Since their inception in 2010, Hadal Maw have fast procured a stature as a benchmark for creating new perspectives on heavy music. Having been described by Metal Hammer as very much the contemporary and forward-thinking metal force, the Melbourne heavy outfit have jumped into the metal world in much the same fashion as the music they portray – impactful and in your face. Their new EP Charlatan is due out on August 3rd and the band are set to tour Australia with tech metal giants Psycroptic and Archspire so we chatted to guitarist Ben Boyle about all the latest with the band.
Andrew: So thanks for your time today, really appreciated! I know you got a lot of stuff happening, you got the new EP coming out and a tour with Psycroptic and Archspire so it seems to be exciting times in the band at the moment.
Ben: Yeah absolutely man, very excited about the tour. Psycroptic are obviously one of the best Australian bands ever and we really dig those guys, they’re all good blokes and obviously Archspire are just out of this world crazy. Can’t wait to see them live, going to be nuts!
Andrew: Yeah it’s going to be a good team with you three guys so it’s obviously going to be a great tour. Before that the EP comes out I think the 3rd of August right?
Ben: Yep August 3rd, that’s it.
Andrew: So tell me a little about the EP. I know you’ve released a couple of albums in the past so why did you go down the EP route this time?
Ben: We were actually already working on the next album and with “OLM” we had a lot of great ideas coming out of “OLM” and we started working on the new stuff but the next album started to turn a bit eclectic as far as which direction we were heading and we had these 5 songs that just worked really well together and we kind of wanted to reinvigorate the sound of the band and bring a new breathe of air to it. So we just decided to do an EP and so that’s basically what we did!
Andrew: Yeah it’s a nice little in-between releases I suppose! You mentioned this is a little different to what was going on before that, is that something that happens quite regularly in the band where every new recording you go in a different direction?
Ben: Yeah generally, I mean we always try to explore different sounds and different dynamics to keep it interesting for us as well. I mean “OLM” was really sort of experimental as far as how it differs to the first album, we really played around with more groove elements and the technicality we kind of approached it a more abstract way. But this new stuff is a lot more energetic, a lot more raw, a little bit more grindy and blackish. It’s probably more like the first album than it is like “OLM” but it kind of blends those two elements together in a really accessible way, it’s kind of a lot darker but a lot more catchy I guess you could say, a lot more energetic.
Andrew: I had a chance to listen to the EP earlier and you’re right, it definitely has a grindy sort of sound which goes back to some of the earlier stuff you were doing. What were some of your influences musically? What was inspiring some of the new directions and the energy that you were trying to capture on this EP?
Ben: Oh there’s so many [laughs]. We try not to take anything directly too obvious as far as influences go because we’re a bit of a mixed bag as far as what we all listen to and our backgrounds but we love anything that’s sort of dissident and dark that pushes the envelope as far as how they approach, how they write. Sort of experimental stuff in nature, at least for me. I really love grind like Full Of Hell and brutal blues, weird stuff like that as well that sort of inspires me to try and push things in a unique direction. And obviously Meshuggah, we play 8 strings so we love Meshuggah [laughs].
Andrew: [laughs] Who doesn’t, everyone loves Meshuggah! Obviously you have shared the stage with so many great bands in the past like Decapitated being one of the more extreme stuff and obviously Psycroptic and King Parrot and all those kinds of bands. Is that ever used as an inspiration to what you do, not just in the studio but also on tour on the live stage?
Ben: Oh absolutely. Psycroptic is the bar set I think for tech death in Australia so we’ve always looked up to those guys and they’ve always been big inspiration so yeah that makes us extra pumped as I said about the tour. It blows our minds to be on a tour with two such amazing and definitely inspiring bands but I mean other than Psycroptic, pretty much any band that we have gone on tour with has had some sort of impact on us and that’s usually why we go on tour with them. We generally look for those sort of opportunities where we will blend well with them and we all have a good time, they’re good dudes and that sort of stuff. We haven’t encountered any issues as far as that’s concerned and we always come away with each tour with a new invigoration as far as either the other band’s and how they approach their live show or just their style in general.
Andrew: How has your live show evolved over the years? Has it changed much at all or do you try to keep some of th roots of what the band are about?
Ben: We try to keep it as honest as possible, we try to keep it raw. We have started to use more layered elements with some backing tracks, we’ve always played to a click track and stuff because we obviously inspire to be super tight and a lot of that is that inspiration from Psycroptic who are probably one of the tightest bands I’ve ever seen so we’ve always kept that in the back of our minds. I would say we’re pushing it to the level we’re comfortable with at the moment as far as the production side of things with the backing tracks and layering, we really love atmosphere and things like that and we’ve worked a lot of that into the EP as well as “OLM”. Other than that, Sam [Dillon], our new vocalist who joined on “OLM”, he’s really lifted the live shows, he’s such an incredible performer and his voice is just insane. He can do anything pretty much [laughs].
Andrew: That’s good to hear and with this tour coming up I assume you will be playing a lot of the new stuff as well?
Ben: Yeah absolutely. The tour coming up we’re actually playing the EP from start to finish just because we’re super proud of it and super happy with the material that’s there and I think it will work really well in a live setting. That was something we kept in mind with the EP as far as how the material flows, we wanted it to have a really good impact live and not get too lost in the details.
Andrew: Sure and in saying that, do you ever think about how the songs will translate to the live stage when you sit in the studio to write and record them?
Ben: Yeah on this one we did, I think with “OLM” we got a bit lost in the details of it all like the technicalities. I mean we’re super proud of that album as far as the avenues we went down but I would say some of them worked better live than others. As far as this EP I think even in the jam room it feels really lively and it’s got a different vibe to it because the recording is really raw as well which was a conscious decision so we wanted to translate that live vibe as well.
Andrew: So you guys are based in Melbourne right?
Ben: Yeah that’s correct.
Andrew: I’ve spent a lot of time over there in Melbourne and I’ve been to a lot of gigs both locally and internationally and I’ve always felt it’s the capital of Australia as far as metal goes or even just music in general. What’s your take on the Melbourne scene at the moment? Do you feel it’s become even more active these days or has it gone downhill?
Ben: I think it’s just as lively as it’s always been. It sort of goes in ebbs and flows but I mean there’s so many amazing bands around and there’s always new ones coming out of the frey I guess you could say. There’s some amazing bands around at the moment like Hollow World, it’s a very active scene and a scene that I haven’t really seen on that level anywhere else in Australia.
Andrew: Yeah it’s interesting because I’ve talked to other musicians in other cities like Perth and Sydney and all that and it seems like Melbourne has that consistent vibe where everyone wants to play there and all these bands are coming out. What’s your take on the rest of the country in comparison to Melbourne then? Why do you think Melbourne is the place where all these bands come out of?
Ben: I don’t know, it’s a very interesting question. It’s always been a very artistic and multi-cultural place I suppose, I mean we do get a lot of people who do actually move to Melbourne to be part of the music scene. Sam our current vocalist, he’s from Sydney and he actually moved down to Melbourne so it does attract a lot of people from different scenes who want to be more active but just can’t seem to find the reason where they are. But as far as bands from other cities, there’s heaps around that are amazing. Especially Perth, we’re good mates with the Earthrot guys. We don’t get to Perth very often obviously because it’s a bit hard to get over there and quite expensive so we have to choose the right times to do it. I don’t know the Perth scene as much as I would like to but we try to get over there when we can.
Andrew: When was the last time you were over here and what was the experience like for you guys?
Ben: I think we did an “OLM” launch there, I think it might of been February last year but I can’t quite remember to be honest with you [laughs]. Things start to blur together, you know.
Andrew: Sure and Hadal Maw is a very active band and you tour the country, what has been some of the most interesting shows or places you’ve been to like in some of those more remote, regional towns?
Ben: Well we played Port Macquarie which was with Black Rheno who are also an awesome band and that was very interesting! I don’t think we ever played a show like that, I mean they really look after you there and it’s just got a really cool vibe there. That’s probably the most interesting regional show that I think we’ve played, we got put up in a very nice hotel and they really looked after us. I don’t think we’ve been looked after like that before or since but especially on that Black Rheno tour we played quite a few regional shows on that tour and they were all really fun.
Andrew: Regional shows are interesting and I’ve been to a few of them myself, it’s a different vibe and it seems like the fans are a bit more appreciative or passionate because of the fact that bands don’t go through those towns as often as the bigger cities.
Ben: Yeah definitely, they tend to go a bit more crazy in the crowd. They make the most of it basically.
Andrew: Well we are looking forward to seeing you on the road with these two great bands, it’s going to be a fun time by the sounds of it. Congratulations on the new EP, sounds killer! Thank you for your time and hopefully we will catch you in Perth at some point in the future.
Ben: Yeah hopefully! I mean we’re going to do a headline tour at some point after the Archspire and Psycroptic one and we’re hoping near the end of the year and I’m not sure if we’re going to make it to Perth but it’s certainly something we’ll look at and it will just depend on budget and things like that. But yeah man, hopefully we will get over there soon.
PSYCROPTIC & ARCHSPIRE
w/ Hadal Maw
AUSTRALIA TOUR DATES
August 16th – Brisbane, Crowbar w/ Kaerulean
August 17th – Sydney, Bald Faced Stag w/ Heathenspawn
August 18th – Melbourne, Max Watts w/ Primitive
August 19th – Canberra, The Basement w/ Inhuman Remnants
*August 24th – Hobart, Brisbane Hotel w/ Zeolite, The Absolution Sequence
*August 25th – Adelaide, Fowlers w/ Voros, In The Burial, Oath Of Damnation, Temple Of Athena
**August 26th – Perth, Amplifier w/ Grotesque, Unravel
(*Hadal Maw not appearing)
(**Psycroptic & Hadal Maw not appearing)
TICKETS ON SALE now at:
http://soundworksdirect.eventbrite.com / www.oztix.com.au
