Heavy metal and alcohol go together like… well, like heavy metal and alcohol. Once a metalhead starts to imbibe, if he’s anything like me, there are at least a handful of songs he will no doubt demand to hear, songs that add to the invincible feeling that only a little bit of the ol’ liquid courage can provide, complete with copious amounts of goat throwing, air guitaring, invisible orange palming, headbanging and living room moshing. It’s a testament to the emotional and physical response that heavy metal can inspire, amplified a thousand fold by mankind’s age-old friends hops and barley (or perhaps something harder, if you’re so inclined).
So pour yourself a pint of your favorite poison and settle in for THKD’s top ten songs for tying one on. While these songs don’t necessarily have anything to do with drinking, they’re the songs I want to hear when I’m drinking. Continue reading →
I first discovered Corrosion of Conformity during the mid-’90s Pepper Keenan (guitar/vocals) era; by then, they had fully traded in the crossover thrash of 1985′s Animosity album in favor of the swaggering, metallic southern rock of Deliverance and Wiseblood. That’s the COC I had come to know and love over the years, so I was admittedly apprehensive upon hearing that the band had reconvened without Keenan at the helm to record their first new material since 2005′s underrated In the Arms of God. Would they abandon the smoked-out stoner-isms that had made COC so near and dear to my heart in favor of revisiting the crossover days of yore? Would Keenan’s absense leave an unfillable hole in their sound? Continue reading →
I’ve always been fascinated by power trios. It surely has something to do with my love of all things raw and stripped down, since it doesn’t get any more stripped down than tres hombres against the world, brandishing only electric instruments and bad attitudes. The power trio is the bare minimum of musicians needed to produce a full and complete sound within a rock or metal format (although I’m sure there are plenty of duos who would beg to differ… eh, fuck ‘em); it’s all about maximizing the minimal, and I’ve often found that power trios are inherently heavier and more powerful-sounding than these bands that feel the need to have three guitarists, two vocalists, four drummers, a percussionist, a keyboardist, a DJ, an acrobat, a lion tamer, etc… just listen to Motorhead, Venom, High on Fire or Hellhammer and you’ll catch my drift. Continue reading →
The world needs real rock ‘n’ roll more than ever. Have you listened to the radio lately? Go on then, have a listen to some of the limp-wristed, candy-assed, sub-Nickelback horseshit that passes for mainstream rock music lately and you’ll hear what I’m talking about, a bunch of preening jackasses who look like they stepped out of the pages of the Abercrombie & Fuckface catalogue, playing songs about having sex with sluts, drinking, doing drugs and having sex with more sluts. And I don’t mean that in a filthy/sleazy/awesome Venom or Motorhead way either. I mean it in a soulless, sac-less, nauseating, pristinely produced and utterly contrived faux-grunge frat-rock way, replete with vocals that sound like a cross between Eddie Vedder and a goat with a cob up its ass. Yes folks, we need real rock ‘n’ roll more than ever. Continue reading →
Okay, so Kvelertak’s debut was released in Europe by Indie Recordings last year, but the album didn’t make it stateside until recently (unless you were willing to pay an arm and a leg for the import) thanks to the fine folks at The End. I have to admit that I was a bit apprehensive about this band due to the shitstorm of hype and my own admittedly absurd genre purity concerns regarding black metal (more on this later). What I’ve come to realize after repeated listens, is that Kvelertak flat out fucking rocks.
But is it enough for something to “rock”? For me, the answer is absolutely. On occasion, I’m completely okay with music that serves the sole purpose of making me want to drink excessively, headbang and break shit. That’s Kvelertak. The album is a catchier-than-herpes adrenalin rush that’s all too easy to get swept up in, once you let your bullshit guard down and ignore the hype machine. Even though I’m not fluent in Norwegian, these songs are getting stuck in my head and I find myself singing along phonetically. Saying that it is enough for a band to rock isn’t giving them a free pass or letting them off the hook. If rocking was easy, every band would do it. In 2011, there are fewer bands that know how to rock than ever before, making Kvelertak’s presence a much needed one in the metal scene.
Kvelertak take elements of black metal and mix ‘em up w/ rock, punk/hardcore and just a dash stoned southern swagger. As I stated earlier, I often take issue with bands cross-pollinating black metal w/ other genres (except death metal, thrash and whatever Darkthrone feels like mixing it with, of course), mainly because roughly 99.9% of the them do it in a way that isn’t even remotely listenable (the bulk of that black metal/shoegaze bullshit or the all the indie rock hipsters trying desperately and failing to rip off Weakling, for instance). Kvelertak only borrow the bare minimum from the black metal canon, mainly the raspy screams and the occasional tremolo riff. Since the band is Norwegian and the genre is inextricably ingrained in the country’s cultural identity at this point, I don’t have much of a problem with them picking the bones of black metal. Especially when it’s in service of the aforementioned rock. Kvelertak is most certainly a metal band, but their roots are clearly in hard rock; there are riffs on this album that sound like they could belong to Turbonegro (before they befriended Bam Margera and started sucking) or Monster Magnet. Like those bands, Kvelertak know how to bring the fucking thunder. Just check out “Mjod” and “Fossegrim” above and you’ll see/hear exactly what I’m talking about.
The domestic release of Kvelertak includes six bonus tracks in the form of demos and BBC sessions. While these additional tracks don’t add anything particularly revelatory to the listening experience, they are appropriately rough and raw, betraying Kvelertak’s punk/hardcore influences. The BBC tracks in particular crackle with an electricity that makes me wish I had been able to catch the band on one of their recent stateside dates (they played in San Francisco the day before I got there… story of my life, ugh).
In that last paragraph I mentioned electricity. That’s what Kvelertak are all about. A release of pent up energy through balls to the wall, metallic super-rock ’til you drop, not to mention a healthy dose of reckless abandon. If you’re still on the fence, I highly recommend picking up the album and giving them a chance. They made me a believer.
I absolutely love Subrosa’s latest album, No Help for the Mighty Ones. So should you. I could go on for days about the band’s earth-shaking mix of doom, sludge and vintage alt-rock, but I’d much rather let one of the architects behind this phenomenal recording do the talking. I got in touch with guitarist/vocalist Rebecca Vernon with a little help from the fine folks at Profound Lore, and the following in-depth interrogation transpired.
THKD: For THKD readers who might not be familiar with Subrosa, how did the band get started? What was your initial inspiration?
Rebecca Vernon: I had the idea to start a band like Subrosa, minus the violins, for about three years before Subrosa began. The initial inspiration for me wanting to write heavy sludge music at all was a band from Provo, Utah called the Red Bennies … still the angriest band I’ve ever seen live. They were playing strange, heavy, downtuned sludge with a confrontational punk edge in 1994. They are my biggest influence.
THKD: How would you describe Subrosa’s sound to someone who hasn’t heard your music?
RV: I guess I would call us experimental, melodic stoner/sludge metal with electric violins. I’m not afraid to categorize us. ☺
THKD: What can you tell us about Subrosa’s songwriting process? Is there a “main composer” or do you write as a group?
RV: I started the band with a vision in mind, and wrote most of the parts for the songs for the first few years (except violin—Sarah’s always written her own violin part). But over the last two years, members joined the band who could write their own parts and preferred to … which I welcomed with open arms, because there’s nothing worse than coming up with a great guitar riff, then remembering you also have to write the vocal melody, lyrics, bass, and drum parts. Ugh.
THKD: The song “Borrowed Time, Borrowed Eyes” was inspired by Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. What is it about that novel that prompted you to write a song about it?
RV: For one, Cormac McCarthy is a word-smithing genius. The beauty and pain of his writing is unbelievable, unearthly. His characters’ dialogue, too, is spare and perfect.
In particular though, what I focused on in The Road through the lyrics of “Borrowed Time, Borrowed Eyes” (which is a phrase from the book), is that the silly, banal folk wisdom that we build our lives around, those clichés that appear on refrigerator magnets that everyone clings to desperately amidst the shipwrecks of their lives, are pretty much all transparent lies. Our society has no true moorings, and if and when it falls apart one day, everyone will turn into animals, and I will watch it all, laughing.
THKD: “House Carpenter” is a traditional Celtic folk song. Why did you choose this song to cover? How does folk music tie into what you’re doing in Subrosa?
RV: Well, I used to think I hated folk music. I always thought the people who wrote and performed it were pretentious. But now I know better. There’s something so sorrowful about old folk music written in a minor key … it’s as if the songs, after passing through so many decades, absorbed the pain of all the people it touched, and absorbed the spirit of their times. I’m drawn to any music that smacks of “source” material, not copies of a copy. Sarah and I saw “House Carpenter” performed on The Harry Smith Project Live DVD, and fell in love with it. (The DVD has performances from Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, Lou Reed, Beck, Sonic Youth and more, covering songs from Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music.)
THKD: What are some of the other lyrical themes you’re exploring on the album? I definitely get a similar folk/rustic vibe from songs such as “Whippoorwill” and “Attack on Golden Mountain” as well.
RV: “Whippoorwill” definitely was intended to carry that old-school folk feel, and “Attack on Golden Mountain,” has lyrics that follow a folk-like narrative. I think there’s something powerful about telling a story with a few well-chosen, deceptively simple words. Stories are what our lives are based on, and our love of stories is what makes us human. I guess this is why I’m drawn to folk music and that style of lyric-writing.
THKD: Tell us about the song “Beneath the Crown”. I know it has to do with a book on eugenics, but can you go into specifics?
RV: The book, War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America’s Campaign to Create a Master Race talks about a mass sterilization program that occurred in the early part of the last century in America, backed by corporate funding and promoted in academia. It was a social “clean up” of what eugenics enthusiasts perceived as the lower echelons of society—the poor, the diseased, the mentally ill. They felt if they could keep these “undesirables” from reproducing, they could eradicate poverty and disease—and eventually create a master race.
Their philosophies had a direct influence on the Nazis.
It’s a profoundly disturbing book that everyone should read.
THKD: No Help for the Mighty Ones features two violinists. What prompted this approach? What do the violins add to Subrosa’s sound?
RV: My friend, Sarah, was learning violin the summer Subrosa started and so that’s how violins were added to the mix. At first I just visualized a really, really heavy band, and at first I didn’t know how violins would fit into that. But now I’m gladdened by the happy accident … the violins add a depth of haunting emotion to the music that wouldn’t be there otherwise. Kim Pack joined Subrosa in 2009, so now there are two violins—a dual harmonic attack.
THKD: How does the band’s unique instrumentation effect your guitar technique?
RV: I’ve never really felt motivated to play many guitar solos, because the violins take their place. They add the higher-pitched, intense intricacy of traditional metal guitar solos.
THKD: In addition to metal, I hear a lot of ’90s alternative rock (for lack of a better term). I’m thinking specifically of bands like the Breeders, the Pixies, Mazzy Star, PJ Harvey, etc. Were any of these bands or that era in general influential for you or am I way off the mark?
RV: We have gotten that before, but if so, it’s largely unconscious. I was very influenced by the grunge movement when it was happening, but I never directly aspired to capture that era of sound.
PJ Harvey, though, is a major influence on my guitar riffs … her raw, stripped-down approach reminds me that effective riffs are all about simplicity, power and soul. She is one of my top three favorite artists.
THKD: Glyn Smith’s artwork for No Help For the Mighty Ones is as spectacular as the music. What does that visual element add to the album? How important are visuals to Subrosa?
RV: Thanks, I’ll tell Glyn you said that. ☺
The album artwork is based on a story that I feel fits in perfectly with the title of the album and the main themes I was trying to capture lyrically—exploitation of the powerless. It’s the story of Tere Jo Dupperault, and the fate of the man that murdered her family. If you Google her name, you can read the details of her story.
The visual side of music is very important to Subrosa; I believe the right visuals can enhance and amplify the emotions and mood of music.
THKD: No Help for the Mighty Ones is your first album for Profound Lore. How did you get hooked up with the label?
RV: Chris and I were in touch since Strega came out in 2008 on I Hate Records. When the co-owner responsible for signing Subrosa left the label, we found ourselves with no one to release our next album. I approached Chris in fall of 2010 with our finished, mixed and mastered album and he said he would like to release it.
THKD: Subrosa is two thirds female. What challenges, if any, do women face in the metal scene? Does the “boys club” mentality of heavy music still exist?
RV: I think women who write and perform heavy music are actually generally respected in the metal scene, even though they are in the minority.
I think one of the biggest challenges women face in the metal scene is the lazy trap of using one’s sexuality to sell or promote your music. It’s a false shortcut.
THKD: Subrosa hails from Salt Lake City, Utah. What is the metal scene like there? Do you get much local support?
RV: It was kind of in a slump, but is coming out of it now. Most of the heavy bands know each other and support each other. We get a lot of support from SLUG Magazine, City Weekly, KRCL and other media outlets that give us air time and exposure. The alternative media outlets in Salt Lake City really support the local scene.
THKD: Salt Lake City is the headquarters of the LDS Church and the hub of Mormonism. How does the religious/political/social climate of the city effect your lives as metal musicians and the scene, if at all?
RV: It has influenced us greatly. The conservative dominant culture has resulted in a thriving counterculture here. There is a certain sincerity in the music the bands in SLC create … writing and performing music is a need, not a luxury.
THKD: Are there any other prominent Salt Lake City bands we should be listening to? Do you have any recommendations for our readers?
RV: Yes … Gaza toured Europe with Converge last summer and I think are touring again with them this year. They are on Black Market Activities and are one of the most brutal bands you’ll ever hear or see. Eagle Twin is on Southern Lord and are touring Australia with Unearthly Trance right now. They toured with Sunn O))) last year. Bird Eater is also on Black Market, Iota is a stoner delight on Small Stone, although lead singer Joey Toscano has set Iota aside and started The Dwellers with Subrosa bassist Dave Jones and Subrosa drummer Zach Hatsis. Gravecode Nebula and IX Zealot offer great black metal, and INVDRS take the cake as loudest band in SLC, on Corruption Recordings in Oregon. Top Dead Celebrity and Old Timer (Subrosa’s bassist Dave’s third band) are great to watch live.
THKD: What are you currently listening to? What books are you reading?
RV: I’ve been playing The Cure’s Disintegration, along with Agalloch’s new record, Marrow of the Spirit. I’m reading a book called UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials go on the Record, by Leslie Kean, and trying to finish The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, by Ray Kurzweil.
THKD: Will you be playing any shows or doing any touring in support of No Help for the Mighty Ones?
RV: Yes, there are some tour plans in the works, but nothing has been decided yet. We’d really like to go to Europe. Stay tuned!
THKD: What does the rest of 2011 have in store for Subrosa?
RV: Touring, and I am going to start writing new songs with Sarah starting this week, hopefully. It’s high time we starting writing music for the next album.
THKD: Are there any final thoughts you’d like to add?
RV: Thanks for the interview! I think it’s commendable that you run a webzine all by yourself.
Ben Wrecker is a rad dude. Not only was he kind enough to contribute to the Australian Metal Scene Report I wrote for Invisible Oranges, he also graciously sent me a ton of stuff from his equally rad band, Hotel Wrecking City Traders. If you’re not familiar with HWCT, the duo (which also includes Ben’s brother/guitarist Toby) play a smoked-out yet devastating brew of instrumental thunder in the vein of such vocals-free monsters of rock as Karma to Burn and Capricorns. One can’t help but feel there is some sort of sibling mental telepathy at play when listening to the Wrecker Bros’ heavy ‘n’ hypnotic stoner jams, such is the effortless interplay between instruments.
I caught up with Ben for an e-mail interrogation just as he was returning from a trip to the United States. Wrecker had been tapped to play drums for ex-Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age madman Nick Oliveri’s Mondo Generator, but the tour was unfortunately cancelled. He once again went above and beyond, taking time out to talk about instrumental music, running a label, and the dynamics of being in a band with your brother.
[Note: For some reason I was under the impression that HWCT were not native Australians, but as it turns out I was wrong.]
THKD: You guys are based in Australia, but aren’t natives. How did you wind up there?
Ben Wrecker: Actually we are. We were both born here but moved overseas when we were young and spent the better part of our teenage years in Hong Kong and the UK. Since then we’ve continued to move around a lot. Ending up back in Melbourne around 5 years ago and started the band.
THKD: What made you and your brother decide to start Hotel Wrecking City Traders together? Would you ever consider adding other members to the lineup?
BW: We started jamming when I was around 13 years old. We were just kids learning how to play our instruments and never played any shows. Toby was 11 at the time. Later on as I got older, I was in bands in high school and after that we both went our separate ways and I ended up touring with a band in the UK where I was based at the time. That didn’t work out and both Toby and I ended up moving back to Australia and started HWCT, proper. Toby had never played shows before. He was a demon on the home recording front, though. Constantly sent me tapes of DIY demos he made on his 8 Track at home. The band started when we moved to Melbourne and decided that the time was right to play live shows. We liked the idea of a duo and the intention was to sound as full as any other band with 3 or more members but make the sounds by ourselves. Whilst we never really had a specific set of rules as far as getting extra players in we have always been open to the idea. We have been involved in some live collaborations, most recently with Bonnie Mercer (of GREY DATURAS/BREATHING SHRINE) on 2nd guitar when we opened up for Robert Lowe aka LICHENS and Emil Amos aka HOLY SONS (both from the band OM) at a show in Melbourne a few months back. We have also recorded a new project with Gary Arce (TEN EAST/YAWNING MAN) playing bass and guitar. It’s due out on BRO FIDELITY later this year and sounds amazing. It’s called HOTEL WRECKING CITY TRADERS with GARY ARCE, funnily enough.
THKD: Are there any advantages/disadvantages specific to be being in a band with a close family member?
BW: We have always been the best of friends, first and foremost. People who don’t know we’re brothers come and tell us that we appear to have some form of mental telepathy going on in the way the live sets unfold. I believe to some extent there is some truth in that. I’ve never felt so comfortable as when I am playing in HWCT with Toby. It feels totally natural and is the most fun and challenging band I’ve ever been involved in. I think also when we are touring that we know each other so well it makes the process enjoyable and free of bullshit, that some bands encounter when egos and personalities clash. It’s an all round good time and we are yet to have any major blowups or disagreements.
THKD: I have to ask about the band’s name, Hotel Wrecking City Traders. Where did this moniker come from?
BW: Toby came up with the name years before we started the band. It’s a tongue in cheek thing. The ‘Hotel Wrecking’ part is kind of a joking homage to the era of rock bands trashing hotel rooms and general rock n’ roll debauchery. The ‘City Traders’ part refers to our lives growing up moving around city to city, country to country. So it’s like we move from one city and trade it for another. Some people have asked if we are Wall St bankers or something and wonder if the ‘Trader’ part refers to that. How they could come to that assumption is beyond me but it makes me laugh thinking about it. The name still continues to baffle people and we often get the ‘HWCT’ acronym used in place of the full name. Either way is fine with us. The name isn’t really important to us the music is where the focus is at.
THKD: Who are your primary influences as a drummer? What drew you to the instrument?
BW: I have played guitar longer than I have played drums. I know I’m a better drummer than I am a guitarist. Drums are very primal and physical and a great way to release stress and discontentment. Some of my favorite drummers are: John Bonham, Ginger Baker, Dave Grohl, Dale Crover, Gene Krupa and Damon Che . Plus I am surrounded by friends in bands from Australia who we play with who constantly raise the bar for me personally. Good dudes such as Joel Ellis (Nunchukka Superfly), Jem Moloney (Fire Witch), Deryck Hunt (Spider Goat Canyon), Pat Warner (Wicked City), Steve Ob (Tumbleweed) and Robbie Avenaim (wOg), to name a few.
THKD: How would you describe the writing/composition process for HWCT?
BW: We are largely improvisation-based. We hadn’t rehearsed in over 2 years until about a month ago. We started jamming when we did our first shows then kind of got tired of formulas and rehearsed songs, so we gave up and allowed the songs to unfold live. We play so many shows all the time that it strengthens us to try stuff out of the cuff, in front of people and get a response out of them that way. We have recently started jamming again, for fun more than anything, but feel that both methods are productive ways of developing new approaches and sounds. I think we work well in both scenarios and try and use both.
THKD: Hotel Wrecking City Traders are an instrumental band. Do you think the lack of vocals allows you to cover more ground/emotions from a strictly musical perspective?
BW: I have always loved instrumental music. I write lyrics all the time for my own songs that are outside of HWCT. I think so far it’s worked well in not having vocals because it frees us from traditional structures and we thrive off of that. Our shows tend to cover a range of moods and nuances ranging from human emotions to concepts or environments we are playing in. Outdoor shows, indoor shows, shows on the floor or on a stage will have the potential to affect a performance and we both enjoy those outside factors and acknowledge their influence on the music we make. We are not averse to having someone sing for us. Believe me it’s happened at shows where we get heckled about it by some drunk asshole and invite them onstage to join us and usually just embarrass them! But we do have a friend of ours from the US who is gonna sing on some songs we will be recording at some stage later this year and will be the first HWCT songs to incorporate vocals. There are no strict doctrines or rules for us. We enjoy trying new avenues of experimentation and expression as we go along.
THKD: Were you at all influenced by any of the other more infamous instrumental bands out there such as Karma to Burn or Pelican?
BW: Most definitely. Our record collections are full of different sorts of stuff from the many eras of music. Many that do not contain vocals. Everything from Don Caballero, Oxes, Yawning Man, Dirty Three, 5ive, Gay Witch Abortion, Neu!, Russian Circles, Sonic Youth, Che, Capricorns & Earth. And even guys like Masonna who is only vocals but you can hardly even tell if you didn’t know what that guy was doing with his voice. Another person whom we both admire is Eugene Robinson and the way he uses his voice as an instrument as much as he does a delivery of lyrical ideas. I think that variety is the spice of life (sorry to use such a lame cliché) but it’s true. Another early inspiration for us was the soundtracks of John Carpenter. The inspiration comes from everywhere.
THKD: I’ve seen you guys called everything from sludge to stoner rock to post-metal. How would you describe HWCT’s sound to someone who hasn’t heard you?
BW: ‘Maximum Rock n’ Roll with minimal instrumentation’ was an early description. I’m not sure if that one applies now that we’ve done these songs with Gary and possibly the stuff with Vocals we’re working on. I guess it changes each time we play and evolves as time moves on.
THKD: Tell us a little about your label, Bro Fidelity. What made you decide to start your own label?
BW: Bro Fi started out as a vessel for releasing HWCT records and has recently put out a deluxe CD for Fire Witch, my favorite Australian band. Having the label allows me to put out my own records and those of other bands that I genuinely admire and want to help open up their audience and hopefully, expand it and gradually create a body of releases that I’m proud to attach the name of Bro Fidelity to. It’s a labor-of-love and one that is often restricted by insufficient-finances but never from a lack of effort or lack of good stuff out there to want to promote.
THKD: What are the pros and cons of starting your own label as opposed to working with one of the larger metal/rock labels out there?
BW: The internet has been the most impacting development within the record-releasing world, I would say. Suddenly everyone has a platform to spread the word about their music and bands. Even me! I think it’s somewhat leveled the playing field but also widened it so much that everyone has a band and everyone has a label. So, possibly we are no better off now than we were before with the old mode of releasing records like the Majors did/do. Ten there’s the ‘so called Independents’ parading as Independents but are really just Majors in disguise. I think the vinyl resurgence has really hit and people are buying records again. Selling CD’s is harder in Europe than the US and in Australia it seems the trend is following in the same direction. Downloading has become an acceptable way of adding to ones record collection and that’s really shaken things up for a lot of people who used to buy CD’s from record stores. I think nowadays the labels identity means much more than in the past and labels are like bands with their own personas, styles and musical outputs and identities. Labels that I always admired were ones like SST & Man’s Ruin. Currently, the smaller boutique labels in Europe like Electrohasch, Tee Pee, Supernatural Cat and Aussie ones such as WeEmptyRooms, Impedance & Heathen Skulls are bringing quality stuff out and touring bands in Australia. They are doing it with a very band orientated mode of operation. Keeping their releases limited in numbers (not always out of choice but because the costs are high) for the people who really don’t mind coughing up the cash for quality sounds and artwork and presentation of good art. That’s the way it should be. The kind of music labels like us do is very niche-based and isn’t designed or intended to be a mega-money-maker or global giant. They exist out of necessity and a genuine love for music.
THKD: Are you actively looking for other bands to work with the label? If so what are your criteria?
BW: I am always open to new bands, if it resonates with me in some way and the pieces fit and the costs are realistic, then I will endeavor to release it. It’s always a gamble releasing records, particularly in today’s download-driven Internet world so I tend to only focus on the stuff that really blows me away, bands I’ve usually seen live before I hear it on record. If it’s powerful and resonates with me then I can discover whether or not it’s going to be backed up by the band themselves with sufficient touring and promotion etc. It’s a team effort so you wanna make sure your team is ready to go out with all guns blazing.
THKD: You’ve also release material by the band Fire Witch on Bro Fidelity. What can you tell me about that band and your kinship with them?
BW: So far the first band other than HWCT to release something on Bro Fidelity has been Fire Witch. My favorite band in Australia. Saw them when I first moved to Melbourne from having lived overseas for most of my life and instantly fell in love with their DIY ethics, personable natures and most importantly their music and live shows. Jem from Fire Witch runs WeEmptyRooms records and the two of us collaborate on promoting shows and organizing tours and shows for bands a lot. I really enjoy this part of what he brings to Bro Fi as well. Not only my favorite band but a like-mindedness and community spirit that we enjoy working together with. Buy ‘Liars!’ by Fire Witch!!! You will not be disappointed!!!! The screen printed covers were all drawn by our good friend Jace (Fangs Of…) and done by hand by Jem, myself and a few other generous souls. Labor of love! They will never be repressed so get your mits on one now.
THKD: What releases do you have planned for Bro Fidelity in the near future?
BW: I’m very excited about the next release, it’s a collaboration between HWCT & Gary Arce (Yawning Man/Ten East). We met Gary about a year and a half ago when HWCT opened up for Ten East in Australia. Gary dug our sounds and asked if we could get something happening, the result being this next release. It is going to be on vinyl only and will be limited to 500 copies. It contains two pieces roughly 10 minutes in length each and really sounds great. I couldn’t be happier with how it’s sounding.
THKD: You were recently asked to play drums for Mondo Generator. How did this come about?
BW: Nick’s Aussie label Impedance, called me and said that the drummer had dropped out and they needed me to start a tour in 2 weeks. I had previously filled in on drums for Winnebago Deal (who at one time were also Mondo Generator members) so I’m pretty sure that had something to do with me getting asked to do it.
THKD: What other projects, if any, are the two of you currently involved in?
BW: We have a band called Daggers Mid Flight which is an improv based noise project with Deryck and Jawsh from the Aussie band Spider Goat Canyon. It features two drummers , guitar and bass and is instrumental. We are gearing up to release our second full length this year which will be a double album on CD. It’s supremely heavy monolithic, spaced out madness captured on tape. It’s a super fun band to play live shows in. Toby also has a project that has that sort of ‘Desert Sessions-vibe’ to it. Him and Gerasimos from Peeping Tom/Sons Of The Ionian Sea started it and kind of randomly create different lineups from our pool of friends in Melbourne to play shows. The band is called The New Quiet. Expect a release on Bro Fidelity sometime late this year, early next.
THKD: What does the rest of 2010 have in store for Hotel Wrecking City Traders?
BW: We are currently working out a European trek. We’ve wanted to go there for ages and it’s finally looking like the pieces of the puzzle are coming together so fingers crossed. The record with Gary Arce will be out in a few months and then we will probably record some new stuff for another release next year. We’re also opening up for Zeni Geva soon on part of their Aussie tour and have a run of our own Aussie shows planned for the rest of the year.
THKD: Are there any final thoughts you would like to add?
BW: Just a big thanks to you man. Thanks for taking the time and interest in HWCT/Bro Fidelity. Here are links where you can find out more about everything we’ve discussed and purchase copies of the records:
Heavy metal and alcohol go together like… well, like heavy metal and alcohol. Once a metalhead starts to imbibe, if he’s anything like me, there are at least a handful of songs he will no doubt demand to hear, songs that add to the invincible feeling that only a little bit of the ol’ liquid courage can provide, complete with copious amounts of goat throwing, air guitaring, invisible orange palming, headbanging and living room moshing. It’s a testament to the emotional and physical response that heavy metal can inspire, amplified a thousand fold by mankind’s age-old friends hops and barley (or perhaps something harder, if you’re so inclined).
