As a guitarist when coming up with riffs and all of that jazz, what inspires you? Where do your emotions travel to master this art?

Well I listened to a lot of guitar based music when I was younger, when I first started playing guitar and stuff live Van Halen or even blues stuff like Eric Clapton or Nirvana. By the time of Dillinger I wasn’t really listening to guitar music anymore I was actually listening to a lot of electronic stuff, I was really actually heavily influenced by electronic music and more complex stuff.

It also seems as though you guys have had a few line up changes over the years which is rather normal for bands of course. How do you go about choosing a replacement? What’s the process like and how does it effect the band?

Well first of all we make them stand naked out in the snow and throw lunch meat at them *laughs*. If they can withstand that humiliation then they’re in, they don’t actually have to play an instrument at all and anyone can learn how to play an instrument. That’s pretty much the process *laughs*.

I do find that slightly hard to believe *laughs*.

I mean honestly we have been touring so long and we’ve met so many people along the way that a lot of the people that have been in this band are just friends that we have met along the way so we really mesh with them personality wise better than we do as musicians. Every single person had their own flavor and flair of things, they were all pretty much fans of Dillinger so they knew what they were getting themselves into at the same time but as far as our drummers go, Billy our latest drummer he’s been in the band about five years already, we found him just through a couple of YouTube videos that he’d made. I saw some potential in him and ended up playing with him a few times and he just had the right attitude more than even skill level. I just knew that he would step up to the plate and he did.


Interview by Shannen Murphy

What’s one inspiring thing you would like to say to your fans?

Just to be yourself and to live a positive life. I’ve come to realize the older I get that my interpretation of the world is really… it can be good, it can be a positive thing or it can be negative, I can easily be a negative person and hate or dislike certain things but I feel that my quality of life would go down with that attitude. I think if I maintain a positive attitude and focus on positive things I’ll live a more positive, happy life because I think that’s the important thing.

What’s the earliest memory you have from starting Mayday Parade and what were your thoughts back then?

Well for me where I was at I wanted to be a part of something that was serious, I wanted to be in a band that was very serious, that the goal was to tour and to really, really make a career out of it and I remember thinking that when we first started the band, the first couple of songs that we worked on and the first moments of it I remember thinking 'this is my best chance and best opportunity', I felt very confident, confident enough to drop out of college and quit my job. I felt very sure and it’s funny because back then I don’t think I envisioned exactly what the seven or eight years would be but I knew, I felt really, really good about it. If I was going to do this, if I was going to be in a band and have a career in music, Mayday Parade would be my best opportunity and my best vessel for that.

What’s one thing you would like to do in your career that you're yet to do?

Well a really basic one that I think that the band has always wanted to do is just to continually take steps up to progress and I think that, I mean I can think of venues in the world that I would love the play at some point. I’d love to play Madison Square Garden in New York or the O2 Arena in London, places like that. I think that those are my goals but I think… we just had an experience recording a song live, live as a band, instead of each instrument on it’s own we recorded it as a band together and that was a really, really great experience. I think personally I’d like to experiment with that some more and really see how that plays with the band.

Tell me what big things are to come from Mayday Parade? What are 2014’s plans?

I think that it’s just going to be a lot of heavy touring, when we will be over in Australia we will come from Europe and England and right after Soundwave we will be going to South East Asia and we are talking about doing some more international stuff and then we just announced that we are doing Warped Tour in the United States over the summer and I’m sure that we will be doing something in the Fall. Who knows where, we haven’t gotten that far yet. I think 2014 will just be pretty much touring.

Speaking of tours, I heard you guys always order two avocados on your rider? Why on earth is this?

Yeah and that sums up the band so much, for some reason at some point and time we thought, 'hey we would like avocados' and I can’t remember why… I couldn’t even tell you why. For some reason we have just never changed it, we have just forgotten about it, that’s so typical, it’s something that we notice and go, 'hey that’s weird, why is that happening?' and then we just kind of forget about it and don’t really care *laughs*. Now it’s become kind of like and inside joke and I don’t know why we haven’t changed that yet but for some reason we haven’t.  

And on that note what’s a weird fact about the band besides the avocados *laughs*?

I’ll say this, another thing that we get on our rider, actually another kind of useless thing is we’d get this baguette and that was another thing that well… no one ever touched it, if anything we would just use it to beat each other up with and get in baguette fights but that’s about it.

What’s one important thing that you have learnt in your music career?

I think to really trust your own voice and to be confident and don’t take crap from anybody. If you feel confident in it, because ultimately for us it’s our vision, it’s our music, it’s our name that’s on the album or being represented so no one else really has as much invested in it as the members do. So I think that’s the biggest thing that I think I and everybody else has learnt.



Interview by Shannen Murphy

Baroness are certainly no strangers to Aussie shores, and they'll be making their triumphant return all too soon, coming back for Soundwave 2014. We chat to John Baizley ahead of their fourth stint Down Under.

Is there a particular story or concept behind your latest album?

Our album has been out for almost a year and a half now. The album didn’t really have a hard musical concept behind it but it was like the band airing its musical laundry. There are a lot of different sorts of stuff on the record. We are also just starting practically this week to write a new record but it will be a good little stretch before the next one is out.  

Do you at all feel like last years near death experience has impacted on your upcoming album? Or will it on future music works?

I’m sure it will, I mean it’s impacted everything else, so it will very likely impact the next record. It’s one of those experiences that is so powerful and so dramatic that it changes how you think about things, so of course the music will be reflected on that.

What’s it like having to go through a line-up change, how does it impact on yourself and on your band?

Well the thing about line- up change is that they can be very tricky or they can be very simple, it’s all about how you navigate those waters. We were very lucky because we didn’t make a big stink about it and we only spoke to a very small group of our friends who we could trust, they just made a couple of suggestions and it was sort of friends of friends. The first two people that walked through the door ended up clicking so quickly and immediately with us that I think we got very, very lucky and we spent a couple of weeks learning and practicing stuff and then six weeks getting it right. It was great, it was almost like a seamless thing.

Tell me, what else have you all been up to this year?

This whole year, all I’ve been doing is recovering from the accident or touring and we have just gotten off tour like a week ago.

I see also that Baroness is well known for their artwork… where do you draw this inspiration from? Does your music impact the artwork or the other way around?

It’s sort of a circular thing, normally we will start off with the music and that will then start me down the road to something visual. Once I have got something started that can then impact on the music that we are writing. There is that circulatory thing going on there where the artwork effects the music and vise versa. So yeah it’s weird I try to work on those simultaneously all of the time. 

Does drawing for you feel like the same process in a way as writing a song or is it different?

In many ways it’s precisely the same thing, I mean the drive and the motivation come from exactly the same place. It’s the same fire or spark inside that directs me to write music but similarly helps me to make artwork. You know when you're making the type of art that I make you start with a sketch and you refine it and think about it and critique it and it grows into something bigger than the concept or the initial idea. Similar to music, you start with a handful of ideas and you have to work on the until to come up with coherent parts of a whole, and then you’ve got yourself a song. So, you know, there are a lot of parallels between them for sure.

Did you ever think you would be as successful as you are today? What kept you going all of these years?

I never thought that I would be successful in either field and I think the only thing that’s really driven, and the main factor that’s probably gotten me to this point, is the fact that I’m not willing to stop, I’m not going to let criticism or public opinion stop me. I want to create; I am driven to create things. You know, the band wants to tour, we want to play so, we are going to stick to our guns and we are going to do what we like to do. If we put a hundred percent of our energy and our passion into what we like, record and release then just by proxy I think an audience will appreciate that. I want to see that you as an audience when listening to the music picks up on the excitement that I feel or the excitement we feel when we discovered the songs.

Is there anything in your music career that you have yet to have done that you’d like to?

At this point we have been most places and done most things, at this point the exciting thing for me is to get off the beaten path and play shows in very out of the way places. I’m interested in playing shows where our type of music isn’t predominant and a lot of times that means getting further into Eastern Europe or exploring Asia or Africa or just types of places where heavy metal and rock music aren’t a big thing and there’s not much of a market there. I tour partly because I love the adventure, I love the travel so I want to go new places and see new things and I want it to be wild.

You guys are also coming through for Soundwave Festival, what can fans expect from your show this year? 

Being situated where you are which is quite literally the opposite side of the world, when we go there we want to make the most out of it because it’s a very unique opportunity for us to get the chance to even travel to Australia, let alone travel to each city and immerse ourselves in other cultures and have so much fun doing what we love. I mean we will do in Australia what we do everywhere else, which is just, play our arses off.

What’s the best thing about touring with Soundwave for you?

Well Soundwave particularity is a very well organized, very well oiled machine. It’s a really easy and fun tour to do, it’s just easy, it’s so well set up with all of the transportation and hospitality and hotels and catering, everything is so well pre-though that it almost feels like cheating, it almost doesn’t feel like work. I mean I wish we played more because then it would feel more warranted but we play for like 45 minutes or an hour and then the rest of the day is taken care of and it’s really nice but it kind of feels like you're cheating. We get the chance to enjoy ourselves and if we are happy, healthy and well slept and we’ve had fun then our performances are going to get better because we will be in the right mindset.  

What’s the weirdest fan experience you have ever had?

Sometimes fans are willing to share more of their life with you than your perhaps willing to hear at that point. For instance and this has happened on several occasions, someone has obviously waited out the back of a venue or whatever to talk and chances are that I’ve spent the whole day preparing for a show and playing for 2 or 3 hours and we are exhausted and we are just trying to bee-line from the venue to the tour bus or hotel and then we will run into somebody and they just spill their guts and their heart and it’s all really, really personal stuff that you wouldn’t typically share with a complete stranger and whilst I absolutely appreciate that, sometimes I’m just not prepared for the depth people will reach into themselves and share with me. If my mind is focused on shower, eat and sleep and somebody wants to have a very thoroughly emotional conversation with me then fantastic, I will try as hard as I can to listen. There are moments where I have a hard time seeing how the conversation is appropriate but you know *laughs*.

Where do you see yourselves in the future?

I just see us on tour, you know? A lot of people want to know whether I predict that we will be bigger or smaller or what will happen in terms of outward success but it’s all about the tour and it’s all about writing good records and I just hope ten years from now that we are still writing music.

What words of inspiration would you give to your fans?

Well if you are in this industry and you really enjoy what you do, just keep doing it, don’t stop doing it. It’s the type of profession or passion that weeds out suckers really quickly and if you don’t love what you do then you’d better get the fuck out because there’s not enough money, there’s no security, it’s a job that takes you away from everything that you know and it just thrusts you into the chaos of what it is. We all do it because we love it so if you feel passionately about what you do and love it then stay with it because it will become its own reward.


Interview by Shannen Murphy

All Time Low's front man Alex Gaskarth is one of LMA's favourite musicians to interview, so when we got the chance to do so again ahead of their performance at Soundwave 2014, we jumped at the chance! Read about it HERE

Pulled Apart By Horses are one of the many acts on the Soundwave line up that we here at LMA are pumped about seeing, so when we got the opportunity to sit down with bass player Rob Lee and have a bit of a chin wag, we jumped at it! Here's how it went down.

Firstly your name, I have got to ask, how on earth did you come up with it? I mean 10 points for creativity but is there a story behind it?  

*Laughs* Well originally it’s actually a torture method which is pretty gruesome really, where four horses would be strapped to each limb of the victim and they would just run off in different directions and you can just imagine what happens next. I guess we feel that each one of us is like an individual horse and the horrible thing that happens in the middle is our music. Well that’s the highbrow version of it but actually the reality of it is our guitarist, James Brown, is a huge Radiohead fan and there is a song called 'Pulled Apart By Horses' by Radiohead. It was originally like a rare b-side thing and I think he was being a bit sneaky and  thought that nobody had heard that before but coincidentally, about a year after we’d formed the band they ended up releasing it *laughs*. The name is just something we’ve grown into really, it just suits us now, I don’t really know why but it’s like we just sort of adopted it and it seems to sum us up in some way. 

This brings me to your latest album 'Tough Love'. It's gruesome and shocking, both wonderful things we love, where did you draw your inspiration from with this album?

Well we worked with a guy called Gil Norton, he’s a producer that worked with the Pixies and Foo Fighters and he’s created some of our favourite albums, so he was a big part of creating that second one. I guess bands like the Pixies and Nirvana have always been a huge influence for us, I guess the first album was a lot more unhinged and we didn’t really think about it, it was just a collection of what we had at that point. When we first started out we were just like 'let’s just get some songs together so we can go out and play gigs'. There was not a lot of thought, the first album was just a real document of where we were at that time and place but with the second album it was like wow we can actually do this! It became our jobs and our lives. The second one was a lot more considered but what we tried to do with the second one was kind of like… after the first album people were putting tags on us and saying you’re a hardcore band or you’re a punk band or you’re a heavy band sort of thing, but we really didn’t feel like we fit into any of that, but we’ve always been big fans of bands like ACDC and Thin Lizzy, so I think with the second album we thought lets just make this a rock album! Let’s not worry about anything else, you know? 

I see you actually have a new album in the works, how do you feel about that one so far?

Yeah, it’s great! I mean we are literally working on that right now, I’m actually at home now but after this I’m going over to the studio here in Leeds. The other albums... the first album we did in a place called Bridlington and the second one we did in Wales in a place called Monnow Valley where Queen and Black Sabbath had both recorded. But this one we just wanted to keep old school and stay in Leeds where we are all from, so it’s kind of nice because every morning I get up and go into work and I will be there until the early hours and try not to get too drunk or anything. 

Are there any funny recording stories yet?

Well it was Tom’s birthday the day before yesterday and everyone bought him a lot of cakes and some champagne and James did this guitar solo…. It’s actually in an old church where we are recording, the recording studio is kind of like down in the basement of it and we were upstairs in this really huge hallway thing. We got James, our guitarist, to do some guitar solos in there yesterday 'coz it has this real natural reverb… Anyway, because it was Tom’s birthday, when James had finished the solo we popped some champagne in this huge hall and there was the huge pop…. And on the darker side of things as well it’s kind of like the rough end of town where we are recording so there’s a lot of smack heads and heroin addicts that keep hanging outside the church so we might get a few of them coming in to do some backing vocals or something *laughs*. 

I had a chance to check out some of your music video’s like 'Epic Myth' and 'V.E.N.O.M.' which took some serious creativity, did you guys sit around your cauldron and collaborate?

Yeah, well that’s the thing we are all really into horror films and big fans of cinema so we have drawn inspiration from this. We all sort of sit around and talk about the idea and come up with stuff but the guy that directed those two videos is a guy called Bob Harlow and he’s really cool, he’s a really creative guy. It’s tempting to take complete creative control and come up with everything yourself but it was cool to lend the reins to him and he really put his mark on those.

Were there any music video shoots that really stuck out for you?

For me there’s one called 'High Five'. Again, it was Bob Harlow that directed it, he has real skills with finding places to film in and for this video he found a really old school that was abandoned. It was a Jewish school in the 60’s and 70’s and for financial reasons it had to be closed and it was just like a complete ghost town place. Some of the classrooms have stuff still drawn on the chalk boards and it’s been there for decades, school books that have just been left there, and there was a library as well that was still there with all of these amazing books that have been there for 20 years. The main filing area was a swimming pool and the swimming pool was completely empty, no water in it and we just got in there and set up all of the instruments, that was really cool. I will never forget that day.

Tell me about the joint single you are releasing with Blood Red Shoes, how did that come about?

Well they have been friends with us for quite a few years, we have done quite a few tours with them, it’s really weird because before we even started Pulled Apart By Horses I was a big fan of that band anyway and I use to go and watch them play in pretty small venues when they first started out. Then when we started touring and stuff I was talking to the guys and asked if they'd heard of them. We all really go into them as a band and I think it was just through Facebook we got in touch with them and we were like 'do you want us to support you on a few gigs?' and we just ended up becoming mates with them over the years. Our guitarist, James, set us this label called Covered Records and to kick things off really they covered one of our songs and we covered one of there’s. It was just a fun thing to do really.

What’s the most important lesson you have learnt in your music career?

Wow that’s a pretty good question *laughs* the most important lesson… I think being in a band you’ve got to accept each other for who you are with all of your faults and everything. You spend so much time in really close quarters with them and you have to really learn just to accept each other for who they are. That’s the biggest thing, you have to get over your own ego and you have to realize that what you're doing, the band and what you're aiming towards is more important than the silly little strops that you might have.

You guys are coming down with us to hang with the koalas and kangaroos soon, are you excited to play Soundwave? 

Oh yeah, I can’t wait, it’s going to be so ace! We went to Australia a couple of years ago actually and did a few gigs there. That was honestly one of the coolest tours we’d every done like we really loved being in Australia. It’s a bit of a dream come true for us to go back there.

For any natives over here that haven’t heard of your music what would you say to them to get them along to your set? And I do hear you play a smashing live show!

I’d say be afraid, don’t come we are really bad, we a terrible. No *laughs* just come and have a good time and hang out.

What’s a weird fact about the band?

Well our drummer actually doesn’t have any fingers on his right hand… sorry his left hand. Which is weird for a drummer, he was born that way, he didn’t lose them or anything, his knuckles are set back in his palm and he holds his drum stick in a really sort of hard to explain way… and I guess that in a way has influenced his drumming and it’s a really big part of the sound of our band.

Interview by Shannen Murphy

How did you feel your tour went in Europe this year?

Umm, you know, it went really well and we were very lucky. I think the album again had pretty good reception and we just got home, the tour went so well that they actually added more shows and we are going back to England for a tour. It sounds like it went pretty well so we are really excited to get back there.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve heard about Australia?

You know what… I’ll tell you something, a friend of mine, she’s Australian, she was living out here and she made me a Vegemite sandwich and man that it something you really have to get used to, I couldn’t believe that, that was something you guys eat al of the time *laughs*.

Is there anything in your music career that you haven’t done yet that you’d like to?

I would like to have a dance off against Justin Bieber.

Oh good god! 

I’m a really good dancer, Shannen.

I can believe that.

Are you a good dancer?

Ummmm…. Yeah. I actually do dance.

Why did you hesitate?

I really don’t know.. that was a bit weird *laughs*. 

Are you coming to the Adelaide show?

Yeah, of course.

Well me and you are going to have a couple of beers and we are going to have a dance off.

That sounds like an idea and a half!

Out of all the wonderful people you have worked with in this industry, who has been a highlight?

You know as far a recording, I think our first couple of albums we did with Howard Benson, and he actually helped our band learn how to really write songs. When we first started out, we just kind of went at it and we didn’t really pay attention too much to the sound structure of songs or anything like that so going in with Howard at the time he really took the time to sit down and help us. That was really important for us and a really good learning experience for us. As far as bands and stuff I think … We had the chance to do a tour with Green Day and they were some of the nicest guys, they were down to earth and really cool. They gave us business advice and it was right when we were starting out and just little things like that where people don’t need to do that, they don’t need to go out of their way, you know be cool to you or look out for you in that way. Some people are just like that, we had a few time when we played shows with Dave Grohl and he is one of the nicest guys. It's stuff like that, it's unexpected and you get something out of it where you think this person doesn’t even care and they go out of their way to help you out… so we have been very fortunate with that.

Where do you guys see yourselves in the future?

Ahh, I see myself in the future in about two months in Australia having a dance off against you in Adelaide.

Ohh man you are going down *laughs*.

*Laughs* I’m going to start stretching now. 

Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans in Adelaide?

In all sincerity we have been trying to come to Australia since we started the band and the fact that they took a chance with us on Soundwave two years ago and the fact that so many of our fans came out and now they ask us back to Soundwave again, none of this would have been possible without our fans coming to the shows. So I just want to thank all of our fans in Adelaide for being so cool and supporting us. So thank you.

Well thank you so much for doing this interview with me and I will see you in Adelaide.

Yeah, yeah *laughs* I’m going to come and find you.


Interview by Shannen Murphy

Is there any meaning behind your band name?

It was one of the first names we actually came up with to be honest. The meaning behind the name is like every organization or everything in the world whatever it might be is the dark and seedy corner where with dirty deals are done. Bad things happen, so Heaven's Basement is about that place where whatever establishment it may be in the world… there is always a place where young people have to go to get their kicks so that’s what Heaven's Basement kind of is.

I have so much respect for creative music videos like 'Fire Fire'. how did it come about?

We picked a desert place, we decided to put all of these explosions in there, things like that and all sorts of carnage, it just kind of fit with the song and the energy of the sound but again we didn’t really over think it to much.

How do you feel about playing Soundwave this year?

Yeah, we are really excited, we have heard very good things about the festival, this will be our very first time to Australia so it's going to be a good time.

Is there a particular way that your prepare for a show? Or do things begin to become mechanical for you?

Ah, well it doesn’t really become mechanical, but we don’t really prepare but you know, it’s all a bit different every night. Every show is a bit different as well; we change around the set list. Actual preparation before the show is kind of just us hanging out, we will just listen to some music and then go on and unleash the carnage.

What can fans actually expect from your show at Soundwave this year?

Expect the unpredictable really, like I said every night is a bit different, we are just a live rock'n'roll band really, we don’t really stick to a script as such. You know things will break, things will fall over, maybe the crowd will jump on stage with us, so if people are into that kind of thing they should definitely come along and see our set.

Do you ever find tours difficult?

You know what, honestly we kind of love it all of the time. You do get in a routine a bit you know, it’s a lot of travelling and playing different places for the first time but it’s amazing that we get flown around the world to play our own music when that’s all we ever wanted. It does feel at home to us to be honest, its how we grew up.

Is there a particular experience you’ve had in your music career that really sticks out to you?

Ah, yeah there’s quite a few to be honest. Obviously getting the first album done and released, that was an achievement for us.  Also playing a festival this summer, we played the second stage which was the highest spot we’d ever played on a festival so there was about 25,000 people that came up to see us.

Where would you like to see Heaven's Basement in the future?

Always stepping up, you know, going one step further and the next album we want to make better and the next show we want to make better than the last one. We are never really happy or settled with what we have done, we always want to do more and achieve more. That’s what we aim to do, we want to take on as much as we can really, that’s why this year's started with us going out on tour.

If you could make one wish, what would it be?

One wish….to be that band that plays in space for the first time *laughs*. 
I think Muse have been trying to do it and I think Lady GaGa has been talking about doing it as well. It sounds like we are going to be a few years too early for that unfortunately… if we going take a bit of a step into the future and play on a different planet that would be good. 

Interview by Shannen Murphy