceral, grotesque comedy that we were doing. They affected people in a different way. This show is like a collection of those ideas, but they’re all original songs – songs that came from the end of The Sideshow, songs that were occasionally put in Good News Week or GNW Night Lite, or even songs that were in the [Comedy Festival] Debates. It’s taken us awhile to collect them, and we’ve only really found about half of them!”

Given that Paul Sings is a notably more sincere and – dare it be said – “serious” show in comparison to previous McDermott productions, the question must be asked: Is it difficult for people to keep a straight face at a comedy festival show? “The reaction has been quite phenomenal, really,” says Paul in response. “The reaction to the songs has been great. I do get to chat a bit with the audience between the songs – I guess that could be considered comedy. I think we strike a good balance, overall. People have been very complimentary about this show, which is really nice.”

Despite the title of Paul Sings, McDermott is also very quick to point out that he’s definitely not alone on this venture. Joining him will be a four-piece backing band, of whom he cannot speak high enough praises. On bass is Thirsty Merc alumni Phil Stack, who Paul describes as “the missing piece – his vocals are just perfect, and he has such great ideas.” On drums is Evan Mannell (“I’ve been calling him the Bison – he hits those skins like he hates them!”); and the two are joined by guitarist Patch Brown (“I don’t know why he isn’t the biggest thing in the world yet – he’s a superstar!”) and keyboard/accordion player Stu Hunter (“He’s done such wonderful things with these arrangements, what a brilliant musician!”).

There’s an overwhelming sense of pride in McDermott’s tone when he discusses how Paul Sings has come together – it’s already received rave reviews at the Fringe in Paul’s hometown of Adelaide, as well as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. In two weeks, the show will come to the Sydney Comedy Festival for two nights only, at The Concourse in Chatswood and the Enmore Theatre in Newtown. McDermott himself is particularly fond of the latter – “Oh, I haven’t played there in a thousand years!” he reminisces. “What a beautiful venue. We can’t wait to come and play.”

Oh, one last thing, Paul: Any chance of an encore of “I Fuck Dogs”?

“People are ALWAYS after that particular classic,” he says with a laugh.