Firstly, congratulations on the new album Songs of Soulitude. How far back do some of those songs stretch back? Is it all relatively all new material or have some of these songs been with you for years and are only now seeing the light of day?
Thanks a lot! It’s pretty exiting to finally get to share our hard work over the last two years. It’s all pretty fresh material wise here, we’ve found a concrete sound and feel and the energy is right so the music conveys that.
Would you say that Songs of Soulitude is a straight-line evolution from your previous releases or a completely separate beast that doesn’t share much in common with its predecessors?
I think the common ground we share is the music we write so there will always be some of the foundations that are ‘Dream On Dreamer’, but as far as progression goes; this album is it. Its honest and doesn’t tried to blend in as much with its surroundings this time around, so in that regard, the ‘Beast’ has changed.
You have had great international success on the back of Heartbound and Loveless have any experiences from these tours found their way into your new album?
I speak for all of us when I say that most of what you learn from past projects and pieces of work is what you definitely don’t want to do again. You pick out all the elements that satisfied you about the previous release(s) and you push forward and try and build a more mature body of work than the last. What else can you do really? We all feel so connected to the music that we lose sleep if we haven’t put in our best and worked honestly then its a burden until the next time around when you get that chance to redeem yourself, totally regardless of commercial success. We feel good on this album, hell I don’t think I’ve ever felt this good!
This being your 3rd album, was there a feeling of confidence and boldness in how you approached this record now with the benefit of hindsight and experience?
Absolutely! We are forever learning and every song we write benefits from our experiences and learning curbs. Learning to go into the studio a little more prepared and what-not. We’ll never know everything though and its pretty tough to predict how things go these days.
What challenges did this album present?
Well we had to fund the whole project ourselves which was a massive achievement. Callan was a real driving force behind budgeting and pushing to achieve the tens of thousands of dollars we needed to go ahead with the record and we all worked our ass off to play enough shows and raise the money without the help of a label. Money is such a stressful thing to have hanging over a creative process and that element can be so restricting when you’re trying to relax and do your best musical work.
You have toured and shared the stage with some huge acts over the years, have you had an encounters with other performers that have stuck with you and altered the way you approach your shows?
Ahhhh, its so hard to narrow it down to only a few bands that have influenced us! I think whenever you spend a great deal of time watching a band on tour you can take something from almost everyone to improve your own personal show or as a band. A Day To Remember really taught us a lot about engaging big crowds and really pulling off a show that gets everyone going from the back wall to the front row and I’ll never forget watching Let Live tear apart a festival stage every night like it was the size of your upstairs bedroom. Too many legit memories to share, so I guess the answer to your question is… HELL YES!
Do you find touring to be inspirational whereby it helps you write and create more material or are you so focused on the task at hand that writing and creating new material takes a back seat?
We don’t do a whole lot of writing on tour but we are definitely thinking of ideas and talking about concepts and directions we are all interested in. Some ideas can pop up though, for instance, the vocal for “Don’t Lose Your Heart” first came into my head when I was warming up in Austria. I recorded it in the fire escape on my iPhone and we demoed it out when we got home a few months later.
You are offering a very special and intimate opportunity to some lucky fans who get the chance to host some of your acoustic shows. This unique engagement with punters sounds like a novel but really fun idea.
Yeh it should be pretty cool. I guess we want to keep finding ways to say thank you to our fans. They have been the reason we got to do this record, without their support it wouldn’t have happened and that’s the truth.
Would you say that the hardcore scene in Melbourne is a healthy one or do you find other capitals having a greater variety of hardcore bands?
Melbourne goes pretty hard for Australian standards and has a whole bunch of variety. Australian hardcore and heavy music in general is some of the strongest in the world so we are pretty blessed
What is more rewarding on stage, playing crowd favourites that receive a guaranteed positive response or new tracks that are played live for the first time?
I love playing crowd favourites! The sing alongs are really some of the most memorable moments for me. It’s hard to beat the vibe of playing new songs and seeing people go just as wild though, our fans are amazing!
What does music give you that nothing else does?
Freedom, and a platform to try and be an example for our youth in an incredibly divided and fucked up world.
Thanks for your time and all the best with the new album and tour.
No problem at all
