WARBIRDS… It’s a name to watch out for in 2019 because I predict they will have a huge year ahead, if 2018 is anything to go by. January saw the release of their fantastic EP ‘Control’, a diverse 5-track collection of solid rock riffs, strong vocals and ripping solos – a bit of something for everyone. The band has locked in the 8th of December as another important date in the bands history, as they host their video launch for their latest single ‘My Symphony’ at The Workers Club in Fitzroy. On a recent trip to Melbourne, The Rockpit’s Sean Bennett managed to secure a sit down interview with lead guitarist & vocalist Anth Nekich in the back room of The Queensbury Hotel…this transcript is an extremely stripped down version of 3 hours of laughter, bar snacks, stories and a newly found friendship where we talked about ‘Control’, studio time and the immense new single ‘My Symphony’…
Sean: Hey Anth, thanks for giving up some of your time to meet up for a chat. I’ve been listening to the ‘Control’ EP that you brought out earlier this year and also the incredible new single ‘My Symphony’ that has just been released. It’s a fantastic track… where did it come from?
Anth: You’re welcome and thank you – so glad you like it. The band has been around since around 2012, but there were big chunks where we were writing songs and getting guys to fill in on bass as we evolved. ‘My Symphony’ started with the intro riff and with Lee (Leroy Strapp, drums) & me just jamming with it – we had no bass player at the time – so it kind of evolved as we did. Then Jared (Piatkowski, baass) joined a couple of years ago… so we kept playing with it and fine-tuned it and it just clicked. It did go through a few different structures and phases until the last version that we locked in, which we just felt was spot on. It’s also a song that has many different feelings throughout… sadness & anger – but it also has a positive spin to it as well.
Sean: The music video that has accompanied the track is pretty stunning. What was the concept behind that?
Anth: Thank you – we are so happy with it. Daniel Nolan from Clear Reel Video Productions came up with the idea of getting an interpretive dancer involved. We shot the video at a place called The Line in Footscray and to be honest we absolutely love the end product. It’s an emotional track, as I said before and the whole ‘slow motion’ along with the dance & surroundings gives it a real atmospheric & emotive feel to it. The dancer was running late so we decided to smash our stuff out first so we were absolutely shattered when she got there. We took around 30 takes to do our side of things and the slo-mo stuff is so tiring because you have to record it all a 50 percent faster – it looks so funny [laughs] and then in came Andrea Lui (pole dancing champion) and wrapped her part up almost in one take. We’ve tried to steer away from all the old clichés in other videos so it’s quite different in that respect… and I think it makes the song sound better too.
Sean: The video compliments the track so well. So, your second EP ‘Control’ was released at the start of this year. How did that all come together?
Anth: We recorded it with Mat Robins at Coloursound Studios in Altona, here in Victoria and actually released it in December 2017 – it’s come out better than we could ever have imagined. We had already written three of the tracks ‘Control’, ‘My Symphony’ & ‘Prison Cell’ by the time that Jared joined, so we decided to get into the studio to get them recorded, get some film clips put together and release the songs as singles, just so we had some content out there for people to see and hear. As we approached the recording dates we realised we had a few more tracks that we had been working on and two that were kickin’ arse in particular, which were ‘Breaking Point’ and ‘Take It All’, which are the last two songs on the EP. In the studio they all sounded nice and solid, so we thought we’d put them on there for a good eclectic mix… all five songs are so different to each other. We want dynamics in our music – we don’t want listeners to hear the first couple of tracks and to then feel they have heard the whole album. We are really passionate about diversity. We don’t want to be pigeon-holed as a pub rock band or a Queen-style band or a prog rock band… we want to play a bit of everything and we feel we have the ability to do that as a 3-piece and we pride ourselves on that.
Sean: How does it work in respect of studio time & still having to tweak things on certain tracks?
Anth: It’s hard because you are paying premium rates for time in the studio. Lucky for us the first three tracks were pumped out quite easily but the last two songs we had to semi-write while in there… we are almost jamming and trying to remember what each person had added. But then you start to feel the pressure because you’re paying for each hour you’re in there. That intensity kind of helped us produce what we did.
Sean: It always interests me the ‘studio time’ issue. I don’t imagine huge established bands having the same problems with studio costs – some would have their own recording setups or the record company helping with costs. But hearing you say about pressure as the clock ticks on sheds light on a problem many bands must have.
Anth: Yeah at the end of the day we all have day jobs man and we need to self-fund our time in there. I had a really enjoyable experience working with Mat (Robins) especially as a vocalist – if I’m not in ‘the zone’ so to speak then I can struggle to hit the big notes but working with Mat I was always in ‘the zone’. There’s nothing worse though when you can’t get that riff or solo just right and you start clock watching. But in the end all five tracks came out fantastically well and there are no moments I look back and wish we’d done anything differently.
Sean: And I’m sure you guys are hungry to get back out there playing some live shows…
Anth: We’d play every day of the week if we could [laughs]. But we’ve only really managed a handful of shows throughout the year and also jumped on some bills with some other bands, but to be honest we’ve been pretty selective playing our shows. We’ve locked in the 8th December for the video launch of ‘My Symphony’ and that’s at The Workers Club in Fitzroy – great band venue. The EP launch was at the Bendigo Hotel in Collingwood which is another ‘old school’ pub that been there for a very long time, so we played there early January this year and it was good, man.
Sean: No doubt you’ll have copies of the EP at the merch table as well as some other Warbirds goodies, so guys and girls, if you going along please support local music…
Anth: And it does make a difference to us and we do appreciate the support. We are not a charity and certainly don’t expect handouts. We all work and earn our money and put some savings aside to help pay for what we do. I do have mixed emotions with all the pledge music kind of stuff – you can record a decent product without spending tens of thousands of dollars nowadays.
Sean: With so many diverse tracks on ‘Control’, where do Warbirds go from here in 2019?
Anth: We need to make 2019 a big year for ourselves. We have an albums-worth of material already, but the idea is to have maybe 25 tunes and then we can cull them back to suit what is best for the release – maybe even send some tracks out to people like yourselves and a few acquaintances we have at The Hard Rock Show as well and see what everyone is liking – maybe pick a top 12 out of 20 or something like that. I mean, a track I may not be as keen on, may resonate with everyone else. So we are almost ready to record the album but we’re going to keep writing and see what happens.
Sean: I’m already looking forward to hearing what’s coming next. Where do your musical influences come from Anth?
Anth: When I was growing up my brother, who is ten years older than me, had a big old-school Technics stereo system with CD player and we would listen to The Doors, The Cult’s ‘Electric’, Motley Crue’s ‘Decade of Decadence’… probably 5 or 6 discs in all that paved the way for me. How many 8-year olds do you know who get off listening to The Doors? Another was Van Halen with ‘1984’ & ‘5150’… as a kid I couldn’t understand how the same band had two different singers [laughs]. So back then when I was learning the guitar we had no internet… it was all by ear – and no rules when you were learning either. There’s always something special about learning on your own back rather than YouTube – whether it’s right or wrong, you develop your own style and a method of doing things. So those years practicing locked away in my bedroom were really valuable to me. When I first started out playing in a band I really wanted to be like Richie Sambora, an amazing guitarist & awesome backing vocalist… that what I really wanted to do. So in the process of trying to find a singer I’d take the vocals – we had a bunch of Kiss and Motley Crue songs we were kind of ok. We tried a couple of singers and it wasn’t right so I had a handful of lessons with a great guy called Peter Vox and the rest is history. Ian Astbury was a big influence on me.
Sean: So what differences do you feel now to then as an artist & performer?
Anth: To be honest I feel less pressure now. I can honestly say that I feel like I’m singing & playing better than I ever have done… and I don’t get to practice 3 hours a day anymore. I mean, as a kid, between the ages of 12 and 17 or 18, I would play and practice maybe 6 hours a day, easy. I’d get home from school and just start playing. But now creatively I’m probably more in the zone than I have ever been.
Sean: Do you think that’s maybe because of the passion you have for it or from the life experiences you’ve gained on your journey?
Anth: In all honesty, it’s probably because I actually care less… and don’t mistake that from meaning I don’t care. But as a player I feel I’ve broken the mould of sticking to this and that – listening to Richie Kotzen and seeing the way he plays, I do a bit of highbred picking where I use my pick and chicken plucking kind of thing and I use the fretboard more for creating sounds and finding notes and sticking to platforms, scales or blocks that I’m playing in and also doing that while I’m singing – it’s hard. But I’ve kind of evolved it into a bit of a system where I can do it and play intricate rhythm parts as well as sing. So, now I feel like… how can I say this… I feel I’ve only just started. I feel I’ve only just reached the pinnacle and I can now go on from here now. It’s not like we just want to tick along and have fun with it – we are all still very serious like as if we were all 20 years old again. I feel more confident in the music and in our ability as a band.
Sean: It’s almost an opposite comparison to the time restraint scenario in the studio we talked about earlier…
Anth: Exactly. I don’t feel that pressure of having to have reached certain goals and milestones in my musical life anymore and that is reflecting on where I feel I am as a musician right now.
Sean: Was there ever an actual moment you can pinpoint when you sat up and went “I want to be in a band”?
Anth: I remember being in the back of the car and Van Halen came on… it could have been ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’… and I asked who it was. And was told we had it at home and something just resonated from that. Around the same time I had started recording myself singing… Robert Palmer had ‘Simply Irresistible’ out and I remember hearing that… my brother had these big over-the-head ear phones so I just stuck them on and sat on the bean bag listening to ‘5150’ and it got to ‘Dreams’ and I just started to cry – it just hit a nerve… I don’t mean balling my eyes out but it triggered something. I remember one night watching the ice skating with my mum, not the classical stuff… but suddenly on came the opening riff to ‘You Really Got Me’ for one of the skaters… so I asked my brother to find the album that one was on and then after listening to ‘Van Halen’ everything changed… ‘Running with the Devil’ man, like ‘fuck’ man what a song!
Sean: So this will make my next question interesting. You can invite three guests from the music world to join you for a two hour dinner date, dead or alive. Who would join you?
Anth: Fuck, good question man. Eddie Van Halen would have to be there as well as Jim Morrison… the third is not so easy. But Kiss are a huge influence for me too so I’d probably have to say Paul Stanley.
Sean: With or without make-up? [laughs]
Anth: [laughs] Either. I’m reading Paul Stanley’s book at the moment… I’ve seen them so many times man. The first reunion tour in 1996 when they wore the full make-up with Ace and Peter Criss was one of the biggest highlights of a live show for me… I got to see something that I thought you’d never get to see. There’s a great story where they used to go to a different hotel after the show to remove their make-up and stuff and this one time it was Halloween and they had trouble getting to the hotel with the huge parade taking place so they decided to get out the limo and walk… people were complimenting them on their fantastic Kiss-lookalike costumes [laughs]
Sean: [laughs] That is a classic. It would have been funny if someone had told them it was the worst Kiss fancy dress they’d ever seen [laughs]. I’ve got to say the restaurant question spins me out for various reasons sometimes because in all my interviews so far no one had said Eddie Van Halen until the last one I did earlier today and now you’ve said his name on the same day.
Anth: Who was the interview with?
Sean: Zakk Zedras from Chocolate Starfish – we were chatting about Serpentine Sky.
Anth: Zakk is a great guy and an incredible guitarist – I played in a band called Teargas years ago and we played on the same bill as Serpentine.
Sean: The more I get into the Melbourne music scene the more things overlap and link – pretty cool. If you could be credited with any song ever written, what song would you want your name attached to?
Anth: Well ‘Dreams’ by Van Halen, as I mentioned, was a huge moment in my life but there is a song by Dream Theater called ‘A Change of Seasons’ which is a 23 minute track and its broken into 4 seasons and it’s about Mike Portnoy’s mum passing away and it’s fuckin amazing! They did an anniversary tour and played it as the encore. It’s such an emotive song – it’s got the light and shade… it’s pretty full on and you need about five or six listens to get it. So I’ll say that one.
Sean: I shall add it to my playlist I’m building on Spotify with all the answers I get. It’s been such a great afternoon Anth and I just want to thank you for your time and on behalf of The Rockpit, wish you guys all the best with the single & EP and hope we can catch up in 2019 to discuss the Warbirds album that I’m so looking forward to hearing.
Anth: Mate, it’s been a pleasure and hope you enjoy your time here in Melbourne.
Sean: Thanks Anth, I’ll try [laughs]
