[tour] Up And Atom (AU) SE Asia Tour (Feb 2012)

Well, whaddaya know -- more Aussies! Feb really shows us a chockful of 'em tours and mid-month it comes in the form of Melbourne pop-punk band UP AND ATOM! Simpsons' reference aside, this 5-piece female-fronted outfit who in the past has dropped a demo and naturally, played a bunch of shows, are just getting started. They'll be releasing an EP this month, so what better opportunity than to embark on a SE Asia tour right now?

We're loving that upbeat and happy 'easycore' sound! Look out for Singapore show details soonish.

Tour brought to you by Kongsi Jahat Syndicate and Learn To Trust Records.

[tour] Video Nasty (AU) SE Asia Tour (Feb 2012)

We told ya, Feb is Aussie month. Following hot on the heels of CLOWNS, JESS LOCKE, and VIRGINIA SOOK is fastcore outfit VIDEO NASTY. Over here we have a special penchant for short, fast, and loud bands so this is something we are highly anticipating. We've seen some pretty crazy-looking shows courtesy of YouTube with their manic vocalist Mishu so hold tight for this! 

Word has it that they will be releasing a tape in time for the tour, too. There will also be shirts. And as if all of this wasn't good enough, Malaysian and Indonesian punk kids will see this band's (English) lyrics translated into the respective native languages too. We love it when stuff is accessible to everyone.

Watch out for Singapore show details round the corner.

[tour] Clowns (AU) SE Asia Tour (Feb 2012)

This is as literal as it gets. Punk rock clowns CLOWNS (AU) will be doing a quick 2-week tour covering Singapore, Malaysia (Borneo as well!), and Indonesia so look out for them in your city.

Imagine punk and hardcore at its purest: fast, intense, and with a punch that'll snap your head back. Mosh it up, kids! Just be careful of that whiplash.

More details a-comin' your way, so watch out!

Brought to you by 7x0x7.

[interview] NIGHT HAG (blackened hardcore from Adelaide, Australia)

South Australia's hardcore workhorse NIGHT HAG are set to tour SE Asia in January 2012. The first trip overseas for the band will see them bring their brand of blackened hardcore to Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, in support of their debut album Gilded Age. Gilded Age is the band's most consistent work to date, venturing from anxiety-inducing black metal to threatening doom, the only constant being the hardcore energy.

2011 has been a huge year for the band. Relentless Australian touring and multiple releases have seen NIGHT HAG develop into one of the most exciting heavy bands around, with a live show not to be missed.

We're going to cut the shit now. Check out the interview (originally posted on The Ricecooker) and hold your breath! We're anticipating this tour as much as some of you are.

I must admit, I’ve never heard of NIGHT HAG before, so help me out here and do tell a little something about the band. It would be great if you could add in on how the band came about, previous bands and what other things the band members are doing, jobs/hobbies etc.

Joe: There are five people in NIGHT HAG. Dave and I play guitar, Nathan is our drummer, Mark plays bass and Dale sings. We’ve been playing shows for about two years now. When we first jammed we wanted to make a dark but melodic punk band.

When the band started I had known Nathan for a while. We’re both the same age and we both played a lot of shows together while we were growing up. I knew Dave and Dale also from playing with bands in Adelaide, it’s not a big place really. It’s quite a small-knit music scene compared to bigger cities. I even met Mark by chance in a university lecture- in only minutes we found out we possessed many mutual friends and were even employees of the same bookstore. Not a big city. It was at this lecture that Mark schemed the first jam with this line-up. A few weeks later we got together.

We all play in a lot of other bands, and we collectively wanted to make something we weren’t used to doing. Dave and Mark used to play in a band called THE RIVALRY, Mark plays bass for another sludge band called SEX WIZARD, Dave also plays with bands SPACE BONG, GOD GOD DAMMIT DAMMIT, DEATH CULT JOCK (and close to a dozen more). Dale used to have a band called LASER DEATH RAY, he sang. He also played trumpet for GOD GOD DAMMIT DAMMIT for a while. Nathan used to play in hardcore band THE WEIGHT – they’re still going strong, excellent Adelaide band. I play guitar for another band HYDROMEDUSA and sing for a band called PRISONBITCH.

Through all of us there is lot of bands. I think we all wanted to do NIGHT HAG as a side band for a little while before we started getting organised. We realised we could do a lot as a band if we all kept the momentum up and kept constantly writing. With that, our sound has evolved since our beginnings. I think we come across as more of a metal band now, I think Dale hates this but that keeps me amused. We’ve all kept a big part of our normal lives open for whatever this band will throw at us.

I work two jobs, I sell books and soap. I used to take my clothes off for an art school. It paid alright.. Dale is a researcher/computer, he also works for the university. Bright fellow, he’s the real organizational brains behind us. Mark is a student (homeless person), Nathan is a businessman but still poor like the rest of us. Dave bangs furniture together, I think. You can also catch him playing high-paid gypsy jazz gigs.

There’s a distinct mix of harsh black-metal sounding guitars, drumming and a maelstrom of power-violence in your songs; do tell where are all these influences coming from; what are the lyrics about?

Joe: We all do different things in writing the songs. It can be a bit retarded. For instance we’ve done things very quickly in the past. I learnt the song Cynic from Gilded Age the day of the recording. As a credit to the hasty succession of the recordings it’s everyone’s style mashed up together that makes NIGHT HAG sound like it does. Dave and I write most of the riffs. We listen to a lot of metal and punk but just as much as anything else. We didn’t really take any direct list of bands we wanted to sound like when forming the band. Any creative vibe for the band is best cooked up with us verbally discussing how we want an overall release come across as. Such planning is most fluent in the album. Dale’s vocals run almost independent to the songwriting phase however. He’ll normally practice with pre-prepared lyrics- work he’s done at home. His lyrics are a bleak look at the present and the future. I’d let Dale give you a better run through on his writing though.

Can you list out how many releases have Night Hag put out and where to get them?

Joe: So far we’ve released a Demo ourselves in 2010. Then we did a lengthy EP New Tourists at the start of 2011, before releasing our debut album Gilded Age in July 2011. Demo is sold out. The other two can be sold through Capitalgames Records. You’ll also easily find all three releases for free download on the Internet, we 100% encourage this free listening*.

And how is the Adelaide or South Australian punk/HC scene nowadays; compared to what’s happening in other big cities in Australia?

Joe: Adelaide is slowly becoming an interesting place for bands again. It seems the few venues that are keeping their doors open to live music are being well received. I’ve been running a DIY warehouse venue called Animal House for over a year with a few friends. It’s also our home. We’ve tried to facilitate a space that’s helping bands rehearse (including NIGHT HAG) as well as serving as a DIY venue. For a sometimes sleepy city I’m enjoying myself here.

I’ve been to Adelaide a couple of times and went to a few shows, but where would a DIY hardcore punk band play over there nowadays? How often are there shows there and how does it work, in terms of getting the venues and such.

Joe: I’d recommend Animal House to anyone. Getting venues has gotten trickier in the last half a year even. A lot of new bands, a lot of gigs, a lot of sub-genres are getting their own following and it can all cause a few months wait in trying to book anywhere. More bands is still a good thing.

I have seen Adelaide change quite a lot these days; from quite a warm, sleepy, art-friendly little town with a lot of excellent bands, to a rather indifferent, consumerist place with lots of the old, homely hang-outs turned posh streets. What’s your take on that?

Joe: Adelaide is a bizarre place to live at times. It’s probably the most boring place to live if you can’t entertain yourself or you don’t smoke pot. There’s a lot of pot. A few arts festivals too – they’re ironically held at the same time as V8 car races. There are also a lot of old people. I think our average age is 60… Friendly people at times, cheap place to live, a little over-fed and conservative in places but equally poor and isolated in other areas. A lot of suburbs, a lot of boring people.

Are there old punks there still active? I don’t mean the usual fashion-punk horde but the ones who worked hard in the scene since the days of yore.

Joe: There are always old cunts. A lot move to Melbourne and a lot become social workers but there’s still a few. A crew of them run a pub together in Adelaide called The Squatters Arms. Great food.

Give us a list of local bands which we should check-out.

Joe: There are too many, ROBOTOSAURUS, THE WEIGHT, VAGINORS, NO ACTION. The rest of Australia also has some awesome bands going on at the moment – SUFFER, EXTORTION, WARTHREAT, DROWNING HORSE, ENCIRCLING SEA, LOOKING GLASS, KROMOSOM…

What compels the band to do this upcoming tour; what have you heard about touring SEA and what are your expectations, if there are any?

Joe: We want to play to another part of the world. SE Asia is an awesome place, and the people are cool. We’re all familiar to various parts and are feeling it’s the next step in this year’s heavy touring. We’re riding the release of Gilded Age and look forward to playing some heavy and energetic shows. I hope this trip will bring a lot of experiences I’ll keep forever. We’ve all seen it as a great honor to play this tour.

Anything you wanna say to the locals here awaiting the storm that’s coming?

Joe: I look forward to meeting a lot of new people, making friends and seeing new places. Don’t be a stranger, say hello and please show us around. 

--

*Yes, that's right -- it's FREE listening, you poor punx! Download the New Tourists EP here, and the much-raved about Gilded Age full-length here.

For more info, please check out Night Hag on these platforms:

http://nighthag.tumblr.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Night-Hag/148355551854563
http://soundcloud.com/wearenighthag
http://www.myspace.com/nighthagband

Tour brought to you by 7x0x7.

[interview] DEAD (sludge from Melbourne, Australia)

They are dead. Dead. DEAD. And they want you to know that it is spelled in capitals, because there are only four letters and you have to make them count. More alive than ever, that obvious irony is symbolic of the sense of humour this two-piece (bass + drums) shares, which they hope to translate through their music. Intense grooves are interspersed with gruff vocals, and the result is a resonating dissonance, which is at once transient yet fixed, abrupt yet gradual*. Catch them on their SE Asia tour this May – which spans 4 countries (Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines) in 2 weeks – and be blown away by the onslaught. You've been warned.

Getting introductions out of the way, who ARE you?

Jem: I play drums and manage the band. I run an independent label (WeEmptyRooms) and do what's needed to pay the bills in between. Or do you mean the band? You can just check our bio on the website!

Jace: I provide bass, vocals, drawings and nudity for DEAD.

Most people would probably label your music as "stoner rock" or "sludge". But it seems like it's more multi-faceted than that. Let's hear it from the horse's mouth.

Jem: It's not something we worry about too much. We have no musical parameters or boundaries that we work within. We just try to play to our strengths. We're a new band so we're still trying to work out what that is. But I think “sludge” is fairly appropriate. Even if we play faster stuff it still sounds slow 'cos that's how I play the drums! Neither of us have any interest in playing to a particular style. It's probably easier and more useful for people outside of the band to find categories. But they're of no use to us and of course we think we are unique, we don't want labels!

Jace: I'm not much of a fan of “stoner rock”. I dig a lot of stuff that would be considered “sludge” especially a lot of the 90's era stuff that came out on Amphetamine Reptile. As much as labels annoy me, I don't mind being lumped in with “sludge” because I see it as being more of a general aesthetic than a specific genre of music.

Your SE Asia tour starts in 2 weeks. What are your feelings regarding that, considering how it is DEAD's first tour outside of Australia? Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe it is also your first tour (as a band) outside of Australia too as individuals?

Jem: I've toured Australia more times than I can count, and I've also toured Japan and New Zealand extensively. I can't wait to play in SE Asia. Personally I think touring brings out certain qualities in a band that can't be achieved any other way.

Jace: This is the first time my over-the-hill carcass has been out of the country, EVER! I don't like holidays and I've never been in a band committed enough to tour overseas so I am stoked to have the opportunity to travel in SE Asia and play shows! Jem and I like to tour and play as much as we can; I think it's essential to play with and learn from as many bands as possible.

How did the idea of the tour come about? Why SE Asia and not, say, Japan?

Jem: I've been trying to tour the area since FIRE WITCH went to Japan in 2007. But it can take a long time to get a band able to commit to tours like this. My mum is Tamil-Malay and I have family in Malaysia still. Half my spirit resides in Indian/Malay culture it would seem, and bringing that together with my main passion is very important to me. Aussie punk bands have been coming over your way for a while now – it makes sense to visit some of our closest neighbours. Also, all the members of the 7x0x7 collective have visited Australia over the last couple of years and I have been picking their brains about touring the area. So even though it's been a very impatient wait for me I'm glad the extra time has allowed us to forge stronger ties with the area. We do plan to tour Japan too and are currently booking a US tour for August 2011.

It is purported that you deliver live sets akin to THE MELVINS and HIGH ON FIRE. Justify that for us, what are we going to expect?

Jem: I've seen both those bands live in the last few months and they are AMAZING! I don't know how much we are like them but it's no secret we both are majorly influenced and inspired by the Melvins' ability to be super heavy and yet still maintain a sense of humour. I've never watched a DEAD set from the audience so I can't say. All I know is from where I sit for our gigs, it's a lot of fun. Oh and don't expect us to wear clothes at these gigs. It's too hot, lah!

Jace: I think Jem wrote that comment as a bit of tongue in cheek. We are HUGE Melvins fans though.

DEAD contains members of sick Aussie bands (in more or less the same vein) FIRE WITCH (Jem), INAPPROPRIATE TOUGH GUY BEHAVIOUR (Jem), and also the lesser-known FANGS OF... (Jem and Jace). How are these bands (notably, FANGS OF..., since you are made up of the exact same members) going to spill into what constitutes DEAD? Or will we see something completely different?

Jem: It's hard for me to say since I am in the band myself. The band feels different to me than my other bands but maybe to the listener it's very similar? We formed this band quite simply because we wanted to tour more than our other bands would allow, and not really because we had a particular musical direction we wanted to explore. So really your guess is as good as mine as to how it will end up musically. I think two-piece bands have a certain energy about them that really allows the individual characters of the two members to be more evident. In FANGS OF..., Jace handles most/all of the writing. In this band we write together more so it's a fairly even mix of his punk/pop roots and my improvisational background. Improvising is my punk rock. It's my way of rejecting conformity.

Jace: DEAD definitely gets more sparse in parts than I have really ever attempted before. Because we didn't start DEAD or FANGS OF... with any kind of definite manifesto, I imagine there will be similarities – with DEAD we compose music that I think highlights both the strengths and limitations of the two-piece format.

Your mate onion is also coming with you on the tour. How did that come about? How are they going to add to the DEAD experience outside of their solo sets?

Jem: We haven't actually decided yet! Lara (onion) has played as a guest before with FIRE WITCH and INAPPROPRIATE TOUGH GUY BEHAVIOUR and has been mixing my bands live for 5 or 6 years. So it's easy for us to work together. And we enjoy the excitement of not knowing exactly what's going to happen and sharing music with people we love and respect. We'll just see how we're feeling on the tour and what equipment is available to use and take it from there I guess.

You are known for releasing your records on beautiful packaging (with a policy against jewel casing, no less) courtesy of WeEmptyRooms. You are also known for printing your shirts on sweatshop-free shirts and/or recycled op shop** tees. Therefore we conclude that you are a rather ethically-conscious band. How are you going to navigate that consciousness in SE Asia, where the context may be different?

Jem: I don't think we're an overtly politically-conscious or -aware band. But we have ethics and like to consider ourselves as humane. I prefer to think of our band as “human” rather than “political”. So many bands put their political agendas at the forefront of their band and then back it up with conformist music. This does not inspire me one bit. We play music because we are 100% obsessed with and it is the greatest natural drug on the planet. Our reasons really are very selfish.

As far as being in SE Asia; well we are guests when we are there. We're not gonna play the role of the arrogant westerner, I see that every day here at home and that's just in the punk scene! We're more interested in listening to the locals and learning about the situation in their area than telling people what they should be thinking or eating or voting for, etc.

And we have no interest in supporting sweatshops. There are sweatshop-free companies out there but we can't afford the good t-shirts and it's often unclear as to how ethical their standards are. By using op shop tees we ensure that every DEAD shirt is unique which is pretty awesome I think. We will also swap with people if they have some blank shirts for a printed shirt or we can print the shirt they want. These are the benefits of being such a small-scale operation; side stepping capitalism is quite easily achieved.

Lastly, we have both been record nerds since we were kids and putting some effort and thought into the packaging and art for a record has been instinctive for us. These days, the physical format for music is not essential, it's a choice. People don't have to buy music, most people will happily take it without thinking twice. So if you're gonna ask people to part with money I think you have to give them something of value. We print our records ourselves which is very time-consuming and stressful at times but we like maintaining that control.

Jace: Jem and I have a lot in common ethically. When we first started working together things like using recycled paper and 2nd-hand or non-sweatshop shirts just seemed obvious – we didn't have a thousand cups of tea over it or anything, we just did it. We definitely like grassroots sharing/trading/networking etc and enjoy the challenges and rewards of operating D.I.Y. I hope I didn't sound too righteous there!

You are going to play with the likes of GHAUST (ID), LEGARDA (PH), I AM DAVID SPARKLE (SG) and BLOOD ON WEDDING DRESS (MY), powerhouses in their own right in their respective countries. How do you feel about that?

Jem: GHAUST is the only band i know properly from that list. I have a 10" record of theirs that I really like. I can't wait to see them do it live. I have deliberately not listened to the other bands' recordings because I love to hear bands for the first time live if I can. It's what excites me the most. We are just really excited to see what sort of music comes out of these areas and try and convince some of the bands to come back here and play in Australia, if they can. If bands that noteworthy want to play with us we are honoured and a little bit nervous!

Jace: I've heard GHAUST and can't wait to see them live. Any band that is considered a powerhouse has my attention already!

Before we conclude, any last words?

Jem: Well I would like to tell anyone who is coming out to see us on this tour that we are very interested in learning as much about local language and culture (especially food) as we can. And I want to trade in my Aussie accent for a Malay one! So please come and say hello and teach us. Even if we look tired just come and say hi. Also any bands who have plans to come and tour Australia should talk to us about this. So many Aussie bands have come over your way, we want to see SE Asian bands come to us instead! Our album will not be ready in time for the tour, sorry, but it will be released on cassette by Ricecooker very soon after the tour. And it also will be on LP/digital in July through my label and Wantage USA. If any other labels in the area are keen to release any of our stuff please let us know.

Apart from that? I can't wait to come and play!

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*"Most people don't get DEAD. But then most people are idiots." - DEAD

**op shop: Short for “opportunity shop”, this term is exclusive to Australia. They are the equivalent of our “thrift stores”, “2nd-hand shops”, or “bundle shops”.

For more info, please check out DEAD's website on http://www.deadsounds.com

They will also be touring with onion – http://myspace.com/engineerofthesea

The tour is brought to you by 7x0x7, with the help of The Ricecooker Shop, GHAUST, and DIY Pinoy HC/Punk.