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Wednesday 13 is riding the horror-rock high!

2/6/2013

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WEDNESDAY 13 should be no stranger to Australian music lovers. He has toured here heavily over the past few years with his solo project, as well as his other band MURDERDOLLS.

Live Music Adelaide chatted to the king of horror rock about his upcoming album The Dixie Dead and his plans for 2013.

 
The songs from The Dixie Dead sound like a mixture of all your previous releases in terms of style, was that intentional?

I don’t think it was an intention, I think it just naturally happens that way. When it came time to write this record it wasn’t like I had too much music. I just started writing the music over the past year and a half and then I started putting all the songs together. There are songs that are reminiscent of my first record, and Skeletons, and I guess it’s just natural for me to keep trying to write heavier, darker music and that’s what it always comes back to for me.  When I started writing the new songs, I recorded the demos, and I thought ‘wow, this is heavy’. To me, this is the heaviest music I’ve released as WEDNESDAY 13.

The track Curse The Living off the new album certainly sounds very heavy considering your previous releases. Is that true for the rest of the record as well?

Not necessarily. The record is heavy, but not quite like that song. I can say that this record is definitely diverse, every song is different. It’s different in that, it’s not like an ACDC record where you’re going to get the same kind of song every track, with this you’re going to get heavy songs, but heavy in a different way. To me Curse The Living is more like a stoner rock, kind of BLACK SABBATH kind of song, but there are heavier songs on the record. There’s one song that’s kind of like MINISTRY or METALLICA. The Dixie Dead is all over the place, and I think it’s influenced by what I listen to. These days I listen to everything, whereas years ago I’d only listen to one type of music. Now I listen to everything from country music to black metal, I listen to everything. That’s why I like this record, it comes off showing all of my musical sides.

You’ve had the same band for a while now, does that change how you write music, or do you do it all and then present it to the rest of the band later?

I still demo all the songs like I always have, I have a little recording system set up in my house. I’ll record a basic idea for a song, a verse and the chorus, and some guitar riffs, but if people who don’t know how I do demos hear it, they’ll says ‘I don’t know how you could get a song out of that!’.  I’ve been playing with these guys for a long time now, they know how it works. I just need to get my ideas down on a recording. My guitar player ROMAN (SURMAN) is the kind of guy who can hear a riff I’ve written and go ‘oh well how about we add this to it’ and he can craft it and tweak it around. I’m still very much involved in it, but it’s awesome to know I have a band who can take what I have, and turn it up to 11, so to speak.

Having the same band for so long must be helpful when touring together as well, or are you sick of each other by now?

[Laughs]  Oh yeah. This is the longest I’ve had a line-up consistently. It’s awesome because it actually feels like a band and we perform well as a band. It’s cool to watch from when we first started to now. We’re excited about what we do and we think we’re a good live band, we always try to step it up whenever we go out.


For the release of The Dixie Dead you did a pretty big pre-sale online that seemed to be very popular. Were the dozen or so packages on offer your idea or was it prompted by fan requests?

No, it was an idea that I came up with and I mentioned it to my manager. We started throwing it back and forth over a couple of days until we had an idea of what we wanted to do with it.  There’s lots of bands doing these Kickstarter and Pledge Music fundraisers that are really cool, but we’d already recorded the album. Being an independent artist though, I don’t get tour support from a record label or anything like that so when I tour I have to put my own money up for it, things like that. So when we were trying to think up ways to do videos this time, or get more things for our stage, things like that, I thought ‘what should we do to get extra money, but at the same time could give back to the fans?’. The pre-sale was such a cool idea, as is everybody’s reaction to it so far. Now I’ve seen all of these limited edition things we’ve done, like the other day I signed 100 posters that we sold six months ago, and I’m looking at them thinking there’s some kid who ordered it and is going to show it off to other people who’ll say ‘I wish I had have got that’. It’s cool to see 100 t-shirts that we only did a limited run of, and I’m lucky to have a fan base where I can do things like that.

It seems like vinyl records have come back in vogue, is that something you’d consider for a future release?

Yeah, I put out a vinyl 7” a few years ago at one show we did, actually a Wednesday the 13th show, and those went pretty quick. I believe there’s going to be a Dixie Dead vinyl released in Europe that was talked about last week. I don’t know if it’ll be released in Australia because it’s on a different label.

I’m a big fan of vinyl, and my fans seem to like it. I’m a collectable artist. My fans want to get all the different things from me so I’m always looking at different outlet s and ways to release music and products, whether that is toys or vinyl or anything else.

You seem to tour pretty heavily off the back of every release and last year you went to Russia for the first time. Are you ever surprised by where the demands for your music come from?

Going to Russia for the first time I had no idea what to expect. I saw some fans on our Facebook page, because I’m really active with the social media, who were posting pictures and saying ‘WEDNESDAY 13 come to Russia’. We showed all that to our booking agent who showed it to a Russian promoter, and it was that easy. I wish it was that easy everywhere else. I always use that as an example to encourage other fans and tell kids that if it can work for Russia it can work for them. As far as me and touring, I want to play anywhere my fans want me to play, whether that is outer space, or wherever. I go where my fans are at, I love touring and going to new places. Fans are always asking ‘when are you coming to South America?’ and that’s something I’ve been talking about for years. Fingers crossed this will be the year I get there, but it’s really up to the fans. It does matter when fans make a demand for you.

There’s always a huge demand for you in Australia. In 2012 you not only performed at Soundwave Festival and several sidewaves, but you came back later in the year for a headline tour which was packed out. Is that something you’ve come to expect when visiting Australia?

No, I didn’t expect that at all, that was awesome having that happen. That tour was sold out, and the venues were upgraded before we got there! To come back to Australia after Soundwave, in the same year and have your shows sold out, to see a packed venue and seeing fans singing all these songs, and not just songs off the new record, some songs I wrote in 1996, makes it all feel so worthwhile, and it was such a warm welcome. Australian fans are unbelievable! To me, they’ve taken the spot as my most dedicated and loyal fans. Not to say that my fans are bad anywhere else, they’re just rabid for it. Being there is like Beatlemania, and that’s not something I’m used to.

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What about those Soundwave sideshows you did with MARILYN MANSON and COAL CHAMBER, were those the kind of shows you’d always hoped would happen, but thought never would?

Yeah! Well when I heard we were doing Soundwave Festival and that MARILYN MANSON was on it, I definitely hoped that if he did sideshows that we’d be on it. We were immediately added to the shows, with COAL CHAMBER, and that was cool. I didn’t know anyone from any of those bands prior to that, and thanks to those shows I’ve stuck up a friendship with DEZ (FAFARA) and MARILYN MANSON and hopefully if I can bug him enough he’ll take me out on tour one day.

That was a great experience. It was cool to go and play in front of someone like MARILYN MANSON who obviously I’ve been influenced by and I’m a big fan of a lot of his music.

About a month ago you released a teaser video to accompany The Dixie Dead which is odd to say the least. What was the intention for that video?

It was meant to be bizarre, it was meant to be stupid and low budget. I’m a big fan of 70s action films, and for that little teaser for The Dixie Dead, that was us trying to take one of those 70s movies like Shaft and make a video of us being goofy and not taking ourselves too seriously.  It was fun to do that and it was not meant to be taken seriously. It just shows that sense of humour is a big part of what I do. There’s nothing I hate more than seeing someone take themselves so seriously all of the time. I don’t like doing that, I like letting people know I’m a goofball 24/7.

What are your plans for the rest of 2013?

After the album is released, I’ll be doing a lot of touring. That starts in the States next week on Wednesday the 13th in Hollywood. Then we’ll head to the UK, at the moment we’re working on a full US tour for Spring and Summer, then that tour is probably going to escalate to a world tour, which will turn into an Australian tour including Adelaide and Perth this time instead of just a short three day thing. There’s so much stuff going on. I also have a movie I want to start working on by the end of the year, and put out. When I do the movie of course I’ll release a soundtrack, so I’ll be recording too. It’s a busy, busy year which I’m calling Wednesday 2013. It’s going to be awesome.

The Dixie Dead will be released February 22nd on 3Wise Records.



Interview by Sofie Mardsen


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The Mark Of Cain are back!!

2/4/2013

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Heavy hitters The Mark Of Cain have made their intentions felt with their first album in eleven years Songs Of The Third And Fifth. If that wasn’t enough the band is touring throughout March and front man John Scott talks to LMA about writing, recording, fan funded albums and re-releasing their hard to find back catalogue.


Does it feel like a real sense of achievement knowing that Songs Of The Third And Fifth is finally done and dusted?

“Yes, it does. In fact it is one of the biggest I’ve ever felt in my life to be quite honest.”

Six years between live shows is a long for any band, did you ever feel that you were losing sight of the end goal?

“No, no, no! A couple of things, it isn’t a commercial entity and for me it is this art form of trying to concentrate on a certain philosophical style of writing and performance. If anything what was going on in my life was making it difficult to get in to the studio and finish it. So I guess I’d go in there and hide and other times it was this cathartic thing to go in and empty my soul in to it. I never felt that it was too hard but a matter of keeping on going and going. Finally we decided on a deadline for ourselves and we met it. I guess it was a different thing because it is do it yourself and not funded by anyone else but ourselves. We just made it happen.”



With the whole “Do It Yourself” ethos changing where bands are reaching out to fans to financially support the process, is this something The Mark Of Cain would consider for the next album?

“It’s interesting and I’ve thought about that but I’m not sure if I totally agree with it. All our albums have always been funded by the band by us working nine to five jobs or taking the money we would make by playing to fund it. I don’t know if I agree with it because I think the work ethic is lazy to expect your fans to pay for your so called artwork. I don’t believe I would ever choose that route to go because while it’s nice that art is supported, I think it needs to be the artist in the end who needs to control how that output is done. Doing so by saying give us some money to record is fucking lazy.”

Was the direction for the album always clear from the beginning and you didn’t really deviate from that or did it evolve and take on a life of its own?

“From the get go when we discussed what we were going to do for the next album John Stanier always harked back to our second album Unclaimed Prize by saying how much he liked the production of it, which was done in Adelaide. We had financed that ourselves as well as the first album Battlesick. There was a lot more melody on that album and he liked the idea that sometimes I would do more of that singing style rather than just barking it out. I said alright, this next one we’ll look to maintain some sort of melody in there because that was also giving myself a bit of a hard goal to go for. This is something I haven’t done in a long time and I didn’t want a repeat of what I’ve done before because it’s just lazy. It was always something out there in the ether of what we were going to do but when we recorded in 2008 over three weeks, the music had been written and set in stone. The thing that had changed over the course of the next couple of years was me going in there and adding guitar, maybe doing some arranging with everything connected up. Of the songs, four or five were lyrically prewritten and in four more the lyrics lend themselves to what was going on in my life at the time, but not necessarily as a straight narrative. With what came out of it in the end, I was surprised that it didn’t sound like it was recorded over six years. It just sounds like it’s us and it doesn’t really have a stamp of any particular year attached to it.”


From a fan perspective the wait has been worth it and it’s far more than just nine songs but the whole listening experience.

“We had eleven songs originally but we felt nine was strong and I’d rather put just nine songs out than put out filler material. I think that’s a mistake some bands make by putting filler on there that’s not particularly good. I believe whole heartedly on each song on that album. It has about the same time that a lot of albums run and it’s the same time bracket we would normally do on an album.”

What was your reaction to hearing the final mix?

“Oh god, I was so close to it I was finding it hard to appreciate it. I think after Forrester did the mixes I probably listened to them for a week and we went back and redid Milosevic. After that I don’t think I listened to it for three months and then I would put it on in my car and home stereo to check it out. Then all of a sudden I finally had that space to look at it without feeling too connected. I love the album, I’m proud of the album and I knew it was something I could release without any fear that there was something substandard about it. I think Kim was the same and he was saying that he’d been listening to after it had just been done and was like yeah before it gripped him. He was then in a stranglehold thinking this is the best thing we’ve ever done.”

Do you agree that it’s the sort of album you can’t just pick particular tracks to take in?

“I agree, there are lots of bands that I love, that when I think about their albums that I cherish, they’re ones that I’ve bought and I think I’m not too sure about this. Then all of a sudden it becomes clear to me and I think that is a good sign of an album that’s not immediately captivating, maybe only one or two songs, but then suddenly when you listen to it just grabs you.”

I remember the statement you made at the two Fowlers Live shows the band played at where you said you would tour every year because there aren’t enough good rock bands touring. What happened?

“Yep, didn’t do it. Thanks for reminding me of that! I’m looking forward to the March tour, I live for the band and it’s been hard for us is with John Stanier, he has had a great level of success with Battles. They’ve been in the studio every year and touring, then he has Tomahawk as well. It is another factor we have to work in, whether John is available or not.”

Will this be the only run of dates in the short term?

“At the moment this is what we’ve planned. There’s Golden Plains Festivals and the dates fit around that and both myself and Kim want to do another tour on top of that. It’s all connected in with John. John has always endeavoured to ensure he has the time available for us when he can but we have been a little surprised by the level of attention this release has gained whereas we might have been looking at doing just this tour. I think we’re a little more geared to look at a tour later on.”

What did you think about the petition to get the band on at Soundwave?

“I saw that! Then I saw that some guy had released that we had asked for some huge amount for playing. From what I’ve been told the guy who published those details can be a bit of a dick!”

The back catalogue is almost impossible to find these days except at ridiculous prices on eBay, is there any plans to re-release these classic The Mark Of Cain albums?

“Yes, that’s something we’re looking at. When we signed with BMG part of the back catalogue went with them. We managed to get Battlesick, The Unclaimed Prize and Ill At Ease back so we are looking at re-releases of all of those. I’m not sure where we stand with This Is This, which is still tied up with BMG but they have also been helpful in that when we toured in 2006 and the album was no longer available we did do a run. The back catalogue will become available but then again I could be talking out of my hat.”

The Mark Of Cain are touring nationally throughout March. Tickets to their Adelaide show at HQ on Friday the 8th of March can be found here

Interview by Rob Lyon
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DJ Ian talks about 'Hang The DJ' at Adelaide Fringe Festival

2/4/2013

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From glamorous parties to 50th wedding anniversaries they have heard your request, told you they'd play it and occasionally decided not to. Andrew McClelland (Mix Tape) and Adelaide’s own DJ Ian (Pop!, Bang!) tell all from the sober side of the dance floor and many more stories that will make you laugh. Unlike other Fringe Festival shows this one turns in to a dance party afterwards. DJ Ian Bell talks to LMA about their show and pending fatherhood.

Are you excited about making your Fringe debut as a performer?

“Totally! It's my first Adelaide Fringe show, but Andy is a veteran of many Fringes here, Melbourne and Edinburgh. We did this show in the Melbourne Fringe in October and it went great!”

Is this your favourite time of the year on the “pop culture” calendar?

“Well it's bananas in Adelaide for the next few weeks. 900 Fringe shows PLUS the Festival PLUS Soundwave PLUS Womadelaide PLUS Laneway Plus plus plus. Not to mention all the concerts. Ordinarily I'd be out every night, but I have an extremely pregnant wife at the moment so I'll have to pick and choose pretty carefully. It is a great time to be in Adelaide, if only we could spread things out a little bit instead of going back into hibernation for eleven months.”

Tell LMA about your show?


“Hang The DJ is a comedy show about music, DJ's and DJ-ing. Both Andy and I LOVE music, which is what lead us to becoming DJ's in the first place. However neither of us fit into the tradition or clichéd version of what a DJ is. We both play lots of different styles of music, but the common thread is having fun on the dancefloor. So as Andy is a comedian who DJ's and I am a DJ who does a bit of comedy, we are uniquely placed to poke fun at stereotypes of DJ culture, pop music in general and ourselves. There's obviously a lot of music involved and some stuff that people won't have seen either of us do before.”

What happens after the show?

“WE DANCE! The show is pretty unique because it's a late night comedy show where we talk about how important music and dancing is to us for an hour and then it turns into a dance club until the wee small hours. And when I say 'dance club' it's not doof doof or dubstep, it's party central. Andy and I both come from an Indie Pop background, but LOVE all kinds of music and anybody who has ever been to any of my clubs like Pop! or Bang! or Crank! or Andy’s Finishing School in Melbourne, will know exactly what I mean. We play everything from Britpop to Motown, Elvis to the Black Keys, Beastie Boys to Spice Girls. Anything goes. A ticket to the comedy show gets you in free or people can just come along for the dancey bit on its own.”

How did you come up with the idea?

“Funnily enough we had both come up with the idea separately and when Andy mentioned doing a show about DJing and I told him I'd had the same idea, he said "LET'S DO IT TOGETHER!". At first I thought he was just humouring me as I'd only done a few stand up spots, but here we are some months later bringing Hang the DJ to the Adelaide Fringe!

How did you meet Andrew M?

“When I was DJ-ing a club called BANG! at Fowlers some years ago and during the Fringe this well dressed chap guy would turn up and dance like a dervish to Britpop songs. He introduced himself while requesting Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, suggesting I go to his comedy show and mentioning he was also a DJ in Melbourne. The last bit I shrugged off, because people always think they are a DJ. However I did go to his show and later in the week he was DJing in the Garden and I figured I'd give the kid a break and stick my head in. Don't remember what he started his set with, but it was good and after about 20 minutes I realised we were brothers in music. We have been firm friends and DJ-ing with each other ever since.”

Who will the show appeal to?

“Everybody has had some dealing a withDJ of some description. In a club or at a work Xmas party or a wedding. And people love music and they love to laugh. It's a really funny show, whether you've ever been to clubs or not. So people who love to laugh, love music and love to dance.”

How was the Melbourne experience?

“Melbourne Fringe was really great for us. We had good houses and good reviews. It was a brand new show for Andy and my first ever full show doing comedy but we both had a great time. People really seemed to love the show judging by the amount of people who stayed for the dancing and talked to us excitedly afterwards. For me it was slightly terrifying on opening night, but after that I just wanted to get out there and do it.”

Were you happy with the reviews?

“Our run was pretty short and there was a couple of reviews that both said nice things. One said a dance routine (yes there is a dance routine) was "an impressive effort for two portly gentlemen", which was pretty fair!”

Have there been any embarrassing blunders in any of the shows? If yes, do tell!

“Nothing major. A few flubbed lines here and there, but as one of the other reviews in Melbourne kindly offered, it came across as "endearing", thank goodness ha ha. One night Andy missed a whole section of show, but the joke was so good it was worth apologizing to the audience and going back for the punch line!”

What’s next on the horizon for you both?


“For me it's first time fatherhood as our baby is due just after the Fringe. As I'll literally have my hands full, Andy will be doing a variation of Hang The DJ at Melbourne International Comedy Festival with another DJ friend of ours, Kieran O'Sullivan in April. My plan for this year is to start DJ-ing in Adelaide more regularly again, the last couple of years I seem to DJ with Andy in Melbourne more regularly than I do on my own turf!  Then I'll probably get down to writing endless jokes about nappy changing, baby Bjorn’s and the consistency of baby drool.”


Hang The DJ will run Fridays and Saturdays between the 8th and 16th of March in The Garden Of Unearthly Delights. For tix and Info click here

Interview by Rob Lyon

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