The Gracemakers Kent Morris and Tiffany Kommedal   first single Blanket has been released to radio last week. The track has been lifted off their previous four track self titled release- an Ep that has been a year in the making.
‘We set about writing songs without having any idea of how they would sound stylistically. Tiffany (Kommedal) drives the content of the songs lyrically as well as emotional and I work on guitar duties.’
‘It really is a good song-writing relationship. We click really well on what a  song should be about and how it should be structured. It’s always been that way with us from when we first started working together,’ he explains.
Kent has been involved in writing music for TV, film and other performers, what has he enjoyed the most? He thought for a moment and was unable to go to either corner. Music is the appeal, whatever genre he is writing for.
He has crossed referenced so many styles, rock, folk, electronica, I wondered about Folk?
Was he just getting that bit older and it suited his personality?
‘That was the style that really suited Tiff’s songs I found it really quite different and challenging.’
Have you had to buy some beads to fit in with the folk image?
“Yes and no.’ (He laughs).
When you write music do you write it in silence?
‘How else do you write it?”
I ventured people tick, people hum, people click, people slap guitars.
‘I love silence. Silence is the go. The best time for me to write music is when there is silence.’
So what is the best environment for you to write music? A comfy chair, sitting under a tree, sitting on the edge of your bed?
‘The comfy chair would have to be the way to go for me.’
Being a “folk” guy would your chair be blue?
‘It’s actually an old Chinese, wooden bench with rough branch legs. It’s really beautiful.’
As an Indigenous arts officer, Kent is currently curator of the Confined 4 exhibition  on display at The Gallery, St Kilda Town Hall from February 8 to March 7. that features artworks from Indigenous prisoners in Victoria’s prisons.
Travelling to eleven of Victoria’s prisons Kent was able to source the stunning artwork for the exhibition.
What were the greatest juxstapositions in selecting work? Was he expecting angry paintings of red and black,  or did you get a painting of delicate skill from some-one in gaol for murdering someone?
‘One of the things that really hit me was the richness and power of Aboriginal culture. One of the things that really surprised me was the ingenuity of many of the artists, in often such confining environments.
Who surprised you the most?
‘There was one guy there with a history of social isolation, he’d lost his family connections, he’d been adopted, he was really alone, when I saw him he was coping other people’s artwork. I wanted him to work on his own. Develop he own styles.  happened to be back months later and I saw this most stunning piece of work. It was a work featuring the faces of elders, all in black on this vivid yellow background. It was sensational!’
What is the age range of the artists?
“From eighteen up to 60 years fo age.
‘Will there be anyone coming out of prison who will now be able to make a career as an artist?
Definitely. There is a huge potential for some of the fellows who are out to make a success of it!’
What’s the secret to all this energy of yours?
‘Dry organic figs.’

Blanket and The Gracemakers EP are now available on iTunes.

www.facebook.com/thegracemakers | www.myspace.com/thegracemakers

Peter Sutton

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At the risk of stating the blatantly obvious, American rock band Switchfoot are far from the heaviest band on the Soundwave bill. They’re also probably the least debaucherous and party-ready band in the lineup, with all members being staunch Christians. With all that said, they may seem an interesting choice for a massive bill chock-full of ungodly, murderously heavy bands such as Meshuggah, Slipknot, Lamb of God and Gojira. But bassist and backing vocalist Tim Foreman, speaking from his home in San Diego, welcomes the challenge of playing alonside such brutality, and is very confident they will give an excellent account of themselves.

“No, we like mixing it up like that,” he states with conviction, “we’ve been playing on those types of bills our entire career. Especially over here in the States. We grew up going to punk and metal shows, those are the shows that really got us into music as kids, you know? We’re honoured to be on the bill, and I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun!

“We do a lot of these type of festivals,” he continues, “here in the States and over in Europe as well. You get to see a lot of bands in one day, which we enjoy just as much as the people who buy tickets to go do. We’re fans of the music just like everyone else, and a lot of the times it becomes a big reunion back stage. You see a lot of bands you played with in the past, so it’s always good times!”

Not only have they played on many bills of this nature in the past, the band tend to switch things up for these type of festivals, and bring their hardest rocking A-game to the fold, as Tim explains.

“Well for Soundwave, we’re gonna be bringin’ our rock!” he foretells, “and so it’ll be a pretty high energy show. We tend to just go for it onstage. Jon (Foreman, Tim’s brother and the band’s frontman) is one of those frontmen where you never know whether he’s going to jump into the drum set, or dive into the crowd! Anything can happen, and that’s what I love about it, the recklessness of just getting onstage and going for it.

“We’re doing some headline shows while we’re over there as well,” he says, “we’ll be able to catch our breathe with those, and mix it up a little, be a little bit more diverse. Songs from the entire career that we’ve been a band.”

Speaking of which, it’s been a solid decade and a half that Switchfoot have been around. And it’s been a pretty damn successful career to boot, with eight highly successful albums, a Grammy and many other accolades and mutiple chart singles under their collective belts. Tim often finds it hard to believe that so much water has passed under the bridge for the band.

“It sure doesn’t feel like it (15 years since the band formed),” he states, “but I think that’s the truth, I think we just closed 15 years as a band. And that just feels unbelievable to say that.There’s not many bands that I can just rattle off the top of my head that have been around that long. We certainly never expected to be still doing this 15 years later, that’s for sure. So there’s a lot to be thankful for. It’s ironic though, because we still feel like a baby band. We’re still figuring it out, and learning, and we still feel fresh, like we’re still just getting going here!”

Something that keeps them going for so long has been the pure joy of writing new music and releasing albums, and they have been quite prolific in that length of time. Eight albums since their debut was released in 1997 is better than a new record every two years, and they never seem to run out of inspiration to create new sounds and songs.

“Yeah, we love makin’ songs, it’s what keeps us going,” he enthuses, “the music, the songs, all have a story, and I think we write better through hard times than through good. We’ve been through a lot of adversity as a band, and I think music is a great way to deal with that. I guess we write more about things we don’t understand than things we do. And the music that’s always spoken to me as a fan has always been the same way, music that really takes you somewhere.”

Another thing that spurs the band to keep going through tough times has been their faith. Plus while they don’t actually consider themselves a ‘christian band’ as such, it puts them is a very good position, where they are able to appeal to both Christan and non-Christian fans.

“You know, that’s a funny one,” he understates the situation, “we’ve always been completely honest about our beliefs, and where we’re coming from. At the same time people are always trying to put you in boxes. Our music is just honest, it comes from an honest place, of beliefs and doubts and struggles, and I think it’s something that speaks to a lot of people, but not to everyone…we write songs that a lot of people do appreciate, and the ones that don’t, we couldn’t care less about at this point. You kinda have to have that attitude these days, if you’re gonna make music that you believe in.”

Rod Whitfield

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Jamey Jasta’s voice sounds like he’s been screaming his lungs out in a brutal hardcore act for almost 20 years. Funny that. He also tells us that there’s no special secret or formula for his band Hatebreed’s extended longevity.

“We just enjoy touring with each other and we enjoy recording records,” he states, “it’s as simple as that. We would probably record more, if it wasn’t so commonplace for us to do a record and go on the road for two years. But I think, with the way that things are changing we’ll do another record this year and then maybe put it out early next year. And then we’ll probably go into the crazy touring again, even though we’re doing so much touring this year. We’re going to Australia, then we’re going to South America with Lamb of God, we’re going to Europe to do the festivals.

“I think the longevity of the band comes from the fact that we stagger it out,” he continues, “we don’t just go to the same places every year. We go every two or three years.”

And it’s not just a case of the band enjoying what they do and keeping things fresh in this way, it’s also an absolute must that the members get along, so that they can spend such long periods of time in each other’s company in the studio and on the road.

“On this last tour with Five Finger Death Punch and All that Remains, they were like ‘you guys all hang out with each other every day!’” he laughs “they thought that was weird! And we were like ‘yeah! We get along!’ But I guess it’s like people who’ve been together for a long time, it’s like a marriage, you stay together for the kids.” he chuckles again, “But for us, I think we’re all very easy to get along with.”

Hatebreed are well known for being one of the most aggressive, pissed off bands around, both musically and lyrically. Jamey agrees that their anger at the world has fuelled the fire in their lyrics and actually given them the strength to carry on as a band through the good times and the bad.

“Yeah, there’s no shortage of injustice in the world,” he concurs, “so long as that’s out there, there’s always something to sing about. Now with the landscape in America, there’s been a lot of doom and gloom, a lot of corporate greed and corruption and poverty and political drama. All that’s going to influence the next Hatebreed record. But there’s good out there as well, you can’t always look at the glass half empty, you still have to have some sort of positive outlook. Because you can’t change the world if you’re not happy with yourself. You have to have a positive mindset before you can change other people’s minds.”

It’s this latter thought that comes out in their lyrics as well, and the band’s fans have defintely appreciated the juxtaposition of anger and the more uplifting messages in their words.

“Yeah, absolutely,” he agrees, “I’ve gotten letters, emails, Facebook messages, Myspace comments for years and years and years, saying that the music has positively affected people. Not to mention we’re building an archive of, we have thousands of tatoos that people have of our lyrics and name. It’s nice to see, you know? The little impact we’ve made, I’m glad to say it’s been more than just headbanging and entertainment. People really take the lyrics to heart, which is nice.”

The band touch down in Australia very shortly to jump onto the massive Soundwave bill, for what will be their eighth or ninth trip Down Under. Jamey is absolutely pumped to return, as they never seem to tire of our country: “Oh yeah I can’t wait,” he enthuses, “it’s gonna be great. We’re getting a lot of good feedback on the Facebook, and all the other social networking sites. People really seems to be really excited to have Hatebreed come back, so it’s awesome.”

Even though they’re coming up on two decades together as a band, Jamey is still extremely optimistic that the band can carry on for a number of years yet. “I’d like to think so!” he foretells, “A while back, I made a comment about doing it when I was sixty, like Lemmy! From non Hatebreed fans that received a lot of negative comments. Like me or not, respect me or not, I’ve done just as many shows as a lot of older bands, if not more. There was years when we did 300 shows in a year. We’re still out there kickin’ ass every night, and I would like to be doing it when I’m that age. I’m not apologetic about thinking that we have the possibility to do that.”

Speaking to the force of nature that is Jamey Jasta, frontman for one of the all time great hardcore bands in history, only a fool would doubt their potential to still be cranking out the tunes in another 15 to 20 years.

Rod Whitfield

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Ray, can you tell us what fascinated you enough about the Walsh Street murders to make you want to write ‘A Pack Of Bloody Animals’?

In the early 90’s I was commissioned to write a documentary about the Walsh Street killings because I was known as a crime writer who wouldn’t simply accept the Police Media Liaison’s version of events as many crime writers were known to do (some still do). I spent 18 months researching and writing a 100 page treatment for the doco. I concluded that two of the four charged with the murders were definitely innocent and in my opinion the relevant police would’ve known that. The doco never went ahead so I used my research to write a stage play called The Truth Game. It played at the Carlton Courthouse in 1996 to packed houses. Fourteen years later when John Kerr asked me to co-write a book on Walsh Street I  agreed on the basis we would write the true story.

Can you tell us why you think Victorians are so fascinated with this case?

Because readers are fascinated by crime and Walsh Street was one of the most horrific crimes committed in Australia. It pre-empted a vicious war between police and criminals. Both sides broke the informal rules; the crims had executed two innocent police in a desperate attempt at survival after the Armed Robbery Squad killed an armed robber in dubious circumstances and as a consequence of the crims executing the innocent police investigators by-passed due process in their attempts to bring the guilty to justice. We’re also fascinated because an artistic culture, including books, television series, films, articles and music has kept Walsh Street alive. There has developed somewhat of a media industry premised upon the mistaken belief that the defendants who were found innocent were wrongly acquitted. Had all four defendants been convicted Walsh street may have submerged as simply another solved crime. But the industry surrounding Walsh Street is kept alive by a media intent on hounding the acquitted.

Can you tell us a little about the process of putting together the book?

John and I met often to map out the structure. I was the one who had done most of the research and had access to the transcripts and statements of all involved. John’s a natural crime writer so the book is written in his voice. It was important that the ‘voice’ of the book be consistent so most of my writing was converted into his voice. We used email/telephone/face-to-face meetings to analyse everything. We agreed from the start that for something to go in the book we both had to consent.

‘A pack Of Bloody Animals’ contains a lot of documentation (interviews etc) that weren’t made available to the public, how were you able to access them?

When I worked on the doco I had access to all the court transcripts. I also had access to Wendy and Victor Peirce and Peter McEvoy. Peter McEvoy gave me all his court documents.  I had ten thousand pages of documents. It took me half a year to read them. Because the media basically ran the police version and rarely gave a favourable account from the defendant’s point of view there was this incredible information that the public had never seen, but I had. And that became the basic of the book.

You interviewed some of the suspects, what was it like to sit down and talk to them?

Incredibly, given all that had been written about Walsh Street nobody had bothered to interview Wendy and Victor Peirce or Peter McEvoy, and because they had read a book I’d written, based on Chris Flannery, A Green Light, they were prepared to talk to me. I found them open and eager to get across their side of the story. As you’ll read in the book I had an important interview with Victor Peirce, late at night in a football carpark, because he was concerned I might portray Wendy negatively in the doco.

There is talk that laws will be changed so that Victorian Police can once again charge the men who they believe were the Walsh Street murderers, do you believe that this is just a witch hunt?

It’s hard to know if it’s a witch hunt. I believe anyone who objectively analyses all the facts would never consider re-charging Anthony Farrell or Trevor Pettingill. With Peter McEvoy it’s difficult to say because he has admitted taunting police with the claim he killed the police in Walsh Street. But apart from those taunts there is only circumstantial evidence of his guilt and from my reading of the case the police would have to come up with new evidence to re-try anyone. And whether or not they have substantial new evidence is the big question. If they do then it’s not a witch hunt but if they don’t then there’s an argument that claims of retrying the Walsh Street defendants is simply propaganda to support a move to rescind our double jeopardy law.

While writing ‘A Pack Of Bloody Animals’ do you believe that you came to realise who was responsible for the murders? What do you believe happened?

I came to the conclusion while I was writing the doco and it hasn’t changed to this day. I’m sure Victor Peirce and Jedd Houghton, who was subsequently killed by police prior to the trial, killed Damien Eyre and Stephen Tynan. I doubt (but don’t really know) that Peter McEvoy was in Walsh Street that night and I am certain Anthony Farrell and Trevor Pettingill had nothing whatsoever to do with Walsh Street.

The film ‘Animal Kingdom’ looked at the Walsh Street murders, how close was it to the truth? What did you think of it as a film?

First, I loved Animal Kingdom, except for the last 10 minutes, which for me was lazy writing. Second, it was miles from the truth, in that it was only loosely based on some events that were relevant to Walsh Street. And that’s fair enough because it was a feature film, not a documentary. I consider David Michod to be a stand-out director. His short film Crossbow is one of the best short films I’ve seen.

As a screenwriter you were once nominated for an AFI Award. Would you ever consider writing a film on the Walsh Street murders?

Definitely. The true story is more dramatic than anything that’s been written about Walsh Street, except of course for A Pack Of Bloody Animals.

How challenging as a writer was it for you to put together this book?

Every writing task is challenging. I’ve written plays, novels, short stories, articles and films and they are always challenging. With this project the biggest challenge was to collaborate with a crime writer who was already established and accept there would need to be areas of compromise. We had enough material for three books and decisions of what to select for the final draft were extremely difficult.

Is there anything that you would like people to know before they read ‘A Pack Of Bloody Animals?

Only to repeat that often crime journalists are terrified of upsetting police media and consequently limit their sources and therefore the public don’t always get access to the truth. So this book could upset readers who have been weaned on biased information.

Where is ‘A Pack Of Bloody Animals’ available for those who want to buy it?

All major book outlets and online book distributors. If they don’t have it in stock ask them to order it for you.

Dave Griffiths

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So guys tell us a little about yourself as a band? Who are you members, what do they play? How long have you been playing? What bands/artists have you played with in the past?

We are an independent folk duo from Byron Bay. Dale and I both write our material and we both sing and back each other up vocally. Dale has recently been adding some new instruments to our show, using a kick drum and snare while playing guitar and singing. I’m on electric guitar and have just  purchased a very exciting loop pedal which I am introducing to our set.  We opened for a lot of artists last year, Sarah McLeod, James Reyne, Benjalu and have played The Sydney Blues & Roots Festival, The Caloundra Music Festival and Dale has performed at The Byron Bay Bluesfest & Woodford Folk Fest.

How did you get involved in music?

We’ve both been performing since we were young as solo singer/songwriters. We met in  Queensland, started backing one another up on each others songs and have since been doing everything by trial and error – which is the best way to learn as indie artists – and we have a lot of friends who we can call on for advice as we go. I couldn’t imagine not being involved in music now, I don’t know what we’d do.

How would you describe your sound?

We like to call our music indie folk, there’s a lot of acoustic guitars, electric guitars, finger pickin’ and we use some pretty folky instruments like mandolin, banjo-mandolin and double bass on our recordings – we like to layer – layer guitars, layer vocals, lots of harmonies….  We are really embracing the Australian multi instrumentalist culture and have been describe as somewhere between Xavier Rudd and Angus and Julia Stone

Who are your influences?

I love a lot of folk artists, Fleet Foxes, Jenny Lewis & Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes.

Dale has a more rock influence, Kanye West, Counting Crows, Gorillaz…  We both share a love for Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Elvis Costello, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Bowie…

Are you exited or nervous about your upcoming tour?

So excited. We’ve had such a good response so far to our set and have been introducing new song which we can’t wait to show people.

If you could share a stage with any band/artist in the world who would you choose?

I would love to share the stage with Jenny Lewis, maybe we could sing Acid Tongue together. Dale’s dream musical date is Jon Cleary from New Orleans.

What are your career highlights so far?

Touring Canada was an incredible experience and definitely a highlight for us. We performed on morning television over there and had a great response which was exciting. Another highlight was having our song ‘Sun And Moon’ as the most ordered song for community radio over three weeks on AirIt. It was unexpected and gave us this great boost of confidence for our original music and songwriting.

If a crowd comes to see The Firetree perform live what will they go away remembering?

Great music, great vibes, great people and hopefully they will be humming one of the hooks from ours songs.

Maybe they’ll have had a dance and be remembering one of our extremely good looking fans busting a move : ) or have a cheeky, unexpected cover song spinning around there head.

What do you enjoy about touring with each other? What don’t you like?

The best thing is being able to share all these experiences with someone you love, a lot of people say touring is lonely but that’s not the case for us. Also meeting amazing people on the road, everyone is in holiday mode over summer and up for a good time. The worst thing is the confined space of the car. It’s pretty cramped with all our gear packed in and such a pain when you can’t find something when you really need it.

 

You’re about to release a new EP titled ‘The Morning EP’ what can you tell us about it? What can people expect to hear on it? Tell us a little about the process of putting it together.

We had performed most of the songs on The Morning EP while touring throughout 2011 and we were really trying to capture what do live. So over seven days we recorded and fine-tuned our favorite new songs.  Everything was recorded and produced by Dale and every track performed by him or myself – with the exception of double bass by Jesse Stanley.  The whole process was an experiment, we would work on each song until it felt right and then send it to be mixed. There were a few all nighters, a few computer crashes and tears though in the end we couldn’t be happier with how it sounds. This recording really reflects where we are at at the moment as artists and songwriters.

Where do you hope you end up in 2012? What are you short term goals? What are your long term goals?

We hope that the tour is a success and we are always trying to improve our live show and create bigger sounds between the two of us. We’re already  talking about recording another EP, so we’re writing as much as we can and trying to get the very best of our new songs ready. Our goal is always to keep moving on to bigger things. Longer term we are hoping to get back to tour Canada as a duo and take our new material and album over there.

Aside from your tour is there anywhere The Firetree plays regularly so people can come and see you?

You can always check out our facebook www.facebook.com/thefiretree to see where we are playing – we travel so often we don’t really have a home base at the moment!

So we should always be playing at a town near you

Is there anything else you would like people to know about you and your music?

We have a free download of the first track ‘Muskets And Tears’ from The Morning EP available online from our website and facebook. We’d love for you to check it out.

Do you have a website people can check out?

Yes! www.thefiretree.com and www.facebook.com/thefiretree are the best places to find us on the web.

Dave Griffiths

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Hi Paul, thanks for taking the time to do this. Can you tell us a little about yourself as a musician and who the members of The Mayblooms and what are their roles?

I fronted an Alt Country/Rock band for the last 5 years called ‘Cooper Street Exit’  and am now embarking on a record with a bunch of different musos who are ‘The Mayblooms’. The guys are made up of members from bands such as a punk rock band called ‘Waverley’, an ambient prog/folk outfit called ‘Autumn Gray’, my brother, and couple of guys from bands of yesteryear.

How long have you been playing together? Can you tell us how you originally formed? Where did your name come from?

The Mayblooms as a band are less than twelve months old. As musicians, we’ve all wanted to play together for years but didn’t have the right project for it. It was when I decided I wanted to record a solo album post ‘Cooper Street Exit’ that we realised it would most likely work. As far as the name goes, The Mayblooms was taken from The Hawthorn football club. Before 1943, they were known as the Mayblooms and supposedly changed their name because it was a bit ‘soft’. But I’m for all things soft, so we claimed it.

How would you describe your sound?

The whole point of the solo record was to throw any ideas of what style I wanted to sound like out the window. Naturally through the recording process though, we found a cohesive sound that though diverse, fits nicely together as a whole. Davin (producer) and myself really wanted to make our own version of Augie March’s ‘Sunset studies’. And while we would never say we’ve made something as stunningly beautiful as Sunset Studies, it was a great yardstick. Mix Augie March’s Ambiance  with Ryan Adams’ Alt Countryness and you’ll find something like the Mayblooms.

Who are your influences?

I unfortunately don’t have that uber cool rock story where I can tell you I was brought up on nothing but Beatles and Stones records. I only ever listened to my first Beatles record at the age of 21. There was two options in our house. Creedence Clearwater revival or Cliff Richard Circa 1986. Although I can hear the meld of these two acts in my music, it would be people I discovered later in life like Nick Drake, Whiskeytown and Tom Waits that make me keep wanna making music interesting.

Have you had many gigs recently?

We have been super quiet on the gigging front while we’ve been making the record. When you rehearse, you wanna know what you are rehearsing for. If you have too many gigs on the calender you end up trying to focus on making an interesting show rather than focusing on how things should sound on the record. So we really didn’t want to play while making. We have the single launch on Feb 3^rd at the Wesley Anne in Melbourne. After that, im gonna take some time to play interstate and get away for a bit.

If you could share a stage with any band in the world who would you choose?

I’d say Ron Sexsmith, but sharing a stage with him makes you not count at all. That guy is so good live the audience would have long forgotten about who was on before hand. Put me on tour with Wilco. I’ll be happy watching those guys every night.

What are your career highlight so far?

This being a new project, the highlight would have to be hearing the Single blast back through the monitors at Sing Sing studios, right after the mixing process. It sounded tops. More people should have rooms in their houses dedicated to music. But overall, when playing in my previous band ‘Cooper Street Exit’ we built up a reputation as a rocking live band. Whenever we would book a show at The Tote in Collingwood, it would be like a reunion. Everyone knew if it was at The Tote and Cooper Street Exit were playing, it was going to be a great night. They were fun.

If a crowd comes to see Paul McManus & The Mayblooms perform live what will they go away remembering?

Probably not much after all the drinks consumed. For the few that do remember the night, I’d hope they’d like the sincerity of the performance. There’s no following trends to please the people of the latest fad. It’s a bunch of guys playing their music and being super grateful for having people watching it. So I’d say that. And maybe the three part harmonies at the end of ‘Stalled’.

You’re just about to release a new Album. What can people expect to hear on it?

We went for the idea of a mini album. 8 songs. Nothing too long. Moments that reek of Nostalgia, Depression and Sunshine. There’s some sections that sound as delicate as a Neil young Record, and some that are as epic as a Coldplay Crowd Pleaser. The vibe feels as if your walking down a sunny country road, hungover after a night on amphetamines and alcohol. Pleasant, but disconnected.

What was the process like putting together the Album?

Extremely relaxing. We recorded the majority of it live to Analogue tape over a six month period. It was nice to space it out over that time so there was no looking at the clock  then watching your wallet empty because of studio fees. Everyone was in such a rad mind state to record the songs. No one was in a shit period of their lives where their dog had just died or their partner had just left them for someone else. The Hardest part was deciding the tracking order.

Are you nervous about the launch?

Extremely. We are putting final touches on the live show, and being the first one that’s more than just me playing acoustic, I’m very nervous, but oh so excited to be back on the horse that I’d felt I’d fallen off of. That being playing as part of a band.

Where do you hope Paul McManus & The Mayblooms end up in 2012? What are you short term goals? What are your long term goals?

Exactly where we are right now. Enthusiastic and excited about the future. Sure, I’d love the album to do well, be the face of rolling stone and be playing every major festival, but you never know how things will plan out. So short term goals are where its at. Right after the launch in Melbourne, we’ll be heading round Australia, playing and promoting for the album release. There’s also another project of home recordings myself and some friends are working on. Ideally. I don’t wanna be working for the man.

Where do you play live so people can come to see you?

The Wesley Anne in Northcote on Feb 3^rd. The Brunswick hotel on Feb 11^th for a fundraiser ‘The Lighthouse Foundation’ are putting on, and then interstate and regional Victoria. More details to come on those.

Is there anything else you would like people to know about your music?

It sounds great stoned.

Do you have a website people can check out?

www.paul-mcmanus.com

Dave Griffiths

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So Ollie tell us a little about yourself as a musician? How long have you been playing? What bands/artists have you played with in the past?

I started playing Tuba when I was eight, but I’ve been singing and playing guitar for about four years now. I toured through the U.S for six months in 2010, and was lucky enough to tour Australia with Michael Buble in 2011. That year I also opened for Rai Thistlethwayte, Hank Marvin (The Shadows) and The Black Sorrow’s and was recently voted ‘Australia’s Best Busker’ by mX & VOX Magazine.

How did you get involved in music?

My dear mother told me to learn an instrument in primary school so I picked up Tuba. I later realised that this instrument does not get you laid, so I started singing and playing guitar.

How would you describe your sound?

I’d say it’s a little bit of everything but if I have to put it in a genre, I would say it sounds like folk/alternative country and soft rock.

Who are your influences?

Ryan Adams, Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, David Gray & Kurt Diercke

Are you exited or nervous about your upcoming tour?

Really excited! There’s nothing better than being on the road.

If you could share a stage with any band/artist in the world who would you choose?

Ryan Adams.

What are your career highlights so far?

Playing at ‘The Bitter End’ in New York City, touring Australia with Michael Buble and just recently being voted ‘Australia’s Best Busker’.

If a crowd comes to see you perform live what will they go away remembering?

My hair.

What do you enjoy about touring? What don’t you like?

I enjoy travelling across the country and playing shows to new people every night. The only thing I don’t like is the hangover that I wake up to most mornings…

You’re about to release a new EP titled ‘Moving On’ what can you tell us about it? What can people expect to hear on it? Tell us a little about the process of putting it together.

I recorded the EP live with pianist Kurt Diercke and Producer Sean Carey at Trackdown Studio’s in Sydney. Kurt plays keys and guitar with me on the road so we basically just walked in to the studio and hit the record button. We decided to make it an acoustic EP (acoustic guitars, piano, strings & vocals) because we wanted the CD to replicate what we are doing as a live act. The EP is available on iTunes or you can come to a show and get a copy from us

Where do you hope you end up in 2012? What are you short term goals? What are your long term goals?

Short term goals are to keep touring the country and making new fans. Long term goals are to not die from malnutrition and to use the major prize from the busking comp and record an album at Studio’s 301.

Aside from your tour is there anywhere you play regularly so people can come and see you?

I tend to play in my hometown (Newcastle) as much as possible at places like Lizotte’s and The Great Northern Hotel. I also play in Sydney pretty regularly too.

Is there anything else you would like people to know about you and your music?

Im 6″ 6′ I’ve got blonde hair, blue eyes and I like short to mid-range walks through the jungle…

Do you have a website people can check out?

www.olliebrown.com

Don’t miss The Firetree and Ollie Brown as they criss-cross the country and perform at a venue near you this Summer :

Thursday 12th January, 2012
Armidale Club, 91 Beardy Street,Armidale, NSW
Free entry Doors open : 8pm.

Friday 20th January 2012
Mars Hill Cafe, 331 Church Street,Parramatta, NSW
$10 Tickets at the door. Doors open : 8pm
Supports : Caitlin Harnett

Saturday 21st January 2012
Carrington Hotel, 47 Katoomba Street, Katoomba, NSW
$10 Tickets at the door. Doors open : 9pm

Friday 27th January 2012
Oxford Arts Factory, 38-46 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst,
Sydney, NSW
Free entry, Doors open : 8pm
Supports : Mardi Pannan

Friday 3rd February ,2012
Yours And Owls, 95a Crown Street, Wollongong, NSW
$8 tickets at the door. Doors open : 8pm
Supports : Bennie James

Saturday 4th February 2012
Front Gallery, 1 Wattle Palce, Lyneham, Canberra, ACT
$10 tickets at the door. Doors open : 8pm

Thursday 23rd February 2012
The Empress Hotel, 714 Nicholson Street, Fitzroy North VIC
$10 Tickets at the door.
Times & supports TBC

Saturday 25th February, 2012
Bended Elbow, 69 Yarra Street, Geelong, VIC
$10 tickets at the door.
Times & supports TBC

Sunday 4th March, 2012
Gleneg Surf Club, The Foreshore, Glenelg, SA
Free entry. Doors open : 5:30pm

Dave Griffiths

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South Africa is better known for its cricketing and rugby playing prowess and former apartheid laws than the great rock bands it has produced over the years. Bucking this trend is arguably its greatest rock export Seether, a three piece alternative rock act from Pretoria, who have achieved worldwide acclaim during their 12 years of existence. Bassist and backing vocalist Dale Stewart admits that it was indeed tough to break out of a scene and a country that is so far off the world rock radar, but he’s ultimately very glad they did.

“Yeah, it is quite difficult,” he agrees, “we did end up being lucky I guess, by finding a label in the States who were willing to bring us over. Wind-Up Records out of New York City, they heard our CD which we’d released in South Africa. We’d sent it over to them, and they liked it, and they said ‘we’d like to meet you guys.’ So we flew over and met with them and signed a deal with them. So if it wasn’t for them doing that it would have been that much harder. So it was a case of everything falling into place and falling in line, and I guess we were kind of lucky in a way.

“But it is difficult to be recognised outside a country that is not recognised for its rock music or its rock bands,”  he continues, “so to get the recognition in the first place is kinda hard, but I will say once we got that deal, we honestly thought ‘Oh Wow, we’ve made it! This is it, now it’s plain sailing!’ But we couldn’t be more wrong. Now the real work began, all of a sudden we were these tiny fish in the ocean, whereas we were relatively large fish in a little pond, of South Africa. It was kind of an eye opener, but it’s been a crazy ride. We really can’t complain, the industry in the States and the rest of the world has been really good to us.”

The band have recently announced a tour of Australia, which pulls into Melbourne on Saturday February 14^th. It has actually been a relatively rare thing since their inception back in 1999, and so they are very glad to be coming back. “Absolutely, very much so,” he enthuses, “we always like playing Down Under, it’s not something we do often enough. So when we do it’s something we get pretty excited about.

“I think it’s only two or three time we’ve been able to come down there to play,” he recalls, “so it’s kind of a rare occasion for us. But hopefully in the future it’s something we can do a little bit more of. Every time we go down there the response has been great, we’re always getting Facebooks and Tweets and emails and things saying ‘hey, play down in Oz’, and all this kind of stuff. So hopefully it’s something we can a little bit more of in the future.”

Being that it’s always so long in between drinks for Seether’s sojourns to Australia, it’s a fair bet that many of the people who are going to check them out will not have seen them before, so Dale let us know what to expect from their live set. They promise a no-frills rock and roll show.

“Yeah man, I think we’re just kind of an old school rock band,” he describes, “we don’t generally pay too much attention, or give much time and energy to theatrics and explosions, and props and things. We just get up there and just rock out. It’s three guys, we’re a three piece, we just get up there and make as much noise as we can, get a bit hammered up on stage, maybe break a few things. Just rock out and make noise, it’s old school. We’ve always said we’re pretty much a garage band. We just like to have a good time, get up and play songs that people hopefully want to hear. Hopefully we don’t suck, and have a couple of drinks in the process!” he laughs.

2012 promises to be an insanely busy year for Seether. They have set an almost inhuman goal for  themselves for the year, so it will be interesting to see if they can attain it.

“We’re going to shoot for doing about 300 shows next year,” he states, in a matter of fact kind of way, belying the enormity of playing almost a show a day across the entire world, “so it’s going to be a busy one. But we can’t complain, if people want to see you, and buy tickets and come to the show, it’s a good thing. Especially in this day and age. We’re just happy to be relevant after a ‘couple’ of years!

“After we see you guys,” he carries on, regarding their schedule for the year, “from there we’re going to Europe, we’re going to do Russia, we’re going to do a lot of countries we haven’t got to do before, so that’s going to be fun. Then we’re back to the States, and do another tour here Stateside. And after that, there’s nothing set in stone, but there’s going to be lots and lots more touring.”

Rod Whitfield

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Sarah, thank you for taking the time to do this, firstly let me ask you about your journey as a musician… you were into music from a very early age? Can you tell us a little about your musical journey to where you are today?

Where do you hope you end up in 2012? What are you short term goals? What are your long term goals?

I hope to be working as a full time musician in 2012. I have two musical projects coming up next year, so that will be a priority for me. Long term, I would love to continue exploring the old and new side to folk music while keeping the respect that they deserve.

Where do you play live so people can come to see you?

There’s are so many places, so the best way to answer this question is to direct your fine selves to www.sunasband.com for the latest gig updates!

Is there anything else you would like people to know about you and your career?

Don’t be fooled into thinking that ‘folk’ is a dirty word – it’s such a rich tapestry of music that you may find yourself liking it. South-east Queensland has so many wonderful musicians, come and see what we’re made of!

Do you have a website people can check out?

You can find me on the Sunas website, or at www.facebook.com/sarahcalderwoodmusic

Dave Griffiths

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Greg, firstly congratulations on a brilliant first issue of Dark Axis… so can you tell us what has made you decide to enter into the wonderful world of comics with a series of your own? Have you always been a comic book fan?

 Thank you, we’re very happy with how the books turned out! I have always been a comics fan. From very early on I was reading and fascinated with the intensity of horror comics, superhero comics and then pretty much everything I could get my hands on. I spent the first part of my life studying to be an artist so the visual is my first language really. I used to draw comics, character designs and all kinds of illustrations for years and have a really strong relationship with painting and art history. Comics and telling stories with pictures has just always been in my blood.

Who introduced you to comics? What have been your faves over the year? Do you have a large collection? Have you read many other Australian comics in the past?

 Probably my mate Dan Austin. He introduced a group of us to comics and various fantasy authors and all sorts of cool stuff when we’re teenagers. I have a pretty large collection from some years back and now just collect various titles, really following writers or an artist I like and occasionally, seeking out new books that are doing something different. I used to collect X-Men, Fantastic Four, Thor and I’m very interested in Golden and Silver Age Marvel comics and artists. I’ve read a few Aussie comics over the past few years, however it does feel like there’s a comic creators renaissance happening right now in Australia with a really energetic and passionate bunch of talented individuals producing great work. Exciting times ahead I think.

So tell us a little bit about Dark Axis, what can readers expect?

 It’s a classic World War 2 action adventure tale that becomes a balls out monster story. Very much good VS evil but investigating the unknown side of the secret weapons programs that were really running all through WW2. There’s several twists and turns in the plotting which keep it really fun as a piece of storytelling and should surprise the crap out of most readers. Plus the characters are awesome too.

Can you tell us a little about the process of putting together Dark Axis?

 I had the idea for the project about 4 years ago and starting working with a screenwriter (Chris Wheeler – who sadly passed away 2 years back) and we developed it as a screenplay and produced some amazing-art work and storyboards. We spent some time on the film version and that was taking forever so we took the material and just decided to create the publishing company Diezel Punk to put the book together to tell the story. We were thinking of creating a publishing company anyway and this was the perfect way to kick it off. We collaborated with Ape Entertainment in the States who were great as partners in the project and we’ve had some terrific artists along the way contribute to the project. It’s been a blast really as you actually get your story told. Sometimes making movies can feel like your jumping hoops the whole time just to get your story on the screen – making a comic book is about a year turnaround whereas movies do sometimes take several years to develop the script, find the team, find the right cast, work out the production method and then begin the financing.  So the company and this book are really borne out of the urge to get some of these cool stories into the world while we’re still creatively hot on the ideas.

What was it like working with your artist, Xavier Irvine?

 Awesome. I saw his work some years back and just exclaimed, “he’s a genius”. I knew then I wanted to do a comic with him and so it was wild to get the opportunity to work together. Nice dude too. Plus he has great metal band called, F*#@ I’m Dead!” which is a must for an artist drawing this kinda material.

Seeing that you are most known for your directional work on Rogue and Wolf Creek do you have any plans of turning Dark Axis into a film?

 As mentioned it started its life as a screenplay, so perhaps. I think the movie would be amazing and it’s something I’d definitely love to see as an audience member! It’s up to the readers really, if people love the story we’ll get some fans behind the book and hopefully get that chance.

Do you hope to create more comics in the future?

 Absolutely. We’ve got a 5 more stories in the Dark Axis story universe planned – so it’s pretty expansive and takes the lead character on a pretty wild ride. Plus we plan to do 2 new titles each year for the next 4 years. We’re very ambitious, but as always with anything we do it’s about creating something that’s really special. Which unfortunately does take lots of time. There’s an amazing Sci-Fi book we’re working on, some Action /Adventure titles and a few Horror titles (of course).

So the big question we ask all comic book fans… are you a DC fan or a Marvel fan?

 To be honest, I do find I’ve always collected more Marvel books over the years. However Batman and Superman are hard to beat so I do have a number of the great series of each. David Mazzuccelli did an amazing Batman run and I’m fond of John Brynes’ Superman years. Right now I find myself looking at more Image, Dark Horse and IDW material. Lots of Independent stuff coming out now also. Plus the amazing Gestalt Publishing from Western Australia – beautiful work coming out of there right now.

If you could direct a film based on any comic/series/or hero which one would you want to do?

 I have a few, just off the top of my head and late at night – I’d do BLACK PANTHER (with Will Smith), Marvel’s ALPHA FLIGHT and remake the shitty PHANTOM movie and make a kick ass picture out of the “Ghost who walks”. Plus I’d probably re-boot the FANTASTIC FOUR movie series, as it sucks terribly and the comic is one of the greatest comics ever created (IMHO). An origin movie of THE SILVER SURFER could be fun too…but this is all after I do Dark Axis – the movie – of course!

Is there anything else you would like our readers to know about Dark Axis?

 Nothing other than I hope they enjoy the book, appreciate the wonderful art and story and support Australian comic creators by buying our work! There’s great things afoot downunder so take a moment to check out this exciting and extremely vibrant creative world!

Dave Griffiths

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