The Function of Dreams: An Interview with Mark Owen of We Lost The Sea

Sydney post-rockers We Lost The Sea have just released their new album, A Single Flower, and are about to embark on their first USA tour along with hubris. Long time fan and friend of the band Gilbert Potts connected with founding member Mark Owen to discuss.

We Lost The Sea

Gilbert Potts: Thanks for agreeing to an interview with Will Not Fade, and congratulations on the new album A Single Flower and the US tour.

Mark Owen: Thanks Gilbert, I know this isn’t a question, but I just wanted to thank you for your support over the years. It is always great to see you up front of the stage having a great time. Your passion is infectious and you have become a very valued member of the big extended WLTS family.

1. What’s the most beautiful sound you’ve ever heard?

Oh man, this is a hard one. Let me think about it. I’ll let you know.

2. You’ve built a strong following over the last eighteen odd years from just four releases, and for many fans it’s mostly the appeal of the thirteen tracks from the last two, instrumental ones. Why do you think people feel such a strong connection to your music?

I think maybe it seems to work out that way for a few reasons. With Departure Songs we really talked about a universal phenomenon of grief and loss, something that everyone experiences, as Nick Cave says: “that if we love, we grieve.” With Triumph & Disaster, we talked about our, humanities, relationships with the earth and each other and it came out at the perfect time really, in the middle of the plague. Well, maybe great topically, just not for touring a new album. Ha.

These are things that people can easily connect to, can easily empathise with and can feel heard about. Which is what we all want at the end of the day, to be seen, feel heard and have our fears and hopes and dreams validated. I think the storytelling and the artwork really helps, although we strive to not be disingenuous. We never write a riff we don’t mean, if it’s angry we are angry about something, if it’s sad we are sad about something. Art imitates life. Listeners can discern if someone is being full of shit, they might not be able to articulate it, but they can tell, especially live. I’ve seen a bunch of Post-Rock bands who are NOT genuine and it really comes across as a bit gross live.

Another reason, without tooting our own horn, we are pretty approachable guys. We love a laugh and a beer and we always try to make time online or in person to talk to people. It has led to some really memorable funny moments as well as hearing some horrifying and heartbreaking stories. We’ve been put into this really amazing position where we get to hear all these peoples stories and it’s a privilege.

3. You’re the last OG of WLTS. What have you gained along the way, both as a band and you personally?

I have experienced some of the greatest moments of my life in this band, not all of them playing shows. Some core memories have definitely been unlocked on tours outside of the shows. Drinking wine on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur with Solkyri and our crew singing “Wonderwall”, of course, bloody Australians, drinking beers in Biergartens in Dusseldorf or snow in Prague, food in China. All of it has been amazing. I’ve gained friends for life, in other bands, in promoters, in people who started as fans and became great friends (not you Bruce from Pray For Sound).I’ve been surrounded by the best crew, Matt, Zoe, Chris, Anton, Mike, Jef the list goes on. We’ve played with some of our favourite bands, met some of our favorite musicians.

But I think what I have gained most of all is a sense of meaning, in all of this. It is something I struggle with, a Camus-like constant questioning, if you follow me on social media you know some of my content can be quite nihilistic at times, and in the moments when I am playing music or sharing a vodka with a local in Poland outside the venue in Warsaw, the noise in my brain, the constant searching for meaning, quietens just a little bit. There isn’t so much of a din happening and I feel settled in that moment. I always felt like I was meant to play music and when I get to do it, I get to share these moments in time with an audience. It’s like everything just feels right.

4. What are you happy to have lost on your journey, and what do you miss?

I am glad we’ve lost a lot of negativity, the band is in an amazing place right now, personally and believe me when I say that over the, just under, 20 years we’ve been a band, we’ve been through it. All kinds of through it. We’ve been angsty and drunks and combative and mistrusting, the entire gambit, all those things that can happen when you have a creative relationship with people. We’ve all been dealing with all of our own bullshit, then wins and the loses and then you walk into a band room and the smallest thing is wrong and next thing you know you feel like a lone soldier landing at normandy, a bit dramatic, maybe.

Actually Matt Harvey described us and I think he was being kind as ‘a bit dramatic’ and I couldn’t have put it better myself. But for the first time in the life of the band it feels very settled, I don’t spend a lot of time mitigating problems or dealing with one drama with one band member or another. I love the guys and it just feels really good.

What I miss is the simplicity of playing a show at venues like The Old Bar or Blackwire Records. Booking a show, doing a flyer and turning up. Maybe you have merch, maybe you don’t. You drink your door take in beers and you just have a great time. Now there is always so much to think about, so much money changing hands, so many people involved. So many fucking emails.

5. Your new release, A Single Flower, has clear WLTS DNA, but you’ve explored new structures, sounds and emotions. From 6:15 on in “Everything Here is Black and Binding” is a good example of the unexpected. What has been inspiring this move away from the more familiar crescendocore?

I have found that the general consensus amongst our fellow post-rockers is that a lot of us don’t listen to a lot of post-rock. I mean, I actually feel like we kind of fell into the genre and while I am happy to have found a home, I don’t love the label per se. So as a band we all listen to a lot of different music, I find myself not actually listening to heaps of music these days, I know I know I should. I am pretty bad at staying on top of new releases etc, I mostly listen to Audiobooks, I have for the last few years, follow me on Goodreads! Ha.

So we try to write what we like, what we want to hear. We don’t actually ever intentionally talk about what styles of things we want or how we want a song to end up being, most of the time. Sometimes, for example “If they Had Hearts” I had a pretty clear vision of how I wanted it to be, what the end result was and how I wanted to achieve that. Likewise, “Everything Here is Black and Binding” was really pushed by Matt (Harvey) who had that guitar motif and the big dirty fuzz part for a long time. And we tried to deviate from it a fair bit and we kept on coming back to the simple almost electronic idea. He wanted a very NIN vibe and we took that general vibe and then pushed it through the WLTS meat grinder.

Just exploring new ways to get heavy or big is always exciting. We all come from heavy band backgrounds and love big riffs and big dirty guitars, and a lot of Matt’s natural playing style is aggressive and angular and he always writes unique to him parts. So he led the charge on this one and fought the good fight to keep it within his vision. The new record feels like a lot more people had moments to stand on a hill and die for parts, if that makes sense.

When things start happening in the writing room ideas can snowball and things move quickly when we are cooking. So it takes a bit of coaxing and a bit of bravery to stand up and say this part is really good, but it’s not what I wanted it to be, and he did that. It was actually the song I had the least to do with overall, still involved, but I intentionally took a back seat because he really had the vision, so I just trusted him and went with it and the results speak for themselves.

6. Your new drummer, Alasdair Belling, has brought a new style following the departure of Nathaniel D’Ugo. The production of A Single Flower has also brought a sharper drum sound to the fore. You must be happy with how the transition has gone?

I literally couldn’t be happier. Al has been such a revelation, such a great breath of fresh air. He brings not only his amazing ability as a drummer but he also has added such a great positive vibe to our band. He’s young and excited and keen to do anything. Obviously after Nathaniel being with the band for such a long time there was a lot of anxiety around the change and it was such a big change to make.

But Al has made it a dream. I could crack on for a long time about how much I love the dude and am grateful for him being in our little band of miscreants but I won’t, I will say though, that we as a band felt in a pretty dark place and I think his joining and what he has brought to the table probably saved us from extinction. I started this band in 2007, it’s been going a long time and the fire was burning low, the writing process had all but stalled and it was growing increasingly difficult to a, get together with D’Ugo living in Perth and b, to write in the room together. The creative fire had gone out and we had hit a wall. When we added Al it lit a fire. The first demo’s for one or two of the ideas on the record were recorded almost 6 years ago and we didn’t have one complete song. Al joined in Oct 2023 and Christmas Day 2024 (shout out to our legend Mastering engineer, Simon Struthers, who finished mastering the record on Christmas Day while holidaying in Japan) it had all been wrapped up.

One thing I love about Al’s drumming on this record is that he’s taken what Nathaniel had established over the years and has just evolved it. Al plays well within his abilities and really was respectful of Nathaniel’s legacy in a way. He does at moments unleash and show us all what a monster drummer he is and he’s also a very good songwriter which really helped. I think when we start writing again he’ll really be able to establish his own style more and I am very excited about that.

As for the production Tim Carr, our Orb Father, did such an amazing job. Everything sounds incredible and we have had a lot of people comment on the drum sound. One thing we did was I wanted to discern Al and Nathaniel in some audible way, something more aural that wasn’t immediately obvious, so I basically told Al i wanted him to trying recording with a vintage Ludwig kit, get that John Bonham, Dave from Russian Circles vibe, more than a traditional drum sound and because Al is a trooper he was happy to, and it worked out really well!

7. Sophie Trudeau of Godspeed You! Black Emperor wrote, recorded and mixed the strings on “The Gloaming”. How did that come about?

It came about with me drinking probably a bottle of red by myself one night, and thinking about the piano piece I wrote and thinking about how I could make it really special. I LOVE Godspeed, they are my favourite band of all time. I think everything about them is amazing, the music, the ethos, the whole thing is amazing. Greg Norman who recorded Triumph & Disaster is from Chicago and he works out of Electric Audio Studios, Steve Albini’s studio and he had recorded two of the previous Godspeed records.

Greg is an absolute legend and we had an amazing time with him and became good friends. So I shot him a drunken email saying “hey I’ve got a dumb idea and please tell me if you aren’t cool, but could you pretty please put me in touch with Sophie from Godspeed.” He said yes and did, and she was absolutely lovely. Godspeed were going on tour and it didn’t look like it was going to happen, but I was just very happy to have her be open to it and I essentially said “If it doesn’t work that’s all okay maybe we can do something further down the line” and I had basically moved on.

I got an email only a few days before we basically needed to submit the record to get mastered and she said that due to a band member illness she was back early and did I still want her to do something, which the answer of course was hell yes. So I didn’t really give her any direction at all and she wrote, recorded and mixed the strings and sent it through to me. I was actually driving a work truck at the time when I got it and I pulled over to listen to it and it was perfect, better than I had ever imagined. It was exactly what I wanted, what it needed and I am so grateful for her, especially considering what the song is about. It feels very right that it was her to play on it.

1.2 What’s the most beautiful sound you’ve ever heard?

There is one moment in “The Gloaming” where Sophie does this one run that is THE MOMENT for me. I am sure there are plenty of other answers but right now that is the one.

8. When streaming started it changed the music industry. There were good changes and bad changes, but everyone has had to adapt and there is more music out there than ever. What brings in money for a band your size? What are some of the new ideas you’ve played with to increase awareness and income from music?

Streaming has allowed basically everyone in the world access to our music, which inherently is good. The problem becomes the total oversaturation as well as the problematic pay structures, the complete utter domination by the top tier bands and of course old mate from sp0tify being a warmongering piece of shit. I think to combat this we’ve tried to part of communities. I am in so many online groups and I jump on Reddit and we respond to as many fans who send us messages and emails as we possibly can. I think that connectedness has really helped us with our community and the ability to keep those who are already fans engaged and looking forward to new music, new tours, new merch etc.

I think the hard part is breaking through all the white noise and getting your music out there to new listeners. We aren’t a cool, young hip band, so Tiktok and the likes have no use for us and essentially we’ve been relying on fans to spread the word about us. We’ve also dropped two new clips, one of us in the studio and another which Matt worked hard on with Simeon from Siems. That kind of content helps and both have had a pretty good reach, as well as things like being on some TV shows and the superbowl etc. We’ve always focused on putting out quality, we have really high standards and not much gets past us

9. You’re off to the US very soon. What can your fans over there expect to hear? And can you bring me back some Hatch Green Chilie?

Yes, very excited about it. They should expect to hear a bunch of the new stuff and also of course the old favourites. I think they are lucky, they are getting the best version of the band yet and the best live version and the best live sound we’ve had. So get ready to have a good time/good cry.

And yes, sure. Where do I get it from?

10. You also have some Australian dates coming up in October/November. Last time I saw you the crowd demanded an encore and we got “Balaklava Cold” sans vocals, and it also popped up with vox just before Covid hit. Is there any chance of hearing some more earlier stuff sometime in the future?

We will never say never. Those songs are a big part of our DNA and I love them. The Quietest Place on Earth is my favourite record of ours, well until this new one and I love throwing down heavy riffs with vocals. However, we also want to move on as a band and back ourselves for our newer stuff. But maybe, If we can convince Johannes from CoL to jump up with us, sure!

Thanks for the interview and best wishes for Flower and the tours!

Thanks man, see you at the shows!

We Lost The Sea links:

https://www.welostthesea.com/

https://welostthesea.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/welostthesea

https://www.facebook.com/welostthesea

https://x.com/welostthesea

Image: Johrice

Interview by Gilbert Potts

Album Review: Ranges – Sin

There is the music you can hear—
And the world built beneath it.

How good are riffs?

Seriously though – how good are they? All kinds. Big, filthy riffs. Shimmering, melancholy riffs. Sludgy, stank face riffs. Riffs that transport you to childhood memories unexpectedly. Riffs that if you’re driving result in your foot pressing harder on the accelerator without realising. Safe to say, I am all too happy to worship at the altar of riffs.

And luckily, Ranges new release Sin is a very fitting addition to the altar.

I must confess, I actually didn’t know much about them heading into this review. After a brief crash course I can say that I was missing out – they’re great… And with some of the most creative, bespoke, wonderful merch and universe building I’ve seen. This is a group of people who deeply love and respect the music and art that they create, and deeply enjoy sharing it with the world. How goddamn amazing.

And so onto their new release: Sin. Seven tracks, seven deadly sins. Full disclosure, I’m not 100% certain which track corresponds to which sin, so I’ve done some internet sleuthing as best I can to align them.

“The Falcon Cannot Hear the Falconer” – Wrath
Opening the album we have a track titled with a line from the William Butler Yeats poem “The Second Coming”. A poem influenced by the trauma and unimaginable horror of the first world war, descending into chaos and sheer terror. Ethereal pads and light, airy effects kick us off before some softly booming tom work guides us into the first instance of chiming guitar riffs. The guitars sway and pierce while the bass slowly rumbles. Suddenly we’re into wrath – piercing, venomous guitar lines erupt from the speakers and swirl around your head.

Just as you’re getting used to it though we’re back into the first building motif again, but with more layered guitar lines to add to the overall wall of sound, reminding me of pg. lost in a way. Exploding proper into the final stanza with the second motif repeating again we get even more high end distorted guitars wailing and thrashing at you. I can absolutely picture this as the soundtrack to coffins opening and the wrathful dead rising – a la the 7” cover inspired by Dante’s Inferno.

‘Their Eyes Sewn Shut’ – Envy
What denotes envy to you? Is it a longing for a thing you can’t or shouldn’t have? If so, the opening of this screams out longing to me. It’s melancholy, slightly wistful and pushed forward by the military style drumming. Then a screaming guitar riff comes in and takes the top of your head off, exploding the track into glorious life. It’s spacious and huge, echoing around the sound stage as wailing lines build and soar. The military snare hits keep us going as the guitar screams, until it recedes into a soft, delicate bridge.

A few well timed clean chords to echo through the space occur before the main guitar melody line comes back in to remind us of the overall track, and hint at one final peak. It’s a study in delicate noise – melodic cacophony. And then, there’s no final noise. We end with the environmental sounds/effects that were all through the track, softly echoing and dying to leave us thinking about what makes us envious.

“Bound To The Black Wind” – Lust
I love this track. It has a delicate, shimmering swagger to it, fragile and vulnerable in the beginning as we ruminate on things lost or things never had. It’s got that ‘classic’ post rock sound that we all know so well – timeless guitars, spacious yet essential drumming, melodic rises and clear yet enveloping mix. Then when the heavy part of the track kicks in it’s immediately buzzsaw guitars soaring and fighting with each other, an evil minor melody cutting through absolutely everything on the track. That melody line could absolutely be the evil, lustful voice in your head. The counterpoint guitar line coming after it is the foil to that voice, cautioning restraint. A great track, and would absolutely hammer live I think.

“Three Throats” – Gluttony
This song certainly seems to be a tale of two parts. The first instance is quiet, delicate and mournful. Everything in its right place, slowly building and moving around one another in no hurry to arrive at the second section. And then the second section is violence.

It’s a simple riff, but oh boy it’s a corker of a riff. This is a nomination to the altar of riffs for sure. It’s a masterclass in ‘less is more’ as the band slowly cycle through the riff over and over, building more venom, anger, distortion and tension into it with each phrase. It encourages head banging, evil faces and gluttony. This is feeding yourself silly on a dirty, evil riff and I am here for it. Ranges don’t give you a choice here – they’re force feeding you this riff and you WILL like it. Awesome.

“Prodigal” – Avarice/Lust
We get a quiet start on this track, with subdued guitars, a thudding, gorgeous bass line humming underneath and simple, propulsive drumming. Slowly building, ebbing and flowing with the instrument lines weaving between each other until the inevitable peak explodes… And it explodes with glorious abandon. Cutting, buzzsaw guitars, bass that seems to be ripped straight from a chasm and signaling impending doom. It’s an aural assault and it is just wonderful.

Lust indeed. I for one am lusting over that guitar tone. It’s gorgeous. It reminds me of If These Trees Could Talk with that slight proggy edge to it, but this is a beast all its own. Then in the bridge we get some delightful strings to float us away briefly before the violence returns. And then we’re back, mired into those wonderful guitar lines with a new, soaring riff over the top threatening to take the top of your head off. And all too soon it’s over. I could listen to this as a 20 minute track easily. Killer.

“The Red Mist” – Anger
Straight out of the gate this track seems to fit exactly with the sin of Anger. An angry, speedy start to this song fires you back in your seat, guitars hitting you square in the chest over and over again, minor rising lines wailing at you until they collapse on themselves. And then – respite? Perhaps, but there is still that undercurrent of tension in the ‘quieter’ section as the anger of the first part still permeates. And while the softer section is great, it’s the urgency, anger and violence of this track that makes it for me. It’s a masterclass in ‘loud/quiet/loud’ songwriting, and one of those tracks that you swear is either 2 minutes or 10 minutes long. When the second, final loud section kicks in it’s all fist pumping and head swaying. If that’s a musical representation of anger – sign me up for an album of it.

“Idle Hands” – Sloth
If I had to describe this song in one word, it would be ‘wistful’. If it is the track for Sloth, then perhaps the sloth is the languid guitar line at the start? There’s a certain sadness to this track that makes me think I got my Sin allocations wrong. It’s slow to start, each instrument coming in to add to the overall wall of sound, chord by chord, riff by riff. And you know it’s coming – the peak. Just because you know it’s coming doesn’t lessen the impact though when it’s done this well. It’s loud, melodic, screaming at you and a suitable vessel for you to scream into the void. Angry guitars yell at you one final time as the track just… dissolves into quiet. A fitting final track.

So, overall a great album. It’s not just the music, but the world they’ve created around it that makes it great. It’s so very clear the time, effort and meticulous crafting that went into this album. And there is a smorgasbord of riffs for you to sink your teeth into. This makes me need to go and listen to everything they have done previously, because I am clearly deficient in my Ranges allocation. Now, where on earth do I get an Æterno coin…

“Where words fail, music speaks.”

Ranges are part of A Thousand Arms records, a post-rock label and screen printing company that creates incredible bespoke merch. They have teamed up with dunk!records in Belgium to press some incredible looking records.

The theme of this album is the seven deadly sins. The album will be released on 7/7. There are seven different variants of the record (limited to 150 copies each), each named after the respective sins.

There are seven limited edition boxsets that contains all variants (already sold out). And for the ultra fans, we have the deluxe boxset (limited to 77 copies, also sold out), which features seven 7″ records, one for each song on the album, with vinyl-exclusive songs on the b-sides. The US Deluxe Edition also includes a suite of seven themed ephemera that align with sins and vices, including playing cards, dice, a cigar, and a poster and merch that have been screen printed in the typical A Thousand Arms attention to detail.

Ranges are about to embark on an American tour with their friends in Man Mountain, playing Midwest and East Coast parts of the country, before finishing at Post Festival in Indianapolis.

Tour dates/ ticketing: https://www.rangesmusic.com/tour

Order Sin:

Bandcamp: https://ranges.bandcamp.com/album/sin
A Thousand Arms store (USA): https://www.athousandarmsstore.com/collections/pre-order-sin-by-ranges
dunk!records (EU) : https://dunkrecords.com/collections/ranges
Wild Thing Music (Au): https://wildthingmusic.com/collections/ranges

Ranges links:

Website: https://www.rangesmusic.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rangesmusic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rangesmusic/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBJg41ELchEChCEtIRKz4NA

Patreon (The Ranges podcast, exclusive merch, early access to releases): https://www.patreon.com/rangesmusic

The Cultus (The world of Ranges lore. Exclusive marketplace, limited edition releases, unpacking the deep mystique and concepts of Ranges’ music) : https://linktr.ee/thecultus

Reviewed by Nick Dodds

Photos by Joseph James

Live review: distance final Wellington show

distance

w/ Serpent Dream, Sheeps, FVKVSHIMA

Valhalla, Wellington

Friday 6 June 2025

I have nothing but love for Valhalla, the treasured venue that I consider my musical home. That said, it has a notoriously sticky floor a lot of the time. Opening act Serpent Dream was playing and I was shocked to see roughly a dozen people sitting down to enjoy their tunes. It was a suitable reaction to the lovely music, but I’ve always been of the mindset that making any more than the bare minimum of contact with the Valhalla floor was inadvisable. They were a duo: Josh on guitar and some vocals, and Kelda on violin. Kelda had contributed violin to distance recordings in past and they’d always discussed playing together at some point. I’d not encountered Serpent Dream beforehand, but I came away a fan. The ethereal music left us spellbound and paved the way for a great night ahead.

Sheeps have been a mainstay in the local music scene for some time now. I remember first seeing them play when they opened for Hiboux at San Fran during their Migrations tour. I know that they bonded with distance at Twisted Frequency festival one year that they’d both played, and had been tight ever since.

Their drummer Thomas has been living in Auckland for a few years, and it hasn’t always been worth flying him down to Wellington for gigs. Pete from FVKVSHIMA had been filling in here and there, opening for Toe, and playing Newtown Festival and Cubadupa. It was nice to see Thomas back on the drum throne for this gig.

Sheeps play a interesting brand of rock that draws from the lighter side of prog and post rock, while still leaving an impression. Three guitarists play intricate melodies and frontman Dean Blackwell delivers soaring vocals that remind me of Radiohead.

[Sheeps are currently raising funds to press their album Working the Machine on vinyl. Here is a link if you’re interested: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/getworkingthemachinepressedtovinyl]

FVKVSHIMA and distance have enjoyed a long friendship. I think they both opened for Spook the Horses years ago, which was FVKVSHIMA’s first show. Sam Butler filled in on bass one time – which is no small undertaking, considering how technical FVKVSHIMA’s music is. And the bands have played together many times. They will also be playing together in Christchurch next weekend, at distance’s final show.

I’m a big fan of FVKVSHIMA, and was honored that they were happy to work with me to premiere their debut single “Kuato” last year in May. They have immense stage presence and irresistible djenty grooves. Thematically, they draw heavy influence from from post-apocalyptic and sci-fi canon. Musically, I liken them to Meshuggah and Killing Joke.

Check out their new single “The End is Nigh“, released a few days ago.

It’s a sad moment. distance are one of the best bands to arise from the NZ music scene in the past decade. It started out as a solo lockdown project from Sam Butler, but before long became a fully fledged band. They’ve easily the best actively gigging post-rock band in the country for a lot of their tenure.

We last saw them touring with Australian band Myriad Drone in February. Myriad Drone were about to release their newest record, and were selling it before the official release dates at these shows. distance had an album in the works too, and had planned on releasing it to coincide with that tour, but some delays meant that the album wasn’t ready in time.

It’s a shame, because that album is a ripper. so as not to forget (released March 28, 2025) is a masterpiece. It’s dynamic and nuanced and shows clear growth in songwriting abilities. It also clearly draws from the trio’s metal roots, with plenty of big riffs and blastbeats that are both tasty and tasteful. Without question my favourite album released so far this year, and I feel like I’m still barely scratching the surface with discovering how much it has to offer.

So yeah, it’s sad that such an amazing band is calling it a day, and that they didn’t have much to to showcase their incredible new record. But they’re ending on a high note. Sam Butler is moving to Europe. Exciting new adventures await. A shame that this spells the end of a great band, but I have no doubt we will see more from him at some point in the future.

I haven’t even touched on their set. It was great. Many friends had come together for the farewell, and you could feel a nice energy in the room. A mix of hope and support, celebrating a band that we were proud to be friends with, albeit tinged with a bittersweet sadness.

Sam Austin has a really understated power in his presence, standing strong with a wide stance, holding his big bass guitar and delivering thunderous tones. As a drummer, I always love seeing Levi play. He’s a metal drummer in gazillion bands and I love seeing how he tastefully incorporates his metal chops into a style that doesn’t always ask for it. He has a deft ability to push the music in creative ways.

And then we have Sam Butler. The sonic wizard. distance has always been his project. He looked the part, his long curls hiding his face as he did his best shoegaze impression. But now and again you’d get a peek at his smile. He’s humble and a bit shy on stage. He made a few slip ups pressing the wrong buttons on his pedal board, and he sheepishly confessed that he’d made a terrible error choosing to take his shoes off and play in his socks [see prior entry for Valhalla floor: very sticky and gross]. But we all know that he’s incredible and we love him and his band and all the great contributions they’ve made to the music community as a band and as individuals.

It was fantastic. New lighting that I hadn’t seen at Valhalla before helped set the mood. Kelda from Serpent Dream jumped up onstage to add violin to one song, just as Toby has added sax at distance gigs in the past. The new songs are awesome and the older tracks wrapped themselves with warm familiarity. An end of an era for sure.

Tickets for distance’s final show in Christchurch next Saturday, with FVKVSHIMA, Ragweed and No Broadcast: https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/gig/96239/Distance-Final-Show—w/-Fvkvshima,-Ragweed-and-No-Broadcast.utr

distance links: https://lnk.bio/distancenz

Words and photos by Joseph James

Live Review: The Flatliners at Valhalla, Wellington

The Flatliners
w/ Departure Party, No Sector and Dimestore Skanks
Valhalla, Wellington
Thursday 27 February 2025

Departure Party started the night off with his one-man folk punk crusade. His vocals reminded me a lot of Laura Jane Grace from Against Me!, especially the Heart Burns record I have, which is more of a solo affair. Heartfelt, impassioned punk vocals sung/shouted over acoustic guitar. Half way through the set he decided that he didn’t want to be onstage, and stepped down into the audience to continue without microphones. He consulted his notebook for a few moments before belting out his final few tunes under a single spotlight. It was a cool moment to create better intimacy, like when King Brothers had done the same thing at Valhalla a few weeks ago.

Next we had No Sector, the most hectic band of the night. Punk is a varied genre at the best of times. What do the Sex Pistols, Ramones and Clash have in common, sonically? Out of the four bands on the bill tonight, No Sector best fit my perception of what punk sounds like, with breakneck speeds and frantic venomous vocals. Later in the night Flatliners singer Chris Cresswell mentioned that he was surprised to see his old friend Leo in the band, who he’d worked alongside at his very first job and hadn’t seen in about a decade.

Dimestore Skanks always bring the party, and tonight was no exception. All seven members brought plenty of energy, skanking and shouting and generally having a blast. Dimestore have been a staple for many years now, and it was more than evident that they are well seasoned performers. They’d joke about being out of breath and unpracticed and in need of a break, but they sounded fantastic and had everyone dancing throughout their fantastic set.

Canadian punk rockers The Flatliners formed in 2002. This is their first time coming to New Zealand. That said, Cresswell also sings in Hot Water Music, who played here a few weeks ago. They’d been touring along with Hot Water Music in Australia, but I’d heard that seeing how this was their first time coming here, they wanted to come under their own banner to make up for the wait. They’d just played in Hamilton and Auckland, with Wellington being the last night of a long tour.

People were pumped for this show. Valhalla was packed. Looking around, it was mostly guys from late 30s to mid 40s, hairy in face and not so much in scalp. And a decent smattering of Canadians as well. It was mostly what I term the “Chicks That Scream” crowd – named after the promoters who usually bring the Fat Wreck style punk bands to New Zealand year after year. We saw people with shirts emblazoned with bands like Lagwagon, Strung Out, Hot Water Music, NOFX, Menzingers and the like.

The pit was heaving, swollen with sweaty bodies. A few songs in a woman edged past me to enter the fray. I was surprised – she was about armpit height and and entering a space of unspeakable smells and sensations. But she was a trooper, and remained there for the rest of the night, dutifully belting out every lyric along with the band. It was still funny seeing her physically recoil with disgust every time she got slammed into the back of particularly sweaty shirtless guy in front of her.

The band was lapping it up, welcoming the chaos. Cresswell glistened the entire time, dripping wet like a salamander. He kept calling for the venue to put the heaters on, laughing at how all the bodies jammed into the venue had turned the space into a sauna. I enjoyed his disarming banter, trying to stoke a rivalry between Wellington and Auckland, or encouraging us to grunt “Ooh!” at him throughout the night, to follow our heart. Jon Darbey on bass had a king-teir beard absolutely deserving of remark. Drummer Paul Ramirez had positioned his cymbals comically high, but his playing could not be questioned, transitioning from no-nonsense beats to lighting-fast fills in a flash. And Scott Brigham brought the riffs.

There was plenty of crowd surfing and carry on like that. One punter stormed the stage to hijack a mic and give a speech, publicly thanking the band for coming all this way. It was sweet at first, but got old quickly. You could see the band were too polite (see: Canadian) to kick him off the stage. But they resumed soon enough anyway.

The Flatliners played fourteen songs, drawing more heavily from most recent album, New Ruin, and 2013’s Dead Language, but they touched on material from early in their career too, aware that most people in the audience had never had the opportunities to see those songs played live. Brigham asked everyone to shout requests all at once, obviously a bit. But I think they did stop and alter the planned set list slightly to accommodate.

The band acknowledged that it was late, and it was a school night. But they thanked us for making the night special. I know that every band always says they love the audience, wherever they play. But you also know that Canadians are genuine and nice people, so this carried weight. They stayed back after their set to hand out picks, drumsticks, setlists, sign merch and so on, which was really nice to see in this era of bands charging the earth for VIP meet and great packages.

Thanks so much, turn on the heaters, see you again in another 23 years. Ooh!

Written by Joseph James

Thanks to Sticky Fingaz Tour Management

Live Review: distance and Myriad Drone at Valhalla, Wellington

distance (NZ) and Myriad Drone (Au)
w/ Spiral & Their Eyes Were Flowers
Valhalla, Wellington
Friday 21 February 2025

Call me hipster, but I’ve been a big fan of distance since before their first release. I remember listening to an advanced copy of their debut EP, over time that Sam Butler sent me and being highly impressed how great he’d managed to make it sound, especially considering how it was essentially a lockdown bedroom album. But then again, I wasn’t surprised. Sam is well known within the music scene. His touches can be widely seen – mixing and recording music, designing posters and album art, filling in on bass and guitar. distance was a project that highlighted just how talented he was.

Since then, Sam has recruited a band of fantastic musicians, released a few albums, and played a bunch of shows. I’ve followed the band with great interest and was delighted when I saw this tour announced.

Myriad Drone have come over from Australia for the tour. They graced our shores last year, coming over as support for Russian Circles. There are a few cool connections between Myriad Drone and distance. Shane from Myriad Drone is from Nelson, as are the members of distance, although none of them live in Nelson these days. Shane used to be in a metal band called Zerstiren, who had a reunion tour late last year. Levi Sheehan – best known for drumming in Organectomy – filled in for Zerstiren for the reunion. And Levi also drums in distance. Levi and Shane got chatting about how they were both in post-rock bands, and next thing you know, they’ve planned a cool tour.

Spiral kicked the night off. They switched between mellow and intense frequently, but keeping the energy high. A lot of midwest emo and post-hardcore influences shone through, and I especially liked the spoken word sections that remind me of La Dispute.

Next up were Their Eyes Were Flowers. They introduced their music as “pretty little songs” before launching into harsh, chaotic music. The songs had structure, but they seemed messy and partially free flow. I’m not sure about the tunings, but the guitars sounded discordant with jagged riffs. It was a challenging listen. I could see that they were trying to make some kind of artistic statement, but I didn’t like it.

Myriad Drone were up next. I’d bumped into them and had a chat with them on Cuba St shortly before the gig, and they faintly remembered me from having yarns at the Russian Circles show last year. They seemed happy to see me, and were super friendly. And their music was great. They’re about to release a new album, A World Without Us, on March 8th, and we were fortunate enough to get a taste of the new songs. They sounded fantastic.

I thought it was funny that Shane and Simon wore Russian Circles and Botch t-shirts, respectively – both bands featuring the same bassist, Brian Cook. I thought Hayley was wearing a Nine Inch Nails top at first glance, but upon inspection it turned out to be a NIN x Monty Python parody referencing the Knights who say Ni!

You know that the band should be bringing the goods when they’ve all got in ear monitors and backing tracks, so it was no surprise that Myriad Drone had a full, vibrant sound. I was surprised how transcendent some of the songs sounded, even while Hayley was going nuts on the blastbeats. I loved seeing how Shane and Jacob added their vocals to the mix to create more subtle textures in the music as well. Their set was a real treat to behold.

distance have been around for a few years now, but it feels like they’ve ascended rapidly, garnering international recognition for their quality recordings, and great slots supporting overseas touring artists and NZ festivals. Earlier this month they’d joined God Is An Astronaut on the two NZ legs of their international tour.

distance have freshly been reduced to a core trio, but the three of them collectively create such a lush, dense sound that you’d have no idea that they’re a man down. You can just tell that they know what they’re doing. Toby Leman (best known for his band Hummicide, amongst many others) came on for a guest appearance for roughly half the set, adding his sweet saxophone to the mix. He stood there statuesque, wearing sunglasses and adding a his element aspect to fantastic music. It sounded good, and was somewhat novel because I haven’t come across the use of brass instruments in post-rock music much (The Dark Third, and this Caspian video come to mind, but not much else).

The lights were fairly dim and subdued, and although distance are by no means boring, there was less of a focus on showmanship, and they let the immersive music do the talking. It was primal, captivating. Like Myriad Drone, they still had metal elements like blastbeats and tremolo riffing at times, but it never felt jarring. There’s not much that I find more thrilling than beholding exceptional musicians, masterfully commanding their instruments onstage like this.

Looking around the venue, Valhalla was reasonably full. Everyone else stood entranced. I bet they were all thankful that they’d chosen to spend their Friday night like this.

Tomorrow distance and Myriad Drone play the Paisley Stage in Napier, along with FVKVSHIMA. They’ll then head to the South Island for shows in Christchurch and Nelson next week.

distance and Myriad Drone are playing the following dates:

Friday 21 February – Valhalla, Wellington w/ Their Eyes Were Flowers + Spiral

Saturday 22 February – Paisley Stage, Napier w/ FVKVSHIMA

Friday 28 February – Wunderbar Lyttelton, Christchurch w/ Necropolis + Ragweed

Saturday 1 March – Coastal Carnage Festival

Tickets from UnderTheRadar: https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/news/21973/Distance–Myriad-Drone-AUS-Aotearoa-Tour-2025-Announced.utr

Links:

distance: https://lnk.bio/distancenz

Myriad Drone: https://myriaddrone.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/myriaddrone/