Interview: Incentives

Melbourne based hardcore act Incentives have just dropped their début EP, Dusk, at the end of June. I fired some questions off to vocalist Kyle Adams just before then to see where the band was at prior to dropping their first EP, and to learn more about who they were.

Will Not Fade: I’ve visited Melbourne once. It was in 2012 and I stayed with my friends who were in the band The Voyage, and we all went to see Terror play that weekend. I got the impression that in Australia people take being in a band pretty seriously, whereas here in New Zealand it’s more like “hey let’s start our sixth side project, and I’ll play an instrument that I haven’t learnt because it looks fun!” Have you noticed much of a difference between NZ/AU bands?

Kylee: We were lucky enough to tour New Zealand early 2015 and made great friends with a band called ‘The Inquisition’. I don’t really feel like we picked up on any huge differences other than the fact that the New Zealand scene is considerably smaller. This probably means that as an Australian band you really need to put in a little bit of extra time and money to get yourself noticed and grab opportunities. End of the day I think both scenes really love their music it’s just a matter of scale.

How does the Melbourne hardcore scene feel at the moment?

The Melbourne hardcore scene is super, super, talented right now. We have heaps and heaps of bands coming out and continually impressing! I still think there is a bit of a gap between the “In group” and the rest of the scene but that’s always pretty standard for any kind of scene in any facet of life.

I read that many of your songs are written about girls. Which member of the band is the biggest ladies’ man? (You need a story to back up any answers to this question!)

Daaaammmn, this is tough but good old Jezza (bassist) is currently the only single member so best for the future of all four other relationships I don’t disclose a great deal. Jezza has a pretty neat track record when it comes to Tinder, and has been known to pull some local girls when we pull up in their town. Currently boasting a 100% strike rate down in Tassie!

The Dusk album cover features a picture of a faceless man with a gorgeous beard, but I see in your publicity pics that none of you have beards. What gives?

Well you see before our drummer Joe moved to Melbourne he lived in the mountain ranges, and whilst stalking his Facebook to ensure this new drummer was a legit person I stumbled across a few photos. These photos depicted a wild Joe two weeks after his 18^th birthday. Where Joe grew up you aren’t considered a man unless you trek through the bush for two weeks either side of your 18^th birthday., and so these photos our dear drummer was sporting one fine beard and that’s basically where the inspiration came from.

You came to NZ last year to tour with Depths, Hand of Mercy and The Inquisition. Tell me what you enjoyed/learnt during that trip.

We loooooove New Zealand! Everyone was just so genuine and kind to us throughout the entire trip it was quite incredible. We made some lifelong friends in The Inquisition so that was great. One thing we did learn though was that our New Zealand friends weren’t all that great with the local geography and with an adventure that ended in Papatoitoi. I feel we Australians have a better idea when it comes to such matters.

Do you prefer playing all ages or R18 shows?

I really don’t mind! Over ages is fun because everyone can get drunk and have a bit of a time, but then it’s equally fun playing to younger crowds too. It’s all a good time really!

Joe’s dad built his drum kit for him. How did he learn how to do that?

This is the question I have asked myself a million times, but again I think it comes down to the coming of age ritual. Upon Joe’s return he had a fully constructed guitar he had built out of tambark and other fauna, so my tip is that Joe’s dad managed to do something similar but in the form of a drum kit.

You’ve been playing for three years, but have only just recorded your first EP. Do you think this will open many doors for you?

One can only hope! It’s been hard for us to keep things consistently moving given that we have had so many lineup changes but now things have got a bit of a move on and we just want to keep the momentum rolling.

You’re just about to drop your first EP, and have a tour lined up. What else is on the cards for Incentives?

I guess just more of the same! Everything bigger and better would be the goal. Creating memories that we can always look back on is my biggest wish. I understand bands aren’t the be all and end all, so really I just want to do as much as I can during this short little time frame we have. Then when my kids give me shit for wearing cardigans I can whip out some old photos and music and say “your dad had a half decent run back in the day” hahaha.

Which song do you think I should share with readers who aren’t familiar with your music?

Hmmmmm possibly “Dawn”. We’ve had a great response to that track and Jezza has a sing on it too! It’s pretty much the only song on the entire EP with a chorus so perhaps this chorus trend may continue with the new stuff.

Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. Hopefully I’ll catch you next time you cross the ditch to play in New Zealand again!

Thanks heaps for the interview man! Probably the most fun I’ve had with an interview this entire time (had over 50 of the buggers). Hopefully we can make it out to New Zealand again soon and see you at a show.

Incentives links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IncentivesMelb/

Bandcamp: https://incentivesmelbourne.bandcamp.com/

Tour: https://www.facebook.com/events/1752335758369622/

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/incentives-band

Joseph James

Live Review: Steel Panther at the Auckland Powerstation

Steel Panther

w/ Blue Ruin

The Powerstation, Auckland

Sunday 26 June

Like similar acts Tenacious D and The Beards, Steel Panther are comprised of some very talented musicians who choose to centre their band on parody. By channeling late 1980’s LA rock giants like Mötley Crüe, Guns n Roses and Skid Row, Steel Panther bring the excess of hair metal forward thirty years, with a generous dosage of tongue in [between] cheek.

It’s all-out assault on decency, with every song guaranteed to offend. If it’s sexual and lewd, than you’re likely to find a Steel Panther song on the topic. I dare say it’s an assault on the environment as well, with the amount of hairspray the band uses surely responsible for a large part of our ozone depleting.

Arriving at The Powerstation on a Sunday evening, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I have seen some of my favourite bands play this venue [Rise Against, Biffy Clyro, Jimmy Eat World], so I know it works well as a tightly packed intimate setting. The rest of the crowd, however, seemed to have a fair idea of what they were in for. Glancing around I saw countless fishnet tights, neon pink outfits, and luscious long locks flowing from underneath bandannas …. And that was just the men!

Kiwi rockers Blue Ruin kicked off night with their own blend of rock and punk. They recently opened for Runaways lead singer Cherie Currie, and the Runaways influence is obvious on the all-girl five-piece. In fact, they’ve had a good run of slots opening for various acts recently, including Buckcherry and The Misfits, both of whom they covered during tonight’s set. They did OK and looked the part, but it was pretty apparent that they need a few more band practices to tighten up their act. Blue haired front woman Jessie Booth appears set to fill Jennie Skulander’s boots if she keeps up what she is doing, especially with that roar of hers.

In between sets one wild-eyed individual approached my friend and I to chat. He had long curly hair, a thick black beard and glasses, giving him a white nerdy Jesus look. I think he decided to chat to the two of us because we both had beards as well. He was saying about how much he loved Steel Panther, and how he has been unsuccessfully trying to convince his son to listen to them as well. My [Swedish] friend has seen Steel Panther three times already, and was telling the guy that he was in for a fun night. Upon hearing my friend’s Swedish accent, the guy mistook him for American and began professing his undying love for Bernie Sanders to us, despite my friend explaining that he isn’t actually American. After a few minutes of hearing all about the virtues of the Bern, the guy produced a small joint and began to offer it around.

Kicking off the night with the panther growls that introduce song “Eye Of The Panther”, Steel Panther showed us what we were in for. Hot off an Australian tour with Black Stone Cherry, the band was in fine form. They sounded seriously good. Parody act or not, they knew how to play. They had the image down-pat too. Everything the band wore was lycra and leopard print, and they all had long flowing hair and bandannas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnZM1CzQF8Y

Bass player Lexi Foxx puts the glam component in glam rock, preening himself in front of the mirror, spraying hairspray and applying lip gloss between most songs. Aerosmith have the song “Dude Looks Like A Lady”, and although I thought it was about Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil, it could very well have been written about Foxx instead. Foxx was on the receiving end of many of the band’s jokes, being portrayed as the “retarded bass player”.

Frontman Michael Starr was the “slightly fatter David Lee Roth”, or “slightly skinnier Vince Neil”, depending which way you looked at it. Either way, he could sing just as well. They band told of how he had received vocal lessons from Judas Priest singer Rob Halford, and Starr even came onstage dressed like Halford during one song, rocking aviator sunglasses and a bright red sparkly sequined coat.

Guitarist Satchel provided one of the highlights of the night with a ripping extended guitar solo that included a medley with nods to classic rock bands like Van Halen, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Guns n Roses, Iron Maiden and even a song from The Sound of Music made it in there.

Drummer Stixx Zadinia had little to say throughout the night, but he had complete control over his monstrous red DW kit. Throughout the set he would play around by throwing drumsticks to the band and crew, then catching them when thrown back and playing on without missing a beat.

The band’s real strength lay in how well they could improvise. There was plenty of stage banter, and although not all of it could have been original, much of it was. They interacted with the crowd, cracked jokes and brought girls up onstage to dance around.

One such girl was Asian, so got the dubious honour of being the centre of attention for the song “Asian Hooker”. Later in the night two scantily clad twins wearing studded bras got onstage and the band composed a song for them, each member ad-libbing couplets while Satchel strummed his acoustic guitar. It was a bit concerning seeing two sisters so desperate for attention that they would hook up with each other onstage, and even the band seemed slightly uncomfortable with it. Soon enough the stage was full, with girls being pulled up left, right and centre. It was undeniably crude, but that is all you would expect from Steel Panther. And that’s where the genius of their joke lies, because although they go all-out to shock with their content, it is hardly any different to the “serious” that they are spoofing, making the act believable.

At the end of the band started to throw items into the crowd: guitar picks, water bottles, empty hair spray canisters etc… One drumstick was thrown very close to where I was standing so I put my hand out to catch it, but it was just out of reach. The person who caught it raced to the back of our venue so I turned to see who it was, and lo and behold, it was none other than our Sanders-loving stoner friend from earlier in the night. Needless to say he was completely ecstatic with his prize.

Steel Panther put on an incredibly entertaining performance. It wasn’t just a concert, it was a show. A funny, absurd, inappropriate and improvised rock show. And it was awesome.

Death to all but metal indeed.

The Steel Panther set list

Joseph James

ALBUM REVIEW: DUMBSAINT – PANORAMA, IN TEN PIECES

Living in a social media driven world, there’s a constant barrage of content flooding our devices and filling our minds with opinions and ideas. Some are good and some just flat out suck. As an American, the current political situation leaves plenty to be desired for someone looking to their Facebook page or Twitter feed for inspiration. I blame the burst of social media accessibility over the past decade for my plunge deeper into instrumental music. I’ve grown weary of hearing everyone talk and instrumental music has given me reprieve and become a go to medium to digest without being force fed any opinions. This music gives me the power to choose entirely which emotion or feeling I want to channel regardless of the key or tempo at which the music is played. Granted, no form of art comes completely opinion neutral.

The majority of instrumental bands rely on visuals to help tell their story, because, let’s face it, everyone has something to say, even an instrumental band. From lights and fog to projection to music videos, the added dimension that is consumed by an audience’s eyes is a vital aspect of this genre of music. Our collective attention spans have been drastically shortened and, unfortunately, instrumental bands need to compete with the growth of social media in order to stay relevant and ahead of the curve of band anonymity. To many this challenge leads to a rehashing of ideas fostered by bigger bands within the genre. There will always be the trend setters, the big brothers, the pioneers of new ideas just like there will always be the followers, the little brothers, and the thieves of old ideas. However, sometimes bands take it all upon themselves to go more than just the extra mile in order to produce a musical product that spans multiple mediums and raises the bar to exceptional new heights. Australia’s Dumbsaint has done just that with the unveiling of their feature-length film for their latest record “Panorama, in ten pieces”.

I became familiar with Dumbsaint’s “Panorama, in ten pieces” prior to getting to watch the 60 minute feature film which gave me the opportunity to create my own narrative for the music. I was fortunate to have a friend throw this release my direction awhile back and I instantly fell in love with the dynamics and musical prowess. It was very obvious from the first couple of listens that the music was built to work with visual storytelling. However, it holds it’s own in the solo listening format and has become one of my go to records.

The feature was written, filmed, edited, and entirely produced by the members of Dumbsaint and goes to show that a lot of really hard, focused work can lead to incredible things. Nothing inspires me more than a band that does it themselves, and Dumbsaint has not disappointed me in their sheer effort. Working as a music video on steroids, the film is perfectly edited to their album and takes the viewer on a dark and twisted ride through a suburban community.

When I was informed Dumbsaint was preparing to release a feature film to accompany “Panorama, in ten pieces” I was initially a little nervous as to what type of story line or agenda the band was going to display. I didn’t want the connection I made to the music to get lost or interfered with by visuals that may not align with what my imagination had formulated. I always try to maintain an open mind, but I would be lying if I said a band’s social or political opinions have never turned me off. It’s a frustrating way to be programmed, but I’ve lost bits and pieces of respect for bands when they dive too far into waters I find uncomfortable or disingenuous. Thankfully, Dumbsaint introduced just the right amount of abstract thought and story line into their feature film to still leave the majority of their record up for interpretation.

The film centers around a residential neighborhood that is silently entrenched in a plethora of shady nighttime activities and dysfunctional relationships. Superb editing and a well thought out and interwoven cast give immense dimension to the 60 minute feature. Dumbsaint’s skill set goes much further than excellent musicianship as they exhibit a profound ability to capture one’s visual attention almost instantly. The story line is just as heavy as the music yet still maintains the perfect amount of restraint and necessary control to keep the audiences attention for the full 60 minutes.

Dumbsaint’s film for “Panorama, in ten pieces” debuts in it’s entirety on June 13th via Vimeo’s Video On Demand streaming service. If you’ve yet to listen to Dumbsaint, go do that now and then reserve yourself an hour on the 13th to sit back and indulge yourself in a music video masterpiece.

C.J. Blessum

To rent or buy the feature-length film visit Dumbsaint’s Vimeo Page.

Interview: Brutal Harmony

What is the story behind your band?

The vision behind Brutal Harmony is to bring our brand of raw metal music set to a storyline that is dark and twisted with classic horror themes.

Brutal Harmony was started as a side project. How do you split your time between your different projects?

Well, in the beginning of the project, we were just playing around with the idea of what we thought would be different and fun at the same time. So Brutal Harmony was created as a side project to a couple of other more serious bands that we were playing and touring with. As the writing continued, we realized this was more exciting and in many ways better than what we were already doing in the other bands. So as of February of 2016, Brutal Harmony is our sole project, and we invest 100% of our time and effort into BH.

How would you describe your sound?

Dark, Melodic, and Soulful Metal.

Do you really live up to the “brutal” aspect of your band name?

We believe the music and our live stage show will live up to our name. The songs, videos, and the stage show to come with share the story of the Brutal Harmony. We have a story board for the BH band member characters that will play out in our up-coming shows and videos.

The whole mask thing has been done before by bands like Slipknot, Mushroomhead, Gwar etc… How does your overall image affect your band?

Our mask represent those with no name, no spirit, or humanity. The masked characters are known as The Unity Of Fate.

Who are your key influences?

I would have to say various classic metal bands such as Slayer, Anthrax, Black Sabbath and many, many others.

What are some key themes and messages that you cover with your music?

Classic Horror Movies , Unrest, and the balance between good and evil.

What format do you use the most when listening to music? [vinyl, cd, streaming etc..]

We would say, all of the above [laughs]. Vinyl most certainly feels warmer and in our opinion, is the best format.

What song or album do you recommend for first time listeners?

Our single “FEAR”. It has all the elements that makes Brutal Harmony what we are.

Tell me about Sonic Outlaw Records. I can’t find much information about them online.

Sonic Outlaw Records is a new independent metal record label set to launch with Brutal Harmony in June 2016. The label is licensed and registered and geared up to roll out and sign a couple more artist before the end of 2016. The label is owned and financed by a group of private investor’s. There will be much to see later this summer.

What is your band’s greatest achievement to date?

Honestly, we feel our greatest achievement is doing what we love to do as much as we get to do it. Not everyone has that ability and we’ve seen so many great musicians quit music over the years, not because they want to but because life, family, jobs wouldn’t allow for it. The fact that we have all always found a way to overcome those hurdles we think is our greatest achievement so far.

Who would you most love to tour or collaborate with?

Slipknot is one of our very favorites but there’s just so many great bands out there these days it’s hard to narrow that down. Be easier to say who we would not collaborate with probably…….

What plans do you have for the near future?

We are still in the process of booking the rest of this year out but so far we have some great shows coming up. Main priority for this year is to finish the album to follow up the single release of Fear. Once that is done we will be hitting the road a lot harder.

Here’s your chance to say anything that we haven’t covered.

The song “flying purple people eater” is reeaallyy hard to get out of your head once it gets in there…….

Brutal Harmony: Facebook Website Twitter Youtube

Interview: Novacrow

Novacrow are a UK based hard rock band with a generous dose of zombies and sleaze added to the mix – think along the lines of Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie. They’ve just released debut EP Black Syrup, so I sent them some questions to learn more about the band.

What is the story behind your band?

Kitty: Seeing as the truth is pretty straightforward, in that Jonyx and I started making music together and we acquired Freddy and Torben for Novacrow purposes, here is an extravagant backstory.

Jonyx: Originally conceived on the planet of Sexlexis in the Andromeda system, we were sent to dominate Earth through the power of pelvic-thrustingly good music. Unfortunately Sexlexis became struck with the extremely erotic disease ‘Sexlexia’ and we were given the task of finding a cure, the fastest way to spread the word…Novacrow! (continuity errors in storyline may occur…)

Torben: …and then I joined

Where are you from, and what prompted you to start?

K: I have always loved playing in a band and I think the four of us were drawn together, because we all enjoy making lots of noise and embarrassing ourselves. Jonyx and I are from Wolverhampton, Torben is from Norfolk and Freddy is originally from Italy.

How would you describe your sound?

Freddy: A sextastic sonic force.

K: Fat juicy riffs, sleazy vocals and groin-grabbingly good choruses.

T: Top stuff.

What song or album do you recommend for first time listeners?

F: Our EP ‘Black Syrup’ is a must listen for anybody who enjoys being a person. I’d say ‘Fat Frog’ off it would give the best idea of what we’re about.

J: Black Syrup, it’s the tits!

T: I’d personally go for Fight the Horde, I consider it a stomping song.

Why kazoo? It’s definitely not a conventional instrument.

K: Kazoos are just hilarious. We first used one when we did a terrible cover of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ at a Valentine’s gig. People loved it, so we thought it would be funny to add a bit of kazoo into all of our shows. We ended up recording it on the opening track of our EP, Fat Frog.

Torben, you appear to be the punk in a band of metalheads. Does this cause any conflict?

T: When I first joined I wanted to play everything much faster, but whilst punk is my favourite genre, I grew up on metal, owning every Opeth record and listening to them on repeat. Gojira were also big for me, and still are. But having said that, I wouldn’t say it has caused tension, at core we’re all just looking to have fun playing music we love.

Sadly, rock music is still male dominated. Do you find that you’re treated differently to other bands because you have a female singer?

K: It’s hard for me to be objective as (obviously), I’ve only ever been in bands with a female member, but I’d say that we are treated differently to an extent. ‘Female fronted’ is regularly treated like a genre, which is a bit strange, as we often find ourselves billed alongside a load of symphonic metal bands. To us, the fact that we have a female member isn’t an important part of Novacrow. I’ve had my fair share of derogatory comments, but it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than a couple of snide remarks to stop me from rocking my ass off.

It looks like you have a lot of fun playing on the zombie/horror theme. What are some more creative examples of where you have taken this theme?

K: We did a big cheesy B-movie music video for our single Fight The Horde!!! Which was super fun to film. We’ve used this in our live shows too, in one we used a giant screen to show clips creating a ‘storyline’ and had zombies coming on stage and out into the audience. At our EP launch we did zombie face painting too, so we had a whole crowd of the undead.

Between you all, the band covers recording, production, writing and art. Tell me about your DIY motives.

F: For us it pretty much came naturally, we all seem to fit together like a sort of jigsaw puzzle. John has the most experience in photo editing and designing, so he just took on the role of artwork designer. I’m a producer of my own accord outside the band, so I took command of recording, production, and video editing when needed. This leaves most of the artistic direction up to Kitty, so she’ll write most of the songs and we all chip in accordingly.

And then there’s Torben.

Paint me a picture of what I should expect to see at a typical Novacrow gig.

Kitty: Picture yourself at a dingy venue with a cheap pint of beer in one hand. Novacrow comes onstage and suddenly you are weak at the knees. Each member is dazzlingly attractive and unimaginably talented. Their music is so fantastic, you feel faint. Their stage banter is so hilarious, your sides actually split from laughter. The crowd around you are going wild, foaming at the mouth, tits everywhere. You fish out your wallet and you’re literally throwing handfuls of money at the band, they are just that good….

Kitty, I saw that in the list of books you read last year you covered a lot of classic literature and graphic novels, especially some dystopian texts. Talk me through some of your favourites. I know you have a degree in English Lit, so I’m expecting some good recommendations.

K: YES. Excellent question. There are so many incredible novels that everybody needs to read! Obvious choices include Fahrenheit 451, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1984, Brave New World, Slaughterhouse 5 and any of Poe’s short stories.

My longtime favourite author is Stephen King. His first person narratives are unbeatable and I love his great sprawling fantasy epics. It, The Stand, The Dark Half and The Green Mile, are a few of my top choices.

In terms of a quirky recommendation, Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, or Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino. I’ve also just finished the trilogy of 1Q84 novels, by Haruki Murakami, which were fantastically written.

What format do you use the most when listening to music? [vinyl, cd, streaming etc..]

F: I mostly download my music, and when I buy CD’s I’ll import them to my laptop. I ain’t got the time to pick out a CD and put it in a CD player and shit, I just want it THERE!

Torben: MP3s or digital music, whenever I travel or walk I have music in. I have a vast collection of CDs which I listen to whenever I can, because I love having a hard-copy of the music I love most.

Tell us your best tour story.

F: We once played a biker club in the middle of Derbyshire and camped out on their fields. There was a HUGE slug that turned out to be just two regular slugs. There was also a lot of booze, some cooked chicken, a broken pump, and a giant fake plastic horse. And Showaddywaddy.

What is your band’s greatest achievement to date?

K: The fact that we’ve somehow tricked people into believing that we’re a real band, rather than a group of attention seeking idiots. I’m super proud of the EP and the excellent feedback we’ve had from it.

Who would you most love to tour or collaborate with?

F: The almighty GWAR.

K: Wednesday 13, Rob Zombie, Skindred or Alestorm.

T: Murder Dolls or Green Jellÿ who were great fun to play with… anyone who’s up for fun and some heavy music basically.

What plans do you have for the near future?

K: Loads of gigs, working on new material and general badassery

Novacrow: Website Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube