Relocating a band from Canberra to Melbourne is no easy feat… just ask the guys of metal outfit, Agave Maize.
Made up of Greg Ho (guitars), Rich McMaster (vocals), Joel Goodwin (vocals), Shannon Hyde (bass) and Lucas Lord-Harris (drums), Agave Maize have recorded a terrific debut album and are excited about their move to Melbourne, ‘We’ve had some ongoing challenges as the band has been split across Melbourne and Canberra since 2003, but with us all now residing in the lovely Melbourne, we see 2008 as a great year to get some momentum going for us.’
And while they are influenced by bands such as Aborym, Katatonia and Opeth, bassist Shannon Hyde says Agave Maize haven’t put a label on themselves, ‘We’re definitely Metal but we don’t aim or confine ourselves to a sub genre. We all have differing influences which can make our sound quite eclectic and hard to label, I think. We’re mostly mid-tempo and somewhat melodic while maintaining a lot of aggression and energy. To be honest, we’re probably still finding out exactly what ‘our sound’ is but it’s getting more consistent.’
So what inspired their brilliant debut album? ‘Agave Maize is our collective outlet for our extreme emotions, feelings and thoughts. We put a lot of thought into our lyrics and cover some pretty messed up stuff. We like that we have the band as an outlet where we don’t need to be censored, I guess it keeps us sane enough to avoid going on some sort of killing rampage haha.’
The great news is fans will be able to pick up this album at their gigs so make sure you check out www.myspace.com/agavemaize for their gig information. This is one metal band Melbourne needs to embrace with open arms.