Issue 2

MAYBE RAVE SINK OR SWIM LEAD US FORTH MARIA LETFUS BROKENSEASON

maria letfus page 6 sink or swim page 10

the latest fallout page 14 upcoming events page 22

lead us forth page 26 maybe rave page 32 broken season page 38

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facebook.com/letfusmagazine letfusmagazine.com youtube.com/user/letfusmagazine facebook.com/letfusdesign letfusmagazine@gmail.com Letfus Magazine is a brand new bi-monthly publication based in Hamilton, New Zealand. Aiming to bring you up to date interviews and photos of some of the rising stars in the media industry, both local and abroad.

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support

Issue 2 is finally here. Although there were many ups and downs, the final product is just as good as I imagined. So thank you for your support and understanding when things didn’t work out the way they were meant to.

Throughout this issue I noticed a recurring theme in many of the interviews. The support of local bands here in New Zealand is almost non-existent. Nobody goes to shows and nobody respects the work they put in. So I challenge you to rectify this situation. If there’s a show nearby, go along and support the local acts. Pay the entry fee and help musicians create more and more amazing work for you, their fans.

But a huge thanks to all of you that make the effort and treat musicians with the respect they deserve. People like you that appreciate music more than anything, is what makes this all worthwhile.

Melody Letfus

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What’s your name and what instruments do you play?

I’m Maria and I play guitar and I sing.

If you had to classify yourself into a genre what would it be?

I would say folky, acoustic stuff.

How long have you been playing music?

Since forever. My parents are into music quite a bit so it’s just always been part of how I’ve grown up.

What are your musical influences and how do they impact your music?

Funnily enough my musical influences would be more RnB. Guy Sebastian, Stan Walker and then Michael Bublé who’s kind of more jazz and big band. They don’t influence my musical style as much.

I mean I melisma like they do, or try to, but I think they more influence me in how I try to perform, because they’re so good to watch.

What has been your best performance experience?

There’d have to be two. The first one would be the year that my barbershop quartet came first in the under 25 competition. And the other would have to be the one that happened the other night, when I got to sing Use Somebody to my fiancé.

What has been your worst performance experience?

That would have to be the year my quartet thought we were going to win and we totally just lost. It was terrible.

What are the future plans for you musically? Have it take you all the way or just be a hobby?

Well I’d like to record my own album.

You can’t study music and not want to be famous. But to be honest I’d really like to do something with a musical theatre.

Helping them do all the dancing the drama the singing. Do all aspects of it.

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You have a bit of a background in dance.

What can you tell us about that?

I have done jazz, I’ve done tap, I’ve done hip hop. Hip hop was definitely the most fun and I wish I’d stuck it out at tap and I always wish I’d done ballet but I’m not currently dancing.

Do you see dance becoming a part of what you do in the future?

Yes definitely, even if I was famous or whatever and doing it on tour I would definitely be dancing.

What would your alter ego be called?

Well let’s go with Tetris Letfus.

What’s the story behind that?

Well Letfus is my last name so it’s not really undercover, but I got Tetris from being really good at being able to pack a car when we’re moving.

What’s the song writing process like?

Generally I have to be inspired; either something will happen and I’ll have to sit down and process it. And it generally starts off as me just tryna write a fancy poem and then an idea will just keep going over and over in my head and it will become the chorus. Usually I like to start with the chords first ‘cause then I can get a melody going before adding words to it.

Do you prefer originals or covers?

Sometimes if I’m really proud of an original I like to do it but at the moment I’m definitely more fond of covers.

What’s the hardest thing about being a musician in New Zealand in this day and age?

I think in New Zealand the hardest part is just being recognised. In general finding jobs as a musician is really difficult.

There’s just so many of us and not many opportunities out there.

Do you think it will change for New Zealand or are we doomed to continue on this path?

I think New Zealand’s kind of stuck in its ways. We’re just too small to produce anything of a larger scale so I mean even Brooke Fraser and people like that have gone over to Australia and then to the States.

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Do you feel artists like Lorde can make a change for us?

I think that she’s put us on the map but I’m not sure if that’s gonna change the New Zealand music industry or whether that’s just effecting how Americans view new Zealanders.

What has been your biggest achievement to date?

Probably would’ve been performing at barbershop nationals with my quartet and we came third the first year we ever did it, and we bombed the second year, but the year after that we came first.

If you weren’t a musician what would you be?

Probably teaching. I was working at a holiday program and after school care for six-ish years. And I just love working with kids so even if I don’t get to do music as a career I’ll definitely be teaching children and having music involved in some way.

What’s it been like to do a music degree at Vision College and how has it affected you as a musician?

It’s definitely improved my performance skills. I don’t get as nervous anymore in front of people. And it’s definitely increased my knowledge of music that’s out there and of how to create music in general.

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Have you got anything coming up?

Over the next two months I will be in town busking with Reece and I’m in a group called Everybody Duck! That’s planning on getting some videos up.

What’s it like being in the studio?

It’s been really cool. Being in the studio has been a lot of fun. And the whole process is just amazing, watching the people that have to move all the bits on the computer and just being able to hear yourself coming through and sounding that good is just ridiculous.

Can we expect a music video or anything from you soon?

Yeah definitely. Once this song gets finished hopefully we’ll be able to make a music video to go with tit.

Any advice to people wanting to follow on a similar path?

Just go hard. You gotta know that you know that you know that that’s what you wanna do. And you have to believe in yourself and not let anyone put you down. It sounds really cheesy but it’s true.

You just gotta be you and let people love you for you and not try and be something you’re not. Because then it just comes off as you’re trying too hard.

When you tell people you’re studying music how do they react? Do they not take it seriously?

Definitely. They just laugh. And are like “What are you gonna do with that?” And people are just like “That’s not even a real degree” and all that sort of thing so people don’t appreciate it very much.

Do you think that’s the wrong mind-set and the degree is well worth it?

I think for musicians what we get out of the degree is absolutely massive.

Obviously career options aren’t very high but for musicians it’s definitely something they should do.

Anybody you’d like to thank?

Just thank you to anyone who listens to my music, who wants to hear more of it. Thank you to the people who give me opportunities to perform and everyone who’s supported me.

You, my photographer/videographer/ helpful musician. My fiancé, my friends.

Everyone.

To see new videos, and find out where she is performing next, head along to her facebook page: facebook.com/MariaLetfus

Photos courtesy of Letfus Design.

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What’s your name and role in the band?

My name’s Jake and I’m the vocalist.

I’m Zayne and I’m the drummer.

I’m Ben and I’m one of the guitarists.

I’m Aaron and the bassist and the clean singer.

If you had to classify yourselves into a genre what would it be?

Jake: Overall metalcore but I guess we got a couple of other influences from some other genres but generally metalcore.

How’d you come up with the name?

Zayne: I’m not too sure on that one. I kinda, I don’t wanna say come up with it ‘cause it’s one of the most cliché names you can have for a band. Something that’s just catchy I guess which kinda stuck on so yeah.

Jake: Yeah it was ages ago. We’ve had heaps of times where we were gonna change it but we were like na. We’ve built up a bit of a fan base and stuff we can’t just change it. It’s like starting all over again so we just stuck with it.

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How long have you been a band?

Jake: In March 2012. About a year, a year and three quarters ish.

What’s your favourite thing about being in a band?

Jake: Definitely the live shows. I love seeing the crowd moving to what we’re playing.

Zayne: If I didn’t have a band I’d be a pretty angry person.

I would be like “What am I doing with my life?” ‘cause I’d have money to blow and would probably go things that it probably shouldn’t.

Aaron: Well personally I love playing shows, love playing music, love seeing live music, love all the people that come to the shows and all the people who I know all go to the shows are my mates, that’s where all my friends are really and if I didn’t have my band I wouldn’t really know what to do with myself.

Ben: I don’t know what to say. Probably the whole playing live aspect and seeing people actually enjoy the music you write.

Jake: If I wasn’t in a band I wouldn’t have anywhere to spend all my money.

What’s the hardest part of being a musician in this day and age?

Jake: I reckon the amount of competition that’s out there.

There’s so many bands out there. It’s not like we don’t like them because they’re all good but its hard to get your name out there when there’s just so much bands trying to get their name out there. But I guess it’s not really just about getting to the top, we just enjoy the ride.

Are those difficulties because you’re a New Zealand band or do you think that’s a global issue?

Jake: Being a New Zealand band is part of it. But at the same time it’s really good to be in the New Zealand scene because it’s cool to help out. It’s quite small and it’s always growing.

But there’s heaps of local bands which is cool. Gives us heaps of bands to play with live all the time.

Aaron: if you think about it, in America there’s way more people, so there’s more competition over there. But still being in New Zealand, well music’s music, it’s pretty hard to make some money out of that but I don’t do it for the money. Just for the love.

What are your musical influences and how do you bring them into the band?

Jake: Well vocally speaking, I don’t know, I don’t really have much influences as per say. From the get go I just did what felt best and I guess what sounded best. I don’t really strive to be like one vocalist out there. There’s heaps of bands where I like their vocals hepas but I just do whatever felt right for me.

Zayne: I like a lot of different genres. I like a bit of Miley Cyrus now and again. If you want to stick to metal though I guess like Counterparts, Ben loves his Periphery.

Aaron: Prada.

Ben: I listen to a lot of like the modern metal bands. A lot of groovy type stuff that people can get into and a lot of post rock as well.

Do you see this being a career or a hobby?

Jake: we’d love to that as a career. But at the moment it’s sort of an unrealistic prospect. You always have to have your school and stuff on track when you’re in a band ‘cause you can’t telly on it for your career but we’ll try and take the chance if we can, and do what we can to get there but you never know.

Zayne: Also the fact of being in New Zealand, I’m not gonna say eliminates, but certainly limits us into making this a living.

The scene basically is self-funded so we don’t really get any profit off it.

If you weren’t a musician what would you be doing?

Jake: Aside from being a musician, just skating and playing football. Go to like Massey University and stuff.

Zayne: I’m not sure what I’d do. I work for the Rockshop now so I guess that’s a pretty cool thing. Long term wise possible a policeman.

Ben: I’d be homeless.

Aaron: At the moment I’m a chef so I’ve got my future pretty sorted to be honest. It’s a pretty popular restaurant. It starts with M. It’s a McDonalds. I was thinking of going to university actually ‘cause I don’t wanna work at McDonalds ever again.

What has been your best performance experience so far?

Jake: In Hearts Wake at Kings Arms, I had a lot of fun at that show. Not crowd wise really but our performance was really tight. One of them would be Battle of the Bands just ‘cause of how we performed really and we got the crowd going and stuff. It was the finals as well which was pretty cool to get into. We opened for Thy Art is Murder which was a pretty cool experience. Our show last week which we put on ourselves was probably one of the best shows we’ve ever played. We played Ding Dong Lounge for our EP release show and it was pretty wild. Everyone got into it and really helped with the promotion fo our EP.

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What were your expectations with the release of your EP and how did they measure up?

Jake: Probably exceeded our expectations. Our first couple of releases were never well taken in by the fans they just sorta brushed it aside, just another metalcore band I guess. But our EP, everyone’s loving it. Been given heaps of good feedback haven’t had anyone that’s said they haven’t liked it and we’ve had like a hundred downloads on it so it’s pretty sweet.

Zayne: I’ve noticed that having our stuff on YouTube has made the crowds go more crazy, ‘cause I think that they know our songs more. That’s really helped us a lot.

Whats next for the band?

Jake: We actually are filming a music video, it’s like a live compilation music video. A bit of us mucking around, a bit of us playing concerts all that for one of our songs off the EP. And release wise we’re probably not gonna release any full releases for quite a while. We’ll probably release another single in a few months maybe just to give the fans something to listen to. We are writing new stuff but it’s really early days.

What advice would you give someone wanting to be in a band?

Zayne: in order to be a successful band you can’t really figure yourself as a band, you have to be mates. Because in order to do this you actually have to have chemistry and if you don’t have chemistry as a person, the chemistry on stage isn’t really gonna work. OS you have to really connect on a personal basis rather than just coming together and making songs.

What would you like to say to your fans?

Jake: We’re stoked to have you on board and thanks to anyone who’s come out to any of our shows. Even just one.

It’s awesome. Big shout out to everyone who has helped us out. Booking us shows, just helping out with our EP. Zayne: Thank you to everyone that’s been with us from the start. ‘cause at the start we were pretty s***. To my mum I love you.

Ben: You guys are awesome.

Aaron: Yeah.

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Keep an eye out for these boys and check out their music at any of places below, you won’t regret it! facebook.com/OFFICIALSOS sinkorswimnz.bandcamp.com youtube.com/user/sinkorswimNZ sinkorswimnz.tumblr.com

Photos courtesy of Cecilia Colebring ceciliacolebring.wix.xom/photography facebook.com/colebringphotography

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What’s your name and role in the band?

Hi, my name’s Jared Stevenson and I play guitar in a band, The Latest Fallout.

Hey, I’m Brendan and I’m vocalist for The Latest Fallout.

Hi, I’m Matt and I play bass.

Hi, I’m Jeremy, I play drums.

If you had to classify yourself into a genre what would it be?

Matt: Uh, pop-punk, alternative with a lot of different genres mixed in there. Why be one genre when you can be a lot?

How’d you come up with the name?

Brendan: The name was a hard thing ‘cause we weren’t really sure what to have and I just sorta had a break up so you know I thought having a fallout name would be cool. Then we were going through lists and lists of names but couldn’t come up with anything we liked so I had a name which I came up with years ago which was “The Latest Chaos” but we didn’t really think that that would fit as well. So we used the fallout thing with that and The Latest Fallout was pretty appropriate at the time.

We all sorta liked it so we locked that in.

How long have you been a band?

Brendan: Been a band for about a year and a half. Since May last year.

How did you all meet?

Brendan: Online dating.

Jared: Yeah online dating. Well we actually all kinda met at tech really, didn’t we? Brendan and I applied for tech 3 years ago and kinda met each other through that. Then Brendan and Matt met each other ‘cause they were in the same classes.

How did we meet Jeremy?

Jeremy: Well I’d seen Jared actually playing a covers gig and I’d played a few covers gigs as well and I kinda needed a band so I asked him if wanted to be a part of this band that I was putting together. And from that, he told me he was in this other band called The Latest Fallout and at one stage they needed a drummer, so I stepped up.

What are your musical influences and how do they impact the band’s sound?

Jared: I love this question!

Jeremy: Growing up I listened to a lot of Blink 182, Travis Barker was my idol. He was a huge, huge influence back in the day and so this opportunity to be in this band was something that I kinda jumped at because it was on the same kinda lines as Blink 182 to an extent so yeah. You can definitely hear a lot of those influences coming through in the drumming.

Especially in the upcoming album.

Matt: I listen to a lot of punk, like pop-punk. A lot of pop, a lot of rap. The first album, I remember my first album, was Eminem, Curtain Call. I was about 10 or 11 and I used to sit there and just rap it every day. Go round to my mates place and just rap it, and sit at the back of the hall at discos and rap it. And then when I started playing guitar, I started listening to more like old school rock. Songs with real good guitar riffs and guitar solos, and all these weird pop-punk bands you’ve probably never heard of. I was pretty hipster back in the day.

And then more recently, I went from metal, like death core, to pop which is kind of a big opposite transition and now I’ve gone back to rap. I think we just try to put more our own style, if it’s not musically, its style. Like how we play on stage, kinda mimic our idols and stuff like that.

Photo courtesy of HR Photography.

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Brendan: For me I look up to just really exceptional vocalists that are really good rawly live, without any effects or anything. Stephen Tyler from Aerosmith is awesome, I love the Goo Goo Dolls, Panic! At the Disco, Paramore, they’re all massive for me. Being that they’re all really good live vocalists. And just the whole general sound of the bands is what I strive for in our band and try and bring that to the table. And just try put a bit of everything they sorta do but in my own way. Which is weird I do love The Civil Wars, I’m really obsessed with them which is as far away from what we do as possible. But I love their dynamics and just everything they do is just magic to me.

Jared: Well I started off just kinda listening to pop. Just whatever was on the radio and on music television, stuff like that. Then I slowly progressed into liking more old school rock bands like Guns ‘n’ Roses, Slash was like my hero, I thought he was the man, he still is the man. And then I progressed into more heavier stuff, a bit metal and hardcore kinda stuff. Now I kinda like, oh there are so many, my music taste is very eclectic so I kinda like technical music, so anything that requires a lot of musical dexterity.

Bands like Dream Theatre, they’re probably my favourite band. And I also like a band called Red who are kinda a hard rock band but they incorporate a lot of orchestral elements and strings and stuff. And it’s quite interesting because we all bring our own thing to the table when it comes to creating the music. It’s cool in a creative way because we all bring our own influences and create a unique sound.

What’s the song writing process like?

Jared: Well it starts off, sometimes Brendan will write some lyrics and he’ll come to me with some melodic ideas and I’ll write some riffs, or whatever, write some music. And sometimes I’ll come up with an idea and take it to him and say “Oh put some lyrics to this.” And then we go from there and take it to the band and they all put their own input in.

Matt puts some wicked bass riffs in, and Jeremy puts some wicked drums in and yeah it works like that.

Brendan: Yeah it’s really weird that it just happens so organically fast, you know? I’ll come up with something while I’m working and I’ll just be singing in my head and then I’ll have to record it on to my phone to keep it so I don’t forget it and then if I meet up with Jared one time I’ll be like “Oh I’ve just been thinking of this melody and these lyrics and stuff.” And he’s like “Oh I just came up with a guitar line.” And I was like “Oh yeah what’s yours then?” and it’s exactly what I’ve just been… It’s just like something just…

And then it all just comes together so easily and then we’ll get together for a practice or something and the guys will be thinking you know, “How about this drum beat?” And then it’s like “oh” and we all sort of try to please everyone with it and make sure everyone’s really happy and we like to make sure that everyone’s sorta trying to come up with their own… four way kind of thing so everyone’s kind of contributing equally to the table and what we do as a band. And in the recording process it sort of gets beefed up and different ideas just come in. It’s a lot different writing a song, from just jamming it to recording it. A lot more gets put into that process so it’s tryna make what you come up with organically into something that’s kind of four dimensional when it comes to being a recording.

Then trying to get that live is just the best part of everything.

Photo courtesy of HR Photography.

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What has been your best performance experience?

Brendan: Oh there’s been so many.

Matt: Probably the biggest one, I guess it would be in terms of attendance and stage, would be the one at the gardens for the Wintec high house. That one, like, the stage you could just go crazy on it, do back flips, if you could do back flips.

And yeah it was just like amazing and the reception of it as well. Everyone was just like “Oh my god you guys are like the best.” And we’re just like “U}Yeah, yeah thanks.”

Jeremy: I’ll put my two cents in. That was definitely a good gig and another one I enjoyed was Parachute this year. I think that was definitely a night to remember. The amount of energy from the crowd that night was what made it real memorable for me. It will be always something I remember.

Brendan: I have two favourites. My first one as a band playing at a festival was definitely Onesound that was probably the most memorable and favourite of mine. Just to be part of a festival that’s come from nothing and just grew just like that.

I just loved everything about it from start to finish and it was probably one of my favourites. But favourites of being our gig was definitely our show at Parachute ‘cause it felt like it was ours. So many people came just for us, to see our show.

And we had over a hundred people and everyone was just… it was just awesome aye. Everyone was passionate and just that was our gig. It felt like it was ours, we weren’t just a gig that was there and people were waiting for the next band to come on.

Everyone came out just for us and it was like our chance and it just felt awesome so yeah that was definitely my favourite.

Jared: I can’t choose. All of the above.

What has been your worst performance experience?

Jared: We’ve had a few cock-ups in terms of organisation.

Matt: So, we went to this gig in Paeroa right, and we turned up and I forgot my bass amp. I suppose we hadn’t had a gig in a while and then I turned up and I was like “oh I forgot it.” But luckily they had one there, it was the exact same as mine so I was quite chuffed, I was fizzing.

What has been your biggest achievement so far?

Matt: I don’t know if it’s really much of an achievement but when you walk down the street and people are like “Hey, hey, The Latest Fallout. How’s it going?” stuff like that. People knowing you for your music and appreciating you and liking your stuff, that’s a pretty good achievement.

Jared: I think just the amount of growth we’ve had in such a short space of time has been quite an achievement. I mean I can probably say on behalf of all of us that I don’t think we’ve thought of… oh what am I trying to say? I don’t think we thought we would be this big when we started out. So it’s been a heck of a journey.

Brendan: Yeah, probably opening and playing alongside Avalanche City and Ruby Frost. That was awesome. Like being handpicked by her to open for her, that was cool. But we have definitely gone a lot further that what we thought. This only started out as just a duo acoustic thing tryna see if we could make our own music and now it’s four guys doing what they love and other people enjoying it as well. We’ve got our music video coming out next week and it’s our first high production one and you know, going to TV and stuff so that’s pretty scary.

Album almost finished as well, which is our first full length studio album that people can buy in stores and stuff. And being signed to a label in Wellington, that’s probably a pretty big achievement. And just wherever you go people going “Oh I know you, you’re from that band” I remember I walked into a store the other day and the guy asked what I’d been up to and I said “Just filming for a music video” and he asked “Oh what band are you in?” and I was like “oh The Latest Fallout.”

And he’s like “oh I know you guys” and I thought what? That was a high point. And when you go to give an EP to someone and ask if they want to buy it or something they’re like “oh I’ve already got that. I know you guys” it’s just like what? So yeah that’s always good.

What’s your favourite thing about being in a band?

Brendan: Being able to sing original music. Or just being able to sing full stop because I just do that anywhere so being able to do it and have people pay attention and listen and wanna hear what you say and be impacted by what you say.

The lyrics are really important for me so when people are so impacted by what you say and they take that on and it changes something in them or they rely on what you say.

It definitely gives pressure because you gotta write better lyrics and makes sure you’re connecting a lot better than you were. But yeah, when people really get what you say and they take it in and make their own meaning from it and stuff.

But being able to write original music, and sing it and have people pay attention is awesome.

Matt: I like playing I like being on stage and just like doing stuff. Playing, having a slap of da bass. Just going out and you enjoy yourself. Being on stage and people enjoy you enjoying yourself so you enjoy them enjoying yourself. Just yeah, being on stage.

Jeremy: Hi. My favourite thing about being in this band is the fifteen year old girls that throw themselves in my direction.

You know, as a 26 year old it’s uh… it’s scary actually. Anyway let’s just move on from that. My actual favourite thing is just having the opportunity to emulate my high school idol in a way and I’ve mentioned it before, Travis barker was huge for me and there was nothing he could do that was wrong type of thing you know back in the day. So to actually have the chance to make up drum beats and fills and all this kind of stuff that’s along the same lines. And it actually sounding pretty cool if I do say so myself Brendan: you show a song to someone, we’ve got three finished off the album and you show it to a friend or something or show it to people you expectthem to go “Oh that’s mean singing.” Or “oh that guitars mean.” Or “oh that basslines mean.” But all they say no matter who you are showing it to, its always “Man the drumming is so sick on that.” And you’re like anything else?” “no” . we had fake drums on the last album so it’s definitely a step up to be making better drums Jared: My favourite thing about being in a band would be drugs. Na. Probably one of two things. Having creative input.

Having a creative collaboration with four other guys is pretty cool and working towards something that’s gonna have an awesome outcome. Or playing live, it’s always what I’ve loved to do so yeah. Its cool doing it and showing your creativity in what you’ve made and showing it to other people.

If you weren’t a musician what would you be doing?

Jared: Id probably be a drug addict. Na that’s a really good question, flip! I’m gonna let someone else answer.

Brendan: I would defnitely have mine mapped out for me. I would definitely be a vet if I wasn’t doing music. ‘cause that’s what I wanted to do but I hated school and left ‘cause it was just stupid. I didn’t get a lot of what I needed to be a vet and it was too much sacrifice, not enough pay off. Like you study for about 8 years and then you got two years work experience and then you’re in the field so it would just be way too long. I still wouldn’things be a qualified vet now you know? Be almost 30 before I got that. So it was just too long. Either a vet or just a farmer on a family farm or something. But yeah vet is definitely the one thing that I really wanted to do.

Photo courtesy of HR Photography.

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Matt: there’s a few things that I wanna do. One of them, I’d probably be working on cars. I just love cars. I’ve got two cars. It’s good. That’s one of them. Quite recently I’ve decided I wanna be a businessman. Run my own business and stuff like that. So I’ll just get my read on and read about it, get some study under the belt, what ever. And when I was in high school I really wanted to be an archeologist. Just going over to.. you probably wouldn’t go to Greece. But I like Greek mythology and Greek architecture and ancient Greece and stuff like that. I just really enjoy it. I’m not much of a studier, I’m really slack at studying.

Jeremy: if I wasn’t a musician one thing I would be, or I’d aspire to be anyway, is a pilot. I love planes and I grew up going to the airport with my dad just to watch the planes come in. Little old Napier airport with the small planes coming through but I just loved it. And every time a plane went past my house I’d run outside and watch it go through ‘cause I was a geek like that.

Jared: I would probably be some sort of producer. Probably with music. I know that’s kind of still in the same realms but a music producer.

What’s recording been like?

Matt: Difficult. You practice and practice and practice and it comes to it and you don’t get it. There was this one song, I won’t tell you what it is. It’s a secret. And when I was playing it at home I was playing it on my back. I like nailed it and nailed it and it came to playing it and I was sitting down and I just couldn’t get it so I was lying in my back in he studio and trying to get it and then I got it so it kinda paid off. I just have to lie on my back when I play this song.

Brendan: I find it awesome. It used to be really difficult for me when I first started about four years ago. It was horrible, I was freaking out cause I didn’t know what to do. Whether I would sing how I do normally live or whether I would sing a different way. I was just really stupid back then. I didn’t know what I was doing. But I reckon it’s probably my favourite thing. Its kinda the question of whether you prefer recording or playing live and I don’t think I’m ready to answer that. Recording is a lot harder than people think. You’ve got it all perfect when you sing live but when you go to record you have to work on practicing every single little bit of the song. Especially for me vocally you can not hear a lot when you’ve got headphones on and stuff so sometimes it can be difficult but it’s really fun. I really enjoy it, I think it’s awesome because so much can changein the recording process from when you’ve just jammed it with the band. When you go to record it you’ll be like “Oh that bit doesn’t actually work” and you’re like “That lyric really is not good there I need to change that.” And it’s those little things like that. Some of the songs on the album, like the very new ones that no one has any idea what they’re like at all, I had to change the lyrics so many times which is a really embarassing thing for me to admit. But I’m fine with that. It was just I couldn’t get out what I was really trying to say in those songs and I wasn’t really sure what I was trying to go after and had a lot of writers block with them which really frustrated me. But once you get it and in the recording process a lot changes. Its really interesting but it’s cool to see how much you can layer up and just have everything all come together. And recording with sam in New plymouth, he’s our producer, he’s just a dream to work with. He knows what you can and can’t do and he’s just like “Na, do it. You can do it.” Which is really encouraging and a really important part of getting our album together andour last EP, he did that as well. I reckon it’s just a really fun experience.

Photo courtesy of Letfus Design 18

Jared: I think for me the best part of recording is hearing something that you’ve got in your head and putting it into an actual thing. And hearing all the layers come over. So you start off with the drums and then you got the bass and the guitar and hearing the final product and all the work leading up to that. It’s a really cool experience.

Breandan: Its like leaving your mark in history you know. Like this is what I’ve left behind, this is my work of art Jeremy: I agree with everything that was just said.

What’s it like being in a music video?

Matt: My expectations before going into it, compared to the last one, the last one was a breeze and it was just so easy, and this one we spent the whole day, it was like a nine hour day.

The first day was just the performance and that was just nine hours of doing the same song over and over agin. My fingers were like so sore afterwards, I was just playing way too… good. And you gotta have the right sort of footwear.

I wasn’t wearing sneakers, I was wearing boots.

Sneakers or trainers would probably be a really good idea because they’re good for your feet.

But you just come out at the end of the day, I had a 21st to go to and I was just like “Na, I’m too pooped.” And then I stayed home and went to sleep. At 3 am.

Jeremy: That was a great story man. I enjoyed that. The music video recording was actually really fun for me. It’s the first time I’ve ever been in a music video.

I wasn’t in the band when they did their other one. It was just so much fun. I was a little bit nervous going into it, I didn’t really know what to expect. I didn’t know what to do , I didn’t know hot to organise for it so I just kinda showed up and went with the flow.

And these guys, I think their experience really came through. They’d already done it before so they were really good just to bounce off. It was really fun, it was really tiring as Matt said. Our second day was spent running for hours, doing the same take over and over but it’s all so worth it. I think my hamstrings and calf muscles were sore for about a week and a half afterwards. Which is probably an indication of my fitness level rather than anything.

Brendan: It’s a lot of fun. It’s really cool. A lot of hard work though.

A lot of people don’t realise how much hard work goes into music, recording and doing videos and stuff and just alll of being a musician is hard work but it’s fun. The music video was real painful, I had really bad larengitis in the filimng, so trying to sing for that many hours when you’re not meant to be singing at all was really rough but I do what I have to so doesn’t bother me. But it was a lot of organising, a lot of fun. There’s so much gone into it that I just cant wait for people to see the final product ‘cause its our first high production video for a song that we all really believe in quite strongly its deifnitely the perfect way to break thorugh with our first music video for Never Be The Same so can’t wait to see the response and all that. And our release party for it is on the 11th of November… I just can’t wait for people to see it.

Jared: All of the above. Everyone’s pretty much answered the question.

When can fans expect your album to be out?

Jared: Good question haha.

Matt: TBA Jared: TBA. To be advised… announced. That’s a good question.

Jeremy: I think what we’re tryna say is that we donn’t actually know.

Matt: Just when it happens. We’re just tryna put our best work out so we’re not trying to rush it like we’ve tried rushing it before. We’re just gonna pull back and give our best work and not stuff it up.

We’ve only got one chance for a debut album, we can’t really put out s*** work.

Brendan: Our EP was done in 7 days, completely from birth to finish. The whole process was 7 days. We’ve been recording this album for I think it’s just about a year now so yeah. It is not far away. We’ve recorded every song its just its up to the mixing process now. A lot of us work quite a lot and its just finding the time to get down there and work with our producer and get it all finished. And he’s busy as well, he’s been away to Australia a few times and it’s just getting the time to go away because we can only do it on weekends. So whenever we have a free weekend, if we don’t have a gig then we go down but if we’ve got a gig or we’ve got something to go to then that weekends gone. It’s a whole week thats just gone and we’ve been really busy gigging at the moment and getting a lot of other things out there.

We’ve got a cover that we’re meant to be finishing at the moment as well. Which is Wake Me Up by Avicii and Aloe Black… we’ve been really busy this year. At the start of the year for the first six months we had two gigs a week.

We were just going nuts and I think its time to recollect ourselves and just rest and get our best product out for people. There’s a lot of high expectations on this album so we don’t wanna rush anything and go “Oh shoulda put that in there” so all the songs are recorded it’s just finishing them now. So it’s just the mixing process and mastering them so not far. We plan to tour it next year and get it out there next year so soon definitely soon.

Very soon. We have songs actually finished now, so it’s not too far away.

Photo courtesy of Letfus Design

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Photo courtesy of HR Photography.

If you had 3 words to convince people to listen to your music what would it be?

Brendan: Listen to me. The Latest Fallout would be… go buy it. Punk pop magic. Na I’m gonna stop ‘cause I’m just got too many.

Jared: Support local music..

Matt: Try something new.

Jeremy: I love cheese.

Matt: What type of cheese?

Jeremy: Colby, it’s my favourite. Nice and soft.

Matt: Did you know that edams made backwards?

What would you like to say to your fans?

Matt: Thank you for the otropunity. Yeah, just love us and we’ll love you ‘cause you love us.

Jared: So sentimental man that is... brought a tear to my eye. For me it would be thank you guys so much because if it weren’t for you guys we probably wouldn’t do what we’re doing.

Brendan: I’d just like to say thanks to every one of you that’s supported us and messaged, I don’t know about the other guys, but they message me daily saying how much the music means to them and it never gets old. I had a guy on the weekend say how incredible the band is and it’s always special what they say. It sounds stupid but it just never gets old. I thought I’d get sick of it but it never gets old. Every time is like the first time you’ve heard it and it just means so much. The certain people that just love us so much, they rely on the music we put out to affect their moods. They say “Oh I needed to hear New Tomorrow to get me back to a good mental head state. To be happy again ‘cause of all the stuff I was going through” and that’s just crazy you know. I never thought they’d feel how other artists make me feel. I never thought I’d be doing that to people I have no idea who they are. I’ve met a lot of people, we all have, that we wouldn’t know if we weren’t doing the band. I’m not like a massive person that just goes out and talks to people all the time so this band definitely helps in that you know I’m usually just to myself in a way in my own group of mates an stuff so this band is a cool opportunity to meet so many different people.

It’s kinda made me think just so much more about people in general. Like how important certain people are and they think that they aren’t at all. It’s just so interesting that people just deflate themselves so much and think that they’re not worth anything but they’re worth so much in our eyes.

Album artwork for their much anticipated debut album, due out January 2014! To be sure not to miss it’s release, check out The Latest Fallout at any of the links below: facebook.com/TheLatestFallout youtube.com/user/lostchaos09 twitter.com/ThLatestFallout soundcloud.com/brendanpyper11 Artwork by Hanna Rolfe of HR Photography, the photographer for the band. Look her up at the following link: facebook.com/HRphotographynz

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Photo courtesy of HR Photography.

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Wellington rock band Until Autumn released their debut EP “Visions” in February this year. They are soon to be heading back into the studio to bring you some more of their amazing music. Check them out at these links so you don’t miss out: facebook.com/UntilAutumnOfficial youtube.com/user/UntilautumnTV soundcloud.com/untilautumn twitter.com/Until_Autumn

Hamilton pop-punk/rock band Mark 42 are playing the amazing Foam Pit gig alongside other talented New Zealand musicians such as Massad, Brooke Duff, K. One and many more! The event is on December 13th and kicks off at 5pm and goes until 10. So if you’re between the ages of 12 and 18, head along to the Eastside Church Carpark on Bisley Road. Check out Mark 42s music at the following links so you can sing along on the night: facebook.com/Mark42official reverbnation.com/mark42 youtube.com/channel/UCjGBgAYiKlGIVSVauDUuieQ

Wellington hardcore band Declaration AD will be playing on December 13th with Hailgun from Australia and Auckland band Shittripper. They will also be playing at Parachute Music Festival 2014 along with many other local and international acts. To find out more about both those gigs, check out the boys at any of these links: www.facebook.com/DeclarationAD declarationad.bandcamp.com Instagram + Twitter @DeclarationAD

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FIVE MILE TOWN ‘Other Ghosts’ EP Tour, December 5th 2013 with support from Great North and Lightning on Me. More info: facebook.com/events/178708425659007

Stay True & Fervent proudly present Seas Of Conflict New Zealand Tour with special guests Be My Anchor. December 6th 2013. Line up consisting of As Colour Fades, Lead Us Forth, The Visionary, Chasing South. More info: facebook. com/events/1389945474578610

December to Dismember Mini Tour 2013. Intergracia, Puppeteer, Brokenseason and Reamfist. 7th December, 8.30 pm Dog Bollix, Auckland, $10.

Rough Cut - Local musician showcase, Dec 13th 2013, Mystery Creek, Hamilton. With Sound the Ocean, Little Brother and more. More info: facebook.com/events/647266651985140

Z Amigos Reunion, January 18th 2014 with special guests IronStein and Original Script.

More info: facebook.com/events/667255666617772

The Hardcore Heavyweight Title Fight- Backtrack vs. Iron Mind. Undercard Bouts- Sink or Swim, Downside and many more. January 18th, 2014. Ellen Melville, Auckland. Tickets and more info at underhteradar.co.nz 23

Four piece pop-punk outfit Community State from Christchurch released their single “Boundaries” on May 13th of this year and will have an EP to follow very soon in the coming months. Download their single for free and check out their music at one of the following links: facebook.com/pages/Community-State/311364535660975 youtube.com/user/CommunityState communitystate.bandcamp.com

Sink or Swim brought you their “Tides EP” on November 14th and it’s available for free download. For some of the best metalcore this country has to offer go check them out: facebook.com/OFFICIALSOS sinkorswimnz.bandcamp.com youtube.com/user/sinkorswimNZ sinkorswimnz.tumblr.com

Christchurch is owning the pop-punk scene at the moment and Selfhood is one of the many bands part of it. They released their debut EP “Better Days” on November 24th and it’s some of the best music to be released this year. Check it out for free at one of these links: facebook.com/selfhoodpoppunk youtube.com/user/selfhoodpoppunk selfhood.bandcamp.com

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For some chill summer jams check out the acoustic works of Paint the Sand. The EP “Take a Chance” has been released as a three track bundle on iTunes, Spotify and 40 other online music stores. You can also pick up hard copies of the bundle by messaging the Facebook page or contacting the email below: facebook.com/PainttheSand paintthesandband@hotmail.com reverbnation.com/paintthesand paintthesand.bandcamp.com Also be sure to search for Paint the Sand on both Spotify and iTunes.

On December 3rd, Auckland pop-punk band Maybe Rave will be releasing their EP “At Peace in Pieces.”Their cover of “Royals”

by Lorde is already available to view on their Facebook page.

To find out about all they have coming up be sure to check them out: facebook.com/MaybeRave youtube.com/user/mayberave Instagram + Twitter @MaybeRave

The Latest Fallout will be releasing their debut album some time in January. The first single off the album Never Be The Same has salready been released and is an amazing example of kiwi music so be sure to check them out so you don’t miss a thing. facebook.com/TheLatestFallout youtube.com/user/lostchaos09 twitter.com/ThLatestFallout soundcloud.com/brendanpyper11

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“Support local music. If it’s heavy go along to shows, just go along to shows in general. Download, spread the word on New Zealand band’s music. Because without getting alongside and supporting it, it’s never gonna go anywhere. Keep it real.”

-Kent

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What’s your name and role in the band?

I’m Kent and I’m the vocalist.

I’m Tom, I play drums.

I’m Luke, I play guitar.

I’m Thomas, I play the bass.

If you had to classify yourselves into a genre what would you be?

Luke: Probably metalcore with an edge of progressive.

Kent: A lot of the music we’re influenced by is quite progressive metal and we sort of take elements of that into the metalcore we play.

How did you come up with the name Lead Us Forth?

Luke: It’s like a long story I guess. It was like four years ago. It was a trailer of another bands tour that they were going on and I can’t remember the quote but they had a little something like “Leads us forth.” And I was like “Oh that sounds like a cool name.” And Kent kinda liked it ‘cause it was a prayer or a battle cry or something.

Kent: It’s pretty much like a statement and just with the vision of the band it’s like a prayer. For us that’s really important.

Does that mean you’re all religious?

Kent: We all have faith. And that’s a very influential part in our lives individually and the way we live out our lives so I guess you could say that affects our music as well.

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How long have you been a band?

Kent: It started out in 2010 when Luke and I met when we were at performing arts school. He was studying guitar, I was studying how to hold a microphone and actually sing into it at the same time. And so on the first day we met, we liked the same bands, we just hit it off, and so then what happened, we were in the same dorm and we just started writing and it kinda developed from like a project into a band.

What are your musical influences and how do they affect your music?

Thomas: Out of the band I probably come from a more pop punk background. So for me it’s a lot of real fun, real catchy music. Pop punk, hardcore, that kind of stuff.

Luke: I come from the more typical metalcore sound and genre. But I also like a lot of thrash. I write a lot of thrashy kind of riffs as well.

Tom: I’m probably the prog nerd in the band. I just love writing prog stuff and just sort of challenging myself with technical riffs and beats and stuff. I also quite like jazz as well so that’s where I get my influence from.

Kent: I come from the general direction of if it’s heavy, I probably like it. But like Luke, a very metalcore based, hard rock influence as well. Just a combination of stuff I pretty much like anything if it’s heavy and I’m also into the really chilled stuff but not as much.

Tom: I guess it’s quite a good outlet, playing music and just releasing everything. And just personally, I love writing.

Again, like technical stuff, I need that stimulation.

Kent: For me like Luke said, the brotherhood, but there’s nothing like being able to play heavy music, absolutely nothing like it, it’s such an enjoyable thing. And just hanging out with the guys and writing is really satisfying. Seeing a piece of art develop into something that you can present to other people is really satisfying and really something great to be a part of.

What’s the hardest part about being a musician in this day and age?

Kent: No money and having to literally fund everything yourself. It’s getting harder, regardless of what kind of music you play, it’s getting harder and harder, it’s always been difficult. It’s not getting easier but at the same time, it’s really exciting because it’s never been easier ot get your music out there and available I suppose so interesting times.

What’s your favourite thing about being in a band?

Thomas: It’s not the money.

Luke: I just think it’s the brotherhood. And the fact that we can just hang out and do something that we love to do together.

Play to other people really.

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Do you think those difficulties belong to New Zealand bands or is it a problem worldwide?

Thomas: There is the worldwide struggle. I think part of it for us is because we’re a new Zealand band and the scene her is absolutely tiny compared to the States or something like that where you’ll have a million bands and to get out there you’ve gotta be good. So the good bands tour. Here with the smaller scene, we play a lot of shows with the same bands and people get bored of that I guess, so it’s hard for the scene to get bigger. Come to shows.

Kent: Yeah, really, come to shows. Also just the heavy music scene is in lots of little pockets in new Zealand. If you want to get big playing music, just don’t play heavy music really, in New Zealand. But at the end of the day, it has a lot of difficulties but we’re in it ‘cause we love it and it’s something we enjoy being a part of. Sometimes writing songs, I mean writers block is not a fun thing but when you’re in a group of guys that are really creative it’s pretty sweet. You can overcome that.

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Do you see this becoming your full time career or just a hobby on the side?

Kent: For me this has been something I’ve wanted to do for over 13 years so it’s something that I’m really, really passionate about and I really wanna see it go the distance, whatever shape that takes.

We’re all about open doors and taking the opportunity. So we’re just gonna continue to step out and look for open doors and take them. We’ll see. I don’t even know if that answers the question.

Luke: I think in an ideal world we’d like to keep doing it forever really. And just get paid for it, that would be nice. But we don’t so I guess we’ll find out when we get there.

If you weren’t a musician what would you be doing?

Kent: I come from a background working with people, young people, community, outreach. Helping people who are struggling in the community, that for me are some of the greatest memories. Being able to do that for a living is just fantastic.

So something to do with helping and encouraging people. There’s lots of different avenues that that can take. At the moment I work for Telecom selling phones and I get to talk to people and angry customers, it’s awesome.

Tom: I teach drums on the side just to earn a bit of money and stuff and I’d probably do that if Lead Us Forth wasn’t happening. But personally I love study, and digging into the books and wrestling with ideas and stuff like that. I’ve actually completed my Bachelor of Theology today along with this guy (Luke) and looking to pursue the academic career. Go into post-grad study and stuff.

Thomas: I’d probably be playing basketball if it wasn’t for music. Although if it wasn’t for basketball I wouldn’t be playing music. Blew out both of my knees so I guess what goes around comes around.

What has been your best and your worst performance experience?

Luke: I think the best one was playing at Parachute at the beginning of this year that was pretty awesome. And the worst was definitely our first gig in Hamilton. We’ve had a few bad ones.

Kent: Personally I think it was this Halloween show that we played in Auckland. We had such an eclectic array of costumes it was ridiculous. And one of our guitarist stepped on our other guitarists cable which snapped within the head of his guitar amp and it was just a mess. That was an interesting gig.

That was probably my worst. It was good fun.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to start a band?

Tom: It just takes a lot of effort and patience and you can’t just straight away get famous with your music. And you have to really be open to others and open to compromising your ideas. And stuff like that, but just all for the better. So you really have to approach it with a sense of this is a band effort not an individual effort.

Photos courtesy of Cecilia Colebring ceciliacolebring.wix.xom/photography facebook.com/colebringphotography

Thomas: I think just keep loving what you do. Keep writing and keep being critical about your own music. When you put your music out there you want it to be the best representation of you so do that.

What can people expect to hear on your upcoming EP? Kent: it’s heavier than our current one that’s out there. It’s gonna be quite a lot of fun ‘cause we’re just changing things up and I suppose in the direction of the next EP it’s gonna be a lot more technical yet a lot more melodic as well. But we’ll see how we go.

What would you like to say to your fans?

Kent: We have fans?

Luke: Hello.

Kent: Honestly, support local music. If it’s heavy go along to shows, just go along to shows in general. Download, spread the word on New Zealand band’s music. Because without getting alongside and supporting it, it’s never gonna go anywhere. Keep it real.

To keep up to date on everything coming up be sure to check these guys out at the following links: facebook.com/leadusforth leadusforth.tumblr.com/

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What’s your name and role in the band?

I’m PJ and I play guitar.

I’m Jen and I sing.

I’m George and I play the drums.

I’m Harry and I’m on bass.

If you had to classify yourselves into a genre what would you be?

Harry: Power pop George: Power pop, pop punk probably. It’s a bit of a mix. We like to take the roots from pop punk which is what we listen to and then put a more modern vibe into it.

How’d you come up with the band name?

Jen: I’m pretty sure I did. I kinda wrote a list of ten possible names and that’s the one we picked.

George: It’s really not an interesting story.

So there’s no meaning behind it?

Jen: You (George) made up meaning for it at some stage.

George: I tried to be deep. It was like “Which band name do you like? That one? Done.” That was it.

Harry: It’s not like we’re contemplating on raving.

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How long have you been a band?

George: Since June 2012.

Harry: A year and a bit.

Is this a long term thing or just a hobby on the side?

PJ: Yeah, long term.

George: We all hope to be musicians, it sounds kinda cheesy but we all aspire to be musicians like the bands we listen to and that’s the life we hope to live. But it’s tricky and it’s hard.

Jen: We’d love to.

Harry: We’ll see where it goes.

George: We want it to be a long term thing.

PJ: We are gonna do it.

George: We are gonna do it. It’s gonna happen.

If you weren’t musicians what would you be doing?

Harry: Plumbing Jen: I’m studying art history at Uni next year so something art historical.

George: Sitting in high school trying to be in another band.

Jen: If you weren’t a musician you’d be a musician?

George: I’d be Harry’s assistant plumber.

Harry: He’d be in my company of plumbing.

George: Carter Plumbing and Co. What would you do PJ? PJ: I don’t really know. Make clothes and drink tea. That’s what I’d do.

How did you all meet?

George: So me, PJ and Harry have been friends for ages and Harry, PJ and Jen go to the same school and we all met at a show and it all kinda went…

Harry: We met Jen at the show. A Day To Remember. A Day To Remember thank you.

PJ: You rock.

How long have you each played your instrument?

PJ: I think seven, maybe six, maybe less. Roughly around that.

Harry: I’ve been playing bass for a year. I was a guitarist. To get into this band I played bass George: I think about six years.

Jen: I kind of always sang, I’ve got musical parents. I won Brownie Idol for Girl Guides when I was like nine so I was like “Oh yeah I’ll keep doing this.”

What are your musical influences and how does that affect your music?

Harry: Pete Wentz. His stage presence catches my eyes and I try to incorporate his stage presence into my performance.

George: And Ahren from The Amity Affliction.

Harry: Oh yeah. Definitely. The Amity Affliction.

George: Funny story. The dude that directed our music video directed for a post-hardcore band, called The Amity Affliction.

And we were watching a video of theirs the night before just to check his work. And Harry and myself got obsessed over this one stage move the bassist did. It was just the most insane thing. Crazy.

PJ: So your influences George?

George: All Time Low. Favourite band ever. Just as musical development a lot of heavier bands just for strength and speed and technicality. But just for this band like Travis Barker from Blink 182 and Rian Dawson from All Time Low. Pretty simple.

Jen: Obviously bands like Paramore and Tonight Alive, female fronted bands are a huge influence on me. And I love acoustic songs lyrically. I like my lyrics to mean something so I listen to a lot of acoustic stuff just for lyric ideas I suppose.

PJ: Bring Me’s(Bring Me The Horizon) a big thing for me especially There is a Hell, that’s a good album. All Time Low of course. Oh and The Story So Far.

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How did it feel finding out you were going to open for All Time Low? PJ: So I was up North and I got an email from Olly saying “Hey is Maybe Rave free on this date?” and I was like “yeah, we are.” didn’t even ask them. And he’s like “oh it’s for All Time Low.” And then I called these guys and they were like so excited.

Nearly cried. But I didn’t.

George: And then we cried 8 months later for a different reason.

Harry: I was in kinda denial really. I was like, “I’ll know it when I see it.”

George: I woke up at four in the morning to check the tour poster. It was like the craziest thing, seeing that.

How did it feel when it got cancelled on the day?

Jen: I was really sick. I wasn’t going to be able to play anyway.

PJ: that email.

George: We were crashing here. PJ came into my room at about ten in the morning, and I was like “Oh, must be time for loading.” And the look on his face, it just broke me.

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Jen: I found out over Facebook ‘cause none of you told me.

George: Honestly, the real answer, she wasn’t gonna play anyway. She was unbelievably sick and we actually had a backup vocalist that if it had gone ahead we would’ve played with the backup vocalist.

Harry: I thought George was joking.

George: And I was just in denial. It was the most disappointed I’ve ever been in my life. It was so bad.

PJ: It’s like Christmas was cancelled.

Harry: Yeah who cancels Christmas?

What has been your best performance experience?

Jen: I reckon it would be when we headlined.

George: There’s two I can think of.

Harry: The headliner show was probably my favourite.

Jen: Hearing the whole crowd singing along to our song, that was a really good feeling.

George: Probably that or Tonight Alive. Tonight Alive was a huge influence on us as Jen said. That was our first show ever as this line-up. It was so awesome. But probably the headline show purely because it was so awesome seeing, friends, not friends, people we’d never met.

Jen: People were there to see us. Not to see another band.

George: We’ve only ever done support and seeing this room full of people singing along to our songs, not for anyone else, we were the last band to play, for us, it was insane.

What’s it like being in a music video?

Harry: Tiring.

George: Tiring. Like forty two takes I think we counted.

Jen: it was so much fun. I thought it was really fun.

PJ: Couldn’t move the next day.

Harry: That song was stuck in our heads for at least three days.

George: I think we all lost a lot of weight through sweat.

Jen: Na gained muscle.

Harry: I got a massive bruise on my thigh.

George: Harry and PJs legs musta been so sore. They jumped.

You’ll see that jump before the first chorus that these two do. That jump was recorded in the forties of times. It was ridiculous.

Harry: And my bass kept slapping my thigh and it really hurt.

George: But it was awesome. It was so cool to see that finished.

PJ: Good director, he was awesome.

What has been your biggest achievement so far?

George: opening for tonight Alive maybe. Getting the All Time Low slot.

PJ: Releasing a music video.

George: Playing a headline show with heaps of people singing the words to our song.

What has been your worst performance experience?

George: We played a show with all of these really, really heavy bands, and we were so out of place, and it was awful and we hated it.

PJ: We just felt uncomfortable.

George: The promoter to his credit tried to make a bit of a pop punk metal split.

Jen: It wasn’t our audience.

George: it wasn’t our audience at all. There were heaps of dudes just boganing out to our music.

Harry: It was a good experience though and it made us learn that if we have to play at a show that isn’t our genre then we can do it.

George: The next show after that was the headliner I think so that was just a good contrast.

What were your expectations on the release of your Royals

by Lorde cover, and how did it measure up?

Harry: We were expecting mixed opinions for sure.

PJ: ‘Cause the Lorde fans, we knew they weren’t gonna dig it.

But we just wanted to put our spin on it.

George: But it was pretty good. Got a feature on Pup Fresh which was pretty cool. Which is a huge alternative music site.

The Lorde fans, some fans were just like “Oh this is s***, what have you done to this song?” Other people were like “you tried but you missed.” Others were like “you nailed it” so it was super different opinions.

Jen: most of the comments were positive.

George: mostly positive though. But there were definitely some negative comments but oh well.

Jen: it’s always gonna be like that.

George: Listen to it if you haven’t checked it out.

What’s the song writing process like?

PJ: I write the music, and I’ll demo it and I’ll send it to Jen and she’ll write some lyrics. Then we’ll take it to the studio and we all come together and say “Yo, lets change that. Yo, that’s not all good.” They all have their say.

With your EP coming out very soon, what’s it been like in the studio?

George: Our EP At Peace in Pieces is out December 3rd.

Worldwide.

Jen: I love being in the studio.

George: I think the two things this band loves anything more than being on stage is being in the studio.

Harry: And Sal’s pizza.

George: And Sal’s pizza. We live for Sal’s pizza. It’s just a chill vibe and super awesome to work with Rich Bryan, who’s the Hurricane Kids guitarist and our producer. Who just works so well with us, it’s insane. PJ writes awesome demos but it’s awesome hearing those demos come through real basic and then just boom. Just crazy.

PJ: the demos are like 2D shape and Rich makes it like a cube.

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In three words, how do you convince a brand new listener to check out your music?

Jen: Listen now please.

Harry: No use some more adjectives.

George: Pop punk rules.

Jen: but then people who don’t like pop punk won’t listen to it.

George: Sorry our photographer’ making heaps of weird faces at us. You got something to say Scarlett?

Scarlett: Defend pop punk.

George: Defend pop punk.

PJ: Pizza and hoes.

George: Pizza and hoes.

Jen: Who’s the ho?

PJ: I’ll be the ho, I’ll take one for the team.

George: new Maybe Rave fan, pizza and hoes.

Harry: I thought save pop punk.

George: Defend pop punk. And listen now please.

Harry: Support local scene.

Photos courtesy of Scarlett Dellow facebook.com/ScarlettDellowPhotography scarlettdellow.tumblr.com/ scarlettdellow@gmail.com 36

Your EP is out December 3rd, what’s the next step after that?

George: It’s pretty under wraps. We possible may be touring.

We might be recording more music. We might be doing anything.

Harry: It’s gonna explode.

George: It’s not like we’re saying that ‘cause we don’t know.

We do know, we just can’t tell you. But it’s gonna be awesome.

Harry: Stuff’s coming.

PJ: He pretty much told you so…

George: It’s one of those three things.

PJ: It could be all three.

Harry: Look out New Zealand.

Gerge: We’re coming.

What’s the hardest part about being in the music industry in this day and age?

PJ: It sucks. Straight up.

George: Don’t be in a band.

Harry: Well if you listen to ZM and the Edge and all that lately you don’t really hear many pop punk bands or anything like that. It’s more like Rihanna.

George: It’s just over saturated.

Harry: Not dissing them but maybe there should be more of a diverse…

PJ: There should be more bands, ‘cause then there’s more shows.

George: People have closed minds about bands Harry: People don’t really come to shows anymore either.

George: when people think about bands, people that don’t understand like the “band music” think just like leather jackets and aviators.

Jen: And they think that One Direction is a band. But they’re not.

Harry: Shout out to 1D. Good new album. What? It got leaked.

It’s good.

George: If you’re watching this, try and support bands. ‘Cause those people really do write music and try and put heaps of their work into it so support bands.

Harry: Support your local scene.

Jen: Support us.

If you could say one thing to your fans what would it be?

Harry: Shout out to the girl that made me sign her jeans at The Make Believe show.

George: We weren’t even playing that show.

Harry: we didn’t play at that show but she made me sign her jeans.

George: She was like “Are you from Maybe Rave” And he was like “yeah.”

Harry: What was that girl’s name?

George: I don’t know. Thank you for supporting us.

Harry: Thanks for supporting us.

George: We love you.

What advice would you give to people wanting to head into the music industry?

George: Work hard.

Harry: Work hard. Get out on social media. I mean get in social media.

George: Get on the line.

Harry: Get on the line.

George: Shout out to The Internship. Funniest movie ever.

Along with their EP out December 3rd, they have heaps of exciting stuff to be expected over the next little while so check them out at the links below: facebook.com/MaybeRave youtube.com/user/mayberave Instagram + Twitter @MaybeRave

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Where’d the name Brokenseason come from?

Tony: We went through an iPod and we took all the song names and we scrolled through and just kept calling out song names and putting them together until we got the two that we liked and that was Brokenseason.

How long have you been a band?

Esteban: As a three piece, not long ago. We used to have another guitarist but we decided that three of us could do the job and people actually like us as a three piece better.

James: We’ve been through a lot of changes in the band and its all come down to just the three of us sticking out to the end. A lot of guys have come and gone. I think this is pretty much it.

Esteban: But to answer your question we’ve been playing together for about two years. Year and a half.

Tony: Must be longer than that though. When we first came along.

Esteban: Yeah two years, we’ll say two years.

What’s your favourite thing about being in a band?

Esteban: For myself, I guess when I’m on stage you kinda loosen yourself up and kind of and become something you’re not on the side of the stage. I’m sorta like a shy person but when I’m in stage I kinda loosen that up. Just confident I guess and just don’t give a s*** about anything.

Tony: Yeah it’s about playing live aye, playing live man. We rehearse and we work on our songs to play just half an hour or forty minutes. That’s it man.

James: For me it’s just about making good music and having fun. And working hard for it and just getting up on stage and just showing everyone what we’ve got and just basically having fun.

What’s your name and role in the band?

My name is Esteban Garcia, bassist and vocalist for Brokenseason.

I’m Tony Charles, guitarist and one of the song writers for Brokenseason.

James Sachin, the drummer for Brokenseason.

If you had to classify yourself into a genre what would you be?

Esteban: that’s a hard one. I think we’d be something like groove metal. Between Nu metal and we have a lot of different influences. Each person in the band has their own influences.

Like James has a metal background, hip hop, same as myself.

I been playing hip hop and been playing metal music for a long time. As well as punk music for example. Tony’s got his background in nu metal so we kinda gather form each other to create something we really like which is something like groove metal.

What’s the hardest part about being a musician in this day and age?

Esteban: There’s many things about it. We all have full time jobs and this is our getaway from our full time jobs sort of thing. We’re in an industry where it’s really hard for people to listen to our music. It’s really hard for going to play shows especially in the industry we are, in Auckland, in New Zealand.

We’re doing it for fun, we’re doing it for the love of it so I guess reward will come later on.

Tony: I think we’re in a small country. There’s not many people around so if you’re in a band that is not mainstream, things are gonna be quite difficult for you. And especially Auckland, I hate to criticise Auckland, it’s where I come from, but there’s not a very good live music culture, there’s not a very good grass roots culture. People come along once the bands are big but there’s not really a culture of people going out to watch live bands so that’s really hard.

James: I think these guys pretty much summed it up.

What has been your best performance experience?

Esteban: I guess Battle of the Bands was a really cool experience. Yeah we went to Battle of the Bands last year.

We got to the regional finals which was really cool because we’d just started the band and we had like five, six songs and we just went out there and played. The crowd was awesome, just like tonight. People who had no idea about us and they were just supporting us and that was just really cool. In terms of response and how I felt about the show, that was a really good one.

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What has been your worst performance experience?

Esteban: When we have sound problems, I guess that’s a thing. We had a show where just basically we just completely ruined it by the sound James: We seem to be the picnic band for like sound problems and technical issues. It’s always us.

Esteban: So yeah I guess problems with sound, we’ve played shows where there’s not many people there but we just like jump on stage and have fun so that’s not really a problem for us. We do what we do. So to mention exactly a show we played Dogs Bollocks last year and that was the worst show ever.

You have some Spanish lyrics in your song, what’s your nationality and how does it impact your song writing?

Esteban: So these guys are from New Zealand. I’m from Colombia. I’ve been here about five years. The Spanish in the songs is basically just my confident spot I guess. And people seem to really like it so why not? I can freestyle in Spanish I can say what I really wanna say in Spanish. It’s my confident spot and people really dig it. We go out on stage and they hear the Spanish and they really dig it. It’s not like they care about understanding the song and we always mix it with English so it’s just for fun. These guys like it.

How does it feel seeing people wearing your merch?

Esteban: it feels awesome. That’s the kind of things you hope for. Like tonight. We came all the way here to play a show and that’s how we get paid, you know. Having people come to us and saying “We like it.” We came with a box full of shirts and they’re all gone. That doesn’t happen in Auckland.

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Is this just a hobby or do you want it to become your full time career?

Esteban: there’s always a dream of playing a big show. I think it’s everyone’s dream to get out of our jobs and just do this for a living. It’s a dream that if it comes true, it’s gonna be cool. If the day comes, we’re gonna go for it.

Tony: It’s New Zealand so there’s not many people. We do it ‘cause we love it, but if it happens it happens.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to head into the music industry?

James: Practice! Practice.

Tony: Write love songs for the radio. Listen to Op Shop.

James: Practice. And listen to Op Shop.

Tony: Don’t play metal.

Esteban: No, come on. What I would say is do it for the love of it. Chase the dream but not the money. Don’t chase the big crowds and making money off it. Don’t chase being famous.

Just do it for the love of it. That’s what really pays off. If you hear your music, you’re loving it, you’re feeling it, that’s what it’s really about. So if you love music and wanna do it, f***ing do it.

James: Practice.

Anything coming up that you want people to know about?

Esteban: So we’re currently working on an EP. We’re putting out an EP that we are self-producing and we’re gonna put it out there for free so people can start listening to our songs.

Also working on videos. Myself, I’m a graphic designer, creative director, and we’re all in the same field so we do it all ourselves, our own music, our own videos, our own photos.

That’s what we do and we love it.. We’re having a video coming out for the first single. We have s how coming up on the 7th of December. Six track EP coming soon. Video, shows and hopefully more.

If you could say one thing to your fans what would it be?

Esteban: Let’s rock this s*** out. That’s what I would say.

James: Keep the fight on, brother.

Esteban: Keep the fight on, that’s it, keep the fight on.

There’s heaps to be expected from these guys so keep up to date: facebook.com/BROKEN.SEASON.BAND brokenseason.co.nz

Photos courtesy of Richard Voss facebook.com/RichardVossPhotography richardvossphotography.com richardvossphotography@gmail.com

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Making this magazine is a big job, and it is a lot of work for just one person. So I want to take the time to thank all those people that have made the creation of this slightly easier. Scarlett Dellow has been such an important part of making this possible, whether it be with her photography or her words of encouragement, making me feel like what I’m doing is worth something. And that’s why I am stoked to announce that she will be joining Letfus Magazine as an official photographer so you can expect a lot more of her work throughout future issues.

And a huge thank you to the other photographers that helped with issue 2, Richard Voss, Cecelia Colebring, Hannah Rolfe, you are all amazing at what you do and I was so honoured to be able to use your photos so thank you so much. And lastly to you. The reader. You have in your hands a physical copy of issue 2 and you have no idea how much your small purchase has affected it behind the scenes. So thank you for taking the time to read, buy, download, share, support the magazine in all the little ways that you have because without you, this would all be for nothing. So thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

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