Heavy Music Magazine Issue #7

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ISSUE 7 $9.95 inc.gst ISSN 1839-5546

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issue 07

contents

published Quarterly in 2013

• features •

10 King Parrot

Get in the cage with brutal Aussie bastards King Parrot, and find out what’s behind the beak.

14 LAMB OF GOD

One of the world’s biggest metal bands talks about the road to recovery after ‘that trial’.

16 International Features

Heavy Amon Amarth, DevilDriver, MSI, Tesseract, Chimaira, The Black Dahlia Murder, Dark Tranquillity, Monster Truck, Letlive, Fear Factory, Nile and Zebrahead.

28 Loud Ink

From Kiss to Metallica, take a journey through the history of rock’n’roll comics.

printed & produced in australia 4

30 Oz Features

Toe to Toe, Sydonia, Claim the Throne, Bellusira, Black Majesty, Paper Arms.

32 Chrissy Amphlett RIP

Celebrate the wonderful career of the enigmatic Divinyls singer in this pictorial tribute.

40 Heavy Legends

Fear Factory

Deep Purple and Dreadnaught attain HEAVY legend status this month.

44 Tatts in the Workplace

Does getting inked still jeopardise one’s chance of getting a job?

Paper Arms

52 Industry Insight

Visit Eureka Rebellion Trading and sit in on sessions with Dito Godwin and James Lugo.

61 Dotted Lines

Get much needed legal advice on APRA, copyright licence agreements and touring Australia.

Nile

culprits Executive editor & publisher Olivia Reppas editor Nick Lord Art Director Peter Falkous Publishing Consultant Effie Dimitropoulos 186Red Pty Ltd ASSISTANT SUBS Tennille Secomb Amanda Mason COVER PHOTO Jay Hynes Distribution Gordon & Gotch Printing Blue Star Group (Printed in Australia) Specialist contributors Rob Brens – drums Drew Dedman – bass Dito Godwin – production Dave Higgins – airwaves Amanda Mason – legal Doug Steele – guitar

Chrissy Amphlett

Got a smartphone? By that I mean an iPhone or an Android? If so, this magazine you’re holding is about to come alive with HEAVY music!

But first you’ll need a QR code reader, and we recommend you download the FREE Digimarc Discover app from iTunes, or wherever else you can get your hands on it.

By simply holding your smartphone about 6-10cm above a QR code (ie. that Lego nightmare looking thing above) you can instantly access songs (and/or videos) on that same band you’ve just been reading about. Pretty cool, eh!?

It’s a whole new magazine reading experience. Enjoy!

Contributors this issue Angela Allan Rob Brens Nathan Eden Billy Geary David Griffiths Nick Lord Simon Lukic Fabio Marraccini Amanda Mason Anthony Moore Damo Musclecar Will Oakeshott Stuart Ripper Brad Rogerson Mandi Santic Nelli Scarlet Tennille Secomb John Stockman Sheri Tantawy Justin Tawil Tom Valcanis Vix Vile Josh Voce Rod Whitfield Advertising Enquiries sales@heavymag.com.au +61 (0)402 856 632 HEAVY Music Magazine is Published by MLM Media Pty Ltd PO Box 1313 Lalor VIC 3075 ACN 151 654 330 The opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Publisher MLM Media Pty Ltd or Editor. All statements made, although based on information believed to be reliable and accurate, cannot be guaranteed and no fault or liability can be accepted for any error or omission. All material published in this magazine are subject to copyright provisions and cannot be reproduced, in part or whole, without the written permission of the Publisher. All rights reserved.

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ou’ve probably worked out by now that I’m not Olivia Reppas, the resplendent beauty who normally graces this page. Before you panic and hack the eyes of my picture with a rusty nail file, let me assure you that our first lady is indeed alive and well; she’s simply working hard behind the scenes on a whole raft of events that HEAVY is bringing to the live music arena in the near future.

Of immediate interest to all and sundry is Brew Tality 2013, an agglomeration of micro-brewed beer and Melbourne hardrock/ metal conjured up by our resourceful and fleetfooted event co-ordinator extraordinaire, Mr. Jay Clair. Set to dominate two venues and three stages on Saturday 12 October, 27 bands have signed on already and more will be announced in coming weeks. Head on over to Facebook and search ‘Brew Tality’ to get the latest info on what should be one of the live gig showcases of 2013.

HEAVY remains fiercely proud of Australia’s rich musical heritage, and dedicates large sections of every issue to supporting Australian bands. Hell, have you seen our cover lately? I challenge you to name another magazine that squawks with King Parrot, dances with Bellusira, squares up with

Toe to Toe, jousts with Claim the Throne, casts incantations with Black Majesty and hugs Paper Arms all in the one issue.

Add exclusive interviews with international metal giants Lamb of God, Amon Amarth, Tesseract, MSI, DevilDriver, Chimaira, Nile and half a dozen others, as well as columns with entrenched industry insiders, leading session musicians and cunning legal experts, and we think there’s enough in here to keep you going until Issue 08. If not, you can always hit heavymag.com.au for our exclusive web-only content, updated daily.

So pour yourself a cup of Joe, kick off those black boots and spend some time reading another contentpacked issue of Australia’s foremost metal and hard rock magazine.

– Nick Lord

Photo: Nelli Scarlet

Subscribe to HEAVY for just $35 for four issues and enter the draw to win a Frankenbok Live DVD and t-shirt pack or a copy of Pentagram documentary Last Days Here.

Email: subscribe@heavymag.com.au today.

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shrapnel shards of metal

DINE BY THE SWORDS

Following on from last month’s Number of the Feast feature by our own Amanda Mason comes news of a restaurant in Osaka, Japan that is serving up liberal helpings of Slayer with a variety of curries, which is kinda weird because Japan is not known for either really.

Calayer (what one gets when they blend the words ‘curry’ and ‘Slayer’) is no servant to Japanese cuisine, however, offering a mix of Indian and Pakistani dishes that are sure to make it the drop-in hotspot for every famished metalhead who passes, thanks to instantly-recognisable Slayerinspired signage.

Here’s what we think a menu might look like:

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shrapnel shards of metal

ers

Manowar Anthology Anthology is a compilation by the New York heavy metal stud muffins Manowar. As is typical of a Manowar album cover, Anthology features the four muscular members of the band rocking some super sexy cave man gear (furry jocks? Hello ladies!) and greased up like they’re going to a Crisco Disco – Google with caution if you’re unsure what a Crisco Disco is, thanks to our editor for informing me that such a thing exists. [You love it – Ed.] And just look at that ‘70s porn ‘stache on Scott Columbus – it really increases the cover’s sex appeal by the power of infinity.

Abscess Urine Junkies Californian death metal band Abscess released this delightfullycovered compilation album in 1995, which features two sets of hands sucking urine up into a syringe – a repulsive visual display made worse by the mental image conjured up by the album title.

According to a review on Encyclopaedia Metallum, Urine Junkies is the kind of album that can give you a hard on and creep you out at the same time, but judging by

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the cover art, I’d say the hard on is definitely optional.

The Handsome Beasts Beastiality The Handsome Beasts, part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, released Beastiality way back in ’81.

The cover features a big, fat, hairy porker... who happens to be sitting next to a pig. The cover in itself isn’t too bad; it’s the unappealing mental imagery conjured up by the title that makes me too scared to listen to the album for fear that it contains the sound of that man and his pig makin’ bacon.

Dethkorpz Metal Tit Dethkorpz, hailing from the US, have released a number of albums with quality covers featuring rudimentary drawings, but Metal Tit is the best at being the worst. Not only does Metal Tit have a totes classy name, it also features a stunning outline drawing of what appears to be a breastshaped army tank with snowballs for wheels that one can only assume is a metal tit. If you like the cover of Metal Tit, visit dethkorpz.com to enjoy the visual splendour of their other albums along with their tacky ‘90s website that has so much

scrolling text and gif animation that you’re likely to have a seizure before you reach the discography page.

Madam X We Reserve the Right We Reserve the Right is the debut album of US glam metal band Madam X, of which Sebastian Bach was briefly a member during the late ‘80s. The cover features the four members of the band, who appear to be ladies until closer inspection reveals one’s man boob and pesky bulge. The chick that looks like Frankenfurter from Rocky Horror Picture Show, second from the left, is also a dude. The one in denim really ruins the uniformity of the cover; he should have donned the Frankie look just like the other she-male did. It also looks like he neglected to wear underwear – the tear down the side and the tightness of those jeans doesn’t leave much to the imagination.

Vice Made For Pleasure German hard rock band Vice released Made for Pleasure in ’88 with a cover that just screams ‘eighties’. With teased bleachedblonde hair, fluoro colours, midriff tops and dudes that look like

chicks, this cover has it all. With visual stimulation about to reach sensory overload, there’s nothing more that needs to be said on this one.

Lord Gore The Autophagous Orgy US death metallers Lord Gore released The Autophagous Orgy with its near indescribable cover art in 2002. To add some context to the artwork, autophagous is an adaption of the word autophagy, from the Greek ‘auto’, meaning self, and ‘phagia’, meaning to eat. And I think we all know what orgy means. When used scientifically, autophagy refers to the way the body breaks down its own cells for energy when starving; however, when used by Lord Gore, the alternate, more literal meaning is probably intended – to eat one’s self, aka self-cannibalism.

The cover depicts a bevy of girls drawn in Japanese manga style who are covered in blood, entrails all over the place, and are eating themselves, which is why it is quite possibly the worst album cover in the history of the universe. Is it wrong that it gives me a hankerin’ for some big ol’ juicy, BBQ beef ribs?

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shrapnel shards of metal

Chart attack Burzum’s one-man headline Kristian ‘Varg’ Vikernes was in the papers again during July, arrested in France for suspectedly planning a terrorist attack after his wife (legally) purchased four firearms. Vikernes was released shortly after prosecutors found no evidence of a terrorist plot but was charged instead with inciting racial hatred. Anyway, this got us thinking about some of the other metal musicians who’ve fallen foul of the law.

Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols)

Did he, didn’t he?

The notorious bassist for UK seminal punk legends Sex Pistols was charged with murder after his then girlfriend Nancy Spungen was found stabbed to death on the morning of 12 October 1978. The case remains shrouded in mystery because Vicious committed suicide before the trial began, but was quoted as saying "I stabbed her, but I never meant to kill her", and also claiming at one point during the argument Spungen had fallen onto the knife. When Vicious died, he left a note that read: "We had a death pact, and I have to keep my half of the bargain. Please bury me next to my baby. Bury me in my leather jacket, jeans and motorcycle boots Goodbye"

Varg Vikernes (Burzum)

Do you even black metal bro?

The man known as Count Grishnackh became Black metal’s most infamous figure when he drove to Oslo, knocked on the door of Mayhem vocalist Euronymous’ fourth-floor apartment and promptly stabbed his singer 23 times, killing him in the process. In addition to the murder conviction, Vikernes was convicted of burning down several Norwegian churches and sentenced

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to 21 years in jail. Inside prison, he recorded and released Burzum albums. Vikernes was released in 2009 after serving 17 years, but may now be looking at more jail time following his recent arrest by French police for terrorism-related charges.

He was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's website, Gordon is still serving his sentence at a specialist medical and psychiatric prison in Vacaville, California.

Kurt Struebing (NME)

Then there’s Ozzy…

Beep, beep… cannot compute It’s fair to say Kurt Struebing liked his drugs. In fact, the guitarist and vocalist of Washington thrash metal band NME got so high one day in April 1986 that he believed he was a robot. Unfortunately for his adoptive mother, Struebing thought she might also be a robot so he cut her open with a hatchet and scissors to find out. She was not, and she died shortly after. Struebing was convicted of second-degree murder, did eight years in jail then, incredulously, returned to the band upon his release. He’s not around anymore, after driving his car off a bridge in Seattle in 2005.

Bard G. ‘Faust’ Eithun (Emperor)

Walking? Ain’t nobody got time for that.

The story goes that talented Emperor drummer Faust was hanging out in Lillehammer, Norway, on 21 August 1992 when supposedly homosexual man Magne Andreassen approached him to ask if he’d like to take a stroll. That man was later found dead, the victim of 37 stab wounds and multiple bruises from being repeatedly kicked in the head. Despite Faust being found guilty and declaring at the time that he felt no remorse, he was sentenced to just 14 years and released after nine. He continues to make music to this day.

James Beck ‘Jim’ Gordon (Alice Cooper, Frank Zappa)

My mother made me do it Not entirely metal, but Jim Gordon was a session drummer for Alice Cooper, as well as Derek and the Dominos, Little Richard, Frank Zappa, Beach Boys, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and more, so that’s good enough for us.

Gordon was also an undiagnosed schizophrenic who battled with the voices in his head for many years before finally snapping in 1983 and brutally murdering his mother with a hammer and knife.

Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne)

Say yes to the dress Considering the stories that abound

about Ozzy’s substance-addled career, it’s almost a surprise to find that Ozzy has only been imprisoned once, and for the decidedly un-metal charge of shoplifting to boot. It seems Ozzy did six weeks inside for pinching some clothes from a shop in Birmingham. Yes, he was also arrested in 1982 for urinating in public while wearing a dress but managed to escape the charge without jail time. [I wonder if he still has the dress – Ed.]

pit destroyer Redemption Denied (TAS) Hailing from that small offshore island known by some as Tasmania, Redemption Denied has so elegantly aligned themselves with the articulate genre of classical music.

The influence is subtle, however, as the music is intense and full of death metal mastery. The classical component is understated but is clearly prevalent throughout.

Redemption Denied just recently finished up with a support slot for Bleeding Through’s farewell tour in addition to opening for the mighty Psycroptic earlier this year.

Redemption Denied are working on their first EP, which is due out late 2013.

Catacombs (VIC) Not to be confused with the metalcore outfit in Tasmania, this particular Catacombs from the South East suburbs of Victoria is melodic death metal goodness. Whilst a teaser trailer for the upcoming album is available on the band’s Facebook page, it is exactly that – a teaser, and a humorous one at that. Rest assured, a follow up to last year’s self-titled debut EP is currently being written by the band and is due out mid-to-late 2013. If last year’s EP is anything to go by, it is certain that the band’s full-length album will tantalise the loins of one’s heavy sanctioned posterior.

Denouncement Pyre (VIC) Blackened death metal connoisseur’s Denouncement Pyre have just entered their tenth year of unfathomable mastery. With a

words Josh Voce

decadent slew of releases over the last decade, it’s hard to believe Denouncement Pyre only recently released their second full-length album Almighty Arcanum. The music has hints of Old Mans Child with riffs that are memorable, whilst it also retains the pure demonic infrastructure of early Behemoth.

Denouncement Pyre’s un-holiness can be exhibited at this month’s Black Conjuration III in South Australia. Almighty Arcanum is out now via Hells Headbangers Records.

DeathF**kingC**t (WA) It might be best to leave these guys out of the conversation at the next family dinner. DFC are a demented death metal quartet that combines the furious riffage and blastwork of Origin with the sheer vulgarity of Geordie Shores. Ungodly Violation was released earlier this year and can be purchased via the band’s bandcamp.

Troldhaugen (NSW) One of the most interesting and charismatic bands to emerge out of Australia in recent times, Troldhaugen combines brutal and epic metal with detailed orchestral backings to create a type of metal that has been somewhat accurately described as ‘sproingy’ metal (you’ll understand when you hear it).

The zany band sounds like Crash Bandicoot in a land of macabre obstacles festering around Cradle Of Filth-esque progressions and Dimmu Borgir lookalike villains.

Do yourself a favour and check these guys out.

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cover story

c h ec k em ou t

‘Shit On The Liver’ @YouTube

ak e b e th d n i h Be words Nick Lord photos Jay Hynes

Never-ending road trips, punch-ups in the mosh, facial lacerations from flying pot glasses and a European record deal. It’s all just another day in a band for King Parrot vocalist Matt Young.

M

att Young walks into Collingwood’s Grace Darling Hotel wearing suede work boots, blue jeans and a Thy Art Is Murder windcheater. The King Parrot singer is taller than I originally thought and has a prominent scar running across his forehead.

He orders a Bundaberg ginger beer, perches by the fireplace, gives a cursory glance to the voice recorder on the table and clears his throat to indicate he’s ready to begin.

I start where anyone else would start: with the band’s video for Shit on the Liver, a hilarious, unapologetically Australian spoof that pins parking inspectors as symbols for what appears to be a broader attack on densely bureaucratic and inflexible systems of population control and revenue collection; however, as Youngy reveals, not everything is always as it seems.

“Yeah, it’s not about that at all,” he laughs. “A lot of people think it’s about drinking and that’s cool too, but it’s not. The song is really just about

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being into all this black metal shit and being pissed off and burning yourself in a church and stuff like that.”

[Yep, did not see that coming – Ed.] “‘Shit on the liver’ is an old-school Aussie colloquialism for being angry,” Youngy adds. “Our guitarist Squiz is a master of old Aussie sayings – it might even be specifically Tasmanian.”

Clearly there’s no solid connection between the imagery of the clip and the lyrics of the song, but Youngy’s fine with that. He says the aim was just to produce an entertaining video, not necessarily one themed to match the song.

“It’s really just us taking elements from some cool videos we’d seen in other genres, like hip hop and rap, that we thought would look cool in a metal video. We wanted to try something different rather than do the whole ‘standing there and playing’ thing.”

Hip hop? Rap? What? What videos?!

“Fatty Boom Boom by Die Antwoord and 212

by Azealia Banks are two videos we really liked

and we definitely used them for inspiration,” Youngy explains, adding that even though these videos are also undeniably ‘street’, most of the clip was actually improvised on the run. “Slatts [Wayne Slattery, bassist and resident King Parrot cult hero] has a seedy character he pulls out from time to time and he just ran with it, rambling all this shit out about Bonox and stuff. It was totally unscripted and he just went for it with a little bit of direction and encouragement from [director] Dan Farmer.”

Slatts’ opening monologue and calm, septuagenarian delivery entranced and enraptured viewers but the clip wouldn’t have worked without so many other moments of glorious randomness also – a shirtless and corpsepainted young kid watching idly from a BMX bike; a parking inspector so enamoured by his job that he licks tyres; the band storming down Smith Street, Collingwood with an oversized ‘80s boombox, spiked WWII helmets and cans of Victa lawnmower oil.

cover story “All that bullshit at the start just worked so well that we thought we’d throw in a few different bits to make it interesting. Slatts looks pretty good on a BMX too, you know, his big gut hanging over the handlebars,” Youngy laughs. “Then the way Dan cut it all together gave it this really seedy, dark vibe. I thought it was funny but people have said, ‘Nah, that’s really f**ked up’, and I guess I can see why they feel that way now.”

The end result is a chunky casserole of kitschy, retro Australian iconography and outersuburban industrial unease, not unlike The Boys meets Alvin Purple. Even the liberal use of corpse paint was again an effort to embellish the clip’s distinctly Australian imagery.

“We always thought green and gold corpse paint would be funny, being Aussie black metal with green and gold,” Youngy says. “Our makeup girl took our concept to a whole new level and it looked so cool that we ran with it. That’s the best thing about working on videos; you get all these different people in and you tell them your idea and then they take it in all these other directions.

When it works, it’s great.”

Boy, has it worked. In the eight months since its release, Shit on the Liver has accrued 100,000 views on YouTube alone, which is an enormous feat for a band that mixes Aussie grind with black metal and retro thrash. No doubt part of the band’s appeal has been a certain riff-driven rawness that throws back to the mid-90s halcyon days of Australian metal when groups like Damaged, Blood Duster, Dreamkillers, Beanflipper, Sadistik Exekution, Deströyer 666, Christbait, Misery, Dreadnaught and Alchemist rose from the ashes of ‘80s thrash with a heavier, uglier sound that Aussie metalheads adopted as their own.

Youngy is adamant that the band never set out to capture any one sound, but does admit that King Parrot were always going to have links back to that time when many of its members played in the above bands.

“Everyone’s been around the scene for a long time – hell, I remember Squiz [Andrew Squires, guitar] playing in Dreadnaught; and Rizzo [Matt Rizzo, drums] in Blood Duster when I was like 14. We’re conscious of our old school links to a certain degree, but we’re also trying to put our own spin on it too – not just be a grindcore band or a thrash band, but put some punk and black metal in there as well,” he explains. “I love all that

‘90s Melbourne metal – loved Beanflipper and Damaged – and I really wanted to have a bit of that psychotic, high-pitched shit going on with my vocal stuff as well as death metal vocals.”

While Youngy agrees that King Parrot holds great appeal for the old-schoolers, he suggests that the band’s success so far also owes much to the inclusion of – dare we say it– rock’n’roll elements.

“I think it [the appeal] has to do with the songwriting too. We don’t go for those more metal structures; we go for the metal sound definitely, but we go for the rock structures, which helps us to cross over maybe for audiences who aren’t necessarily into metal,” he says, making the point that the band has been the only act of its kind to appear not just once but twice at Cherry Rock, an inner-city showcase festival run by Cherry Bar owner James Young, traditionally geared towards pub rock acts.

To go with their ‘90s-influenced sound, the band has adopted a ‘90s approach to touring, hitting the road constantly to play wherever and with whoever the situation allows.

“We’ve gone out there and played with rock bands, death metal bands, punk bands and even metalcore bands,” he says, proudly indicating his Thy Art is Murder windcheater, a memento of King Parrot’s highly-coveted place on a recent Australian tour with Thy Art and US vegan grindsters Cattle Decapitation. “We’ve done shows in Perth, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia this year, also Alice Springs, the Bastardfest festival, Indonesia for Obscene Extreme, and we’re booked in for a 30-date tour across the US.” It’s a punishing schedule and it’s not surprising to learn that King Parrot have had casualties along the way. Guitarist Eddie Lacey, best known for his axe work with turn-of-the-Millennium nuthrash band The Wolves and electrogrind act The Berzerker was first to go, leaving early in the piece to pursue other interests, but it is the departure most recently of drummer Matt Rizzo that really rattled the band.

“Rizzo’s been doing this a long time,” Youngy says. “He just didn’t seem as keen about the workload that everyone else wanted to put in, so he pulled the pin. We all love Rizzo and we’re really sad to see him go, but it left us in a weird position of ‘What do we do now?’ We quickly

realised we needed to get some people to fill in and keep the ball rolling so we could capitalise on the stuff that was happening.”

To fill the gap, the band turned to Matt ‘Skitz’ Sanders (Damaged, Sadistik Execution, Terrorust) and HEAVY’s own columnist Rob Brens (Alarum, Hadal Maw).

“They’re probably two of the best drummers I’ve ever played with – they both had the set down in just a few weeks,” Youngy says incredulously, adding, “I consider Rizzo’s drumming on Bite Your Head Off to be some of Rizzo’s best, and for both Brensy and Skitz to nail it in their own way was just phenomenal. One month after Rizzo left, we were in Indonesia doing Obscene Extreme!”

Having two of the country’s leading drummers on call is quite the advantage, but can also be a bit of a juggling act. Youngy is looking forward to September, when the band will once again solidify their line-up.

“Rob’s been great, being able to jump in and help heaps, but Skitz is gonna be jumping on full time as of the end of August.”

The significance of introducing another pioneering musician from that mid-’90s Melbourne scene is not lost on Youngy who just says, “F**k, if you’d told 16 year-old me that I’d be playing in a band with Skitz one day, I would’ve dropped dead on the spot. I’ve looked up to him for a long time through Damaged, Sad Ex and Terrorust, and to be playing in a band with him is such a cool thing.”

Not that it came easily.

“Skitz did have a good hard think about it, you know, it wasn’t automatic,” Youngy explains.

“He had a good think for a month or two, and I’d see him and ask if he’d made a decision yet and he’d be like ‘I dunno man’. Then he turned around one day and said he couldn’t handle watching someone else do all the shit the band is gonna do without him, and he wanted to be that guy.”

Skitz’s status as a non-drinker is a bonus to Youngy who’s off the sauce himself, sober for over 12 months and counting. Sipping his second ginger beer, he’s adamant that he doesn’t regret the decision and isn’t going back anytime soon.

“It’s probably no secret that I don’t drink or drug-on anymore,” he says. “The lyrics at the end of Bite Your Head Off were based around that; all the shit I had to get out of my system. Some people can do it and continue to do it and hold

“Last time we were in Bunbury, a guy smashed me in the face with his pot glass, and just split my head wide open.”

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cover story their own, but I’d just had enough. I know what it’s like to get drunk, party and get f**ked up, and I wouldn’t go back to it now ‘coz too many good things are happening.”

One of the catalysts for Youngy’s clean-living choice has been the intense physical demands of his own live performance. Watching King Parrot is something of an interactive experience, as Youngy regularly leaves the stage to scream at, mosh with, stomp past and surf over members of the audience in a full body performance that is nothing if not exhausting.

“When we first started, I was still living that life of drinking and whatever, and I’d just feel like I was gonna die after the gig, but now I’m fit; I can run around like a maniac, and still have the energy to work the merch desk after the show and talk to people,” Youngy says, stressing the importance of post-performance interaction. “People want to interact with the band, and I think that’s really important to give that personal touch.”

But what about the rider?

“Slatts, Squiz and Ari take care of that, no problem at all. As long as there’s a slab of water for Skittzy and I, we’re fine.”

Not a nice warm cup of Bonox?

“Kids come up and ask if I’ll have a Bonox with them but I usually just say, ‘I’ll send Slatts out to have one with you’. I’m not doing that shit,” he laughs.

Such a frenetic and tumultuous live show is entertaining to watch but can be quite confronting, especially if you’re the unlucky punter who gets busted checking into Facebook or texting your girlfriend on your phone during the performance.

“I got frustrated watching bands and seeing crowds just standing there not doing f**king anything,” Youngy says of his motivation. “And being a fan of GG Allin and Jello Biafra, then Pantera, and seeing the way those frontmen controlled the crowd, I wanted to do my own version of that. As soon as I see someone there

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tapping on their mobile phone, I’m in their face, throwing their phone across the room or grabbing it out of their hands and screaming at them.”

“Breaking the fourth wall to acknowledge the audience,” as it’s called in performing arts, is a popular addition to the show and definitely a live drawcard that is separating King Parrot from most others, but Youngy’s performance is not always everyone’s idea of a quiet night down the pub.

“A lot of people like it, and a lot don’t, but if you go and scream in someone’s face, they’re definitely going to have some reaction. I’d prefer to be a band that’s either loved or hated than a band that people think is just OK.” Yet, occasionally the reaction Youngy seeks is delivered to him in the form of a fist. “I’ve got scars now because of people freaking out on me, smashing me in the face or hitting me with a pot glass or whatever,” he says. “There’s been a lot of that going on and that’s ok too, but I guess what we’re doing is not a personal attack; it’s more about waking people up.”

The electric singer accepts that some people just don’t see it that way and respond in kind: “Last time we were in Bunbury, a guy smashed me in the face with his pot glass,” he says. “The glass didn’t break because he hit me with the bottom, and just split my head wide open. Anyway, he must’ve exposed a nerve because every time I touched my forehead for the next week, it felt like electricity was shooting up my face. Also, the last time we were in Brisbane, I was crowd surfing and some guy just started punching me in the head.

I got back on stage, saw him making a beeline for the door and I ran back out there and just smashed him. Then Slatts came in and gave him a mouthful over the microphone and security got involved and threw him out [laughs].

“I like to always have that element of danger in there. If you’re gonna go to a metal gig, you wanna have something full on and crazy going on.”

Gettin’ rowdy in the pub is just another in a long line of King Parrot’s classic Australian traits and with international tours in the pipeline, the scene watches with interest to see whether this curious blend of Aussie rawness and rock will translate for overseas listeners.

“I think the English and the Americans will get it, but I’m not too sure about the non-English speaking fans,” Youngy laughs. “That said, Europe seems to really embrace the Australian culture and definitely Aussie bands – I’m continually surprised by how popular underground bands like the Hard Ons and Cosmic Psychos are in Europe, for example.”

Supporting the band’s push for European domination is legendary black metal and death metal label Candlelight Records, who recently signed the band and released Bite Your Head Off in Europe.

“Candlelight is able to give us a presence in Europe that we wouldn’t get any other way,” says a visibly excited Youngy. “They’re very wellconnected with booking agents and promoters and stuff like that, and the reviews from the European press have been awesome – I don’t think I’ve seen a negative one yet, which blows me away when I think about how quickly the record was done.”

The label plans to release the record in the US in August, so Americans should be getting their first real taste pretty much at the same time as this article hits newsstands.

It’s a long time after the Aussie release and fans here are understandably itchy about how this might affect the band’s progress towards a new record, but Youngy is unperturbed: “They can f**king wait,” he laughs.

Bite Your Head Off is available in Australia on CD and Vinyl through Impedance Records/ Rocket Distribution, and digitally through Third Verse. It’s also out in Europe and the USA through Candlelight Records. H

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heavyfeature

Lamb of God words Justin Tawil photo Courtesy of Soundwave Touring

If wisdom is indicated by beard length, bassist John Campbell has Confucian-like levels of knowledge acquired from years of global touring.

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“This was at a time when the face of heavy metal was hairspray, tight pants and all that BS, so I never gave metal much thought to be honest,”

L

ast year's release of Resolution unleashed a new flavour of no-holds-barred riffage that laid to rest any pre-conceived expectations of what Lamb of God were going to produce to follow 2009's Wrath.

[I see what you did there – Ed.] While the trial and eventual acquittal of lead singer Randy Blythe posed a significant road block in the tour cycle for Resolution, Lamb of God are again on course to make up for lost time as they travel the world to make sure the power of the riff hasn't been lost.

"Thankfully we had gotten to a point with the situation where we knew what the final outcome was going to be and it still enabled us to be able to go around the world and rock," says bassist John Campbell, describing the light at the end of the tunnel during the trial.

Now, in between tours through Europe and Asia, Lamb of God (LoG) have booked shows throughout Australia in September, and they're bringing those chaotic low-enders Meshuggah with them.

Of course, LoG are no strangers to our shores, recently playing Soundwave 2012 and touring with Metallica. "One of my top touring experiences was touring with Metallica through Australia" Campbell says. "It's a great place – it's beautiful; the people are great; the people like to party; there's all sorts of people, plus you guys got that cute accent."

Since the days the band was originally called Burn the Priest, there's been a huge shift in the sound.

Previously, LoG mixes were dominated by incredibly loud guitar tracks but now the bass and drums supply a far greater amount of the gigantic pounding force, as listeners hear firsthand in Resolution's opening track Straight for the Sun. "Early on, people were taking their cues of mixing from Metallica, in which there's no bass." Campbell says, as he describes the sound on Resolution. "Eventually the low end started to come up and, on this last record, between [engineer Josh Wilbur's] wizardry with tones and my playing, I think that's the best bass tone and performance I've ever recorded, not to pat myself on the back too hard."

The evolution of LoG's sound goes beyond just the mixing, Campbell adds: "Mark and Willie mainly write the music and, as we've progressed, I think they've gotten more competent; they bring us in more complete songs as opposed to pieces, which is how we began."

Campbell isn't the most traditional bassist in the way that his violently-picked bass lines tend to work more towards building a dynamic with the guitars instead of solely emphasising and enhancing the drums.

"If I could say anything about the style that I play

bass, it's that I play the bass guitar like it's a six-string guitar, but riding it one note at a time," he explains.

"I tend to keep it to the lower register, even as the other dudes are flying up the neck, and it makes for some weird melodies and runs. I always say it's 50 per cent rock, 50 per cent roll and, if you're dropping one end, lean on the other."

As a self-taught bassist, his aggressive style can be attributed to the DC hardcore scene, which was a big influencing factor during his earlier years. Being around bands like Soulside, Minor Threat, Bad Brains and Fugazi, as opposed to Exodus, Testament and Metallica, metal was never a huge concern until much later.

"This was at a time when the face of heavy metal was hairspray, tight pants and all that BS, so I never gave metal much thought to be honest," Campbell admits.

The authenticity of the DC hardcore scene's roots shines through in LoG's sound, which is what allows them to continually improve and build upon what is an already solid foundation.

"We try to consciously represent who and where we are at the time, and I think we have developed and progressed as people," Campbell says, adding, "We've never tried for a sound; we've just tried to sound what we sound like."

It wasn't until he was at college with drummer Chris Adler and guitarist Mark Morton that Campbell actually got into the genre. "[Chris] had his bass cabinet hooked up to a stereo in his dorm room, and he put on And Justice For All... incredibly loud, and I was sold," Campbell remembers.

Media attention has consumed Lamb of God far too much in the past year following the death of 19yo fan Daniel Nosek after he was thrown offstage by Blythe during one of the band's shows in Prague. The singer's subsequent trial for manslaughter took months, drew negative headlines for the genre all around the world and was claimed by drummer Adler in interviews to have almost bankrupted the band. Blythe was eventually acquitted but the band has not escaped unharmed, sustaining some reputation damage in the process. Ultimately, any death is a tragedy, but it's also a shame that the events have largely overshadowed the fact that these guys kick ass at a level that very few other bands in the world can even contest, and have resulted in a redirection of attention away from the band's music and towards to the band's personal matters.

As Lamb of God make their way around the world on what can be called a recovery tour, fans are strongly advised to get amongst the pit. There's a reason why LoG is one of the biggest metal acts going around, and it's not because of the drama. H

Mark versus John The fight between vocalist Randy Blythe and guitarist Mark Morton has become the stuff of infamy after it was included in full on the band’s Killadelphia live DVD. As Campbell reveals, not everyone in the band made great first impressions on each other.

“I remember Mark telling me a few years after our initial meeting that there was a moment back in the dorms when we were first bumping in to each other that he’d thought to himself of me, “Man, I think I’m probably going to have to fight with that guy [one day] and I don’t know if I’m gonna win.”

To me, that’s ridiculous,” Campbell laughs. “I’m a smartass, I’ll admit it, and I could tell he was a bit of a smartass, and Mark is the kind of guy who doesn’t really like smartasses. But the fact that he would think that he would lose in a fight to me is ridiculous. As evidenced in Killadelphia, Mark can scrap, and I don’t wanna go toe-to-toe with him.”

c h e ck e m o u t

‘The Number Six’ @iTunes

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heavyfeature

words Nathan Eden photo Courtesy of Metalblade Records

Amon Amarth

th e s tan d o u t

‘Deceiver of the Gods’ @YouTube

HEAVY talks with Amon Amarth guitarist Johan Soderberg on the release of the Viking metal band’s ninth album Deceiver of the Gods.

C

urrently making their way east across the heatwave that is the US of A, mighty Swedish Viking metal deity Amon Amarth find themselves part of a travelling circus, in this case the awkwardly-named Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival.

Testament to the strength of their ninealbum career, the guys are sharing the main stage with horrorbilly Rob Zombie, core kids Five Finger Death Punch and progressive beast masters Mastodon. It’s a good bill, albeit temporary. Armed with a new set of Vikinginspired melodic skull-crushers entitled Deceiver of the Gods, the band will soon ditch the festival to headline their own shows across both the USA and Europe.

Guitarist Johan Soderberg admits that headlining a show and playing to pre-existing fans is a comfort zone that allows the band to feed off the energy of crowds that know their songs; however, preaching to the unconverted also has its merits.

“After the current festivals in the US and the Heavy Mtl festival in Montreal, we don’t have any more planned,” Soderberg says. “We love playing to our core fans first and foremost, but festivals also – mainstream festivals can provide opportunities to play to people that may not have heard us otherwise. Maybe we will have some new fans.”

A confident and purposeful-sounding album, Deceiver of the Gods may just entice a few potential new fans while containing enough of the band’s signature melodic death metal sound to please existing ones. The band has achieved a consistent sound album-wide, one that is both melodic and catchy, yet equally powerful, and their most aggressive to date.

It’s not surprising that Soderberg lists his influences as traditional metal bands such as

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Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Motörhead and Metallica. Whilst the clout of themes involving Vikings and Norse mythology will always tie Amon Amarth to the early ‘90s Scandinavian black metal scene, involving bands such as Bathory, it seems the band’s old-school metal and thrash influences have had an impact on their songwriting of recent times.

Asked whether the band chose to intentionally include traditional metal and thrash elements on Deceiver of the Gods, Soderberg insists that this part of the band’s sound is not necessarily anything completely new.

“It was not a conscious decision to sound more thrash or anything else; I think the influence of Maiden, Sabbath and Metallica has always been there and, of course, Motorhead,” he explains. “Maybe it is just that these sounds shine through a little more on the new record.”

As with 2008’s Twilight of the Thunder Gods and again on Surtur Rising in 2011, Amon Amarth have sought the help of an outsider to add another dimension to their sound in the studio.

Messiah Marcolin, fellow Swede and former lead vocalist of doom band Candlemass, offers a Bruce-Dickinson-style Maiden flavour to the slow groove of stand-out track Hel. Rather than write the track with Marcolin in mind, Soderberg explains that the band felt like the song would benefit from the addition of clean vocals: “We just thought Hel would sound cool with some extra vocals. Messiah was the first person we thought of because we like his style of singing. The idea of working with him came up a while ago and so he became the first person we approached when we decided that the track was right for him.”

Consistent with previous albums, lyrical themes on Deceiver of the Gods concern the Viking history of bands such as Norway’s Enslaved and even the Norse mythology of the

notorious Varg Vikernes of Burzum. Given Amon Amarth’s musical approach, Soderberg rightly and somewhat predictably insists that his is a band that just plays metal.

“I suppose you could say we play a hybrid of different genres – Viking metal, melodic death metal, whatever they want to call it,” he explains.

“We don’t place a label on ourselves. It’s for other people to decide where they want to put us.”

The guitarist says that, despite having chalked up album number nine, there is no end in sight. “We never think too far ahead,” he adds.

Deceiver of the Gods marks the fifteenth anniversary of the band’s debut full-length record, 1998’s Once Sent from the Golden Hall, and it is Amon Amarth’s consistent ability to knock out quality material that has seen them thrive while lesser bands have come and gone.

Talking tour, Amon Amarth have sailed their Viking ships to Australian waters on three previous occasions, dropping anchor in our southern seas for the first time in 2008. Between then and last year’s visit in support of Surtur Rising with Aussie band Orpheus in support, Soderberg says the band has only positive tales to tell of responsive and energetic crowds, despite some misplaced luggage on a flight over to Perth, and hints at a return before too long.

“We have not yet been able to confirm another Australian tour but hope to soon and will definitely be back,” he says.

Should the boys not bring a change of clothes to possible future gigs in the country, it’s doubtful that Australian audiences would care – or even notice – just as long as Qantas can deliver their equipment and the guys can produce their bearded, thunderous rapture to the mosh pits that await. H

heavyfeature

words Billy Geary photo Courtesy of Warner Music

DevilDriver With the release of their sixth album looming, HEAVY caught up with DevilDriver front man Dez Fafara to chat about the rebirth of the band, touring and bringing positivity back to metal.

th e s ta n d o u t

‘Ruthless’ @YouTube

D

ez Fafara is in a good place right now. His band DevilDriver are on the verge of putting out their sixth record and, according to him, it’s their best yet. [‘Coz bands never say that ;) – Ed.] Entitled Winter Kills, it’s a record that, for Fafara, is all about rebirth and conveying hope and positivity to the band’s many fans. In fact, it’s the injection of positivity into the band’s sound – in contrast to the vast majority of heavy music these days – that Fafara hopes will enable him to give back to listeners.

“Here’s what I always say; the lyrics are going to be around a lot longer than I am, so [on Winter Kills] I gave something deeper,” he says. “Sometimes you get in the car and you put on a song and then your problems don’t even matter, you’re going to get your way through.

I would like to be somebody that empowers people; it’s really important to me. On this record, I really wanted to reach for the moon when it came to that. I dug deep, and I wanted to give a real piece of myself.”

In fact, Winter Kills is raw in more ways than one.

The whole record was tracked in a live setting with the aim of being as heavy as possible while still retaining DevilDriver’s natural energy.

“A lot of the tracking for this record is all first takes,” Fafara says. “If I couldn’t get a first take on the verses, I would start again the next day until I got it because I wanted it to be live. You’re hearing it really raw. A lot of the vocals are not stacked; a lot of the verses especially are single vocals, which is not what’s going on right now.

I think you can get heavy from single verse and be raw about it, and that’s what we really wanted to capture with this record.”

For DevilDriver, capturing that live energy is of paramount importance and ultimately stems from wanting to stay true to themselves. This is something that is clearly a part of Fafara’s musical ethos: “I think it’s important that when you’re doing any kind of art; painting, sculpting or music – that you really stay true to yourself and do what you think sounds good instead of listening to the scene and everyone else around you or what’s popular at the time. You may be the next thing that’s popular.”

Furthermore, it’s clear that Fafara’s beliefs have helped DevilDriver become world-renowned for their utilisation of heavy groove, to the point where they have been dubbed the ‘Californian groove machine’. It’s

a sound that has been developed over six albums since the band’s inception. According to Fafara, it’s the one consistency throughout a back catalogue of varying records.

“Every record we’ve ever done is different. They each have our signature sound with a different take on it,” he explains, adding, “With this one, I wanted to make sure it was packed full of groove, full of hooks. I want you to really be able to sink your teeth into this record. I think we did that. I’m really, really pleased with the writing.”

Funnily enough, the song-writing process was handled a little differently this time around. Given DevilDriver’s hectic touring schedule, much of the writing for Winter Kills happened on the road. Not only did it aid the record’s cohesiveness, but it also brought the band closer together.

“I really had a good time calling the guys in the back lounge at the end of the night, showing them the songs and hearing their reaction. I think that was a big part of this record,” he says.

Between fronting DevilDriver and Coal Chamber, Fafara has visited Australia quite a few times; however, it was last year’s cancelled DevilDriver tour that he was looking forward to most of all. With a sense of genuine disappointment, Fafara elaborates: “It’s the first time I’ve had to cancel a tour, but when you go to the doctor and they tell you that you have walking pneumonia because you’ve been on the road for 280 days out of the year, you better sit down.”

Australian DevilDriver fans can expect to be rewarded for their understanding and patience, with Fafara hinting at not one but two DevilDriver tours next year.

“We’ll probably do a headlining run,” he says.

“I know Soundwave is happening and we’d like to be involved with that. There’s nothing set right now, but be assured that we’ll be down there at least once, possibly twice.”

More than anything though, Fafara just can’t wait to get the new tracks out and across the world, enthusing, “I’m excited man, I’m excited to play these songs live.

You can hear it in me. I hope I can pass that feeling along and we’ll see you Down Under real soon.”

Winter Kills is out on 23 August through Roadrunner Australia. H

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heavyfeature

words Tennille Secomb photo Courtesy of Soundwave Touring

l ate s t re l ea s e

M How I Learned To Stop Giving A Shit And Love Mindless Self Indulgence by

Mindless Self Indulgence

3Wise Records

review Tennille Secomb

The fifth album from New York’s renowned electronic punk quartet is a natural extension from its predecessor If with a highly digital sound and the archetypal MSI medley of genres. The influence of dubstep is prevalent on songs like F**k Machine and It Gets Worse, though that’s not to say the punk and post-hardcore elements go unnoticed. The song titles are typically brazen and lyrics centre on narcissistic, angsty themes that will be enticing to the band’s younger fans. This is a quintessential MSI release with sleek production and shameless vulgar energy that really encourages you not to give a shit. t h e s ta n d o ut

‘It Gets Worse’ @Bandcamp

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Fans may have saved their new album but dubstep has offered Mindless Self Indulgence a new kind of salvation. Frontman Jimmy Urine tells HEAVY why it has taken people more than a decade and a half to understand their music.

indless Self Indulgence (MSI) are eclectic, to say the least. Their music draws inspiration from every genre and the band are such an anomaly that no one is ever quite sure how to categorise them. Yet over the past three years, a commercial revival of dubstep perpetuated by heavy music’s most infamous extradition, Skrillex, has allowed fans to understand MSI on a new level.

“It’s interesting to see people all of a sudden get what we’re doing,” says Urine, whose real surname is Euringer.

“When we were first doing shit no one understood it.

Everyone thought ‘Oh, they’re changing genres – there’s all these glitched-out beats but no DJ, and there are girls in the band!?’ Then dubstep came out and everyone was like ‘Yeah okay, we get glitched-out beats now.’”

Electronica and metal have long been embroiled in a kind of mutually-dependent relationship, each borrowing sonic elements from one another until they eventually converged as industrial music. Throughout, mechanical and science-fiction themes feature heavily among two otherwise divergent genres. Such diversity and musical miscellany has been MSI’s thing for a while, and now that dubstep has facilitated people’s appreciation, suddenly the band don’t seem like such an outlier.

“There are aspects that are still uniquely us, but there are elements of it everywhere and I know for a fact that a lot of those elements exist because people were MSI fans,” Urine says. [Hmmm, this will never do. Perhaps we can use Mr Urine instead – Ed] MSI are now reclining in the strangely comfortable, unbounded niche they have forged for themselves and are free to take their music in whichever direction they please.

“With this particular band, we have a tonne of freedom and we take advantage of that. Major radio isn’t going to play me so I can get all my concepts and ideas out,” Mr. Urine explains. [OK that’s enough. We’ll go with Jimmy from here – Ed] “A good example is It Gets Worse,” Jimmy explains. “It’s one of the best songs I’ve ever written lyrically but I think if anybody else had written it, they would’ve been crucified.”

The lyrics to It Gets Worse are vain and pessimistic – one might say mindlessly self-indulgent even – but MSI seem to get away with their brazen narcissism by pandering to the angst of youth.

“We are what I like to refer to as high-school teachers,” Jimmy says. “Ever since we started, our demographic [has been] 12-18. You get into us when you’re sick of listening to whatever your parents play. You get immature, have a

fun punk-rock time and then you go off to college to study economics and start listening to the Arcade Fire. Then, when you’re 30 or 40, when you’re working in an office cubicle and you’ve got six kids, you get nostalgic, so usually [our shows have] 12-18 year-olds and then a bunch of 30 year-olds at the bar.”

So it appears the enigmatic nature of the band that once isolated them is now working in their favour, as MSI’s troubled teenage troupe recently splurged a meagre $225,000 on the band’s Kickstarter campaign. According to Jimmy, crowdfunding platforms are perfect for bands like MSI that can’t get picked up by record labels or radio stations because they don’t fit the conventional mould.

“The music industry is f**ked,” he says. “There are a lot of really clever, cool bands out there that could never get picked up because they don’t follow the regular formats of radio so crowdfunding is very helpful in that particular situation.”

Through Kickstarter, MSI held their own album hostage, demanding that fans paid a “ransom” for its release. The fans did, and the compellingly-titled album came out as promised.

But what exactly is that title about, and does Urine give a shit? [Alright, I’ll give you that one – Ed] “I love record titles that are self-referential,” Jimmy explains. “The last record If didn’t look like much but it meant a lot to us because we didn’t know what was going on – people wanted to have babies and we wanted to fire our manager.

“On one hand, this title means something for us in the sense that we’re really lucky to be in the spot we’re in. We all love each other, and we’re in a unique band that always goes out and plays to the same numbers, like one of those legacy bands like The Ramones or The Cramps or Gwar.”

While electronic genres like dubstep may be riding 15 minutes of fame, MSI have been having theirs for over 15 years, and Jimmy adds that the underlying message of the new album is that people need to loosen up and realise MSI are more than just a novelty act.

“It’s a message to people outside because there’s a lot of people who love this band yet never talk about it; we’re like a dirty little secret,” he explains. “You don’t need to give a shit anymore. We’re not going anywhere, we’re not a oneoff thing and we’ve been here for a long time so just smoke a joint, shut the f**k up and learn to love it.” H

heavyfeature words Rob Brens photo Courtesy of Century Media

Tesseract

th e s tan d o u t

‘Singularity’ @YouTube

Rob Brens chats with Tesseract guitarist James Monteith from sunny London about dead ends and new beginnings.

I

f you haven’t heard of djent, you’ve been living under a rock. This oftridiculed term is used as an onomatopoeia to describe the chewy resonance of a palm-muted power chord under heavy distortion. Of course, distorted power chords are as old as The Beatles, but somehow djent has become the latest genre buzzword to describe progressive metal bands using seven and eight string guitars with heavily-digitalised distortion. Oddly, in this case, it’s less about palm-muting and more about the snap-back reverberation effect that happens when a down-tuned seventh or eighth string is struck hard and allowed to ring.

Some will say djent began with the Swedish band Meshuggah, while others might argue that Dutch band Textures was the first real djent band. Metalheads will argue about genre pioneers ‘til the cows come home, but there are plenty out there who regard British progressive metal band Tesseract as one of the front-runners of the current djent movement.

Asked why so many of the world’s pioneering bands come from England, Tesseract guitarist James Monteith blames the weather. “The height of our summer is 17 degrees,” Monteith laughs. “I think the worse the weather, the heavier the music. I mean, look at Norway – they’ve got all that black metal and church burning. Acle, (Alec Kahney, guitar) who’s the main songwriter comes from Milton Keynes, which is possibly the most boring place you could imagine.”

That we’re even discussing Tesseract in 2013 is some feat. It’s been a Lazarus-style resurrection for a band that has struggled to solidify a tt since starting in 2004. Daniel Tompkins who handled lead vocals on Tesseract’s 2011 debut album One then left shortly after, citing personal differences, was the group’s third vocalist in seven years. Tompkins’ departure took its toll and, after struggling to find a suitable replacement, the band found themselves facing extinction as both the industry and their fan base started to lose faith.

“The root of the problem was the vocalist changes,” Monteith explains.

“We released our first album and, after three months, Daniel announced he was going to leave – we took a fair hit from that. Then we went with another vocalist [Elliot Coleman] and he didn’t work out, partly for practical reasons because he lived in the States, but also we had some musical differences.”

Monteith reveals that the decision to appoint Coleman led to a fan backlash from which the band almost didn’t recover: “The fans didn’t take kindly to him [Coleman] either. The industry lost confidence in us – we lost our American booking agent and people were saying we were finished. It was quite a depressing time. Luckily we managed to find a vocalist who brought us back to life.”

As a result, Tesseract have followed up with a new album, Altered State, featuring vocalist Ashe O’Hara. This latest offering has been met with a rousing reception, and O’Hara’s new vocal direction has won the band many new fans. Most notable is the absence of any metal growls on Altered State, a decision that has made Tesseract a more accessible listening experience.

Monteith explains that the change in style was more an inevitability than

any conscious decision.

‘The early Tesseract stuff had a lot of harsh vocals. In retrospect we had aggressive vocals because I guess it was the easy route and it’s what’s expected,” Monteith says. “With the second album, we realised we’re not that into aggressive vocals. At the moment I can’t see us having aggressive vocals again unless a part really asks for it. Never say never, but right now they sound boring to us because everyone else does it.”

One characteristic of Tesseract that remains prominent on the new album is the band’s penchant for longer compositions, usually built in an episodic fashion. The much-lauded 25-minute epic Concealing Fate was the largest talking point in Tesseract’s debut album One, but again Monteith argues that this isn’t deliberate.

‘They [the songs] just end up being that long; very often we’re writing in parts,” he says, using Concealing Fate as an example. “That [Concealing Fate] was written before we were a band; Acle wrote that in his bedroom – part five was written, then four – it almost worked backwards – then part two was this one riff that was kicking around. So parts two to five came about from those early demos and jamming in the rehearsal room. Part one was written as a different song but it fit really well so we stuck it on, and part six is a transposition of part one that sticks on the end. At that point, we said ‘We should probably stop now’,” he laughs.

Altered State sees the band expanding this longer-song format across an entire album. Here, the album spans 51 minutes and is split into four sections, each comprised of several songs. As the lads traverse the globe in support of their new album, they do so with a new found relief and appreciation for what they have regained.

“We’re just flattered [by the attention]. A few months ago we were off the radar, and now most people have listened again and they like the record” Monteith says, attributing much of this newfound confidence to Ashe. “Everything has turned around drastically. Once Ashe joined the band and started writing vocals for the new material, confidence was completely reinstalled because he was doing such a great job.”

Live, the band has never felt more stable, with Monteith stating that Ashe has made the transition from studio to stage without incident: “He’s been performing amazingly well both on and off stage. We’re just really flattered people still care.” H

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c h e ck e m o u t

heavyfeature

‘No Mercy’ @YouTube

Chimaira

words David Griffiths photo Courtesy of Soundwave Touring

From their early nu-metal roots through to their modern-day aggressive sound, Chimaira have always been a band evolving. Now 2013 finds them with a whole new line-up and on the verge of releasing Crown Of Phantoms – their angriest album to date.

I

n what seems to be an absolute rarity, my interview with Chimaira frontman Mark Hunter takes place while he is enjoying a relaxing night at home. As most Chimaira fans would already know, the past two years have been a hectic time for the Ohiobased groove metallers – 2012 saw a complete revamp of the band that left Mark Hunter as the only founding member remaining for subsequent tours across Europe and the US and still the band found time to record the highly anticipated new album Crown Of Phantoms, which buries their old nu-metal sound forever.

Even now the band is home and the album is finished, things have still been hectic for Hunter.

“We’ve been putting together all the final touches for the DVD that accompanies the special edition of the album,” he says. “Had a lot to do and a lot of sleepless nights but it was a fun project. The DVD is basically a documentary, getting to know the new guys and getting to see how we put together the album – a quick little insight, a featurette, home videos of us goofing around and also our music videos. It’s about two hours’ worth for people who helped with our crowd-funding campaign.”

Hunter is referring to the Indiegogo campaign the band ran across May and June in which the group raised $60,758 for the fan-edition CD-DVD package, twice the intended goal of $30,000. Fans chipped in for a smorgasbord of packages, ranging from a $15 digital download all the way to shelling out $2000 to appear in one of the Crown of Phantoms music videos.

Crowd-funding campaigns have seen quite a few Australian bands receive some negative press, but that certainly wasn’t the outcome for Chimaira, who have found their fans to be genuinely excited – some would say fanatical – about being able to give back to the band they love.

Hunter explains why the campaign was such a necessity: “The campaign went really well and we doubled our goal so we were able to set ourselves up with some infrastructure for the band. When everything started with the new line-up in 2012, we had zero in our bank account so we needed to start an operating fund to be able to book flights in advance, to pay for a tour bus

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and put down a down-payment before going out on the road. Before, that would have to come out of my pocket or maybe the manager would help, so it’s been good to have a little bit of cash to pay for things.”

Now with the line-up changes behind them and fans embracing live versions of their new tracks, Chimaira can concentrate on their next big step – the release of Crown Of Phantoms, an album that has been building momentum since a YouTube sneak peek promised fans the band’s heaviest album to date.

Hunter feels like a proud father waiting to show his baby to the world as he waits for the album to drop.

“That is exactly the way I feel,” he says. “Every album release is an exciting time, and you’re always hoping it does well. I think the fans are going to be stoked when they get to hear it. I hope they’ll see that it is meaningful and solid.”

When it comes to the lyrical content of Crown Of Phantoms, Hunter is quick to point out that fans shouldn’t confuse the angry nature of the album for him being an angry person. “It’s an energised album.

I’m not that much of an angry person anymore, but it is certainly there in my music and it’s definitely there in my lyrical content. A certain line might not be from a deep personal experience, but might be inspired by a book, something a little less personal but more universal.

I definitely feel like it [lyrics] comes mainly from my subconscious because when I try to write lyrics, I try to put myself in a meditative state with high central-lobe activity and not let anything influence me from outside.

If you’ve done any kind of creative writing, you’ll know what it’s like when you get into that zone.”

Australia has plenty of Chimaira fans and when it comes to our fine country, Hunter hints that there is something exciting in the works for Down Under.

“We have so many great memories of Soundwave and Australia,” he says. “We had a lot of laughs and hung out with a lot of fans, so we got to learn a lot of inside jokes, and we got to soak up the culture more than ever before. I hope we can get back there soon. Let’s hope we get another Soundwave offer.” Hint! Hint! H

Check out the trailer Chimaira made for Crown of Phantoms

words David Griffiths

Bands have always had a love/ hate relationship with the Internet. While it can be a great medium to promote themselves, torrent websites can mean a massive hit in the hip pocket if an artist has their new album leaked.

Very few bands use the internet as well as Chimaira, and Mark Hunter said the band never thought twice about sharing their new tracks on YouTube.

“We’ve always been a band that’s tried to be cool about that kind of thing and forwardthinking with social media,” he says. “I’m a big movie buff and I love to watch a trailer to pump me up for a film – the longer the trailer the better.”

Here is that trailer.

Crown Of Phantoms Official Trailer @YouTube

words Tom Valcanis photo Courtesy of Metalblade Records

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The Black Dahlia Murder Trevor Strnad, vocalist and founding member of The Black Dahlia Murder felt pressure like an assassin’s blade to his skin. Two members down and a cult of Ritual to live up to, Everblack was a state of mind.

Weddings, parties, anything?

Need Black Dahlia to play your next birthday? Wedding? Bar Mitzvah? Corporate conference?

If so, guitarist Brian Eschbach is the man to call. If he’s not in, you’ll get a voicemail prompting you to leave a message at the “Offices of TBDM Inc.”, the industry end of the band. Does a TBDM Global HQ even exist?

Vocalist Trevor Strnad laughs at the idea: “He kinda is the business man. We’re incorporated but we don’t have an office. We’re just taxpayers, man. We’re not up to, like, corporate helicopter standards.”

Soon, my pretties. Soon. c h ec k e m o ut

‘Into the Everblack’ @YouTube

T

revor Strnad is a man with few attachments. He’s fronted Michigan’s The Black Dahlia Murder since their electrifying inception in 2001 but the men flanking him as he leads this modern blackened death charge have changed often.

Black Dahlia’s list of former members lengthens from one album to the next: guitarist John Kempainen bowed out in 2009, allowing ex-Arsis upstart Ryan Knight into the fold on Deflorate; drummer Shannon Lucas and bassist Ryan “Bart” Williams were left behind after 2011’s critically and commercially successful Ritual.

Substituting not one but two band members at once “added pressure to deliver”, according to Strnad.

“The member changes are in the front of people’s minds. It was a challenge, because we were responding to Ritual, which was the most successful record we’d done – and it also took the most work and time,” he says. “It was just painful to make an album of that quality to rival it. At first it was intimidating, but once the songs started coming together, it definitely sounded cool.”

The need to manage expectations is high on the list whenever bands shed nearly half their crew, and partly why the boys entitled the album Everblack.

“The name Everblack is saying we’re staying the course, that the song remains the same,” Strnad confirms.

“It’s saying that the band is black and we’re as evil as we’ve ever been. It’s exciting to have the new guys here and to have some new energy in the fold.”

Remaining consistent in imagery and style, Strnad and the boys felt a need to communicate with their fans on a primal level. They wanted to reassure those fans “who are depending on us to not get any softer or put clean singing into our music,” he asserts. It’s also given him an appreciation of just how far forward fans have pushed the band in metal’s global consciousness.

“We put new ideas in but we wanted to sound like us,” Strnad continues. “We wrote this with the fans in mind but also with ourselves in mind.”

On Everblack, the band stand with one foot in death metal’s peaty grave, the other buried deep in the chilly soil of Norwegian black metal. It’s a conscious fusion of both metal’s legacy and its future. Imagine it as a longhaired rivethead ramming into the shoulder of a tattooed young’un within Black Dahlia’s moshpit of creation.

“I think it’s the influences we draw from,” Strnad says of the album’s sound. “There is modern stuff woven throughout but there’s also very classic elements, very traditional kind of metal. There’s a lot of melodic

sentiment to it and a little bit of stuff for everyone, but we always keep the old stuff around. We always play the old songs. We want to keep the fans pumped and give them something to come and see, so the old songs will always be a part of the band.”

Today’s metal fans can fill their ears with countless other acts with the click of a mouse or swipe of a finger.

They’re spoiled for choice and fickle, a fact of which the band is acutely aware. Maintaining a relationship that’s real and lasting is something for which Strnad strives.

To him, fans are like family, and they react in kind when trouble’s afoot.

“Some people are still mad that John K left the band, and that was several albums ago,” he says. “I think [releasing a DVD] has turned into a curse now, where it was once a blessing. When it came out, it got people excited – it made them feel they got to know us – but that was a long time ago. The members have changed but the DVD tied fans to those people [on it], and it felt like they knew them. We’re going to have a new DVD to get people acquainted in the same way, so they can have that kind of connection.”

Try as one might, it’s impossible not to lose people along the way.

“You do see people drop off for reasons you really can’t change,” Strnad continues. “Everblack is definitely proof that we are survivors and we are a band that people can depend on.”

Survival is Black Dahlia’s endgame – there’s no compromise when it comes to the longevity of the band, and no time for decline.

“We want to be one of those bands like Cannibal Corpse; we want to survive the ups and downs of metal’s popularity,” Strnad affirms. “Ten years goes by pretty fast.

There’s a lot of turnover of fans and some may consider the old stuff, which is now ten years old, to be classic.

I think it would be cool to make the annals of metal somehow and hopefully be remembered.”

It’s a privileged position in which the band finds itself and Strnad knows it: “It’s fun, you know. We never imagined we’d still be here so long down the line – I only ever wanted to make one record and, when we did, that was so amazing to us. I just wanted to hold an album in my hand to prove that I had made it. It’s gone a lot farther than that, man.”

Everblack is out now through Metalblade Records. H

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words Tennille Secomb photo Courtesy of Century Media

Dark Tranquillity Dark Tranquillity’s Mikael Stanne is engaged in a violent and existential discourse about religion and philosophy that has left an indelible mark on the band’s latest album.

Rise again, old shirt!

Dark Tranquillity have re-released a shirt containing a hand-drawn design first etched by guitarist Niklas Sundin 20 years ago. The shirt, which was originally drawn for the 1993 debut Skydancer, was the band’s first official merch item and features an incredibly detailed mythical landscape inspired by that album’s opening track Nightfall By The Shore Of Time.

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‘The Science of Noise’ @YouTube

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S

tanding in the vanguard of Swedish melodic death metal are one of Gothenburg’s most influential exports, Dark Tranquillity. Conceived in the streets of Sweden, and inspiring one of the biggest movements in metal, Mikael Stanne describes the underground scene in the early ‘80s.

“We were 14 years-old and quickly grew into this life of metal and extreme music. We felt like we were in this secret club and we loved it,” he says. “We grew up in a very safe environment with a nice neighbourhood so anything that was out of the ordinary, scary or dangerous appealed to us a lot.”

Scenes often arise from tightly-knit communities and this was no different.

“It was tight – smaller than 60 people – and we were just kids who started bands and [were interested in] hanging out, drinking beer and going to shows together,” Stanne remembers. “This metal thing was so new and so fresh; there were death metal bands like Grotesque but no one else was really doing it.”

Nearly two and a half decades on, Dark Tranquillity can hear their sound echo in the melodies of metal bands around the world.

“Other bands think of us the way we think about our favourite bands, and that’s still really hard for me to grasp,” Stanne says, admitting, “It’s the greatest compliment you could ever get, but it still blows my mind.”

With the release of their tenth album Construct in May this year, the melodic death metal giants continue to evolve their dark and euphonious style, which has become the soundtrack to an exploration of complex and philosophical lyrical themes. With Construct, Stanne confronts the world on a metaphysical level, delving deep into the very formation of reality and subjectivity of perception. “[The album] is about the big excuses that we make in order to justify our life,” he explains. “It tends to explain the stuff that you cannot wrap your mind around, things your brain is not capable of grasping, and how instead of actually finding out the true reality of things, people construct something to teach you.”

You can feel a religious antagonism percolating beneath Stanne’s otherwise cheerful countenance.

“The most frustrating concept is God, no less, because I think that’s the greatest excuse,” he explains. “For me, it’s a source of great frustration and works to fuel my anger.”

The album’s lyrics explore the way our minds construct their own realities, and how the power of what you believe unequivocally frames your existence. Stanne has an acute insight into the underlying nature of humanity and offers a profoundly-involved exploration of how humans form their worldviews.

“It’s so fundamentally human you know; it’s within all of us,” he explains. “We want to see patterns and we want to see shapes where there are none. We want to make sense of a world that we cannot possibly understand fully, so we make something up, and I guess that would be fine except it ends up being so destructive. That’s what I find so frustrating – it makes me want to scream – and that’s what I looked towards when we began writing.”

The powerful mind of Stanne, along with that of cofounder guitarist Niklas Sundin, has been responsible for the immense creativity that underpins Dark Tranquillity’s sound, but it is evident that this same mind has seen the darker side of its own power.

“When something becomes real to you, you forget that it’s actually just something in your mind, a product of your imagination, and that’s the scary part,” he says.

“Imagination is fantastic and creativity is amazing so you can come up with these things that help you in your life, but it shouldn’t control you. Instead, you should control it.

[Creativity] should be a portal that explains away all that you cannot explain yourself.”

Over the years, Dark Tranquillity’s sound has moved away from what was originally blackened melodic death, passing through the more aggressive periods of Damage Done (2002) and Character (2005) to the return of clean vocals and the reappearance of a female singer on Fiction (2007). Construct is a more concentrated focus on melody that sees the band combine anthemic and original riffs with refined production values that help reveal progressive, atmospheric elements. According to Stanne, it’s a conscious shift.

“Instead of going with the sound on the last three albums, we decided to focus on the melodic side of our music,” he says. “We just felt we couldn’t go further in that direction; we had to do something different in order to maintain the challenge of creativity that perhaps gets lost after a while.”

Construct presents universally accessible ideas that help the band to connect with global audiences, yet Stanne says that Australia’s isolation serves to multiply the intensity of the connection he feels when they bring their music Down Under, even hinting at a visit as early as 2014.

“Europeans are used to shows every day of the week, but [in Australia] there’s this enthusiasm and expectation that’s amazing,” he says. “We’ve been working really hard to get an Australian tour going and it’s looking like it’s going to be the beginning of next year.”

Beginning of next year? It’s enough to make a philosophy major get all Nietzsche on your ass! H

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words Damo Musclecar photo Courtesy of Deathproof PR

Monster Truck

On the phone somewhere between Florida and Delaware, Monster Truck guitarist Jeremy Widerman is talking about classic rock’n’roll records, including his band’s very own masterpiece, Furiosity.

W

e really do borrow a lot of our influences from all across the decades of rock but we definitely lean more towards the classic rock end of things,” explains an enthusiastic Jeremy Widerman after I commend him on his band Monster Truck’s solid debut album.

Simply put, Furiosity is huge – packed with riffs a-plenty and some over-the-top production, there is nothing contained herein that isn’t worthy of praise. The album’s perfect song structures and impeccable playing shines through, showcasing the amount of time, effort and love that went into making this monstrous release.

[Mmm, punny – Ed.] “We did a lot of the writing as we were touring, probably spread out over a year or two,” Wilderman reveals. “We’d come home and write one or two songs and then, when we’d go out on tour, we would get to play them for people and see how they were reacting to them. There were probably 20 to 25 songs that were written for the record but it ended up being whittled down as we figured out which ones weren’t working and which ones needed to be reworked. It was really good to have that much time in the writing process.”

It definitely shows. Filled with generous helpings of groove and bucketloads of heavy riffs, Furiosity packs a punch. Whether the Ontario four-piece is channelling the sounds of ‘70s classic rock or tapping into the downtuned chewy-goodness of ‘90s stoner rock, one would think Monster Truck sold off everything they had, including their very souls, to obtain a crushing sound and make the perfect rock record.

Wilderman dispels this, and says the Furiosity budget was modest.

“There wasn’t a tonne of money put into the recording; it wasn’t cheap but it was a really efficient recording,” he says, adding, “We really attacked it and were really prepared for it as we went into the studio.

We spent a month and a half just demoing the entire record in our jam space before we went to track it so that we knew what parts needed to be worked on. This was almost like a dress rehearsal, so we could work out what parts we needed to work on individually. Rehearsing them before we got into the studio was really making the most of our time.”

Wilderman also played a huge part in creating the album’s striking artwork too.

“We did all the artwork ourselves,” he continues. “Our singer came up with the concept; he’s a real artistic guy and I’m a real big computer nerd. We wanted to mimic the Star Wars light speed style. I actually found a guy who had replicated that effect in HD for a graphic project he was doing for school and he was selling the stock footage online for ten bucks. I bought all the stock footage that he’d made and found the best frame from the footage.

I brought it into Illustrator and ran a trace program on it, manipulated it three or four different ways to make it a little more jagged. It took a long time for me to get that right and look the way I wanted. It’s another side of the album we’re really proud of.”

Monster Truck’s Furiosity is out now through Dine Alone Records (Universal). H

th e s tan d o u t

‘Sweet Mountain River’ @YouTube

Jeremy Wildeman’s all-time Top 5

QUEEN – “A Night At The Opera” (1975)

AC/DC – “Back In Black” (1980)

LED ZEPPELIN – “III” (1970)

GRAND FUNK RAILROAD – “Closer To Home” (1970)

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE – “Are You Experienced?” (1967)

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words Will Oakeshott photo Courtesy of Warner Music

letlive.

HEAVY catches up with Jason nearing the end of letlive.’s Australian tour with Deftones as the vocalist discusses his childhood, his introduction to the world of music, stage injuries and upcoming video clips.

F

or letlive. vocalist Jason Aalon Butler, the phrase ‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’ rings a very familiar tune. Whilst Jason himself has become globally recognised for his vocal talents and chaotic stage persona, his father Aalon Butler was an esteemed singer and guitarist himself in the ‘70s American soul rock group Aalon. Prior to this, Aalon Butler played guitar for superstar Eric Burdon, better known for his position as singer for rock band The Animals.

“Yeah my father did some things,” Butler laughs. “He is actually a big reason why I am a musician. It’s quite an ironic thing actually – my father, as a result of his misadventures in music, wanted to steer me away from it, so he tried to deter me from becoming a musician for so long. During most of my youth, I played sports and tried really hard with my studies, then I would sneak into his garage and try to teach myself to play keys or guitar because that what was available. For so long, my mother and he tried to keep me away from it, then one day they gave in. After that, my life became skateboarding, homework and playing guitar until I fell asleep.”

Butler admits he started with voice firstly, and moved on from there.

“I have been singing since forever – it’s your natural instrument – then I learned guitar, then bass and then I learned some violin too. I’m not a master by any means; I just wanted to learn as much as I could through playing it.”

Returning to present day, the Californian posthardcore experimentalists letlive. are at an incredible stage in their careers. Since re-releasing their second album Fake History on Epitaph Records in 2011, life has been a whirlwind of global exploration, touring with bands they all admire.

“We have always just been a band that thought if you try hard then you’re grateful for what you get,” Butler says.

“This [Deftones tour] is obviously a milestone for us; this is something I thought to myself way back, if it happens then we have made it. Now we’ve reached that level, I get a new perspective again and I know we have a lot of work to do. It’s so incredible to be in Australia with Deftones.

Now we are friends with them and so many other bands that we’d assume we would never even tour with, let alone become friends.”

Despite keeping such mighty company, Butler shirks the idea that the band are rockstars. “I consider letlive. to be a local band,” he says, “That’s how I see us. We are just some kids who started playing music and now we are on the other side of the earth. It all feels so surreal and it’s really hard to wrap our heads around.”

The band’s latest album, The Blackest Beautiful, is an eleven-track monster of genre-bending and rule-breaking explosive music. Still maintaining their ideals, the outfit may have enlisted production royalty in Stephen George (Michael Jackson, Le Tigre), but the record still contains the characteristics, errors, improvisation and flaws that make letlive.’s releases all the more memorable.

“I feel like those small mistakes should be there, like that is part of the character; that’s the life of those songs,” Butler says. “It shows that we are human beings; it’s a humanistic quality, error.”

Central to the band’s creative process is the desire to acknowledge each other creatively.

“We want to respect each other as musicians and individuals so we are putting out songs, making songs that speak to all different tastes, and it is simply the multidimensionality of the band that brings letlive. to life,” he adds.

Butler is quite the extremist when in performance, often jumping from great heights, throwing himself into drum kits and even wearing trash bins on his head. Surely, there must have been some horrific injuries. “Nah,” he says, almost in defiance. “I have definitely felt it in the morning, like a serious case of bangover or some sort of injury that I didn’t notice the night before, but most of the time the next day is another show, so we have to do it again. What’s the saying? The hair of the dog that bit you?

We also try to mitigate the injury; if my arm hurts, I’ll hurt my back to lose focus on what hurt originally. The drum kit is a pretty normal casualty for us, well me; it’s always in the way.” H

l ate s t re l ea s e

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The Blackest Beautiful by

letlive.

Epitaph

review Will Oakeshott

It has been said that the best and most unforgettable albums will take more than one listen and this is a fantastic mindframe to adopt when listening to The Blackest Beautiful. This is an eclectic and experimental adventure through what can be described as post hardcore.

Opening track and lead single Banshee (Ghost Fame) deserves its status, striking a perfect balance between heavy and melody – an ideal continuation from letlive’s last brilliant album Fake History. From here, the journey really begins. White America’s Beautiful Black Market has a bongo introduction with a tribal hip-hop influence; Fear Fever is a catchy indie punk song that somehow transforms into sludge hardcore (quite superbly); Virgin Dirt is a haunting post punk track Nick Cave would admire; Pheromone Cvlt is a minimalistic pop-rock ballad.

Confusing certainly, but with every rotation, the album becomes more remarkable. Those craving Glassjaw comparisons can find it with Empty Elvis and 27 Club, probably the best song on the record at over seven minutes in length; however, the most important part of this expedition is that none of it feels forced, just somehow organic.

The Blackest Beautiful will go over people’s heads, no doubt, but hopefully many will give the album more than one go around. th e s tan d o u t

‘Banshee (Ghost Fame)’ @YouTube

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Demanufacture @iTunes

words Tennille Secomb photo Courtesy of Soundwave Touring

Fear Factory In every metalhead’s personal journey, there are albums with which we fall in love, and then there are classics that transcend the eras of our personal lives with their timeless appeal. After touring their ground-breaking 1995 masterpiece Demanufacture in its entirety, Fear Factory’s Dino Cazares tells HEAVY about his personal history with Australia.

Demanu-facts

Fun facts about one of the most influential metal albums of the ‘90s • The original Demanufacture tour lasted for three years and included 51 shows across 17 countries; • At the time of recording Demanufacture at Bearsville Studios, NY, Bon Jovi were in the studio next door and engineers had to ask Fear Factory to turn down the sound as it was bleeding into Bon Jovi’s recording; • Fear Factory used a sample of CaryHiroyuki Tagawa’s Mortal Kombat character Shang Tsung saying ‘Fatality’ in their live shows after the song Zero Signal featured on the soundtrack. The song Replica also features on the Playstation game Test Drive 5; • Dino Cazares appeared in a porn movie called Rock’N’Porn. Ok, it’s not Demanufacture-related, but it is a fact!

Although you don’t actually see him having sex, I’m pretty sure Burton didn’t name Cazares ‘Huge Heffner’ for nothing.

D

emanufacture is hailed as one of the most influential albums of the ‘90s, with heavy yet accessible melodies and a refined production considered to be way ahead of its time. While genres like industrial metal and nu-metal have homogenised the digital-modelling processors that Fear Factory pioneered, the unique fusion of industrial, groove and death metal produced an album so enduring that it was toured for three years from 19951997.

“Fear Factory was a part of people’s lives all over the world, you know,” muses Dino Cazares, guitarist and founding member of Fear Factory, “but Demanufacture was a big part of history in Australia, not just for you guys but for us as well. One of the things about Australia is that you don’t forget about the past. Sometimes American fans can be very trendy; they jump on a bandwagon and forget about the history.”

Fear Factory’s recent Australian tour included new bassist Matt DeVries (ex-Chimaira) and drummer Mike Heller (Malignancy) who joined shortly before the release of 2012’s The Industrialist. By comparison, Demanufacture was the first output from Fear Factory’s best-known lineup, which saw the band define their sound through the coagulation of futuristic digital effects and vocalist Burton C. Bell’s oscillation between harsh death vocals and clean, haunted melodies.

“When we did the EP Fear Is The Mindkiller, we saw how much of a prog element worked with Fear Factory and that was one of the things that inspired Demanufacture,” Cazares says. “It was definitely a big step forward from our first album, Soul Of A New Machine, which was just getting us started and we were still developing as a band.”

Fear Factory may be riding the high of an album released almost two decades ago, but it is their adoption of modern digital technologies in both ethos and practice that has future-proofed the band.

“We’ve always been influenced by technology and futurist writers and we knew that this world was going to be changing,” Cazares continues. “That’s what Demanufacture was about; it was the breakout process. We always wanted to be the band that never shied away from talking about that kind of stuff.”

Strict adherence to new technology has advantages that aren’t just sonic.

“We travel very, very light because with technology

everything is smaller now and you don’t need to bring gigantic walls of amplifiers like how it was back in the day,” Cazares explains. “Our guitar processors and profiling amplifiers are basically the size of a lunchbox, and you just connect them to the PA for guitars and you have an amazing guitar tone.”

When Cazares speaks, it is with the confident American twang of a musician who has been long established in the scene, so it was hard to resist getting a bit geeky with him about his guitar collection.

“I own over thirty guitars, but my favourite is my new guitar – it’s called an RGD and it’s a seven-string baritone made by Ibanez,” he beams.

Fittingly, this collection was inspired by Cazares’ own adolescent obsession with an Australian classic: “The first song I ever learnt on guitar was AC/DC’s If You Want Blood (You Got It). I was maybe 12 or 13 and really into that record at the time.”

Yet whether it’s Highway To Hell or one of his many side projects, Cazares says the secret to creating music that outlives its creator lies in the practice of sensory immersion.

“Whatever I’m focusing on, I put myself right in that moment,” he explains. “I don’t think about anything else [because] then it’s going to sound like other things. When I was in Divine Heresy, I would focus on writing the guitar solo whereas in Fear Factory we never had guitar solos, so I’d structure [the song] differently to make more spots for keyboards.”

Nine studio albums, quite a few line-up changes and 24 years after inception, Fear Factory are in the lucky position of being able to capitalise on the success of their early albums, which permits them the freedom to continue exploring the mechanical and scientific concepts that underpin their writing.

As they currently tour the swathe of European summer festivals, Fear Factory have distilled their reputation in the influence of early albums like Demanufacture and successor Obsolete. Still in the wake of 2012’s The Industrialist, Fear Factory are a band who have engraved their name into the industrial junkyard of metal and become a gateway for headbangers through the ages.

“Fear Factory has been a band that’s gone through generations,” Cazares says proudly. “We see people we saw when we were young who have grown up and are now bringing their kids to the show, so that’s pretty cool.” H

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words Tennille Secomb photo Courtesy of Soundworks Touring

‘Enduring The Eternal Molestation of Flame’ @YouTube

NILE

Death metal gods Nile are celebrating the 20th year of their rule. As they head for Australia, main man Karl Sanders gives HEAVY an insight into Nile’s mythology.

N

ile is an entirely different beast from when we started,” says Karl Sanders, founder and guitarist/vocalist with South Carolina death metal band Nile. “When it was Pete Hammoura, Chief Spires and I, it was definitely just three guys in the friggen woodshed playing and working stuff out the old fashioned way. Nowadays it’s more songwriter-oriented as George Kollias – (drums) lives in Greece and our bass player lives four hours away so it’s usually just me and Dallas getting together, trading guitar ideas and making demos for the other band members.”

It’s a process that Sanders believes works best for the now four-piece band.

“It’s much more focused than just bashing it out in the band room until you stumble upon something cool,” he explains.

Line-up changes have left Sanders as the only founding member of the Egyptian-themed band whose upcoming tour with The Faceless in November will feature new bassist Todd Ellis. Ellis was called in after the curious disappearance of former bassist Chris Lollis, who performed with Nile on the 2010 tour for sixth album Those Whom The Gods Detest.

“We were working on our latest album At The Gate Of Sethu (2012) and Chris just disappeared for four months. No one knew where he was,” Sanders says with more than a hint of disappointment. “He didn’t return anybody’s phone calls, he just went completely AWOL.” Eventually, Sanders explains, the band had to move on: “After three months we decided we needed to hire someone, so we hired Todd. He’s a solid guy, a great bass player and he’s drama-free, which is a welcome change.”

How anyone willingly chooses to depart from a band of such calibre is bewildering but the Nile legend is bigger than any individual and continues to add pages unperturbed.

Those pages remain rooted in Egyptian mythology, which is more than a pastime for Sanders and has determined the band’s lyrical and artistic themes since inception.

Nile’s musical interpretations of texts that date back thousands of years espouse a profound insight into the dark and visceral nature of mankind that is

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still entirely relevant today.

“Humanity has not changed in a thousand years. We are still the same despicable creatures that we were when we were first descending from the trees,” Sanders says. “We’ve built our New-York civilisation but we are still despicable pack animals.

Once you strip away the thin veneer of civilisation, you would be surprised at what human beings are capable of.”

While early Nile albums dealt with classic Egyptology, recent works have shifted deeper.

Observations about mortality and human failure plague Nile’s latest lyrics, and Sanders has a concentrated, pragmatic idea of how to transform these primeval frustrations into the enchantingly complex music, which sets this band apart.

“I think we’d fully realised our concept by 2003. With our first three records, we were very much driven to achieve our own identity, to make a statement about who we are and we pretty much nailed it with In Their Darkened Shrines. From that point on it was really just ‘Where do we go from here?’

“Nile today is a cathartic experience, purging all the negative stuff that’s happened in my life and doing something positive with negative emotions.

I’m usually tapping into extreme anger and emotions and the way to work through it is to somehow bring it out within the song lyrics and guitar ideas.”

One part guitar god, two parts practitioner of an ancient wizardry, Sanders has an undeniably natural affinity with his craft. Kneeling humbly at the altar of the axe, he says that while sometimes quintessentially metal ideas seem to just speak to him straight from the Book Of The Dead, one must still work to keep (those fingers) in shape.

“When I was younger I used to run. I don’t do much running anymore, but if you want to run a mile, the first prerequisite in getting to the finish line is to keep going – it’s that motherf**king simple,” he enthuses. “I love learning new things, I mean, I’ve been playing for 41 years now but I still take guitar lessons.”

Uhh, what!?

“I have a friend who is a professor of jazz and he still shows me a thing or two. You’re never too old to learn because no matter how good you get, there’s always somebody better,” Sanders adds. “At home

I play for several hours every day. I find I’m happier when I’m getting those kinds of hours in; if I don’t get to play, my wrists get stiff so I like to keep my hands in shape.”

With such a long career in music, Sanders has watched the music scene change irrevocably.

He believes ease of access to new technology has obscured the dedicated approach to musicianship upon which Nile was founded, where labouring songwriting sessions and touring circuits provided invaluable experience in honing one’s craft.

“I hear a lot of music that sounds shallow and superficial to me, like it was just slapped together and stuck on the internet in the hope that someone will like it,” Sanders explains. “That’s what you do in this day and age – you click on a little button and that’s supposed to actually mean something, but it doesn’t. The only tangible way of measuring whether fans really appreciate what you do is if they are willing to reach into their pockets and actually buy your album – the fans that care enough to buy the records are the fans that are keeping metal alive.”

Nile return to Australia in November, and intend to celebrate their two-decade career by playing a collection of songs across all albums. Think of it as a ‘best of’, not that there’s any track a Nile fan would exclude from that setlist. H

If you could be an Egyptian God…? words Tennille Secomb

“I definitely would’ve been one of the darker ones, so I’d say Seth.” – Karl Sanders.

Set /sɛt/ or Seth (/sɛθ/) was said to dwell in the desert, representing the harsh and tempestuous aspects of the natural world and, in later myths, figured as the god of darkness and chaos. Although signifying evil, Seth was the son of the earth god Geb and sky goddess Nut, and was held in high esteem.

Seth is famous as the usurper who brutally murdered his own brother Osiris, whose wife (also their sister) Isis was pregnant with Horus, the falcon god of the sky. Horus later avenged his father’s death and took the throne back from Seth, who maintained he was the rightful king of Egypt as the only one strong enough to protect the sun god Ra. Following his defeat, some say Seth went to live with Ra, who features in the eponymous journey of Nile’s latest album At The Gate Of Sethu. Taken from inscriptions found on the Alabaster Sarcophagus of Seti I in 1370 BC, the sun god Ra journeys through underworld, which is divided into twelve hours of night by a series of gates guarded by a cosmic serpent – the tenth being the Gate of Sethu – and Ra must triumph against the scaly beast of the underworld to emerge anew in the light of morning each day.

heavyfeature words Justin Tawil photo Courtesy of Soundwave Touring

Zebrahead Zebrahead’s hung-over and hazy pop-punk veteran Ali Tabatabaee bares the divergent roots that fed the Orange County punk scene one of its original flavours.

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fter 17 years of spreading the signature style of Orange County punk around the world with their union of punk, hip-hop and heavy music, Zebrahead are still jamming out the catchy riffs and infectious vocal melodies that have earned them such a dedicated following. With Call Your Friends due for an August release and a recent line-up change, fans will be excited to know that the Zebrahead lads have plenty of gas left in the tank.

Call Your Friends is, in a sense, a Zebrahead re-birth, with Dan Palmer taking over the axe duties from Greg Bergdorf; however, as Ali Tabatabaee explains, Palmer’s previous work on the title track for Get Nice! made writing for the new album a more natural process.

“We all write together and his talents were very useful as we progressed and went on to write this album” Tabatabaee says. “He brought new life into the band because he comes from a different background and his writing style is different, and that’s cool because it changes the way you think about writing songs.”

Zebrahead aim to never write the same album twice, and Palmer’s addition has been a factor in achieving that with Call Your Friends.

“He’s such a great guitar player and he comes in with such cool and interesting riffs, I think it’ll definitely be noticeably different,” Tabatabaee continues, adding that fans needn’t panic just yet. “We do have popular songs on it, but we also have a few heavier songs on it as well, and so it’s a really well-balanced album when it comes to song styles.”

Recorded at Maple studios, Call Your Friends has been in the works for quite some time. The majority of the album was written in Zebrahead’s own home studio prior to going into Maple, the same studio used for MFZB and Phoenix.

“We went in and we were 90 per cent done with everything before we started recording. So we were kind of more prepared than we have been in a long time before going in to actually record the album,” Tabatabaee explains. “Often times I’ve encountered finishing an album and then going ‘Ah man, I wish I could have gone back and fixed this or

fixed that.’ Being ready to record really helped the songs be stronger on this album than on the previous ones.”

The tour for Call Your Friends began in August when Zebrahead hit China for the first time, then Japan, then UK shows with Reel Big Fish and Less Than Jake, before taking part in various other festivals throughout Europe. “Hopefully we’ll be coming to Australia really soon – hopefully for Soundwave – but we’re not sure about that yet,” Tabatabaee says.

In listening to a Zebrahead album, you get a sense that there are many different influences, each spinning different cogs in the heads of the musicians. There’s a certain groove that derives from hip-hop, and then there’s still the aggression and passion that is prominent in heavier music.

“So I grew up listening to NWA, Ice cube, Easy E, and then A Tribe Called Quest, Cypress Hill, stuff like that,” Tabatabaee says. “In high school, my friends started getting into metal, and I noticed that the aggressiveness was very similar to rap or hip-hop.”

Zebrahead’s true roots lie in Orange County where the band grew up. After studying for medical school, Tabatabaee moved back to Orange County and started hanging out with friend and Zebrahead bassist Ben Osmundson.

“He’s the one who got me into jamming, and then starting Zebrahead,” Tabatabaee says. “We played a few shows and it was a time where the record industry was really interested in Orange Country punk music because The Offspring and No Doubt were doing really well. One month, we played mainly to our friends and girlfriends, and then we did a demo and next month there were like 12 record labels there.”

Zebrahead were a driving force behind California’s pop-punk scene in the beginning, and the addition of Palmer to the line-up has brought about a change that is going to revitalise and revamp any stale or dated elements of the Californian party fiends.

Call Your Friends was released on August 7 so be sure to check it out and see for yourself what tasty new flavours Zebrahead have to offer. H

Shooting up at the Playboy Mansion It’s every young man’s dream to visit the Playboy Mansion, but Zebrahead took it one step further and managed to play there... twice!

“We did a cross promotion with Playboy, so they gave us use of the mansion for the video shoot and then the girls and Hugh Heffner came out,” Zebrahead vocalist Ali Tabatabaee explains excitedly. “He [Heff] was in the video. We got to meet him and we built a relationship with Playboy, so we got invited back to play a party there. It was a really cool experience and I wish every guy could have a chance to experience it and it’s something that I’ll never forget – everything you’re thinking right now and more.” [Some dudes have all the luck – Ed.] c h ec k em o u t

‘Hell Yeah!’ @iTunes

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rock comics

words Damo Musclecar

Loud ink: a history of rock comics

Comic books are seen by many as nerd literature or geek culture but what most don’t know is that comics also share a connection with rock music.

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omic books have always gone hand in hand with rock music. Many rockstars are huge comic nerds and some are even so involved that they write their own – Danzig’s Satanika, Tom Morello’s Orchid, Marky Ramone’s Killogy, and Gerard Way’s The Umbrella Academy are all the result of a band member’s brain working overtime by investing in their love of comic books. Both Megadeth and GWAR also released their own comic books in the ‘90s and, in 2012, KISS were the spotlight of a new eight-issue series published by IDW. Stone Sour have just released comic books to coincide with their latest album House of Gold and Bones, written by the band’s vocalist Corey Taylor.

Closer to home, Australian artists have embraced the world of comic books and published independent titles, usually funded out of their own pockets. The Fireballs, TISM, and The Hard-Ons all released comics in the ‘90s and, most recently, Melbourne’s Twelve Foot Ninja released Project 12, where they released 12 songs with 12 comics over 12 weeks – what a great way to introduce fans into the world of comic books and also engage with their audience, giving them a reason to buy the album at a time when album sales are harder to maintain.

So where did it all start? When did this crossover between rock music and comic books first take effect? Let’s go on a journey through the twisted universe and cryptic writings of rock’n’roll comics.

The one band who quickly embraced the idea of mixing rock music and comics is undoubtedly KISS. In May of 1977, KISS were featured in issues 12 and 13 of the comic Howard The Duck.

Seizing the opportunity on the band’s popularity at the time, Marvel Comics published two super

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specials on the band in 1977 and 1978 with KISS pictured as superheroes. Today, the original print runs of these comics fetch a hefty price tag amongst collectors even though both have been reissued numerous times, most recently in 2012 by comic company IDW. In October 1979, with the success of the KISS super specials, Marvel again toyed with the idea of mixing rock’n’roll and comics and published an issue on iconic rock madman Alice Cooper, with a story based on his From The Inside album that had been released the previous year.

In 1988, a young music and comic book fan from San Diego who ran successful comic book conventions and record swap meets decided to sell off everything and start a comic company mixing his two favourite things: heavy metal and comic books. Todd Loren had a dream and a vision. He wanted to print MAD magazinestyled parodies and biographical representations of bands’ stories, and so the Rock’N’Roll Comics series was born under his company name Revolutionary Comics, bearing the motto ‘Unauthorised and proud of it!’

Released in July 1989, the first issue featured hard rockers Guns N’ Roses. Predictably, vocalist and career whinger Axl Rose had band lawyers send Loren a cease and desist order but the publicity fuelled sales as collectors who believed the lawsuit would bring the comic series to a sticky end rushed to snap up the entire first run of 10,000 copies. No lawsuit eventuated and the issue went on to sell over 175,000 copies.

The style penned by Rock’N’Roll Comics was not about fantasy and folklore, such as those that dominated the market at the time. In fact, Loren insisted that his writers told the stories of each band as they saw fit. Resultantly, sex, drugs,

and backstage debauchery ran rife through each issue.

Loren followed up the GNR release by publishing issues on Metallica, Bon Jovi and Mötley Crüe. The latter two bands saw Loren’s comics being akin to bootleg merchandise and also engaged lawyers, a move that infuriated Loren who believed they had no legal grounds and that the comics were protected by the “Freedom of Speech” First Amendment – Loren believed his comics were a communications medium just like newspapers and they shouldn’t need permission to write about someone.

The controversy was enough to scare major comic distributors, who decided not to carry Revolutionary titles for fear of litigation.

Eventually, Loren did sign an agreement with the Bon Jovi and Mötley Crüe lawyers to no longer publish any further comics featuring bands on their roster. Over the years, most bands accepted Revolutionary’s comic books as they quickly realised they were getting a lot of free publicity out of them but not all groups were so accepting. In 1990, Loren found himself back in court over an issue published on the boy band New Kids On The Block (NKOTB). A US District Judge found Loren and Revolutionary not guilty and declared the comic could be distributed on the grounds that it was part biography and part satire. NKOTB responded by filing suit for trademark infringement as the comic book did feature the group’s logo, although the rest of the comic was deemed permissible. Loren settled in court and destroyed 12,000 copies of the original printing.

Each issue of Rock N Roll Comics featured a column (read: rant) from Loren on topics that infuriated him, mainly censorship. He was a firm

believer in freedom of speech and an advocate for the First Amendment.

Tragedy struck Revolutionary Comics when, on 18 June 1992 , Loren had not shown up for work. His father, Herb Shapiro, went to his apartment to check on him only to find the door locked. With the help of a locksmith, Shapiro entered to find Todd laying face down on his bed, having been stabbed 15 times in a brutal murder.

To this day, the case still remains unsolved.

Revolutionary did try to continue publishing after Loren’s death but, in 1993, the company closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy. Across five years, Revolutionary published over 100 different titles based on rock music, superheroes, horror, conspiracy theories and adult themes, which have all become highly collectible among music and comic book fans around the world.

Comic books won’t necessarily work for every band though. As Alice Cooper states in the 2012 documentary The Story of Rock N Roll Comics, “It’s really hard to take a group like Dave Matthews and make them comic book heroes because nothing happens. It’s so hard to take a band that isn’t really an animated band and turn them into something exciting.”

Whether it was Marvel’s specials with KISS or Loren’s unauthorised and controversial comical autobiographies, the marriage of comic books and rock’n’roll has been solidified. To quote Alice Cooper, “What could be more rock’n’roll than comic books? It’s bigger than life, it’s fantasy driven, and it doesn’t depend on normal, everyday reactions to things.”

We think you can commit those words straight to ink. H

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Toe to Toe @Myspace

For over 20 years, Sydney’s Toe To Toe have been tearing up Australia with their brand of no-holds-barred, old-school hardcore. Vocalist and sole original member Scott ‘Mac’ McFadyen chats to HEAVY about their longevity, DIY ethics and their most interesting release yet.

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nspired by the likes of Agnostic Front and Sick Of It All, Toe To Toe came together in 1992 when there weren’t many, if any, bands in Australia playing American-styled hardcore.

“It was a great scene and at that time,” McFadyen remembers, “Sydney didn’t really have that many emerging hardcore bands – there were a lot of punk rock bands though and it was all these guys just hanging out. Then, within about 12 months, all these [hardcore] bands started coming out.”

It wouldn’t be long before a phenomenon hit TV and radio that would soon change the punk and hardcore movements across the globe. The breakthrough success of Green Day and The Offspring meant punk was now fashionable and seemingly everywhere.

“I think a lot of people for a long time missed the point,” McFadyen says. “The underground was so strong, churning out so many good records, that you could ignore all that [mainstream] stuff because there was so much other cool stuff going on. We’re talking decent albums being released every week from bands all around the world. I’ve noticed now that even with newer bands coming out, they ‘get it’ and always did ‘get it’ and have finally put something cool together – these are the battlers and the guys that have real hardcore in their heart.”

With major labels desperately fishing for the next punk rock commercial success by signing handfuls of independent bands in the hope one makes a buck, Toe To Toe steered clear and stuck to their true DIY ethics. This approach resonated with a Dutch label also using the DIY/ indie model named Kangaroo Records.

“They heard some of our music and asked us to record some songs. We sent it over, they packaged it up and we ended up touring there, which was an event in itself,” McFadyen remembers. “Parts of Germany were weird; at some of the German shows, no one would talk to us and then, in the Netherlands, everyone would talk to us and it was party time. Europe was different everywhere we went and it was a great experience.”

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Old school hardcore is a style easy to imitate but hard to replicate; however, for Toe To Toe, harnessing the energy of the sound seemed to come as naturally as breathing, McFadyen continues: “That’s the band we are and it might be a case of dumb luck too because we don’t really know how to do anything different. The cool thing about that is that a lot of bands that are coming out now can’t really nail that style but it’s hard for a new band to nail that particular style of hardcore because it’s the richness of the history of the music you listen to. I feel blessed that it’s like falling off a bike for us; it’s our style and we’re happy that we do what we do.”

McFadyen believes there’s an added benefit to being old-school this far into the new Millennium: “When we recorded Arturo Gatti (2010), we hadn’t done a full-length in ten years.

It’s like our style is so old, it’s new again.”

One of the keys to Toe To Toe’s longevity is that nothing seems forced. The band operate on passion and when the time is right, everything just moves forward. Just recently the band has been working on a release that is sure to be one of their proudest moments yet.

“There is a new recording of four tracks and three of them have guest vocalists – Freddy Cricien from Madball on one song; Lou Koller from Sick Of It All on another; and Craig Setari from Sick Of It All (ex-Youth Of Today and Agnostic Front) on the other. We’ve known these guys for years, and I sort of tailored each song to each person’s vocal style and they were all really happy with the tunes.”

Is there a release date in mind?

“We just need to finish them off now,” McFadyen adds. “It was all a bit of a rush because we could only get those guys together in the one room for one day – I came down from Brisbane to Sydney and we just got in there and did our thing. It’ll be a vinyl release.”

Vinyl and punk and hardcore have always gone hand in hand. While the CD craze boomed in the early ‘90s, punk and hardcore bands were still churning out vinyl by the bucketload and McFadyen agrees that vinyl is still the preferred format. “There were always those groups of

words Damo Musclecar photo Tony Mott

people who never stopped collecting vinyl but now the mainstream have cottoned on to it and it’s trendy to buy records. It’s funny the way the music industry set itself up with CDs then transferred to digital, but independents and small labels just kept doing their vinyl; they’re the visionaries because they saw the way digital was going. I might release a CD tomorrow and everyone will get out there and download it for nothing but if you release seven inchers, people buy them straight away – everything old is new again.”

No surprises for guessing the band’s release format going forward then.

“These new songs we’re working on will definitely be on vinyl. I can’t see them even making it to CD.” Artwork and packaging is another element of Toe To Toe’s releases that stands out in front of imitators and McFadyen finds this just as important as the music.

“I’m a big lowbrow art collector and art work is definitely very important to me.,” he says, adding that the band uses people they know where possible. “Anyone who does art for Toe To Toe would already have a relationship with the band. They’d usually be fans of the band or we’d know them, talk about the art to them and bounce ideas off each other. That’s probably how we get really good results; they want to do a really good job.”

Lyrically, the band have always been quite outspoken, but this doesn’t mean the band’s beliefs are shoved down fans’ throats.

“Toe To Toe’s lyrics have always been open to interpretation,” McFadyen says. “I have never said that this song is about this or that. It’s more that here are the lyrics and you take out of it what you want.”

With new recordings in the works, a few shows and tours in the pipeline, the future looks busy for Toe To Toe but McFadyen is careful not to look too far ahead, offering only, “We’re a band that likes to move forward,” and that’s good news for fans. H

ozfeature

Sydonia

words Rod Whitfield photos Shadow Zone Photography

Melbourne’s Sydonia are putting the triumphs and tragedies of the past behind them and looking to the future. As you read this, they should be nearing completion of their sophomore album, the follow up to 2006’s Given to Destroyers, which is a landmark release in Australian alternative and heavy music history.

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ydonia were kind enough to allow this writer into the inner sanctum of their studio in Melbourne for an extended sneak peek at the brand new material. The new songs are a step up from Given To Destroyers, and the record is set to turns heads here in Australia and across the world.

Singer Dana Roskvist and drummer Sean Bailey join me on a warm night in Melbourne to discuss the new record and the very bright looking future of Sydonia.

“So far it’s sounding really good,” Bailey begins, with a degree of understatement.

“I was working today in the hot, hot sun,” Roskvist adds. “I listened to every song about seven times, while we were chopping down dead trees or whatever, and I got little chills – it was so good.”

The band are using the famous Toyland Studios in Melbourne to do the album, and the boys have nothing but the highest praise for the studio and the main engineer there.

“Adam Calaitzis at Toyland is really quite creative when it comes to the mixing process,” Roskvist praises. “There’s a lot to take in when you’re sitting there. Sometimes it can be a bit of a shock to the system when it sounds so different, and you gotta give it a bit to grow on you.”

Bailey agrees: “It’s like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to play that live!’”

“But yeah, I think he’s doing a fantastic job,” Roskvist continues, adding with a laugh, “Obviously he has good sounds to work with, and ‘engineer Dana’ recording stuff for the first time.”

As stated previously, one of the highlights of the band’s career so far has been the American tour to support Stone Sour in 2007, but there are many others, such as tours that have cemented very strong friendships with the likes of Randy Blythe from Lamb of God and Jim Root from Slipknot. The boys were only too happy to talk about their experiences and the friendships they have made out on the road in Australia and across America.

“Yeah man, we’re really lucky there,” Roskvist says. “We even took Randy camping in the Otways – we got leeches on us and shit. He’s a really lovely guy [and] I was so happy to hear the news [Blythe’s acquittal of manslaughter charges in the Czech Republic in March this year]. I texted him and stuff.

It’s rough because it’s a fan that’s died, and it’s rough because he’s been blamed for it.

“I checked out all the footage of that gig,” he continues, adding, “That kid [19yo Daniel Nosek] fell off that stage about four times, and only once was Randy involved in it. I couldn’t see that becoming a guilty verdict, and I’m so happy for him.”

So what are the band’s fondest memories of the American tour and/or the big support tours they’ve done in Australia?

“Hampshire, in the States, in this huge ballroom,” Bailey recalls. “I think it was 40 years to the day when The Doors, Janis Joplin and all these amazing bands played. We’d driven all through the night and we got there about six in the morning. It was like ‘There’s the beach, home is that way.’”

“Not really,” Roskvist interjects. “It was the wrong coast for that!”

“We were all just really tired,” Bailey continues. “It’d been a very tough tour to that point but things were starting to get a bit better, and that show, the crowd were just completely into it.”

“Jim [Root, from Stone Sour and Slipknot] got up onstage with us; he was just running around onstage, playing guitar, and we were just laughing our arses off. Then Corey got up, with a Sydonia t-shirt on – that was one of the standouts.”

As for the future, the band are confident that the sophomore album will see the light of day some time in 2013, which will actually make it seven years since the debut.

“Yeah it’ll definitely be this year,” Roskvist states with conviction. “It’s just a matter of when; it should be before the end of winter.”

Bailey cuts in: “We could be sentimental and release it the same day as Given to Destroyers.”

Does the album have a name yet? ““John Howard is a c**t,” Bailey jokes, before Roskvist chimes in: “We’ve only really got one that’s been going around and seems to be sticking. It’s ‘Reality Kicks’.”

When it comes to the band’s hopes and aspirations for the album once it comes out, Bailey has only one thing on his mind.

“Hopefully it sells more than One Direction,” he says.

It’s unlikely that millions of 13 and 14 yearold girls will rush out and buy the new Sydonia album when it drops, but with the way it’s sounding, this writer is confident that the band can reach a new level, both in Australia and internationally. H

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‘Set Sail On Ale’ @YouTube

Claim the Throne Folk metal is defined by talks of intoxication in between battles with mythical gods.

Perth’s Claim the Throne is carving their own niche in the genre, which is proving to be a battle that’s just as epic. words Vix Vile photo Courtesy of Soundworks Touring

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ow in their ninth year, the boys just might be maturing.

Although partying and having a good time are still prevalent, gone are the days of being so inebriated on stage that they could barely remember the performance they just put on.

Founding member and bassist Jim Parker says the band has reached a gentle acceptance that this behaviour can’t continue.

“We are at the point now where we still drink and party like crazy, but not so much that our show suffers and we sound like shit,” Parker says.

Last year the band embarked on their first overseas support tour, with folk metal leaders Alestorm no less, and the band discovered that a far bigger challenge than staying sober onstage is how to garner respect in a genre dominated by European bands.

“It’s funny; we’ve sent some of our previous albums to labels in Europe in search of a deal, and some won’t even listen to it,” Parker laments. “The basic reply has been if the band was from somewhere in Europe, they would sign us.”

Such setbacks haven’t stopped the band moving forward and their ambition is clear on current release Forged In Flame. It’s the most mature effort out of Claim the Throne’s three albums to date, and each member’s diverse taste in music shines throughout.

Most of the band, consisting also of vocalist Brendon Capriotti, drummer Ashley Large, guitarist Glen Dyson and keyboardist Jessie Millea, have played in heavier bands.

Parker himself plays in two brutal death metal bands, a far cry from the world of sea-faring folk songs.

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“Most of my influence is drawn from death/slam metal,” he says, adding, “I tend to write a lot of riffs and only a few will get used, depending on if they work in a song. We definitely experiment with different speeds and playing styles and vocals, which keeps it interesting.”

As part of the promotion for the new album, the band also completed their second video, the first being for Set Sail On Ale from 2009 EP Aletales. The new video, for the song Zephyrus, was filmed over a few days in Perth and the heavy fabrics of their folk metal costumes sure came in handy when a spate of unusually cold weather passed through.

“Thankfully our instruments didn’t get wet,” parker says of the experience.

Does he see the importance in video production these days? “Definitely. I think some bands are just getting lazy, make lyric videos for their band and that’s it. I love when a band has gone to the effort of producing a clip, and you don’t need a huge budget to make a decent video these days.”

As the premier folk metal band in Australia, Claim the Throne find themselves in the enviable position of being a ‘go to’ band for support slots whenever giants of the genre tour here. They recently landed Finntroll and have a long history with Alestorm. European labels might be taking their time to arrive at the party, but audiences are showing no such resistance. That said, every show in front of a new crowd is a nervous moment for the intrepid adventurers. “There’s a few minutes of uncertainty at the start of any show where a crowd are deciding if they like you or not,” Parker laughs, as he discusses playing to a room filled with anxious Alestorm fans.

“We had some crazy circle pits at a few shows though, and the crowd’s soon warmed to us when they saw we liked a drink onstage (or ten),” he adds. “Getting the crowd involved and giving them beer funnels is always a good way to win them over.”

One thing is certain: Claim The Throne enjoy what they do and this shines through to the crowds that watch them. Parker will be the first to tell you that of all the bands he plays in, this one is the most fun, able to appeal to even the most hardened of metalheads on account of the energy each member gives out at shows. In the end, it’s impossible not have a good time.

Forged In Fire is out now on Prime Cuts Music. H

Authentic apparel Vocalist Brendon Capriotti spent a year making the chain-mail vest he wears on stage, laboriously sitting with pliers looping the rings into each other to get it just right.

Although other genres of metal have certain dress styles, the characters portrayed on stage when in a folk metal have to be right. Playing in pantaloons may seem silly, but imagine playing a mandolin wearing high tops and black skinnies?

Corsets, natural cloths and woollen capes are almost mandatory and it’s the one genre in metal where the men can get away with skirts and not be brutalised by the crowd – I dare you to have a go at Ensiferum’s kilt attire.

In the end, it’s the accessories that really make a folk metaller stand out. Bones, horns, Viking belts and pouch vessels that not only assist in the authenticity of the look, but securely hold the precious golden ale, which is the most important component of all.

ozfeature words Nelli Scarlet L ISTEN n o w

‘Culprit’ @YouTube

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Bellusira

On the cusp of the release of their debut album Connection, Bellusira’s Crystal Ignite talks to Nelli Scarlet about why it’s been such a long time coming.

t’s taken some time but Melbourne alternative rock darlings Bellusira have finally released their debut album Connection. The band’s devoted fan base have been eagerly and patiently awaiting the release, and vocalist Crystal Ignite sheds some light on the 18-month recording process.

“We split the recording up into three main sessions,” Ignite says. “We started recording as soon as we solidified the current line-up, and kept going right up until the last vocals were written in the studio as late as this January. We scrapped a lot of songs, as we just weren’t feeling it, and we wanted our debut to be the best album it could be, and the best reflection of who we are and what we are trying to convey.”

Produced by Ricki Rae, Bellusira released the leading single Culprit in April 2012.

“Culprit is such an angry track,” Ignite continues. “Being a strong female, you stick out; you have wrongs done by you, yet everyone sees you as the culprit. But what we are saying in that song is ‘Bring it on!’ Throw anything at me; at us – we’re still standing.

Only I can give you the permission to affect me.”

Connection is a deeply emotional album, and it’s not all about defiantly standing strong in the face of adversity.

“I cried the whole way through writing and recording this album,” Ignite admits. “The ballad Made Of was me at absolute breaking point.

I felt like everything had hit me from every angle; as soon as I hit the ground from one thing, something else kicked me in a different part of my life while I was down. I felt like my whole world had been ripped away, but I feel that song reflects what we are made of. When you’re really being tested in life, it shows who you really are. Just because you are crying, it doesn’t mean you aren’t strong.”

Ignite cites inspiration for the track By Your Side as her marriage to husband Mark Dalbeth (bass guitar).

Described as “partners in music and life”, Ignite and Dalbeth have put everything on the line to be together and create the music they love. “Mark

and I wrote By Your Side together,” Ignite says.

“It made me think of how much I loved him and I just wanted to cry about how committed and dedicated I am to him. I created an idea of us fighting, and how there’s nothing like the threat of loss to show how much you love that person, and how devastated you would be if you ever did lose what you have together.”

The overarching theme of the album lies in the title, Connection.

“The connection is what ties everything together – the spiritual and the physical; the collective consciousness,” Ignite explains. “We are all just energy together – everything we do affects everyone and everything around us.”

Important for the band was a need to ensure the album remained positive throughout.

“I feel as a person, not just as a performer, it’s so important to always end things on a positive and uplifting vibe, and that’s what we do,” Ignite says. “It’s okay to express sadness but you have to come back to positivity.”

Even the more upbeat party anthem

Cachango has a meaningful undertone.

“There are spiritual seeds we’ve planted within that song to help people open their minds and awaken themselves,” Ignite adds.

“The song Soul Call is super important to me because it’s everything I believe in. Calling to, and connecting with, people’s souls is every reason why I want to make music. People get so stuck in their nine-to-five robotic slavery, I just want to connect with people and show them they are so much more than that.”

In this sense, Ignite hopes fans find ways to introduce some of the themes on Connection into their daily lives: “People sit around and think ‘The world’s f**ked’, and that there’s no way one person can make a difference... but you can! Everyone can connect and affect those around them in a positive way. What we are saying with Connection is realise who you are, realise why you are here on this earth, and know we are all special. We are all incredible multi-dimensional beings who are all here to change things and make a difference. That’s the connection.” H

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ozfeature

Black Majesty

Power metal four-piece Black Majesty is another Australian band conquering Europe one festival at a time. words Fabio Marraccini photo Allen Moore

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magine a power metal band that has toured with DragonForce, shared the stage with HammerFall and played in the legendary Wacken Open Air? imagine if the same band had released albums produced by Roland Grapow of Helloween and Masterplan fame. Such a reputation could lead a group down the path of hubris, but where Melbourne band Black Majesty is concerned, the opposite is true. Talented yet still humble – yes Malmsteen, it is possible – Black Majesty are a band acutely aware of their achievements but still respectful of the success of others.

Chatting with guitarist Steve Janevski about his career, influences, main gigs, and future plans, I start with the necessary question about the band’s future now that their five-album contract with Limb Music records has expired.

“Well, we will record a new album in July and, talking to Limb, releasing the album through them is certainly a possibility,” Janevski says, “ but the only thing that is certain now is that they will release a compilation album later this year, aptly titled The Royal Collection.”

Aware that compilation albums can mean a lot of things, Janevski explains: “Our best songs will be on this album, but a lot of it will be demos and different versions of such songs. We feel at this stage fans would like to hear how a particular song came to life, or how different its first attempt was when compared with the version that finally made it to the album.”

Going into the studio without a contract is certainly a sign of times, Janevski believes.

“Shopping around for labels with just a bunch of rough demos is a thing of the past,” he says.

“We’d rather approach them with the finished product, so they can immediately put it out, and will not have influence over what’s been done.”

Outside influences are indeed a factor, especially when recording an album with someone like Roland Grapow, a powermetal legend who fans might expect to have significant influence over the development of the songs; however, Janevski disagrees.

“No influence whatsoever”, he explains.

“Roland brings to the table his recording and mixing experience and that’s it. We go there with the songs developed and rehearsed, the way we think they should go on record. We might change a solo or a riff, but his job is really to make us sound amazing from a technical standpoint.”

Black Majesty’s impressive sequence of releases shows a clear evolution, an ongoing maturity, but there are no signs yet of any change in musical direction.

“And I don’t think we will any time soon,” Janevski laughs. “We’re very happy with what we do and the way we do it. You can expect the same melodic, heavy and epic brand of metal, spiced up with hooks and maybe a tad of hard rock here or there. We understand why some bands feel they need to reinvent the wheel from time to time, but for us that hasn’t happened yet.”

Discussing influences, Janevski has a few surprises.

“Besides all the obvious and traditional names, I could mention the likes of Jag Panzer or Riot, underrated bands that probably had a lot of influence on us,” he says. “Some hard rock bands also influenced me; an example is Dokken’s guitarist George Lynch. When I started learning the guitar, I used to play along to his albums and somehow absorbed some of his style. I think it’s the same for all the other guys in the band – we all love our classic ‘70s or ‘80s rock and metal.”

Now, rocking the crap out of 10,000 punters

on the Euro festival circuit might sound like a daunting prospect but, according to Janevski, nerves play no real part in it.

“We were all well-seasoned musicians when we played the festivals. We had this band for a while, and we all came from other bands that had significant gig time on their bags,” he explains. “The excitement was very high and I would even say we were there both as musos and as fans – we wanted to check out the bands we love too, you know?”

Janevski believes playing before that many people raises different challenges to slinging it on the local scene: “One thing is very different: when you play a local gig, you play for your audience; people know the songs. In a festival like that, you may as well be just another band for many of the punters there. On one hand, you can use that to your advantage and amass a bunch of new fans, but you also risk boring them to death and becoming their ‘let’s go get a beer’ band.”

Being genuine in a flashy, ego-driven genre isn’t easy. Breaking through as a band, both locally and internationally, and not letting it grow on your ego or change who you are is even harder. Yet Janevski and his mates Hanny Mohamed on guitar, John Cavaliere on vocals and Pavel Konvalinka on drums have managed just that and more in their decade together, which means the lads are well placed for many more years to come. H

Two styles entwined Words Fabio Marraccini

The term hair metal sends shivers down the spines of many metal heads who believe that it's not even metal. Whatever your opinion on the matter is, hair metal was huge in the ‘80s and did bring out a lot of talented musicians.

According to Steve Janevski, and many other musicians I’ve encountered, mixing this hair metal influence, complete with its insatiable taste for hooks and melody, with other genres of metal can result in a killer product. Black Majesty are definitely not a hair metal band – this much is clear – but if one listens closely to the licks, solos and riffs throughout, it's possible to hear some of those '80s influences, and it works quite well.

L ISTEN n o w

‘STARGAZER’ Promo @YouTube

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c h ec k e m o u t

ozfeature

Tanks of Dust @YouTube

Paper Arms Josh Mann from post-hardcore punks Paper Arms chats with HEAVY about new videos international tours and why Adelaide is an emerging force. words Will Oakeshott photo Michael Smith

I

t’s a crime that Adelaide can be so overlooked in comparison to the larger capitals of our fine nation.

While it may have a smaller population, perhaps a more dormant night life and far too many churches, the city more than makes up for it in cultural richness. Consider for one moment the bands that call Adelaide home. If one was to focus on the heavier end of the spectrum, as most readers of this fine publication would, names such as Day Of Contempt, Embodiment 12:14, ShotPointBlank and I Killed The Prom Queen would certainly turn a few heads; however, if the desire was for metal of a melodic nature, outfits like 99 Reasons Why, Mere Theory and STR would rank highly.

Yep, Adelaide certainly has its share of prestigious acts. One man who has been involved with the Adelaide music scene for many years and experienced all of the highs and lows is Josh Mann, vocalist, songwriter and guitarist of post-hardcore punks Paper Arms, and his introspective is nothing short of fascinating.

“Oh man. I’ve been doing this for 15 years now – more than half my life,” Mann says. “I’m starting to sound like an angry old man, but the local music scene was definitely stronger when I started out. I don’t know if it’s fewer allages shows, more alternative night clubs, or just World of Warcraft [laughs]. I don’t know where the crowds went, but there’s definitely not the 300-strong crowds that were regular occurrences in my youth anymore. But, you know, there’s still great music being made and there are still true believers all over the world who just can’t stop playing, regardless of crowds – I’m afraid that I’m probably a bit of a lifer in this.”

It’s obvious that Josh takes a lot of pride in his hometown, as most people do. In fact, on

Paper Arms’ debut album Days Above Ground, highlight track Bricks And Mortar is inspired

by Adelaide itself.

“Adelaide is home you know, and always will be,” Mann says. “I could live in other places, but there’s something special about somewhere you grew up. Having said that, it also has a lot of things that grind my gears.

Bricks And Mortar was written when our previous mayor was quoted as saying he wanted to make Adelaide a ‘big country town’, and I have nothing against country towns but I wasn’t really that excited to live in one.

I think since writing that song, there has been a lot of progress here; a lot of creative types claiming ownership of the place and making it interesting again. If we can just get a couple more venues run by passionate people, I believe we’ll be able to match it with most Australian cities – but pay half the rent (laughs).”

2013 brings exciting times for the four men who make up Paper Arms. Having just released their sophomore album The Smoke Will Clear, the band have found themselves reaching heights that still takes them by surprise, such as supporting the ever-popular Title Fight and taking part in the Hits & Pits Festival tour. The quartet have also just announced their first international tour, a journey through Europe with BoySetsFire, one of the most distinguished punk hardcore bands still active today.

“The European tour is total bucket list,” Mann says excitedly. “We’re doing about 30 shows in 31 days – playing shows with Bane, Strike Anywhere, Gallows, BoySetsFire and a couple of awesome looking festivals. I grew up listening to BoySetsFire, so to be playing a bunch of shows with them, in Europe no less, is ridiculous for me.

“Playing with bands you grew up listening to is always a trip – getting to meet and make

friends with them is also something that I find interesting,” Mann says, before reeling off his highlights from the year just passed: “Hits & Pits was great; touring with our label mates Jen Buxton and Jamie Hay was awesome; hanging out with The Flatliners and Good Riddance was priceless; Strike Anywhere are one of my favourite bands and through touring with them we’ve become good friends, but probably one of my recent support highlights would have to be Hot Water Music, probably my favourite band of all time – Chuck got me up to take over vocal duties for a song. It’s the few moments like that, that make all the hard work of being in a band worth it.”

Paper Arms’ outstanding film clip for Tanks Of Dust is definitely one recent development winning the band new fans, and Mann sheds some light on the clip’s innovative and off-centre narrative, which involves a couple sitting at a table while household objects smash around them.

“The actors we got were actually telekinetic. We just put them in a room together and shit got real,” he laughs. “We can’t really take any credit for the clip though; our film-maker friends at Passel Media are responsible, but let’s just say there was a lot of room in the budget for fishing wire.”

Plans for a second clip are in the works, this time for song Snake Oil, but all Mann will say about the direction is that “it’s going to be played in reverse”.

What else have the boys that make up Paper Arms got in store?

“We have a split coming out soon with Nothington from the USA and we’re looking at more overseas tours before the year’s out,” Mann says. “Should keep us busy.”

It seems the sky is the limit for this hard working four-piece and deservedly so. H

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c h ec k em o u t

‘Boys in Town’ @YouTube

Born Christine Joy ‘Chrissy’ Amphlett 25 October, 1959 – Geelong, Victoria • Lead singer of Australian rock band Divinyls; • Divinyls’ first major Australian release, Monkey Grip, was also the soundtrack for the 1982 film of the same name, in which Chrissy made her acting debut; • Fourth studio album diVINYLS contains Divinyls’ magnum opus I Touch Myself; • The single I Touch Myself reached number one in Australia, number four in the US and number ten in the UK; • Transformers helmsman Michael Bay directed the video for I Touch Myself; • Amphlett played Judy Garland in the Broadway musical The Boy from Oz, opposite Hugh Jackman; • She was once arrested and jailed for three months in Spain for singing on the street; • Inducted into ARIA hall of fame in 2006 alongside Divinyls band mate Mark McEntee; • Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late ‘90s and revealed in 2010 that she also had breast cancer; • Died on 21 April 2013 after losing her battle with breast cancer.

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Chrissy Amphlett RIP words Josh Voce photos Tony Mott

Chrissy Amphlett Discography (Divinyls studio albums) 1982 – Monkey Grip EP (WEA) 1983 – Desperate (Chrysalis Records) 1985 – What a Life! (Chrysalis Reccords) 1988 – Temperamental (Chrysalis Records) 1991 – diVINYLS (Virgin Records) 1996 – Underworld (BMG Records)

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photo Jay Hynes

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heavy legends

L ISTEN n o w

‘Vincent Price’ @YouTube

words Damo Musclecar photo Jim Rakate

They’ve been hailed as one of the pioneers of progressive rock and heavy metal, have sold over 100 million albums worldwide and now, eight years since their last studio recording, have returned with their heaviest album to date. Vocalist Ian Gillan is on the phone from Portugal to chat with HEAVY about live albums, bootlegging, piracy and their long-awaited studio album, Now What?!

H

aving formed way back in 1968, it’s no surprise that Deep Purple have done it all.

Today, with their members scattered across the world, one has to wonder just where the band finds the time to write and record a new album, especially given such a hectic touring schedule.

“It’s always been the case,” Gillan explains of the band’s geographical barriers. “Three of us live in England, Roger [Glover, bass] lives in Switzerland and Steve [Morse, guitars] lives in Florida. My home is in England but I’m not home very often. We’re a touring band; that’s how it’s always been, even when we were kids.

Once we bought our first van, we started to get on the move – you can only play so many gigs in your own home town and then you have got to start moving. Deep Purple is primarily an instrumental performing band. That’s about the only way we can describe ourselves.

Actually, I don’t even like the word ‘band’; a band has got a brass section. We’re a group.”

Now What?! is the band’s 19th studio album and was produced by the legendary Bob Ezrin whose work with KISS, Hanoi Rocks and Alice Cooper has delivered epic results. Surprisingly, this was the first time the band has worked with Ezrin.

“Bob was great, the perfect producer,” Gillan confirms. “In fact, Bob was something of a catalyst in terms of getting this record done because it had been a while since we had made an album. We’d been happily touring and the subject of making a new record would crop up now and again and everyone would go ‘Yeah OK, maybe next year’. Bob is the right producer for Deep Purple at this time. He’s a great musician and has a great interest in jazz, orchestral music, rock n roll – all kinds of stuff.

He’s also the best technician I have ever worked with and his experience made him feel right at home with us so there was a great deal of mutual respect. It worked very well.”

One wonders what a producer would even bring to a group so experienced with the studio process.

“The one thing we were kind of lacking from any producer really was an objectivity of professionalism,” Gillan explains. “You could imagine him being more like the conductor of an orchestra; he encouraged us first of all to be

40

what we are. I think everyone falls into this trap of becoming formulaic over the years.”

Is there an example of this in effect?

“He said to us ‘In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head only had seven tracks on them and the reason for that is because you extended the music and stretched out these tracks to seven to ten minutes long. Let’s make the music first and then take care of the songs afterwards.’

I think it [making new music] was very much in our hearts but it had become dormant and probably the reason why we weren’t too thrilled about making another record – there was no real challenge,” Gillan adds. “He [Ezrin] was very encouraging on the one hand and quite a disciplinary on the other. I love all that.

I thought it was brilliant.”

Did the band ever think about handling the process themselves?

“We worked with Roger Glover as producer once or twice and he had so many good qualities but it’s difficult if you’ve got no objectivity so I think it was certainly a unique experience with Bob,” Gillan explains.

Vocally, Gillan’s voice is in fine form on the new record and his instrumental, harmonious style is what sets Deep Purple apart from other classic rock bands of the ilk.

“I think, with my vocals, it’s how we do the writing,” Gillan says. “I don’t write like this with any other musicians. I’ve worked with a lot of other people and we always wrote the tunes with the words coming first and the arrangements afterwards but, with Deep Purple, it’s completely the opposite way round, and they would be jamming all day.”

Was it a lengthy process to pull those jams into songs?

“We started at noon every day and worked til six – it was like going to the office six days a week, we took Sundays off,” Gillan laughs, “and I am just listening and involved in the jams and when something starts developing, I just start singing what I call gibberish, absolute nonsense. I see what I can fit in, something that seems kind of melodic, and if the phrasing will fit in with what’s going on. Sometimes we have to stretch out the arrangements to accommodate the vocals, which they [the band] do reluctantly.”

Throughout, Gillan refers to himself

as an instrumental vocalist, which seems oxymoronic until he explains it further: “The voice develops as an instrument really because there are no words at all. I’m not sure if this is completely true but I always found that the sound of the words is more important than the meaning of the words. Of course the meaning is important, just that the voice as an instrument is quite important, I think within the context of Deep Purple anyway.”

The band released the single Vincent Price in June with an accompanying video that seemed to parody a ‘60s Hammer Horror film with dark dungeons and pole-dancing stripper nuns. No doubt the band held their tongues firmly in cheek.

“The song came about because each piece that we’re working on is given a working title and, in this case, it was called Vincent Price right in the beginning because I thought it sounded like a soundtrack to a horror movie if you stripped the vocals away. The title was quite inspirational because I sat down with pencil and paper and thought if I were the director of a horror movie in the ‘60s – or any era really – what would be the ingredients? You’d want creaking gates, thunder and lightning, howling dogs, sacrificial virgins, and I had a whole list of items and there it was; there were the lyrics.”

Gillan adds that the video was a more challenging step for him than any lyrical content, and pulled him out of his comfort zone to some degree: “It took about five minutes to write the song [Vincent Price]. It was a fun thing and I didn’t even know if it was going to stay on the album, then we talked about doing a video, which is weird because I don’t think we should be doing videos. I don’t have a big thing for rock music on a small screen; somehow, something is missing and it doesn’t get across. If you’re like a modern-day rock group then it’s probably fantastic because no one cares about how it [music] sounds anymore. Everyone listens to music with their eyes nowadays, don’t they?”

Quality of sound and being in the moment is one thing that Gillan is especially vocal about, particularly on the subject of live albums and the current trend to use them to keep a band’s catalogue ticking over.

“I don’t mind the occasional live album but it’s like ‘Another one?’ It should be a milestone.

heavy legends

Now What?!

Deep Purple’s 19th studio album is packed with everything you would want from a Deep Purple record – epic jams, huge riffs, Ian Paice’s thumping drums and Gillan’s unique vocal style.

While not exactly metal, their contribution to the roots of heavy music is unchallenged. With a slew of classic rock albums under their belt and their most popular releases being over 20 years old, it has to be said that Now What?! is a fine body of work that holds up against anything the band has released in the last two decades. The fans agree, and the album has gone gold in some regions of Europe, the first time since 1990’s Slaves and Masters that a Deep Purple record has gone on to achieve gold status in Switzerland.

Tracks like Hell To Pay and Vincent Price show the band at their most rockin’, the latter sounding like it could fit perfectly within the confines of a Ghost BC album, while BodyLine and Apres Vous show the band haven’t lost any of their ‘70s groove. Now What?! may not be the band’s finest hour but it surely is a prog rocker’s wet dream, filled with epic jams and some amazing instrumentation that Deep Purple and Rush fans are sure to enjoy. Lucky for me, I am both.

“Maybe one every ten years or something like that would be good,” he says, adding “I never ever listen to a gig after it’s been done. It’s just meaningless to me to listen to it out of context.

Then again, I’m doing a show five nights a week and getting off on ‘the’ night and ‘the’ show, and then I move on to the next one. It’s a shared experience and each one is different – the ambience, the audience, the venue, the time of year – so I have no time for live albums. I don’t get it, basically. I didn’t even like Made in Japan [Deep Purple live album released August 1972] to start with, but then I listened to it ten years later and thought ‘Yeah, this is pretty good’.

Maybe bands should do live albums, keep them in storage for ten years and then release them.

That would be better.”

It isn’t just unnecessary live albums that trigger Gillan’s disapproval but also the trend of pirating that has flooded the market in the digital age. Gillan is careful to make a distinction between today’s pirating and the bootlegging that was so popular during the ‘60s and ‘70s.

“At the start, the world was covered with bootlegs. I’m talking back in the days of cassettes because they were so easy to copy.

Now, you open your mouth and it’s on YouTube five seconds later, you know? It’s unbelievable,” Gillan says. “There’s so much of it [piracy] that it demeans the value of it [the music]. It got to a point where I had to have an opinion on this, so bootlegs are OK if the fans are doing it and making copies. It sounds rubbish but if the fans get off on it then that’s fine. It’s for the fans and it’s not going to anyone who hasn’t already got the legitimately-recorded material. Then you have the pirate copies where you walk into a shop in Athens and you ask ‘Have you got the new album by so-and-so?’ and they say to you, ‘Yeah, how long can you wait?’ They then run off a copy in the back office with the artwork and everything. That’s going on all over the place so

we made a distinction between bootleggers and pirates, but the line is not well-defined now at all.

Despite a strong anti-pirating stance, Gillian is somewhat resigned to the situation.

“I’ve had many debates on my website about the damage piracy is doing to the music business and, of course, it goes back and forward because everyone’s got a point of view,” he says. “The best opinion I ever heard was from some kid who wrote to me and said ‘Ian, it’s the way it is. Get used to it.’ I thought, ‘Yeah, he’s right.’ The line between altruism and greed is long gone – it doesn’t exist anymore – and it’s all part of an entirely different way of looking at music and receiving it.”

For Gillan, piracy is made harder to accept because of the regrettable corrosion of quality that has become a feature of an internet now overflowing with poorly-ripped albums.

“Personally speaking, after trying so hard for so many years to improve sounds and everything else, to hear the quality of music people are listening to at the moment makes me weep; it’s just such rubbish sound. I don’t see how it’s even worth listening to, but I’m out of context so my opinion isn’t really worth much.”

Speaking with Gillan, it’s obvious he is still passionate about the music that is, after all, the centrepiece of his livelihood. He lives and breathes it day to day and it’s clear that it’s not just a job to him and that there still remains a longing to be on that stage night after night.

“I think we have our safe haven of playing music live on stage because nothing’s changed there at all – you’ve still got the fans and the audience,” he explains. “It’s the one time of the day, for two hours or however long, when you can shut your mind out to the music business and the world in general, and interact and do what you do best. That’s the treasured moment and if we can do that five days a week, I’m a happy man.” H

The lifetime legacy of Deep Purple 1968 - Shades of Deep Purple (Tetragrammaton) 1968 - The Book of Taliesyn (Tetragrammaton) 1969 - Deep Purple (Tetragrammaton) 1970 - Deep Purple in Rock (Harvest) 1971 - Fireball (Harvest) 1972 - Machine Head (Purple)

1973 - Who Do We Think We Are (Purple) 1974 - Burn (Purple) 1974 - Stormbringer (Purple) 1975 - Come Taste the Band (Purple) 1984 - Perfect Strangers (Polydor) 1987 - The House of Blue Light (Polydor) 1990 - Slaves and Masters (BMG) 1993 - The Battle Rages On... (BMG) 1996 - Purpendicular (Phantom Records) 1998 - Abandon (CMC International) 2003 - Bananas (Sanctuary) 2005 - Rapture of the Deep (Edeltone) 2013 - Now What?! (Edel/earMUSIC)

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heavy legends

L ISTEN n o w

‘Push’ @YouTube

Dreadnaught words Nelli Scarlet photo Courtesy Dreadnaught

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This year, Australian heavy legends Dreadnaught celebrate their 20th year in the music industry. HEAVY sat down to pick founding member Richie Poate’s brain on how to not only survive but thrive for two decades at the top.

as anyone noticed how the majority of influential and longstanding music icons seem to come from the quietest cities?

Again this proves true in the case of the 20-year reign of heavy metal kings Dreadnaught. Growing up in Bernie, Tasmania – population 20,000 – Dreadnaught founding member Richie Poate explains that the stillness of one’s environment can be a great motivator.

“There’s a certain amount of truth in that [bands forming in quiet places]; growing up, there’s really nothing to do but play.”

In isolated towns, limited exposure to new music means kids are often subjected to the horrors of chart music only but, as Poate tells, a certain record story set him on a life path from which he would never again deviate.

“The local radio stations all had a record store attached to them, and our local record store was run by a metalhead,” Poate laughs. “There was one rack of pop records and about seven racks of heavy metal records, and all they played on their radio station was metal. From that record store, I bought my first cassette – Iron Maiden’s Iron Maiden!”

In earlier incarnations of the band that would later become Dreadnaught, Poate found himself participating in gigs that could only be described as musical mixed bags.

“There was no such thing as a death metal gig; there was just ‘the gig’,” he explained. “And this gig would see a punk band, a metal band and a thrash band all sharing a stage. We would dub demos onto tapes ourselves but never release anything. There was no other way to do it; there wasn’t a record press in Tasmania back then.”

Poate had to get out, and he did, moving to Melbourne sometime around 1993, a magical

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land where record presses were in abundance and opportunities for a musician plentiful. It was there that he pulled together the initial line up for what is today known as Dreadnaught.

Boasting musical backgrounds ranging from thrash to glam, stopping at punk along the way, Dreadnaught’s original musical inclination was much different to what it is now.

“When we were young, we were really keen to push ourselves, to make our music as difficult to play as possible,” Poate says. “Over time, we realised it’s actually really hard to do – when music is slightly simpler, it’s easier to do well. These days, we like to take around three years to work on an album, which is why the sound changes so much. If we forced ourselves to punch out an album every year, they would probably all sound the same because we aren’t giving ourselves the chance to evolve as musicians.”

Twenty years together is a remarkable achievement in a time where bands come and go seemingly overnight, and when terms like ‘flash in the pan’ and “one-hit wonder” are more relevant than ever. The question begs: what is the secret to such longevity?

“We are so lucky that we actually continued to progress over 20 years,” Poate muses. “We were lucky enough to stumble into things that helped us forward – our time with Roadrunner Records really propelled us and had a binding effect on the band, and helped us carve a career out for ourselves. Having people around who believe in what you do when not many other people do, that’s huge.”

The relevance of the record label has dwindled in recent years, and bands seem more reliant on social media and crowdfunding.

As indie acts rise to the fore on the back of

these new promotional methods, bands face a dilemma: label or no label?

“It’s a real financial shift in power; the money isn’t that great with a label, but they have muscle power for things like PR, touring with long-established acts, and advertising.

You don’t get that publicity push being totally independent,” Poate says, adding, “When a band is first starting out, the best way is independence; when you do everything yourself, you gain a real insight and appreciation for what a label can do for you later down the track. You can then go in to a record deal knowing exactly what’s involved and how hard they work for you, instead of turning up, whining for your money and expecting everything to be done for you.”

Now once again independent, Dreadnaught are celebrating their 20th year in the music industry. “I’m immensely proud of our body of work,” Poate beams. “Our discography is our greatest achievement. It’s a huge undertaking: we have released over 70 songs, both as an independent and signed band. Anyone who’s ever written a song that makes them proud will understand why I say that.”

Fortunately for the band, there is a uniquely warm and welcoming community of fans around the globe that enables legends like Dreadnaught to keep up their onslaught.

“We were just in Adelaide last weekend, and we had guys 20 years younger than us rocking out and drinking beers with us,” Poate says. “Australia has the most welcoming metal community. I’ve met so many good people over the years. People just accept you for who you are and, after all these years, it’s so good to see that people are still so warm and enthusiastic.” H

Psycho Green

psychogreen.com.au DownloaD our 5 track EP “Rat tRap” frEE at SounDclouD

or go to our wEbSitE to buy onlinE

bookings@twistedechidna.com.au

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PSYCHO GREEN

feature

Tattoos in the workplace words Vix Vile & Nick Lord photo Amped Photography

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Nowadays, tattoos are ubiquitous on the streets but what about in the office?

Heavy takes a look at whether shifting community attitudes are helping to relax recruitment standards.

here was a time when the only workplace you’d find a tattoo in was at the local mechanic’s workshop, and there, tattoos seemed to be a representation of his ability – the more tattoos he had, the better he would be at fixing your car.

These days, take a walk through the financial hubs of any populous city and there is likely to be plenty of ink under those finelytailored suits.

Tattoos are, of course, becoming more acceptable. Once upon a time, a person with tattoos would be shunned in the workplace, but they are now more commonplace, albeit

Now every next person could come from any profession and any age.”

Internet and the boom of reality TV have both helped to breakdown resistance to ink, according to Jackson. “These factors [net and TV] have exposed people who twenty years ago may not have had much contact with tattoos”, he adds. “The increase, which started happening long before the reality TV shows, by the way, helped cause a snowball effect of more tattoo shops, more tattoo magazines, more TV shows etc. This exposes more people again.”

So ink is on the rise, sure, but it’s

still hidden from view in most parts of the corporate world.

Does this mark a shift in attitudes from those who do the hiring in the executive sectors, or is the popularisation of tattoos forcing a change in public opinions?

Sean Jackson from Tattoo Magic in Melbourne has been a tattooist for twenty years and definitely believes it’s more a broadening acceptance taking place.

“I’ve always tattooed people from all walks of life, now it’s just more diverse,” he says.

“Twenty years ago, you may have tattooed a banker or what not, but not very often.

highly unlikely you’ll be served by a bank teller with knuckle tatts any time soon. To find out how the industry views inked-up potential employees in frontline jobs that require a certain standard of appearance, I spoke with Derek Bye, Operations Manager at SmartFleet, an online fleet-leasing company. Bye, who reports to board members and general managers, says the presence of tattoos wouldn’t deter him from hiring someone “short of them having culturally offensive tattoos that are visible”.

Throughout his own corporate career, Bye feels his own tattoos have never been an

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issue. Instead, they have provided a talking point. He does acknowledge that his ink made his career progress slower than it could have but the times are changing and feels that the current crop of younger people who have tattoos could possibly become business leaders over the next five years.

This depends on the client though and, most importantly, where the tattoo is located, which is probably bad news for those with huntsmen spiders covering their shaved heads. [Or ‘I love fish and chips’ across the forehead – Ed.] In Bye’s opinion, employees are better advised to remain discreet when showing their artworks in the office, which means covering up those hearts, bluebirds and playing cards.

Sound unfair? Well, not entirely, according to workplace lawyer Brad Petley, Solicitor Director at Acumenn Lawyers, who was quoted in an article on HR Daily’s webpage saying, “It is an established principle that employers have a right to regulate their employees’ appearance, and can prohibit visible body art such as tattoos and piercings if concerned about their image.”

It’s important that employers firstly have a tattoo policy in place. If there is none, they risk wrongful termination claims if they fire employees for ink but, Petley says any visible body-art ban will “withstand scrutiny” if the workplace has a conservative atmosphere, for example, or involves customer or client contact, or food preparation.

David Ford, director of New Point Recruitment, told GoldCoast.com.au that employee policies within businesses were different depending on the sector.

“In professional services such as legal firms and accounting it is still somewhat an issue because [bosses] are normally quite conservative,” he said earlier this year. “The hospitality industry does not seem to mind as much and you see a lot of people who might have stretchers in their ears or tattoos because it’s a fairly mainstream industry.”

Jane McNeill, Director of recruitment experts Hays, said in a Herald Sun article that while an employer should be allowed to dictate how their company is presented, an impressive candidate can overcome it: “An employer has every right to request employees dress professionally in order to represent the image of their company. This may mean covering up obvious tattoos while at work,

feature such as wearing long-sleeved business shirts to cover a prominent tattoo on your arm – particularly if an employee is in clientfacing roles in a corporate environment – but, ultimately, it is professional know-how relevant to the job that determines success and the candidate’s ability to add value to the company.

In what is good news for inked up aspirants, McNeil added, “We review all candidate applications and present the strongest short list to our clients based on skills, competencies and ability, not how they look or whether they have a visible tattoo.”

The stance stiffens somewhat at government law-enforcement and defence agencies. The tattoo policy at the Australian Defence Force reads: “Tattoos and/or brands are prohibited on the face of candidates wishing to enter the Navy, Army, or Air Force.

Female candidates are permitted to have tattooed eyebrow forms (excluding eyeliner) providing it follows the natural arch line of eyebrows and is of a natural colour that matches the colour of the hair. Females may have lip tattooing to enhance the outline of the lips providing it does not look unnatural, ie. is not outlined in black, is not a non-flesh colour and does not change the natural shape of the lips. Apart from the face (and hands for Army candidates), tattoos and/or brands

are permitted on other parts of the body, unless the tattoo or brand is considered offensive and undermines the dignity and authority of The Australian Defence Force.”

Over at Victoria Police, employers prefer to review tattoos on a case-by-case basis: “Victoria Police expects their employee to portray a professional image. Subjective assessment will be made on place, style and type of tattoo that cannot be covered by a normal uniform.”

Olivia Reppas, our own head honcho here at HEAVY, has a wicked half-sleeve on her arm that doesn’t raise an eyebrow in her dealings throughout the music industry. Reppas has also had plenty of day jobs in government positions over the last ten years and feels it’s not what you look like that makes you capable of performing successfully in the boardroom but the level of skills you bring to the job.

“If you are skilled, confident, and do your job well, no one can say anything to you,” she says, adding her secret to getting ahead: “Just out do them.” The type of environment in which Reppas has worked also plays a big factor in the attitudes of those hiring her but she has only ever rarely hidden her tattoos from employers. If and when she did, she is clear that it was her choice.

“At times, I decided to hide them,” Reppas explains. “When I worked in the aged-care

sector, when I was going to the facilities, I decided to cover up in front of the ‘oldies’. No one asked me to do so; I just felt I should.”

Outside that, Reppas has never felt that her tattoos have hindered her in job interviews, and says she doesn’t need to cover them up or hide them most of the time, adding that the only time she ever felt her ink was taboo was when applying for positions in the private industry.

“That [private sector employment] seems to be a whole new ball game, but I refuse to play by their rules and avoid organisations that think like that,” she laughs.

There seems to be a correlation between higher incomes and more elaborate tattoos, no? Tattoo Magic’s Jackson agrees. “I think the corporate type person is more likely to get tattooed and more likely to be able to afford bigger custom/artist specific tattoos,” he claims of the trend.

Such shifting behaviour could be what is tipping the scales of power back in favour of employees rather than employers, especially as access to education and therefore betterpaying jobs increases. Who knows? In the not too distant future, the leaders of our modern workplaces might not only be heavily-inked, but also bull-ringed and labret-pierced to boot. H

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EVERBLACK THE BBND NEW ALBUM OUT NOW

"Everblack is f#%King extraordinary. What TBDM has done is reinvent themselves without forgeeing who they were: Straight-up, no compromise, and shockingly pure heavy music."

- Metalsucks

www.rocketdistribution.com

www.metalblade.com

DECEIVER OF THE GODS THE THUNDERING NEW ALBUM OUT NOW "Indeed, just like the striking depiction of or and Loke going "mano a mano" for all eternity on its cover, 'Deceiver of the Gods' suggests AMON AMARTH will carry on ghting the good ght for heavy metal, to the best of their abilities, until the end-days of Ragnarok" - 8.5/10 Blabbermouth.net

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PinUps words Vix Vile

Cover me bad

Album cover art can be as famous as the music itself. Take a trip down to the studio with Vix Vile and meet some of metal’s most endearing cover artists.

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Travis Smith Go through your music collection and you are bound to own something, if not many things, designed by Travis Smith. He has worked with Anathema, Bloodbath, Opeth, Katatonia, Overkill and even on a few of Devin Townsend’s countless projects, and that’s only naming a small amount – many of Iced Earth’s epic covers are by Smith, whose themes of darkness and digitally-painted style suit metal perfectly. Smith began his career designing artwork for his friend’s bands in high school and his work was soon highly requested. It wasn’t long before he reached the stellar acclaim he holds today.

n album’s artwork is just as integral as the precious cargo inside the slip cases.

In many instances, the cover has become an extension of the music it envelopes.

Artists like Derek Riggs, who created Iron Maiden’s infamous mascot Eddie, have produced characters that have become synonymous with the music. Sometimes the pictures portrayed on an album cover can even set the tone for the image that bands will go on to portray.

Dan Seagrave Besides Derek Riggs, Dan Seagrave’s work in the metal world is today instantly recognisable. His intricate depictions of hellish landscapes were made for the death metal world and when looking at the detail in his work, it’s astonishing to learn that he is a self-taught artist. The British-born Seagrave is most famously known for the artwork he created for Morbid Angel’s Altars of Madness, and has since designed covers for Entombed, Hypocrisy, Suffocation, Dismember and countless others.

Ed Repka There’s no question that Maiden’s Eddie is the most famous mascot in music and Megadeth’s Vic Rattlehead would be his American bastard cousin. Loyal fans have catapulted both of them to band member status and they are today considered just as vital to the music they adorn. Ed Repka gave us Vic on the first four Megadeth albums and his images have shaped many of the band’s merchandise. His other known work was for Death, Municipal Waste, Austrian Death Machine and even local lads Elm Street, who used his signature bright fonts for their Barbed Wire Metal cover.

Joe Petagno Joe Petagno went from designing work for Pink Floyd and Led Zepellin to giving the world the third instalment in the holy trinity of metal mascots. Petagno’s design for Motörhead’s Snaggletooth can today adorn a t-shirt without any mention of the band’s name and still be recognised the world over for who it represents. Besides these giants of rock, Petagno has also featured on black metal covers for bands Marduk, Bal-Sagoth and Demonic.

Ken Kelly Fantasy artists and metal fit together like a studded leather glove and video games, yet none are perhaps a better match than the images Ken Kelly designed for power gods Manowar. His powerful pieces of swords and sorcery have also appeared on numerous graphic novels, including the coveted cover art for the Conan The Barbarian stories, and he is a worthy companion for any gang of loincloth-loving warriors of metaaaal.

Kristian Wahlin When Swedish guitarist Wahlin’s band Grotesque broke up, their vocalist Tomas Lindberg went on to form At The Gates and gave birth to the Gothenberg melodic metal scene. Necrolord, as Wahlin was known on stage, instead focused his talents on cover art and went on to design some of the most famous covers in European metal. Wahlin is now a hot commodity, sought by bands all over the world.

Andreas Marschall This German artist’s covers are the stuff of blockbuster Hollywood films. The work he has produced for bands like Blind Guardian, Running Wild, Sodom, Hammerfall and Immolation could stand alongside the storyboards of any Peter Jackson trilogy, so it’s no wonder he also designed movie posters in his homeland. Marschall began his career in the early ‘80s in comics before moving on to album cover art. H

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c h ec k em ou t

‘The Bull’ @YouTube (live at Cherry Bar and exclusive to HEAVY magazine)

The Ruiner Heavy metal Melbourne facebook.com/theruinerband

The Ruiner are the guys who come to your party and hate everything you play on the stereo, unless it’s something like Sabbath, Godflesh or the Melvins.

They were originally brought together to play a one-off show as a tribute to legendary death/grind/stoner band Christbait (1989-1996), appearing under the moniker Dirtypunkmutha, the name of Christbait’s 1996 release.

Somehow, amid much arm-twisting and promises of fame and fortune, two of Christbait’s original members decided to get the project off the ground as a proper band.

Featuring Craig Westwood (guitar – Christbait, Dern Rutlidge, Budd), Jason Vassallo (vocals – Christbait, Dread), Jason Fuller (bass – Dern Rutlidge, Blood Duster, Dolphin Stabber) and brothers Adam Stokes (guitar – Legends Of Motorsport, Pillow) and Ben Stokes (drums – Pillow, Tailbone), The Ruiner blends heavy and dark doom riffs with hard stoner grooves – they’re a cross between Isis, Goatsnake and the band you always wanted to join.

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The Ruiner’s intensity and strength left jaws on the floor at their debut gig in January this year. No one really knew what to expect but with a bloodline like they have, this band was made to impress.

Having all played together in their numerous projects, The Ruiner boys know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and fit together well. There’s no rush to release an album but the band is writing steadily, working towards a few smaller releases – first off will be a couple of split seven inch singles.

They’ve been recording at Fuller’s Goatsound Studios, as well as with Adam Calaitzis at Toyland Recording Studio. To keep things interesting, they plan to use a few different mixers, with Billy Anderson (Melvins, Sick Of It All, High On Fire, Cathedral, Sleep) set to handle a couple of tracks.

With so many bands having adopted the sound that Christbait pioneered, like Blood Duster and Pod People to name a couple, and so much respect for the musicians wrapped up in this project, it’s no wonder a huge buzz is already following The Ruiner around, even this early on. H

D I S C O G R A PHY

words Anthony Moore photo Adam Russ (Right Eye Media)

Christbait: 1989-1996 Christbait started out as a predominantly grind/death metal band and evolved into a hybrid of stoner rock, groove metal and grind. Their most well-received release, Dirtypunkmutha, came out in 1996 and Christbait disbanded only months after.

DISCOGRAPHY 1991 – Prod 1992 – Yeast EP 1994 – Big Truckin’ Mudflaps Split 7” 1996 – Dirtypunkmutha

The Levitation Hex words Rob Brens photo Adam Agius

c h e c k e m out

‘A Breathing Apparatus’ @SoundCloud

Progressive metal Canberra levitationhex.net

In 2010 the Australian metal community breathed a sigh of relief when Alchemist vocalist/guitarist Adam Agius announced the birth of his new project, The Levitation Hex. Alchemist had seemingly slipped through the back door of the Oz metal community, eventually announcing an indefinite hiatus. Alchemist weren’t only one of Australia’s proudest metal exports when it came to the European touring circuit, but they also provided a fresh perspective on the metal genre with the use of psychedelic and indigenous Australian sounds.

In August 2012, The Levitation Hex released their selftitled debut to an enthusiastic reception; however, this was not to be mistaken for an Adam Agius solo venture.

While much of the material was composed by Agius leading up to the production of the album, the sound contains the exuberant drumming of Ben Hocking from Aeon of Horus, albeit displaying a more traditional metal approach as opposed to his usual technical forte.

This auspicious release also sees the reuniting of Alarum’s Mark Palfreyman with his former guitarist and band mate Scott Young. In trademark fashion, Palfreyman’s unique bass parts weave in and out of Agius’ riffage, while the world once again gets to enjoy Young’s ever-memorable lead style, matching melody with ferocity. Everyone is afforded the opportunity to bring

their own sound to the table, making the Levitation Hex a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

The result is not an Alchemist rehash but a fresh marriage of modern and classic. The first thing you’ll notice is Agius’ use of eight-string guitars. Rather than resorting to the typical use of low-string chugging, they’re utilised to create thick chords that sweep across the music like a dark and looming cloud. The electronic elements that were characteristic of Alchemist are present, this time programmed as opposed to being performed live, the way Agius would in the past. Also returning is the middle-eastern influenced guitar leads and the use of slide guitar, bringing a real sense of lunacy to some of the melodies.

In their relatively short life as a band, the Levitation Hex have already toured much of the country and paid a visit to Europe, playing Holland’s Prog Power festival and doing a string of club shows alongside Aussie fusion thrashers Alarum, putting Palfreyman on double duty.

Nothing but rave reviews have been bestowed upon the band in this time, as they go from show to show giving people that old-school headbanging feeling in an era where technical prowess and extreme brutality have obtained ubiquity.

The Levitation Hex are far from a yearning for an era gone by; instead, this is a statement about progression and renewal. Now having the chance to produce an album as a collective, fans can be assured that the band’s next release will surpass the debut in strides. H

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c h ec k em o u t

The Schoenberg Automaton @Facebook

The Schoenberg Automaton

words Tennille Secomb photo Colin Cadell Technical/abstract death metal Brisbane facebook.com/TheSchoenbergAutomaton

Brisbane’s furiously abstract death metal weapon The Schoenberg Automaton have spent the first half of 2013 touring in the glory of their debut album Vela.

The devastatingly heavy and schizophrenic release turned heads, transforming Brisbane’s archetypal metalcore sound into a fierce barrage of catchy melodic hooks, all executed with eviscerating technical precision, and putting this band on the Australian metal map.

Formed three years ago as a recording project from the remnants of defunct local ensembles, the band’s name alludes to Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg who conceived the dodecaphonic (also known as twelve-tone) writing method in the ‘20s that was associated with the German expressionist movement.

Now some nine decades later, this band has effectively combined the Schoenberg technique with the mechanical automaton of their vastly intricate compositions.

Entering the scene with a self-titled EP in 2011, The Schoenberg Automaton (TSA) released Vela with new vocalist Jake Gerstle, whose aggressive, unhinged bellowing is a well-suited extension of former frontman Colin Cadell’s distinctive post-hardcore delivery. In a cruel twist of fate, Cadell was forced to leave the band in early 2012 when he was struck by a rare condition known as supra glottic constriction, which left the frontman in severe pain, unable to talk or eat for extended periods after performing, and made touring impossible.

Cadell, however, remains an essential part of the team, handling all things film and media related – he recently directed and filmed TSA's first video for the song A Stone Face Of Piety.

While Vela includes three re-recorded songs from their first

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release, a successful development of musical themes presented on the EP invigorates the album and will separate this band from the rest. The production moves away from the traditional, highly-refined feel common in the genre and cultivates a more organic experience that reveals the honest nature of the music. The listener must only sit back and enjoy as TSA artfully weave their way through mind-bending possibilities, manipulating their sound in a way that makes you feel as though these motifs were always there, just waiting to be uncovered.

As if the hype created by Vela wasn't enough already, it has been revealed that writing has already begun for the band's sophomore release. The boys have been sitting on this material for quite a while now – drums were originally tracked in August 2011! – and are understandably itching to release it to the world. No complaints here.

Taking on the fickle minefield of Australian death metal is tough enough when the scene is saturated with ridiculously talented musicians, but what TSA have to offer is more than blazing speed and frenzied riffs. There is a wider consideration of mood, atmosphere and contrasting dynamics that not only enthral you through the headphones but also translate excellently in a live setting.

At this year’s Soundwave festival, TSA proved they live up to their reputation, holding their own against the high calibre of international bands on the bill, receiving excellent exposure and winning over many new fans. This was followed by a support slot for US powerhouse Born of Osiris and an appearance alongside The Amenta and Psycroptic at Adelaide’s New Dead IV fest. A deserved avalanche of overwhelmingly positive reviews ensued.

Another career milestone for the boys was their signing to Myriad Records, which has exhibited them in the European market and will provide

the required support for their future releases.

This, in conjunction with the acquisition of Triple J’s The Racket host Lochlan Watt as their manager, positions TSA for continued success.

TSA's synthesis of chaotic mathcore and beguiling, progressive grooves comprise a wellbalanced technical death metal act that satisfies the scene’s yearning for something a little different. Certainly, song titles like Pineapple Juice & The Tough Stuffed Olive are a refreshing change from the usual gore out there and alleviate any fear of psychological exploration.

The Schoenberg Automaton are Australia’s answer to The Dillinger Escape Plan, a comparison made evident by the band's inclusion into the live set of an impressive and convincing cover of Panasonic Youth from Dillinger's 2004 album Miss Machine.

With a release as mature as Vela under their belts and the gestation of new material motivating the band, The Schoenberg Automaton better use the rest of this year to take a nice, deep breath because it looks like 2014 is going to be massive. H

The Shayne Automaton

Although they’ve got a solid line-up now, The Schoenberg Automaton have had a few changes over the years. When auditioning singers in early 2009, drummer Nelson recorded an intentionally-painful demo and sent it to guitarist Shayne under the alias ‘Jake’. While what was recorded was essentially indecipherable nonsense, ‘Jake’ provided accompanying lyrics that might teeter on the point of ridiculousness yet, in light of some metal bands, don’t seem completely far-fetched.

Shayne told Nelson about the demo with the cool lyrics, saying it reminded him of 43% Burnt, and Nelson suggested they pursue a follow-up recording. What was returned over the track that is now Pineapple Juice & The Tough Stuffed Olive (available on the band’s YouTube channel) was yet another horrible audition that included the message, “It was me the whole time.”

Nelson beams: “Shayne got trolled pretty bad.”

Orpheus Omega words Vix Vile photo Anwar Rizk

l ate s t re l ea s e

Melodic death metal Melbourne orpheusofficial.com

Resillusion by

Orpheus Omega

Dominus Records

review Vix Vile The Gothenburg scene has moved to the Southern Hemisphere, epitomised in the title track of Orpheus Omega’s second full length Resilllusion.

This could’ve been the album that Sweden’s At The Gates released if they were still recording. Luckily for fans of the genre, Orpheus Omega can continue carrying the torch.

Putting their own stamp on melodic death metal, this ten-track riff-laden album sits comfortably next to any of its peers. A solid production for a self-released CD – one can only imagine what they would come up with if a tonne of label money was thrown at them.

On the eve of their much-anticipated hometown CD launch for second full-length album Resillusion, the unthinkable happened when Orpheus Omega founding bassist Adam ‘Milky’ Adams passed away suddenly from a heart attack. Amidst their grief, the band made the brave decision to persevere and honour their band mate with a scaled-down listening party as a celebration to his life, and a way for friends, family and fans to honour all that he had achieved.

It’s been a difficult journey for a band who, like many before them, stemmed from a bunch of friends who had a shared passion for the same type of music and wanted to play together. Orpheus Omega was formed back in 2008 by Chris Themelco and Joao Gonclaves, whose mutual love for Swedish death metal fuelled the musicians to carve their own stamp on the genre. Chris asked his brother Matt to sit behind the drum kit – the two had played together previously in Ends In Torment so it was only natural they’d continue on this next project – and rounded out the line-up with Milky Adams on bass and Keswick Gallagher on keyboards.

Until earlier this year, the band was known simply as Orpheus but with an American band already claiming the trademark in the United States, the lads reluctantly agreed that a change was needed. With their name already encrusted in Greek mythology, the decision to add the word Omega was a no brainer – the symbol was

in some shape similarly part of their logo anyway, and a little manipulation made it a lot more prominent.

With name changes no longer looming over them, the band put all their efforts into completing the recording of the follow up to their critically-acclaimed debut Bleed The Way. The response to that album took the band by surprise and pushed the band to go even further with Resillusion. This resulted in the band taking their time to ensure they could hone their sound and give themselves the chance to create their own style and avoid making a carbon copy of their first album.

The release has now become bitter sweet, with the loss of Milky. To combat the grief, the band has thrown themselves into touring and have been travelling the country promoting the album. Replacing Milky permanently has taken a backseat for now and they will focus on finding someone when they’re ready. In the meantime, good friend Dan Ralph of Naberus has stepped in so the band can continue touring without the added heartache of finding a new bassist since disbanding is not an option, as the band know in their hearts it’s not what Milky would’ve wanted.

The isolation and competiveness to be noticed in such small pockets of population, can make being in a melodic death metal band in Australia daunting at times and the band hope to one day have the opportunity to take their music overseas. They have the potential to stand apart from other bands in their genre, yet walk side by side with some of this country’s best. Wherever Milky is, he’ll be there to stick his middle finger up at anyone who tries to hold them back. H

check em out

‘Resillusion’ @YouTube

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industry insight

words Sheri Tantawy photos courtesy of Eureka Rebellion Trading

Tucked into a healthy-sized space at the raddest end of Smith St. Collingwood (VIC) is a collective of talented tattooists, clothing designers, hot sauce aficionados, a pin-up model and an old-school barber. Heavy chats with Adrian Monello and Tony Allayialis, two members of the team behind one of Melbourne’s best cross-cultural havens.

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ormally at HEAVY, the Industry Insight pages are reserved for engineers, musicians and people just concerned with music, but what about those who embrace the culture and those who just sell cool stuff?

Eureka Rebellion Trading is a mish-mash of all things awesome. The store is decked out with contemporary art prints that tastefully line the walls, the rarest vinyl and DVD collection this side of Canberra, a wall of the deadliest hot sauce this country has ever imported and Fresh Balls – well, more on

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that later. This classy saloonmeets-general-store is also home to tattooist Adrian Monello’s burgeoning clothing label Thrillseeker Threads, whose shirts have been seen on the torsos of many of Melbourne’s who’s who of heavy music, and even beyond - one night, while scrolling through my twitter feed, I recognised the familiar Thrillseeker typeface on Jesse Leech, shot during one of Killswitch Engage vocalist’s recent shows. I had to know more, and just a phone call later, I was chillin’ like a villain with Eureka joint owners Tony

Allayialis and Adrian Monello, getting the 411 on their dream child.

“The idea came about ten years ago while I was living in North America with my friend Corey,” Allayialis says. “We had a dream to open a shop that had everything we love in it including, but not limited to, hot sauce – we love hot sauce.”

They certainly do. Allayialis goes on to say that the Hot Sauce wall of death is the store’s pride and joy; they even host tasting nights of different blends where aficionados come together to discuss what’s good: “There’s

a big buzz on hot sauce in contemporary culture and we also sell to restaurants.”

Eureka Rebellion stocks and sells all manners of paraphernalia, some rare but most just deliciously unique: a collection of rare horror flicks from around the world; contemporary art in the form of books and prints by Kane Hibbard, Rhys Cooper, Anon Inc and other resident tattooists; a huge assortment of CDs and VHS tapes; various collectible curios; imported shaving products and straight razors; and the quizzically-named

industry insight Fresh Balls.

“Fresh Balls is a cream for gentlemen,” Allayialis explains.

“We found out about it after we watched a documentary titled Mansome. I then met the dudes who made it in Las Vegas and when I moved back to Melbourne, I organised to be a distributor for their products. They have a fantastic line of face tonics, moisturisers for men and other grooming products and none of their gear is tested on animals. My missus loves it.” Allayialis’ missus is Emily Wheeler, pin up model extraordinaire and another co-owner.

As mentioned above, another feature of Eureka is Thrillseeker Threads, Monello’s clothing label, whose gorgeous, hand-drawn, scripted typefaces and exquisite illustrations have landed on some high profile bodies. Monello founded the label in 2011, providing fight gear in its early days to the martial-

arts crowd before venturing into contemporary pop-culture apparel.

I mention the Killswitch connection, and Monello points out that Leech is playing a large role in getting other musicians on board: “MKTO came down, and they wore a few tees; Grinspoon love it; Chopper Reed, Opeth and even John Garcia from Kyuss has taken an interest in it; we’ve also welcomed [Aussie deathcore act] Boris The Blade on board.”

The progression from martial arts to music has been a natural one, arising from the collaboration of tattoo artists trying to make the designs different.

“So much of what is around is completely tacky and over the top flashy, so we wanted to strip it back,” Monello says, adding that Adelaide-based tattoo artist and ex-Electrik Dynamite frontman Ryan Reeve designed the first skull t-shirt. “The

bespoke fonts are from Hydro74, who also designed the shop logo.

It’s not only influenced by tattoo art, but also designed with taste in mind so that they can appeal to a broader audience. There’s fewer colours, and black and white photo prints.”

Interestingly, it was only a year ago that Monello was ready to throw in the towel, but the arrival of Allayialis as a partner has seen the business go from strength to strength. With a sincere expression, Allayialis lays it out straight: “I believe in the brand; simple as that. It is undoubtedly the best seller in our store and the quality is unbeatable, so naturally I wanted to be a part of it.”

Rounding out the partnership is Tim Nicholson who is known as the marketing genius of the trio.

“Having the right team makes a big difference, because the focus is instilling confidence in prospective buyers/consumers to buy your product especially

since they’ve never seen it before,” Allayialis adds. “Why would they buy your product over, say, Rip Curl? Making it well known is very hard work.”

Above all, price comes first as a driver of the brand, according to Monello.

“The main goal is to keep the label reasonably priced because everything in Australia is really expensive,” he says. “We believe strongly in keeping everything local. Our products are locally sourced but we also import some from the US; however, all of the printing is done locally to support local business.”

Working locally may not be the cheapest way to go, but the trio are determined to ensure quality remains high.

“It [the cost] doesn’t matter,” Monello says. “It’s worth it because the product lasts longer and, honestly, we have so many inspiring people who are pushing the brand because they believe in it.” H

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industry insight

As I’ve mentioned many times, no matter what your studio schedule offers, time is money. This is especially true if you’re recording for a label or an independent project where you’re spending your own money.

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hen I enter into any project, be it one song, an EP or even a full CD, we (my clients and I) go in with a recording plan. This means we’ve already worked out most of, if not all, the musical arrangements in advance.

I mean, we know that material intimately.

This can be tough when dealing with a new engineer who isn’t familiar with your work, so it’s always good to provide him with demos of the material to be recorded in advance of the session.

On my projects, I usually take the songs apart, intro, verses, pre-chorus (if there is one), chorus, solos and breakdown (if they exist) and endings. In my experience, most bands play too loudly to hear each other properly at rehearsal and so I see the pre-production stage with me as a great way for the players to familiarise themselves with exactly what everyone else is playing. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but you’d be amazed at how little attention musicians in bands pay to each other’s parts.

“Why does any of this matter?” I hear you saying. “Just point me in the direction of the song and tell me when to play.”

Well, it’s all fine and dandy to come in and lay down your solo then leave, but the idea of collaborative songwriting is to not just play for yourself but to play for the good of the song.

So with the band all together, I’ll play through the material while we all figure out all the different instruments being used, the tunings each of those

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instruments employs and the tempos of each song in the project (as determined by beats per minute).

Before any recording starts, I’ve also already carefully established the mic selection for each instrument – the drums, amps, vocals and anything else – so there is no guessing during setup. This helps immensely, as it saves time right from day one and also ensures the right mics are being used for the right purposes. If you can, it’s a good idea to get the drums into the studio to be set up the night before. Drum set ups can take hours and really eat into the rhythm of the first day on the job. Having them ready to go first thing in the morning is sure to be appreciated by all.

As I’ve mentioned in some of my past articles, the better the instruments sound before the mics are set in place, the faster everything will go. Sure, it’s possible to “repair” sounds down the track, but why would you do that instead of starting with the best possible sound in the beginning? If the drums are not tuned or have very old heads, or the kit just doesn’t sound good, then all the great mics in the world won’t help you nail your drum sound. Coming into the studio with a great sounding drum kit will make every engineer a happy camper, not to mention the wonderful effect it will have upon the drummer’s own playing – he won’t believe how good everything sounds and it will reflect in his performance.

Remember that the drums are the foundation of every song. Once they sound good,

everything else stands a better chance of falling into place (if you’re lucky).

Of course, when musicians know the material really well, they play with confidence, which makes everything sound good. Bands would be wise to remember that the studio is a place to create, not a place to rehearse, and they should be practicing like crazy before coming in. Nothing deflates the band more than watching a guitarist take five hours to get a track down at $50/hour.

To get the day moving along in the right way, I always like to start with the easiest song first.

This way, everyone’s ears can acclimatise to the room, and they can settle into the sometimes daunting studio recording process. They’ll be warmed up and raring to go by the time the harder material comes around.

On that note, you must know when to call it a day.

There’s always a point where it becomes clear that the creative flow has gone. Instead of pushing forcefully through it, (often with worse results), bands should stop and pick it up again at the next session. Two hours of wasted time at the end of the day (at full studio price) is always better replaced by two hours of fresh performances and ears the next day. I never stay on one part too long. If it’s not sounding the way it should, I move on to something else then return to what I was doing at a later point.

Setting a realistic time frame for recording keeps the budget on course. Being prepared makes the project a success instead of a mess. Keep a record of

regular expert columnist Dito Godwin has produced and promoted some of the biggest acts in music including Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, Great White, Jani Lane of Warrant, Tim Bogert (Beck, Bogert & Appice), Dave Spitz (White Lion, Black Sabbath) Kevin Valentine (Kiss, Cinderella), Mike Stone (Queensrÿche, Speed X) and Rolan Bolan (son of rock legend Marc Bolan of T Rex). He also handled the North American promotion of Mötley Crüe’s Too Fast For Love.

Dito is a regular contributor here at HEAVY, sharing his experience and knowledge in sound engineering, so be sure to take notes!

what you have achieved that day and what your goals are for the next day. If you’re doing a long project, don’t record every day – you need time to listen and reflect on your progress.

Finally, always make sure you record everything, no matter how insignificant. Sometimes you come up with a gem of an idea that you may not even notice at the time and, if the tapes aren’t rolling, you’ll never remember it. Throughout recording history, so many cool ideas have come by way of a mistake, ‘caught on tape’ (or hard drive) by a crafty engineer.

So that’s it. A few tips to keep those sessions on track, focused, productive and, most of all, fun. This is fun, goddammit!

Remember that.

I’m out of here, stay in touch and stay in tune. H

James Lugo

industry insight

Words by Rob Brens Photo courtesy of James Lugo

Vocal coach on American Idol, Iron Maiden’s guitar tech, post production on Smashing Pumpkins’ live DVD, studio engineer for Snoop Dogg and credits with just about every major label and TV station. It sounds like the makings of some kind of industry superman but it’s just a taste of the enviable resume of producer James Lugo.

O

ne of James Lugo’s recent missions has been flying out to Australia to produce the latest album for Melbourne rock band Dead City Ruins. Fans can often become enamoured with a particular record solely because of the name of its producer but when you ask them what that producer contributed, their answers are often shady or varied, and varied is exactly how Lugo describes his job.

“It depends on the project,” he says. “There are projects where it’s just a singer and, as a producer, I’m doing everything – I’m playing most of the instruments; sometimes I’m writing the songs; I’m arranging the harmonies; I’m tracking, editing, mixing and mastering; the whole works”.

Other times, Lugo’s role calls for a less intrusive approach, as was the case with the Dead City Ruins album.

“They knew what they wanted and they wanted it [the record] to feel like a band, so I tried not to be too intrusive and to just let the band be a band,” he explains. “When there were times I felt like it could step up, I’d add something to it, but I didn’t voice my opinion just for the sake of it. It was just when I felt like I could make it better.”

Stepping back can be difficult for producers, but Lugo maintains that it is the job that dictates his role, and not up to him to decides what he should be doing.

“As a producer you’re doing a lot of bobbing and weaving, trying to work out how to get from point A to point B, but I don’t have a big ego. If I have an idea and someone doesn’t like it, that’s okay.”

Here at HEAVY, we’ve been incredibly fortunate to interview so many people who are at the top of their fields – worldclass engineers, instrument technicians, session musicians, and people across a whole gamut of occupations – but it’s not often you come across someone who is a master of multiple trades. Typically, the decision to pursue another craft means it comes at the expense of what you’re already honing but Lugo’s story tells us that this doesn’t have to be the case.

“I’m just one of those people who’s hardcore and takes things to the bitter end – if I’m going to be a mixer, I want to be the best mixer I can be,” Lugo says, citing his early foray into guitar as an example. “It all started when I was a guitar player and I wanted to be Yngwie Malmsteen, a shredder.” Lugo

was so inspired that he moved to LA to take lessons from guitar legend Paul Gilbert. There in the city of angels Lugo became friends with glam rockers Warrant, which inspired him to turn to vocals, his biggest success.

“I had the opportunity to sing and I liked that,” he explains, adding, “This was around ‘86 and [Warrant vocalist] Jani Lane had a huge influence on me so I pursued being the best singer I could be.”

Singing quickly led to training and a lucrative opportunity with reality-based talent show American Idol.

“I ended up training voice a lot,” Lugo says. “I got the opportunity to train a couple of great singers, things took off for me and I got things like American Idol. I wouldn’t say it’s luck, but I’m blessed.”

Idol led quickly to the birth of the reputable Vocal Asylum, Lugo’s personal voice-coaching studio. For many, this would have been a dream in itself, but Lugo found himself donning the engineer’s hat after the demise of his own band, which he blames on a failed production that he initially wanted to handle himself.

“I started with a Boss BR8, this little 8-track thing, and my

first gig was post-production and mixing on a film about Burning Man,” Lugo explains. “I did well with that and got paid, so I went and bought a microphone. I did well again so I bought a preamp, and the year after that, I got Pro Tools and some SM57s. Now I have a full SSL studio with racks of Neves and a huge collection of guitars – you name it, I’ve got it. I just try and keep getting better, and these things all feed each other.”

As with any success story, persistence and hard work remains key. It might sound like a cliché but certain things become clichés for good reason.

Other than a lesson in the dedication required to secure an occupation in the music industry, Lugo leaves us with one small nugget of wisdom that he’s acquired over the years.

“I was in LA for nearly 20 years and the thing that I realised is that people talk about having connections, but connections don’t matter because everybody already knows people,” he says. “It’s not about connections; it’s about current working relationships, and that’s where you have to be careful – if you stray too far from those, it’s out of sight, out of mind.” H

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Chainsaw Hookers Black Like Vengeance The name is probably familiar to you, and you may remember them as ‘that band with the chick vocalist’, but 2013 presents a whole new Black Like Vengeance (BLV). Formed in 2005 by guitarists Drew Hanley and Martin Kawaler, BLV are Australia’s answer to Arch Enemy, but don’t think you can pigeonhole them that way because their music espouses the distinct, slamming style of Australian melodic death combined with the powerful, melancholic voice of Sheri Vengeance.

After taking a hiatus in 2009, BLV played their return show alongside some of the biggest names in Australian metal at Adelaide’s New Dead IV. Among the Empty As The Day (2007) favourites, the gig showcased the first of their new material, with the track Bones evidencing the maturity and fresh appreciation that is instilled in knowing you almost lost something you love. With no clean vocals on this track, BLV are lacing their determination with ferocity and aggression.

Sheri’s voice has deepened and the musicianship has been kicked up a notch with more technical death elements and generally

fatter riffs rounding out the haunting melodies which put BLV on the radar initially.

Currently writing their sophomore album Noir, which is a midnight voyage into psychosis and the torment of carnal attraction, BLV are coordinating rehearsal times with drummer Juan Rueda, who began studying in France during the hiatus, and new bassist Phil Cheplik, who was recruited in 2012. Fans of the Gothenberg scene will identify with the euphonious groove of melodic death in BLV’s sound while the overall atmosphere and complexity of the writing leaves an impression of sheer heaviness. BLV have been claiming it since their reformation, but it looks like they really are back with a vengeance.

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An American Werewolf In London. It was well received and the band was nominated for a WAMi Award for best punk / hardcore act.

Gaining momentum, 2011 saw the band nominated for yet another WAMi Award while being handpicked by Triple J’s Unearthed to perform on the Perth leg of the Soundwave festival.

They finished the year with a seven inch vinyl release, Texas Is Hell; a hardcore ditty about the second slasher in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. The band’s 2012 album is an 11-track ode to B-movie heaven.

It’s fast, heavy, loud, and packed full of great guitar work, driving rhythms and high energy.

Chainsaw Hookers’ live show is not to be missed, delivering damn good songs played with ferocious style and passion which reflects the musicianship shown on their records.

– Damo Musclecar

– Tennille Secomb check em out

c h ec k em ou t

‘Black Like Vengeance’ @Website

Chainsaw Hookers @Facebook

Beggars Orchestra With new material in the pipeline and plans to hit the studio by the end of the year, they’re calling 2013 ‘The Year of the Beggar’. Drawing inspiration from the best of ‘90s progressive rock and blending it with heavier, more complex elements of metal gives Sydney’s Beggars Orchestra a dark and modern sound.

Performing live since 2011, Beggars Orchestra have a fully-fledged concept that is articulated through soaring melodies and crushing experimental breakdowns. The dramatic music becomes the soundtrack for the exploration of murder, love and torment while the seductive vocals of Russell Parlett force you to become caught up in the emotion of the songs. Moments of melodic beauty transition into haunted, intoxicating riffs, thundering bass and the emphatic, pounding drums of Nelson Foster that manifest the band’s theatrical foundation.

Their debut album And The Crows Will Come (2011), recorded by Brendan Anthony (Jimmy Barnes, Midnight Oil, INXS) and mastered at 301 Studios by Leon Zervos (Muse, Aerosmith), is a well-polished release with a highly refined production . Telling the epic tale of a man awakened from catatonia by a voice from the

Western Australia is one place where bands are, for the most part, largely overlooked. For Chainsaw Hookers, being forgotten was not even an option.

Chainsaw Hookers have been kicking out the jams since 2005 and have quickly made a name for themselves in the Perth music scene. Since their inception, they have built an impressive resume, sharing the stage with the likes of the Dropkick Murphys, Misfits, OFF!, Municipal Waste, The Hard-Ons, Guitar Wolf, CKY, Horrorpops, Social Distortion, the Gaslight Anthem, Pennywise, and The Exploited (just to name a few.) Not a bad start for a band whose schtick revolves around watching the worst b-grade horror movies that line the shelves of small-time, hole-in-the-wall video stores.

The band’s debut EP, First Blood (2010), is five tracks of punk rock horror mayhem with songs inspired by such classy trash flicks as Snakes On A Plane, Christine, Friday The 13th and

recesses of his mind, the concept behind And The Crows Will Come inspires an engaging stage performance that Beggars Orchestra have been delivering up and down the east coast of Australia.

The success of the album in Triple J’s Unearthed rock charts helped garner the band’s support slots for hard rockers Electric Horse and alternative metal band Sydonia, and the track This Part Of Town even features in an extreme sports documentary.

A little bit Karnivool, a little bit Coheed and Cambria, Beggars Orchestra present a unique fusion of progressive, melodic rock with sinister riffs and powerful drums. Immerse yourself in the poignancy of the music and don’t be afraid to wander across the turbulent topography of this aural landscape.

– Tennille Secomb

check em out

Beggars Orchestra @Reverbnation

The Ophidian Ascension With a drilling tremolo onslaught offset by passages of spacey chords, The Ophidian Ascension have been battering eardrums and garnering a considerable amount of hype since 2009 with the unrelenting intensity of such monoliths as Beneath The Massacre and Hate Eternal.

Hailing from Melbourne, the five-piece extreme metal outfit played a string of interstate shows around Australia following the release of a single-track demo, and consistently impressed their audiences in the process.

Founding drummer Tim Meyer parted ways with the group after the first year, before the release of a three-track demo in January 2011, then rejoined the band until it was announced that Ophidian had landed the coveted services of Jake Green, formerly of The Red Shore and The Ocularis Infernum. This development, along with the release of new track Gates Of

Gehenna, served to thicken the air of intrigue, and the band took a break from the live circuit in 2012 to focus on writing new material.

Now 2013, The Ophidian Ascension has made a triumphant return to the stage, performing five pulverising new tracks from their upcoming EP Ire to a packed crowd at Melbourne venue The Gasometer Hotel in late June. With Ire being released 30 August through Skull and Bones, followed by a national tour, this is just the beginning for The Ophidian Ascension.

– Brad Rogerson c h ec k em ou t

The Ophidian Ascension @Facebook

The Archivist made a swift and resounding entrance to the Brisbane metal scene in 2011, spawned from the remains of Burn Athena with some fresh additions to the line-up and a deliberately-refined musical direction. In that same year, they wrote, recorded and released a self-titled three-track EP, earned a notable support with renowned Melbourne band Circles, and signed to the Axiom Touring roster.

In 2012 they continued to surge forward, locking down their two biggest support slots to date with industrial metallers Sybreed and groove/deathcore titans Veil Of Maya, and successfully showcasing their ability to the wider metal community.

The Veil Of Maya support was an all-time high for the boys, as they cite the Chicago quartet as a major influence. This is evident on their EP, although a band admission to incorporate all their favourite musical elements of metal into their writing has created a texture that is best described as eclectic. The songs are structured progressively, laced with tasteful

guitar lines and intricate, clean-cut rhythms, yet retain a sturdy death metal foundation. Vocalist Berardi’s snarling highs and bellowing lows lay down themes from a more positive outlook, dealing with life experiences and core beliefs.

Following guitarist Ayden Perry’s relocation to Victoria and subsequent departure from The Archivist this year, the band have continued on as a four-piece and are not actively seeking a replacement yet. Remaining guitarist James Hicks has proven he is able to step up and adequately fill the space live on a recent minitour through Tasmania with A Million Dead Birds Laughing and Hadal Maw. As The Archivist continue to gain significant supports and tour nationwide, a film clip and a full-length album are planned to follow up their debut release. Fans can rest assured; you’ll be hearing more from these Brisbane gentlemen very soon.

– Brad Rogerson check em out

The Archivist- In the Peripheral Pt. 2 @Bandcamp

tr  aus

Laughing, the lads appear to have their hearts in the right place underneath the unashamed green haze and the squelching membrane of miscellaneous bodily fluids.

Despite being active for a few years now, the band has been in no rush to release, well, anything really, but before you start thinking that sightings of this swamp-dwelling beast will be as rare as The Loch Ness Necrophagist, you will be pleased to know that recording has indeed begun in recent months with a concentrated focus on performing live.

Increasingly regular support slots are being gobbled up so don’t miss these grimy quagmire ogres.

– Brad Rogerson check em out

Not Pure Sniff @YouTube

If there’s one thing Australia does really well, it’s brawling, booze-fuelled, grunged-out rock and roll. Tearing through the scene with reckless abandon is Brisbane quintet HITS, fronted by the unruly Richard ‘Evil Dick’ Hunt (ex- Strutter, ex-Aamperillas), with female guitar duo Tamara Dawn and Stacy Coleman, New Jack Ruby’s Andy B on bass and the notorious Gregor Mulvey (ShrewmS) rounding out the gang on drums.

Their 2009 debut album Living With You Is Killing Me (Merenoise Records, AUS) arose from a grimy, hops-soaked period of incubation that stretched across the best part of five years. A series of mini tours across the country put HITS on bills alongside respected Aussie pub rockers like Bitter Sweet Kicks, The New Christs and Mustang, and the band took their classic elixir of raunchy rock and roll to Europe in 2012 for a 24-date tour that reminded those on the continent why Australia is in the vanguard of the genre.

Sporting the traditional laid-back Australian attitude, HITS don’t rush their art. Their debut release has been followed only by a three-track 7” single Take Your Pills (Beast Records, FR) and a split with their French pals Dimi Dero

Inc., which covers Devo’s Gates Of Steel. In 2013, HITS are finally brewing another batch of intoxicating rhythms and splashing their pints in the face of unsuspecting pub trash.

Their energy and live show invokes ‘90s legends The Powder Monkeys and current favourites Front End Loader, and HITS will appeal to fans of the Ian Rilen era, while offering a unique new sound that balances a sterling rawness with brazen clarity and a truculent, swaggering audacity.

With a selection of shows in the latter half of this year, including their recent appearance at the sold-out Tim-Hemensley10th-anniversary gig at The Tote Hotel (VIC) in July, HITS are a quality contribution to the Australian rock scene that demolish audiences with untamed energy, consistent song-writing and a wild, honest charisma.

– Tennille Secomb c h ec k em ou t

HITS band @Facebook

sc en e r a li a’ sm a g a z i n e  in ’ a u st sic t h r a shi a ’ s p u r e s t h e a v y m u

The Seaford Monster Self-described as ‘bonged out slam from the satanic swamps of Seaford’ with lyrical themes listed as porn, nonsense and humour, and song titles such as Vagina Gumboots, Melbourne fourpiece The Seaford Monster do not mince their words, preferring instead to violently force them right down your throat with a tongue-in-cheek Aussie nonchalance.

Sludgy, slamming brutality that lurches forth monstrously like a grotesque, dripping interloper giving absolutely no f**ks whatsoever, is one way to describe The Seaford Monster’s music.

Not surprisingly, the band began as the joke recording project of guitarist Mat Alderson in 2007. No additional members joined until Alderson decided to recruit them in mid 2010.

Later that year the band played their first shows with two guitarists before settling on the current line up, which features present and past members of Okera, Iconic Vivisect and The Mung.

Citing many of their main influences as Australian bands, namely Psycroptic, The Ocularis Infernum and A Million Dead Birds

HITS

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Should your band be featured here? HEAVY loves Australia’s local scene and is committed to spreading the word. Email your music, a link to your bio and a hi-res image (300 dpi) to nick@heavymag.com.au. Rock!

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metalrewind

Vauxdvihl W

hen it comes to progressive metal, Australia has never been a major player. A very strong power metal scene exists, but only a few bands took their love of Queensrÿche, Fates Warning and Dream Theater to greater heights. Vaudeville hit the local Melbourne stages in 1992 and, like many before them, played covers as a means of developing their approach. The original line up consisted of Paul Read (guitar), Edward Katz (bass), Phil Rouse (drums), David Bellion (vocals) and Fabrizio Gallina (guitar). Further changes saw Rouse replaced by drummer Chris Delov in 1993, as the band continued foster their sound.

As is the case with many emergent bands, the line up twisted and changed, with Bellion and Read exiting the band, and guitarist Frederic Le Duc joining. Without a lead vocalist, Vaudeville continued to focus on

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listen now

Minus Absence @YouTube

In 1992 a young group of Melbourne metal heads decided to take their love of progressive metal seriously, under the very ambitious name of Vaudeville. words Simon Lukic their debut album, which arrived in 1994.

Titled To Dimension Logic, the CD was a breath of fresh air in a scene awash with death and groove metal. Not only had Vaudeville created a masterful debut, but also set the wheels in motion for the development of the Australian melodic/power metal scene that flourished in the late nineties.

Musically, the album took an approach pioneered by Fates Warning circa Perfect Symmetry, adding the precision of early Queensryche and Rush. Also on show was a dark ambience, almost ominous in nature, which highlighted the band’s interest in Mercyful Fate, Celtic Frost and Coroner.

Of interest to most at the time was who would be fronting the band. The person in question ended up being Stacy Handchild.

Handchild, an unknown within metal circles, had a background in theatre and his experiences gave To Dimension Logic an emotional depth that was haunting,

yet uplifting. His performance added immeasurably to the recordings and remains one of highlights of the release.

From the opening moments of The Weapon through to Separate Ends and the ending strains of Minus Absence, To Dimension Logic covers a broad spectrum of emotions effortlessly. Handchild’s expressive vocals pushed the songs further, but the seamless cohesion of the band as a whole really makes the album an inspired listen. The production is also interesting. Unlike the clean, digitised approach used by most progressive metal bands, Vaudeville opted for a darker production that mirrored the obscure nature of the lyrics.

Released independently on the bands own label, Advent Records, the first pressing of To Dimension Logic sold out in no time. With a growing demand for more copies, Vaudeville answered the call, but also decided to alter the spelling of the band’s name to the more

This shift in sound was an enormous step away from what many had hoped and it confused fans, alienating many. cerebral-looking Vauxdvihl. The band would be known as such on all further pressings, media releases both here and internationally gifting Vauxdvihl the most progressive of traits, a name many might not be able to pronounce, let alone read.

The band’s presence on the live front was sadly non-existent at the time, so all the scene could do was wait patiently for new material. The first release was a three-track promotional tape titled Demo 96. This proved a sign of things to come as it marked a change in sound. It appeared that Vauxdvihl had moved forward as composers, experimenting with other palettes by exploring the more cinematic, some could say obscure, soundscapes that were apparent on To Dimension Logic.

This was solidified on the EPs Vog (1998) and Siberian Church Recordings (2001), which saw Vauxdvihl introduce industrial influences.

This shift in sound was an enormous step away from what many had hoped and it confused fans, alienating many. Had Vauxdvihl been given the opportunity to release their music in a more consistent manner – not just in three to four year intervals – the new may have been more warmly embraced. This may not have occurred but it was clear that Vauxdvihl had moved on, leaving behind a sound that critics and fans greatly admired. The line-up at this point consisted of Fabrizio Gallina (guitars, vocals), Chris Delov (drums, keys, piano) and Evan Harris helping out on bass.

Unfortunately nothing has been heard from Vauxdvihl since then but To Dimension Logic has only grown in stature.

While it may dwell in the annals of the underground, it has amassed a worldwide following that is truly cult. It remains to be seen if Vauxdvihl awake from their self-imposed exile to once again deliver new music, but if this never eventuates, I can only hope that To Dimension Logic is given the chance to breathe again.

There are a multitude of albums that have slipped through the cracks over the years only to live on through the memories of a few. To Dimension Logic warrants the attention of many and is truly deserving of a reissue, which is long overdue. H

HEAVY’s Damo Musclecar scours the globe in search of metal’s forgotten gems.

JET BOY KANE ROBERTS Feel The Shake ‘Kane Roberts’ (MCA, 1987) 1988) (MCA, listen now

‘Triple X’ @YouTube

W

hen he wasn’t saving prisoners of war from POW camps after his tenure at Fort Brag, guitar virtuoso Kane Roberts spent some time in Alice Cooper’s band in the late ‘80s, shredding his way through the albums Constrictor, Raise Your Fist And Yell, and the track Bed of Nails off Cooper’s 1989 classic, Trash. Somewhere in there, Roberts found time to put down the weights and record this eponymous slab of hard rockin’, ass kickin’, glam slammin’ metal.

Back in the days when an album cover told you exactly what you were getting, the environmentally-friendly Kane Roberts helped save the trees from the very jungles in which he battled by forgoing the ubiquitous but unnecessary inner-sleeve lyric sheet and just printing the whole lot on the back cover, cramming it in amongst photos of the power trio in their best muscle-flexing poses.

It’s what’s on the record that counts. Rock Doll opens side A and, while it isn’t the best opener, I can see where Roberts was going here, building the listener up for the big ironpumpin’ showdown. Rock Doll rocks along with a repetitious guitar riff that reminded me of a poor man’s Roxus. Second track, Women On The Edge Of Love, sounds like a Bon Jovi reject; it’s not bad by any means and the solo is totally bitchin’ but it’s still a little lacklustre. Up third is Triple X, which starts with a clichéd acoustic intro but it’s not long before you’re punching the air with a studded glove while chanting the song’s title. Believe me, if I owned such a glove, I’d not only be punching air; I’d be David Lee Roth kickin’ my way to the Cathouse. [We all know you have one under your bed, Damo – Ed.] Next up, Gorilla is an instrumental guitar wank session (read: shred session) that explodes in an eruption of Van Halen-esque licks before balls-to-the-wall rocker Outlaw’s generic riff and cheesy lyrics bore you to tears. Thankfully, a tapping solo salvages some much needed credibility here, and is a welcome change from the chants of ‘outlaw’ in the chorus that sound weak and fake.

If This Is Heaven ends side A, and it’s a song that’s easily one of the best on the

record. It has some cool guitar licks and almost a Def Leppard vibe – well, a version of Def Leppard in which Joe Elliott can’t actually sing.

Side B’s opening track Out For Blood starts with a killer guitar riff and quickly takes off into thrash territory. First blood? I can’t say for sure but it’s blood nonetheless. Laying down the law with power chorus chants and an insanely wacky solo that I’m sure isn’t in key for the most part, Out For Blood is still a ball-tearin’ steroid-induced muscle-bound classic.

Full Pull continues the macho sound with a chorus reminiscent of Manowar, which would explain bass player Steve Steele’s topless beefcake snapshot on the back cover – Joey DeMaio, you have some serious competition here.

The seducing Too Much (For Anyone To Touch) is a song I could imagine Mötley Crüe writing. That is, if it were a version of Mötley Crüe in which Nikki Sixx doesn’t have his songwriting talent, is dressed as Rambo and has a guitar that shoots out explosives like Gene Simmons’ bass in Kiss’ Crazy Nights video.

Tears Of Fire is not quite a ballad but is still the softest song on the album. The solo here is, of course, bitchin’ and has so much flanger on it that it sounds like it was recorded underwater.

The album finishes with A Strong Arm Needs A Stronger Heart and, with those arms, I’m sure Roberts’ heart is made from some kind of industrial strength kryptonite.

It’s not a bad closer but the highlight here is, once more, the lead guitar work, which is really the story of the album.

Vocally, Roberts isn’t the best singer but he has a guitar shaped like a machine gun so no-one’s gonna tell him he sucks. How the industry gave up on Kane Roberts still remains a mystery to me. If he was good enough for Alice Cooper then he’s good enough for everyone, in my eyes. It’s a travesty, or at least a conspiracy and leads me to the conclusion that the whole industry is a sham, I tell you. They drew first blood, not Kane! H

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Dotted Lines words Angela Allan

Failed Australian tours

Largely unregulated, Australia’s live touring sector has been subjected to inexperienced newcomers, and continues to bait those looking for what they believe is easy money.

Take Stone Festival, which features Van Halen and Billy Joel as headliners, and which was announced in February to much surprise from fans and veteran promoter Andrew McManus, who took to social media to slam the “unknown promoters” spearheading this two-day event.

It remains to be seen if it will be successful or travel down the path taken by Peats Ridge festival, which is now in the hands of administrators. Other recent tours that failed include the Australian tour for Sweden’s Hypocrisy, where no visas were organised, and the Warbringer tour promoted by Oceanic Sharks, where almost every Australian support band on the bill didn’t get paid and Warbringer themselves were left stranded.

Roger Kristensen, who has been a tour manager for 15 years

and now tours bands with Lennard Promotions, has seen it all happen throughout his time in the industry.

“At the moment, because the Australian dollar is strong, everyone sees the possibilities,” he says.

“People want to be a promoter or tour manager because they think it’s easy, but it’s not; you have to have great publicity and good contacts.”

To remedy this, Zac Gilliam, policy advisor at Live Performance Australia in Melbourne, suggests a central channel is needed to provide bands and those wishing to enter the industry with the information they require.

“There are immigration and occupation health and safety laws in place [in Victoria and other states], and there are a number of regulations that people have to meet in order to run an international tour,” Gilliam explains, “but the regulation

is scattered and exists in different areas. There are people who do it and do it well, and then there are people who aren’t experienced. In every industry, there is going to be a fringe of fraudulent or incompetent operators.”

New South Wales has regulations in place as part of the Entertainment Industry Act 1989, which includes codes of ethics and framework for self-regulation of the industry; however, Gilliam believes a government body for other states is not the answer and insists there has not been any increase in the number of failed tours in the past year.

“Government agencies have a very different culture to the contemporary music industry, so if you get a professional public servant and parachute them into the contemporary music industry

and expect them to interact and understand it, it’s not surprising that it won’t work or would only work to a certain extent,” he says.

Kristensen agrees, adding that government regulation is unlikely to stop people ‘having a crack’, and that the only deterrents to new promoters will be economic ones.

“People are willing to have a crack at it because there is money in it – or at least there was until a few years ago,” he says. “By the time you start looking into it though, there are so many costs that the average person doesn’t consider. The economy will stop [new promoters] in the end because people won’t have the money to back it.”

Live Performance Australia is developing a best-practice guide for music festivals that will hopefully be out sometime this year. H

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Dotted Lines words Mandi Santic

For more information: APRA general enquires: 02 9935 7900 Email: apra@apra.com.au Website: apra-amcos.com.au

The Australasian Performing Right Association Limited (APRA) is a not-for-profit organisation that collects, and distributes licence fees for the public performance of its members’ musical works.

APRA represents the copyrights of over 73, 000 composer, songwriter, and music publisher members in Australia and New Zealand. When the Australian Copyright law was first introduced in 1968, APRA expanded its services to Australian business copyright holders.

APRA’s service, alongside AMCOS has increased significantly over the years accumulating revenue of $257 million dollars in the 2012 financial year. Working for the music artist, APRA represents over 726,825 original musical works and with 244,623 writers and publishers receiving distributing payment.

APRA’s royalty payments for 2012 were a staggering $170 million.

This means that businesses such as pubs, clubs, shops, fitness centres, festivals, restaurants, hotels, theatres/cinemas, the business workplace, or broadcasts within radio, TV, or the internet who want to use APRA copyrighted music, must obtain an APRA licence to play the music creator’s work.

APRA deducts its administration costs from the royalties collected from licensees.

What APRA means for a musician If you’re a musician who composes or writes lyrics, you are eligible to become a member of APRA for free. Applying online via the APRA website www.apra.com. au is easy and only takes 15 minutes of your time to complete, asking you a variety of questions and personal information.

When applying, you will be asked for an Australian Business Number (ABN). It is wise to have an ABN before joining, otherwise APRA is obliged by law to withhold 46.5 per cent in tax from any payment to you.

Becoming a member of APRA

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is extremely important for a musician because it can constitute an enormous part of one’s income.

Musicians can highly benefit from APRA’s service of royalty payments generating some fortunate returns.

This means more money in the back of your pocket and basically allows you to earn money from your work even when you’re not working.

APRA works for you!

Once you become a member, you assign your performing rights in all existing and future works to APRA, who administer these rights on your behalf. By doing this, APRA ensures that they enter licence agreements for the performance and communication of music and lyrics, observing the use of music and then they distribute royalties to the musician.

The way APRA calculate royalties might bring some confusion; however, once the money starts rolling in, many artists give up trying to understand it and just enjoy that they’re finally getting paid for their hard work.

Furthermore, APRA provides an extensive list of music industry contacts, helping the music creator to research, network and have a wider source of musical industry knowledge.

Members also have the opportunity to apply for music grants and to be nominated for the APRA music awards. Additionally, members receive various benefits such as special deals for travelling via Virgin Australia and discounts on equipment, musical books, ACCOR hotels, equipment insurance and studio time.

By filling out a Successor Membership application form, APRA also continues to pay royalties even after a musicians’ death.

Additionally, APRA now offers its successful digital streaming services, which also coincide to help

benefit all musicians. It is common knowledge that in today’s advanced world of technology, easy access to illegal music online plagues the internet. Not only is it a complex problem for record labels, but also for the music artist.

APRA Director of Recorded Music Services, Matthew Fackrell, says that the past two years has seen new digital streaming services launched in the Australian market, which allows access to unlimited music on demand.

“The business models of these new players are based around the concept of access rather than ownership,” Fackrell explains, adding that the arrival of interactive digital music services such as Spotify, JB HiFi Now, Rdio, Deezer and others allow fee-paying subscribers to create customised playlists from millions of tracks in the service provider’s library.

APRA organises licences for these digital music services, allowing them to increase music choice for consumers.

“Under this type of model, users have full control over what they hear and how often they listen to it,” Fackrell says. “Services such as Spotify are integrated with Facebook and provide new users with a limited free trial that allows them to test the service (with advertisements) and upgrade to a paid subscription at a later time if they choose.”

What APRA means for a music consumer Due to the Australian Copyright law, you cannot use a person’s work without their permission or without paying a fee. APRA issues licences to businesses who wish to use a music creator’s original work. APRA licences depend on the specific use of the music – is it broadcast or public performance, or is it a

reproduction of recording music for retail, personal, or business purposes?

There are different types of licences for different business groups, including: hotel, retail shop, corporate business workplace, cinema, church, school, hall and function centre licences.

To work out how royalties are distributed to the music creator, APRA monitors what music is being performed and how often by working in conjunction with the music consumer who reports specifically on their music use, either via a survey or through their records.

Applying for a licence via the APRA website (www.apra.com. au) is made easy with a simple step of clicking the music consumer section on the website to find which licence is most suitable for the music consumer. For example, if you wanted a licence to use background music in a club or bar, you would apply for the specific hotel, club, motel, tavern or bar licence, fill out the application and mail it to APRA. Depending upon which licence you seek, annual licence costs vary in price.

Each licence differs with the application process, and may ask you to produce different information, such as an ACN (Australian Company Number) and ABN. In a nutshell…

If you’re a composer, songwriter or music artist and create original work, and want to be able to earn a living from the public, you can join APRA for free and the association will manage your royalties. APRA collects a licence fee from any business that wants to play your music and, in turn, distributes money back to you. H

Dotted Lines Amanda Mason, lawyer, Dwyer Bruce Legal

Copyright Licence Agreements Copyright licence agreements are probably the most common type of agreement entered into by bands and artists. Unfortunately, due to the use of questionable contracts found on the internet, they can also be the most unfair and inappropriate.

What is a copyright licence?

Copyright in itself is quite a complex area that cannot be fully covered in this article, but you will find a detailed explanation of copyright in issue three of HEAVY – a digital copy of which can be purchased instantly via iTunes and Google Play or you can get a hardcopy at heavymag.com.au Copyright is a form of property and therefore something that can be owned, like a house, and akin to a house, the owner of copyright can lease it someone in return for money. A copyright licence is to copyright as a residential lease is to a house.

Types of copyright licence agreements There are many different types of agreements that include copyright licences. The name of the agreement may not always contain the word licence but, where the purpose of the agreement requires you to allow someone to use your copyright, there will be a grant of a licence. Some examples of agreements that contain copyright licences relevant to bands and musicians include: • Pressing and distribution deal (P & D deal) – the copyright in a sound recording is licensed to the distributor, allowing the distributor to press copies of that sound recording, which it then distributes; • Synchronisation licence – the copyright in a sound recording is licensed to be set to video footage such as in a movie, TV show or commercial; • Master licence – the copyright in a sound recording is licensed to the licensee (often a record label) to be used in a variety of ways

such as pressing, distributing, promoting, sub-licensing and commercially exploiting it in general; • Licence to record – the copyright in a song itself, not in the sound recording of the song but in the lyrics and melody, is licensed to someone else to be recorded (a cover song); • Publishing deal – the copyright in songs is licensed to the publisher so that the publisher can commercially exploit the copyright in a variety of ways; and • Licence to social networking sites – the copyright in sound recordings, video clips or photographs is licensed to the site for use on the site. A detailed discussion of the licences that social networking sites require you to provide when using their services can be found in issue 4 of HEAVY. What to watch out for Copyright licence agreements often contain unfair provisions not because of bad intentions or ill will, but usually because of poorly drafted agreements.

Small companies and indie labels have limited budgets, which they don’t want to spend on having licence agreements professionally drafted by lawyers.

These companies and labels usually have good intentions, but because they use contracts found on the internet that they merge and amend to suit their needs, the agreements often end up being unjust, not legally binding or borderline nonsensical.

There are so many things to look out for in a licence agreement, far too many to list here, but these are some of the most common problem areas.

• Parties – either a person or an

incorporated company can enter into an agreement. The licensor should be the owner or owners of the copyright, which, unless the band operates as an incorporated company, will be individuals in their personal capacity (usually the band members). A business name or a band name are not legal entities and cannot enter into agreements so you need to ensure that both parties are either individuals or an incorporated company. You can usually tell if a business is an incorporated company because it will have ‘pty ltd’, ‘ltd’ or ‘inc’ at the end of its name. Also, if it’s an Australian company, it will have an Australian Company Number (ACN); • Territory – the territory is the geographical location covered by the licence. For example, if you’re licensing the copyright in a sound recording to an Australian distributor under a P & D deal, you want the territory to be limited to Australia unless they have decent distribution channels internationally. Where the territory is limited to a geographical area, the licensee only has the rights granted under the licence in that location.

Where a licence permits digital distribution, the territory will usually be either the world or the universe because it’s too difficult to limit internet transmissions to a specific geographical area; • Exclusivity – if a licence agreement is exclusive, it means that you can’t licence that same copyright to anyone else within the territory. If the territory is the world and the licence is exclusive, you can’t do anything with that copyright within the world while the agreement is in force unless

the agreement specifically states otherwise. In the case of a sound recording, that would even preclude you from putting the recording on a social networking site; • Term – the term is the length of time that the agreement lasts for. Different types of licences will have different terms, for example a master licence deal may be around two to five years, but a synchronisation licence will usually be perpetual (usually specified as a licence ‘in perpetuity’) meaning that it lasts forever unless it’s terminated and a synchronisation licence will often be irrevocable. The longer the term and the harder the licence is to terminate, the more important that it is to have the agreement reviewed by a lawyer. in publishing • Sneaking agreements – it’s not uncommon for a master licence agreement or a P & D deal to try to sneak in a publishing agreement. A publishing agreement should remain separate as it’s not necessarily involving the same copyright or copyright owners and it usually requires a different term and possibly territory; and • Post termination clauses – you need to be wary of clauses that survive the termination of the agreement. These often allow the licensee to continue to sell stock after the end of the term or are there to compensate the licensee for money and/or effort expended prior to the end of the term, but can sometimes be longer than necessary and may prevent the copyright from being licensed elsewhere. H

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strings & skins guitar

WORDS Doug Steel Happy jamming! dougfcknsteele.com

Alternate Picking

Alternate picking is easy, right? Do a downstroke, do an upstroke. Repeat forever. Sure, but there are a few obstacles – inside and outside picking, the number of notes per string and a whole bunch of other shit can all affect your alt-picking mojo.

I

f alternate picking is done right, it sounds awesome and is a very aggressive technique to have in your arsenal. If it’s done poorly, your songs and solos will sound sloppy and people will beg for you to stop.

Left and right synchronisation is key. Paul Gilbert once said, “Alternate picking starts on a downstroke”, and that’s usually how any sequence will start. First note downstroke, second note upstroke, third note downstroke etc. If you’re not used to this technique, just ride your lowest string and alternate pick until the cows come home! To do that, I’ve included this metalcore fave we all know and love.

on those weekly. Be nice to yourself, otherwise you’ll get discouraged real quick.

Comfortable with that sequence? Cool, let’s add two more notes – it looks like more but I’m not counting shit we’ve already done, son.

Ex B

You can now alternate between both of these ideas. There will be videos on all of these exercises at heavymag.com.au (Skins and Strings section) so if you want to see me bust these on a guitar, go there.

Now some two note per string ideas: Ex C Bored yet? Speed it up until you’re in black metal territory.

For the young’uns, look at the TAB. That little sign right underneath that mf? That means downstroke. The V-lookin’ thing to the right of it is an upstroke. As you can see, they alternate like that forever! Well, they should.

Okay, ready to burn? Lots of lead guitar shred will be three note per string ideas, a la Gilbert, Malmsteen, Lynch, EVH, Loomis, Becker and Petrucci. Two note per string stuff is mainly Zakk Wylde, and I’ll include some of those examples as well ‘coz every little bit helps – the more you can wrap your head around, the more ideas you have to work with.

These are exercises I give my students on their first lesson. This one I like to call The Alternate Picking Staple.

Ex A

This is a looped passage. Actually, they all are. Once you get to the last note, start back at the first note, which should be a downstroke, and keep everything in time. The hardest part of this particular exercise will be hitting the high-E string with an upstroke. If that’s tricky for you, do it extremely slow until you get it. Trust me, speed will come, even if you don’t want it. Just nail the technique for now.

At some stage you’ll want to use a metronome. When I was young and doing the four-six hour days, I’d write my times down and try to improve

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The cool thing about the two per string stuff is whatever you do on one string, you’ll do on the next string, from a picking standpoint. It’s also pretty easy to double up on notes.

Check it: Ex D

Just for the hell of it, here’s a total ‘Zakk’ thing

strings & skins GUITAR

Now onto inside and outside picking. Here are some really bonehead examples of both.

Inside Picking

Outside Picking

Here’s a six-note combo of the same notes that sound killer if you palm mute it just a touch. Bit of a tongue twister for your fingers, but once you get it down, you’ll feel pretty fucking cool.

Ex H

And this is total Yngwie right here, four notes of pure hell. I tried it, failed, and left it alone. A few years later came back to it, and it wasn’t as bad as I remembered it the first time, so I moved forward with it. Use your 1, 3 and 4 fingers. The other way is cheating (fingers 1, 2, 3) – you know it and I know it so, be a man!

Ex I

Outside picking is easier (try it and see), but I’ve met many players who are predisposed to executing inside picking naturally. I really struggle with it, so I came up with a horrible exercise to really emphasise the shit aspect of it. You will notice that it still honours the ‘starting with a downstroke’ credo. You’re also using all the fingers on your left hand.

EX E

Using single-string ideas is a great way to wrap your head around three note per string ideas AND alternate picking.

Ex F

Try descending. I find descending just a tad more difficult than ascending.

Ex G

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strings & skins drums

WORDS Rob Brens

Reader’s choice: Cynic’s Sean Reinert I

gdon’t mean to say that Sean Reinert isn’t a well-renowned player, but considering the vast contributions he’s made to the technical metal genre, he certainly hasn’t garnered the accolades that have been awarded to some of his peers, like Tomas Haake, Gene Hoglan and Mike Portnoy. This could be attributed to Reinert’s more convoluted, but perhaps less accessible, jazz fusionesque approach to playing metal, which is best showcased on Cynic’s landmark recording Focus – if you haven’t heard this album, not only do I suggest you check it out, but I encourage you to give it multiple listens. It’s not the most easily digestible of works but it is certainly the most rewarding if you give it the time of day.

Upon first listen, Reinert’s drumming can easily sound like a cacophony of syncopated, independent ride and snare patterns but when you break it down, these patterns all come back to good, old-fashioned rudiments.

Perhaps Reinert’s most-utilised technique is the paradiddle and a number of variations on the sticking. Let’s focus [Oh, what pun – Ed.] on one particular section, being the groove that follows the chorus in Veil of Maya, which you

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Today we’re going to explore the techniques employed by one of metal’s most underrated drummers, Sean Reinert, as requested by some of our readers.

can find at the 0:44 mark (see example 1) To me, this is a shining example of rudiments being utilised to tastefully create a catchy musical statement. When executed in this fashion, rudiments stop sounding like rudiments and more like musical ideas, just like Gojira’s Liquid Fire as explored in issue five.

So where do we begin?

Patterns like this become apparent quickly to more advanced players, but for the novice, the idea of slowing down a passage like this and tackling it one note at a time can be quite daunting at first. My approach when teaching patterns such as this is to exercise a bit of reverse engineering; that is, to break the pattern down to its simplest elements.

As we can see, the feet are 16th notes chugging away underneath so let’s pull those out altogether. Next, we’ll move every hit on the toms back to the snare and then we’ll remove the accents so we’re hitting everything at the same volume on the snare drum.

We’re left with example 2.

As it turns out, we only have to learn two sticking patterns.

We’ll call them A and B. These are primarily based around the inverted paradiddle, which is

probably one of the most applied stickings by fusion drummers.

Let’s call the RLRR LRLL paradiddle we all know and love the forward paradiddle from now on. The inverted paradiddle is a permutation of this, which goes RLLR LRRL. By permutation, I mean I’ve just shuffled it along a bit without changing the initial pattern. As with anything, practice these two rhythms slowly. At this point it will just sound like a marching drill.

Now let’s add the accents back in to get example 3.

When approaching accents, we want to ensure the accents are played with power and the nonaccents are played as ghost notes – super quiet, for those unfamiliar with the concept. This will make the rhythm of the accent pattern stand out a lot more, while the ghost notes will add a nice flow.

Rather than getting caught up in all the Rs and Ls, try and spot familiar patterns that can be derived from the inverted paradiddle. All that leaves is orchestrating the pattern around the kit and adding the feet back in – you may want to return to examples 1 and 2 and add the feet there first.

Barring the small fill at the very end, you simply need to make sure

you keep the sticking the same as you move the accents around the toms. As you’ll see, it’s just A and B with only slight variations on the orchestration.

Easy right? OK, not really, but it sounds awesome.

To me, I’ve never been big on sitting down and grinding away on a single part from a song. I’ve always had a philosophy on learning broad varieties of techniques that can prepare me for any situation. Not to downplay Reinert’s sensational drumming, if you had a solid understanding of accents and stickings, you could pull apart a significant portion of Cynic’s Focus album.

Just remember this is one approach to achieving a particular sound. You can use all single strokes or one hand, and if it winds up sounding the same or even similar then it doesn’t matter; however, stickings can open up worlds of possibilities and generate some creatively fascinating ideas that can be executed much easier than with pure single strokes, which I’m going to address next issue.

Alright, that’s all for this issue.

If this is a touch on the difficult side, don’t blame me. After all, you guys picked this one. H

strings & skins drums

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© Rob Brens

67

strings & skins bass

Words Drew Dedman

In part two of the Bass-ic Training column, Drew Dedman discusses how to write the perfect bass line.

Writing better/best bass parts.

Capturing the correct feel when writing the bass line for any song is often difficult as there are many factors to take into consideration.

Whilst long, rattling lows and unison riffing with the guitar will work 99 per cent of the time and is often essential to reinforce certain sections of the song, melodic lines can enhance and improve a song if done correctly.

Here are some tips to improving your lines and some things to consider in regards to the other instruments in your band.

Drums: The bass line and the drum part must always be working together. As a basic rule, kick drums can equal low notes, snares can equal high accents notes. This rule when applied will give the song a fat, low-end rhythmic sound and is the basis for rock bass playing. Bass fills work excellent in unison with tom rolls (a la Tool); however, often the lines still don’t gel and the placement of cymbals and the hi-hat must be taken into consideration. Long lows on crash cymbals are best and play a

68

simple line if the hats are playing a complicated part.

For sections of music that have a complicated drum part, simplify your line and focus on vocals (see below), and if the drums are breathing then there is room to embellish your line (a la Led Zep).

The drums and bass ultimately have to reinforce the pulse of the song.

Guitars/Keyboards: Guitar and keyboards both dominate a large portion of the mid range in any band. Great bass parts are too often drowned in a wash of power chords and melodic counter rhythms. Why is that? Firstly, sonically, have you set your EQ for the room or mix correctly? Just because it’s a great bass tone on its own doesn’t mean it’s necessarily working with the other layers. During full volume sound checks and jams, always listen to where your tone is sitting in relation to the other layers and adjust your EQ to encompass the sound rather than cut through.

Now we are good sonically, here are some tips on bass lines

in relation to keys and guitars.

Firstly unison riffing always works in small sections but can become monotonous if used throughout the entire song. Unison bass and key lines can decorate bridging sections and work great as intros or outros while the guitar chugs away on a different line. When writing melodic lines, the most important thing to think about is that the music must have rhythm, melody and counter melody. Are your melodic lines working with or against the guitar riff? Are they rhythmically sitting with the drums?

Whenever it sounds cluttered or disjointed, remove some bass notes and focus your melodic line more on the pulse (see drums again).

Vocals: The relationship between bass guitar and vocals is often not clearly understood.

There are some great examples of high, melodic bass lines in bridges and breakdowns that work brilliantly with wailing vocals (a la Queen, Led Zep and just about every other bombastic ‘70s rock band); however, how important is the bass note to the

top end of melody?

Time for a quick music theory lesson. Each chord is made up of a triad (I-III-IV) but you are not necessarily bound to playing the root note. For example, if the tune is in E minor, you can safely pump away on E (root), G (min 3rd) or B (perfect 5th), or you can use a combination of them all.

The vocal line (head melody) will move about, changing notes, but its basic structure will be based around this triad – in our case, Em. When all the instruments are stacked – vocals, guitars, keys and bass all playing at once – the outside edges of our giant, stacked band chord are vocal melody at the top and bass at the bottom. These are the two most important notes and must work together, though not necessarily in unison.

You don’t need to pick through every chord in every song you play. Just listen to how the bass line harmonises with the vocals in the band.

Importantly, just have fun with it, and remember to always listen first before writing your bass lines. H

columns words Jon Stockman

I don’t want to see any more live music venues get shut down or transformed into pokies venues, do you? Every week I’m lucky enough to get a bunch of new Australian music to play on Distortion and, for the most part, it’s bloody awesome.

Let’s face it, not everyone gets it right the first time, but the encouraging thing is that bands exist, bands are recording, and the Australian scene is VERY strong. The downside to this awesomeness is that not so many people are going to gigs, and I wanna know why.

I’ll admit that I don’t get to as many gigs as I’d like, and I guess we all have busy lives, but if we want this scene to thrive and kick arse, we’re gonna have to make the effort, myself included.

Earlier in the year, this very magazine held HeavyFest with a bloody fantastic line up of local bands, and whilst there was a good crowd – a passionate crowd – I was expecting a wall-to-wall, hard-to-get-a-drink, sweatin-mosh kinda deal.

It got me thinking, ‘What can I do to get more people to gigs?’ I have a

microphone every day of the week, so I started doing daily gig guides rather than just one of a Friday, a small step but an important one, I reckon, because local metal gigs would never get exposure on a commercial station, and it’s the bloody least I can do.

Still, I know I can do it better.

I love Aussie music. I want our scene to be the very best it can be. I want people from overseas to see it and be envious of it. I know I’m not alone here. I can only imagine the frustration of the bands who put their heart and soul into music only to play to a handful of people.

Having said that, I think I can speak on their behalf when I say that they are ever grateful and humbled that people come and dig their music.

They’re exposing themselves (literally, in the case of Yeti from Frankenbok), and bearing their art to be scrutinised by you in the hope that someone will take something from it.

I’m envious of that. What an amazing feeling it must be to hear cheers after check out an original song.

Triple M Distortion We just need more cheers. H @Facebook

It’s interesting to think about how significantly album formats and their acquisition have changed through time.

Once upon a time, you bought music on a black vinyl platter roughly the size of a pizza that ‘magically’ played music when its rotating surface was pressed with a diamond tipped needle.

Cassettes surfaced in the early ‘60s as versatile fun sized versions of the large reels found in recording studios. They were user-friendly, and portable, and they made batteryoperated boom-boxes possible, not to mention the humble walkman, a forerunner to the now ubiquitous mp3 player.

Compact discs arrived in the ‘80s and changed the industry forever. They eclipsed all other formats with their usability, track selectable functionality and digital edge, and soon were the only format available. Next came the minidisc, considered sonically superior to their predecessors but, unfortunately, easily duplicated – while duplication presented a problem for record companies, it was nothing compared to the effects of file-sharing that were to come years later. After this came the iPods and the iTunes revolution, which allowed users to purchase single tracks for as little as $US1. Nowadays, people have access to the highest-quality fidelity in audio history, so why have so many started buying vinyl records again?

Well, hearing a vinyl recording isn’t comparable to any other listening experience. There’s a certain charm that comes from the tactile ritual of slipping a 12-inch out of its sleeve, lowering the needle and listening to the intermittent surface noises crackling along with the music. There’s charm in just possessing the record, which is why record collecting is becoming a massive hobby. Vinyl records feel solid and they look great. The aesthetics of their packaging and inner sleeves lends them to being collectables, which is why people get the vinyl bug, and why so many bands are now doing vinyl releases as well.

Older recordings are being remastered digitally and reissued, so the quality of vinyl today is significantly higher to what it was before. In deluxe editions, such as the

man Jon Stock latest QOTSA record …Like Clockwork, the audio quality is higher than a normal pressing.

Nowadays, the most common format is an mp3, yet people sometimes lower the quality of mp3s so they can fit more songs onto their devices. People also use headphones or small mp3 docks to listen, and small speakers aren’t capable of reproducing the frequencies contained on higher quality versions like CDs; however, you can hear the difference when mp3s are played over a PA. Next time you’re at a gig, listen to how piss-weak the music between sets is when it’s an iPod playlist.

It’s logical that when people develop a love of vinyl once introduced - the difference to their ears is huge, especially if they were born after the ‘80s. The analog process creates a much warmer sound than its digital rival, but it’s also a massive increase in quality.

Out of all formats, vinyl has the most value and prices of collectable records are ridiculous, but the size of vinyl records represents value for money, plus many records now contain digital download links to not only mp3s but also flac files, which are better quality than the versions present on CDs. It’s possible that CDs may soon be redundant, since physical sales are continuing to fall and so much of the musical market is online and burnable to CD anyway. Since people don’t feel that they need to buy music to listen to it, vinyl may perhaps be the record industry’s way of providing a product that people may want to own, rather than one they just want to access. H

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hi-rotation album reviews

album of the month on One of Us is the Killer One of Us is the Killer tracks expel the tension of their tightlyby

The Dillinger Escape Plan

Sumerian Records

Mathcore New Jersey, USA dillingerescapeplan.org review Nick Lord Dillinger are back, and fans of their earlier works will be pleased to hear the return of many of the archetypal mathcore elements that gave Dillinger their delightfully unstable and schizophrenic sound originally.

One of Us is the Killer is loaded with power, violence and clearly on a mission to maim, but it would be irresponsible to describe this as a pure mathcore release. The title track has a certain lounge quality that is almost cinematic, and Puciato’s falsetto triggers comparisons with multi-faceted frontman Todd Smith of Dog Fashion Disco and Polkadot Cadaver. In this way, Dillinger’s agenda is laid bare – this is a vocal album and Puciato’s versatility is on full display throughout.

There’s no shortage of his trademark junkyard bark, but Puciato pays great respect to the art of crafting lofty sing-along choruses, ensuring that most

iPad

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structured verse agitations upwards in an ebullient and profuse discharge that is equal parts swagger and soul.

At every turn, Puciato is served faithfully [diligently? – Ed] by the band, who have no problem providing a sumptuous array of tapestries into which Puciato can weave his vocal histrionics: Prancer and When I Lost My Bet are chaotic and purposebuilt openers; One of Us is the Killer wouldn’t be out of place on Faith No More’s Album of the Year; Nothings Funny and Understanding Decay could be David Lynch soundtracks, complete with Badalamentistyle madness; Parasitic Twins stands head-high as the album’s most experimental moment with a resplendently defiant jazzy, brass interlude.

Ultimately, One of Us is the Killer screams, “We’ll do whatever we want and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it,” and fans wouldn’t have it any other way.

Abra Kadavar

Home

Connection

Nuclear Blast

Independent

Independent

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Kadavar

‘‘70s rock/stoner Berlin, Germany facebook.com/KadavarOfficial

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House Of Thumbs Metal Melbourne, Australia houseofthumbs.com.au

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Bellusira

Alternative rock Melbourne, Australia facebook.com/bellusira

review Anthony Moore

review Tennille Secomb

review Nelli Scarlet

Only a year after releasing their mind-blowing self-titled debut, Kadavar have backed it up with another massive ‘70s sounding beast, Abra Kadavar.

It’s a collection of Black Sabbath, Hawkwind and Led Zeppelin-vibe tracks that will keep your head banging the whole way through.

Kadaver’s proven once again that they live and breathe this sound – this is classic ‘70s hard rock. To some it may seem like this has all been done before but there’s so much in this album – technically, it’s brilliant and the production complements the thundering and rolling rhythms, while the explosive Bonham-style drumming and the sweeping guitar riffs take you back to a time when there was no bullshit and just straight up guitar driven rock, a la the riffs and solo in Doomsday Machine. Awesome stuff.

From the first slaughtering scream of Stigma to the final frenzy of Maelstrom, Home is the blistering new release from Melbourne’s own House of Thumbs. With a familiar energy yet a notably heavier vibe, the EP presents a concentrated and natural progression in technicality. Linden Audino moves away from Serj Tankian vocals and is heavier throughout.

Along with the introduction of seven-string guitars, Home develops the writing style of previous releases. A combination of precision and fury, the level of complexity is mediated by the deep groove of the bass and the oscillation between periods of serious intensity and thicker, more open rhythms that make you wanna bend your knees and head-bang.

Home is a solid effort for the Melbourne quintet that I’d give two thumbs up if the thumbcutter hadn’t already stolen them.

Bellusira’s debut album Connection is a tour-de-force of dynamic, alternative rock and a faultless soundtrack to the highs and lows of life. No two songs on this 11-track, Ricki-Rae masterpiece sound the same, yet there is a cohesive sound and message throughout the entire album.

The geometric rhythms and time signature shifts keep the listener on their toes, and singer Crystal Ignite’s impressive vocal range matches each compositional shift. Soaring through her impressive upper-register belt, into her guttural roars, Ignite transforms her voice into an instrument, bringing the perfect vocal element to the album.

Having wrung every last cent out of themselves and embarked on numerous fundraising initiatives, Bellusira have seriously invested in Australian music with this stellar release.

the stand out

c h ec k em ou t

th e sta n d ou t

the s tan d o u t

‘One Of Us Is The Killer’ @YouTube

‘Doomsday Machine’ @YouTube

‘Ink Blot’ @YouTube

‘Cachango’ @Bandcamp

The HEAVY MAG android app is live & get

the apple mac version from itunes

hi-rotation album reviews

El Pistolero

Super Collider

Like Clockwork

Mascot Records

Tradecraft (Universal)

Matador/ Remote Control Records

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Asymmetry by

Karnivool

Cymatic/Sony Music

Progressive rock Perth, Australia karnivool.com.au review Tennille Secomb Clocking in at just over an hour, don’t listen to this album in a rush because you need to soak up every minute.

With Asymmetry, Karnivool have really locked on to the signature style they developed with both Themata (2005) and Sound Awake (2009), and much attention has been paid to the aural experience in this latest opus from the Perth rockers.

Opening and closing the album are carefully-crafted sections of atmospheric bliss – much more prominent than in previous releases – that shimmer across your speakers in a Sigur Ros/ Decoder Ring kind of way, like intro track Aum, and songs Aeons, Sky Machine and Float.

Separated by the title track – a distorted, glitchy, James Blake style instrumental – are two distinct halves in Asymmetry: a (welcome) return to Themata in the earlier half with tracks like Nachash and A.M. War offering the heaviness of Karnivool’s

debut album and reminding you that you’re not listening to Birds of Tokyo; a slower second half, more experimental and culminating in the anthemic Alpha Omega, which in itself is a good representation of the entire album with its slow, string-you-along intro that breaks into hypnotic chanting, churning guitar riffs and pounding drums – sure to be a killer live track.

The sound throughout this album is excellent. It’s clean but not overproduced, with scintillating highs, the guitars low and crunchy and Ian Kenny’s voice, of course, foremost in the mix. The level of his vocals is perfect, seamlessly absorbing into your brain with no single point of entry, and Kenny doesn’t disappoint with either his softer, more demure croon or his trademark smooth, soaring melodies.

Highly evolved in every way, Asymmetry is mature, nextlevel ‘Vool, demonstrating an incredible amount of experience while sounding overwhelmingly humble.

Rock Adelaide, Australia tracer-band.com

the stand out

‘Nachash’ @iTunes

Tracer

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Megadeth

Hard rock Los Angeles, USA megadeth.com

by

Queens Of The Stone Age Desert rock/stoner California, USA qotsa.com

review Damo Musclecar

review Nick Lord

review Anthony Moore

Hailing from the city of churches, this Adelaide trio is a powerhouse of riff-induced, heavy rock and roll. Sure, they sound similar to Unida, Kyuss and Josh Homme’s Desert Sessions but when has that ever been a bad thing? Right off the bat, Tracer are tearing it up with the title track before careening down the open road of stoner-rocking space-jams with guitar solos wailing and the foot held firmly to the floor.

While 13 tracks is a lot to stomach these days with social media shrinking our attention spans, Tracer have some kind of space-age formula that allows one to stay transfixed to the job at hand, which is getting your arse kicked by great rock and roll.

No one can say Dave Mustaine isn’t productive, but is he still worthy of attention? Super Collider walks dangerously close to retired rock – Mustaine’s trademark vocal sneer is so laconic that it’s more speak than sing, and even genre-leading guitarist Chris Broderick seems forced into the same old scales and modes. Yep, there aren’t too many winners here – title track Super Collider is reminiscent of something you’d expect on a Geoff Tate EPK; Burn is borderline powermetal (sans power or metal); while Off the Edge is so poppy it bops like a dance remix of Ozzy’s Crazy Train.

The Megadeth faithful will enjoy the familiarity of Beginning of Sorrow, Kingmaker and Don’t Turn Your Back as the most metal tracks although, overall, it’s unlikely this album will attract even one new fan. Megadeth by numbers.

A lot of expectations arise with each new QOTSA release.

What course will it take? Which revolving band of musicians will play their part within the machine? …Like Clockwork is the band’s sixth studio album and feels very emotional compared to some of their previous releases; it’s almost like Homme is trying to find his way out of the darkness. While their first three albums were instantly attentiongrabbing, …Like Clockwork unfortunately sits more amongst the style of latter releases, requiring a few listens to fully grab hold of you, though it gets there in the end.

Featuring: Dave Grohl, Nick Oliveri, Joey Castillo, Mark Lanegan, Elton John, Trent Reznor,

c h ec k em ou t

c h ec k em ou t

c h e ck e m o u t

‘El Pistolero’ @iTunes

‘Super Collider’ @YouTube

‘Smooth Sailing’ @YouTube

The Tote, Victoria, Australia

Saturday, 12 October 2013

3:30pm until 1:00am in UTC+11

HEAVY mag presents Brew Tality 2013 a celebration of Australia’s finest metal, rock and beer. The event will be held at two of Melbourne’s finest live venues, The Tote and The Bendigo Hotel. Two venues and three stages, which promises to be one of Melbourne’s finest heavy music events.

Featuring: King Parrot, Dreadnaught, Scar The Surface (Album Launch), Desecrator (Vinyl Launch), Electrik Dynamite, King of the North, Heaven The Axe, Bronson, Frankenbok, Witchgrinder, Don Fernando, The Deep End (Single Launch), Midnight Creepers (QLD), Orpheus Omega, Truth Corroded (SA), House of Thumbs, The Charge, Internal Nightmare, I am Duckeye, Dead City Ruins, Join The Amish, Hadal Maw, Infiltraitor (SA), Abreact, Diprosus, Drifter, Audemia and more.

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hi-rotation dvd reviews

Home is Where the Stage is Live DVD by

Frankenbok

Fair Dinkum Records

review Nick Lord Frankenbok’s live performance has always been one of the band’s most endearing strengths, so it follows that the band would release a DVD that firmly focuses on this without unnecessary distractions.

Filmed at now-closed Thornbury venue The Prague, Home is Where the Stage is allows fans to experience a Frankenbok live show from 2011 right in the comfort of their very own lounge rooms. On the disc is a 13-song set mostly covering the band’s newer works with Dan McDougall but also lightly sprinkled with stalwart classics from the early days.

The shoot employs six cameras (plus a Yeti beard cam) to good effect, and director Reggie Bowman effortlessly combines the fixed position and handheld views in a manner that keeps energy and interest high. Sonically, the mix is solid throughout, and all elements are clearly represented and have good cut-through. The performance itself is expectantly strong and visually vigorous: Mick and Tim lock down a tough, muscular rhythm section that allows string demons Azza and Yeti to trade duelling guitar lines with well-rehearsed synchronicity. Over the top roars Dan with a vocal performance that’s as full-bodied as his facial hair.

Ably-supported by Tim, Dan’s robust and aggressive

the stand out

‘One Of Us Is The Killer’ @YouTube

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performance gives way at times to moments of sensitive restraint, such as the clean singing in final track Triumph. Throughout, Frankenbok’s live history and experience is apparent – the band is tight, but not so perfect that one dares to think of overdubs. This is undeniably live.

Special features are limited to Frankenbok’s seven video clips. These make for nostalgic viewing, and it’s interesting to see how much the band has changed across almost two decades, but I was a little disappointed not to see any touching tour-bus moments or backstage antics. Sure, I’m grateful not to have to sit through hours of grainy “in joke” footage that no one but the band usually understands, but I still felt Bok missed an opportunity to convey some of their legendary camaraderie, political astuteness and generous acts of charity to those who mightn’t be aware of the group’s upstanding reputation.

In the end, it’s all here – the set, the videos – presented up front and without surprises. This is everything you know and love about ‘the Bok’. The only thing you can’t experience is the odour, but hopefully technology will find a way to fix that in years to come.

hi-rotation Win

t Subscrihbese DVDs. now. See e to HEAVY page 5 f details. or

dvd reviews

Last Days Here

Documentary Antidote Films

review Nick Lord Last Days Here is the story of Bobby Liebling, front man and founding member for hard rock and seminal metal act Pentagram, a band little known in the mainstream despite a 30-year history and strong status as cult rock heroes in the stoner and doom metal underground.

Directors Don Argott (Rock School, The Art of the Steal) and Demien Fenton tell the story of Liebling, the 50-something Pentagram vocalist now living in his parents’ basement and struggling under the weight of a crippling drug addiction. Liebling is not a well man, visibly in the grip of a 40-year heroin and crack addiction, and clinging to delusions of impending rock stardom.

Last Days Here is a tale of missed opportunities, of Liebling blowing his shot right at the crucial moment time and again. Ex-band members talk of failed showcase gigs with Kiss and ruined recording sessions with record labels, all because of Liebling’s inflexible personality and indefatigable appetite for

sex, drugs and rock’n’roll.

Yet even while watching Liebling pick away at the invisible parasitic infections under his skin while talking about how he has to stop the parasites ‘breeding’, he remains an infectious and warm portrait of an old rocker clinging to a lost dream.

Throughout, Argott and Fenton work diligently to keep Pentagram alive and it’s hard not to find yourself rooting for them.

With an offer on the table from ex-Pantera hardman Phil Anselmo to finance a new Pentagram record, Liebling agrees to return to the stage for two gigs, but will he and the film crew pull off what has eluded them time and again? The sense of anticipation is almost suffocating.

Last Days Here is an award-winning rockumentary about a life dedicated to music without the glamour, without the fame and without the money that’s sure to appeal to anyone who’s dared to dream big.

Essential viewing for rock historians and fans alike.

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Andrew WK parties hard with sex wipes

Andrew WK has been appointed as the spokesperson for Playtex Fresh + Sexy Wipes.

What are Fresh + Sexy Wipes you ask? They’re the adult version of baby wipes for use before and after sexy times. (They’re not for poop stuff, you sicko. Well, I guess they could be for poop stuff – they’re versatile.)

Of course, now would be an opportune time to rip into a bunch of filthy puns using Andrew WK references, like I Get Wet and Girls Own Juice, but it’s not really necessary when the ad campaign for Fresh + Sexy Wipes already provides ample dirty euphemisms such as ‘A clean pecker always taps it’ and ‘A clean beaver always finds more wood’.

Phil Varone is Swinging American Style

Swinging American Style is a series of porn movies starring ex-Skid Row drummer Phil Varone. The movies provide a glimpse into the lives of real swingers and, presumably, you’ll also get a long, rock-hard look at Phil’s pierced wangdoodle while he’s, you know, ‘banging that drum’. There are currently two super-classy titles in the series so far: Texas F**k ‘Em, and Vegas or Bust.

I was made for lovin’ you

If seeing Phil Varone’s manhood on the 55” plasma isn’t enough for you, you can go one step further and grab yourself a big ol’ 21.5cm replica of Phil’s penis, humorously named Dr Phildo.

Phil isn’t the only rockstar doing the dildo thing either. Now, thanks to Rammstein, you can also Ohne Dich! (That joke probably would have been more effective if everyone was familiar with the pronunciation of that Rammstein song title, which sounds like ‘Own a dick’.) Failed jokes aside, Rammstein have a boxed-set of six dildos supposedly modelled on the band members’ individual bratwursts.

In a 2006 episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels, Gene was hunting down investors to fund the creation of another item to add the infinite KISS merch catalogue – the Gene Simmons tongue vibrator. Sadly, it doesn’t look like Gene’s robo-tongue is available at present [Would love to know how long you searched – Ed.]; however, we can live in the hope that if it ever does go into production, KISS will change the words of Love Gun to Love Tongue to assist in the vibrator’s marketing campaign.

Ghost have also jumped on the dildo bandwagon with a dildo that’s created in the likeness of Papa Emeritus II. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it’s not modelled on his one-eyed disciple, but is instead a replica of his head and torso. It even includes his pointy, little pontiff hat and comes with a lovely, cold-looking, bronze butt plug. Someone should really tell Ghost that they’re missing a great opportunity to use the slogan ‘Come to Papa!’

Vince Neil’s classy strip club

It doesn’t really come as much of a surprise that Vince Neil has opened his own strip club.

What’s even less surprising is that it’s called Vince Neil’s Girls, Girls, Girls. Bon Jovi should follow in Vince’s footsteps and open a brothel called Slippery When Wet. The ad for the club features a gang of strippers, some atrocious acting and Vince, who isn’t promoting the club but instead babbling on about himself. “You know, it’s been said that I like fat girls, skinny girls, blonde girls, brunette girls, every single kind of girl, but you know what?

Actually I love all the girls,” Vince says before going back to work, auditioning girls out back.

Yep, Vince Neil’s Girls, Girls, Girls – the kind of classy establishment where you wouldn’t want to touch anything unless you were wearing a biohazard suit.

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ROCKSTAR PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

SYDNEY

Friday 11th October - The Factory Theatre (18+)

BRISBANE

Saturday 12th October - The HiFi Brisbane (18+)

MELBOURNE

Monday 14th October - Billboard The Venue (18+)

PERTH

Wednesday 16th October - Amplifier Bar (18+) Gen. Admin Tix + VIP Meet & Greet Tix from www.metalmassacre.com.au More info: www.rockstarrecordsau.com

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