California’s melodic death metal force Once Human will be making their debut visit to Australian shores in early 2018 with an extensive tour of both capital and regional cities in support of their latest release Evolution. Previously speaking to Logan Mader (guitarist and ex-Machine Head, Soulfy) when their latest album dropped back in 2016 there was a buzz around the band which has seem them tour extensively around the world. Ahead of their upcoming Australia tour, we caught up with frontwoman Lauren Hart to discuss the upcoming shows and how she got involved with the band.
Andrew: So how’s things with you and Once Human? Are you guys on a break or on tour?
Lauren: We’re currently writing at the moment as there’s been quite a bit of down time in between tours so we thought we would start writing for the next record.
Andrew: How’s the writing been going? I know the last album came out in 2016 and a lot of fans really loved it so how are the songs shaping up so far?
Lauren: Good! It’s only early days so right now it’s mostly just bits of riffs and we gotta piece them together and see what works. So it’s just in the skeletal stage at the moment but I think it’s coming along really well.
Andrew: Nice! Obviously we will be seeing you around Australia in February and March so we’re pretty excited and it was just announced recently that you extended the tour and added a few more shows including the west coast of the country. We’re based in Perth so we love that you are coming over here to do a show, it looks to be 12 or 13 shows so it’s a massive tour.
Lauren: I’m so excited, it’s the best way to see Australia as well. I know there’s a couple of fly dates but a couple of my boys have never been there so it’s going to be great for them. It’s going to be a life time experience and also Logan (Mader, guitars) said normally when bands tour there you hit maybe 3 or 4 cities max and they fly out and every day is a fly date and I’m like, ‘We gotta see everything, we gotta see Australia’. So I’m excited, I myself have never even been to Perth so I’m really excited to see that side.
Andrew: Yeah and it’s one of those things where Perth does miss out on a lot of the big tours so it’s always cool to see bands come over this way. But on top of that you are also hitting a lot of the regional towns as well which again, a lot of those places miss out on some of the bigger bands so I guess those fans will be really keen to rock up and have some fun with you guys.
Lauren: Yeah I hope so, it’s going to be fun. I’m super excited. This is a dream come true for me, even before the band I’ve always wanted to go around Australia in a campervan or something [laughs] so this is a dream come true and then some!
Andrew: Yeah it’s a big country! I’ve done the tour around the country myself and compared to a lot of other places there’s a lot of empty spaces in between which is a bit different to places like the US or Europe where there’s always a town or a city in between. You’ve probably had some experience touring to some places here but how do you think the other guys will go?
Lauren: Well to be honest I’ve never toured in Australia so I don’t know myself either.
Andrew: Oh wow ok!
Lauren: Yeah my first tour was in the States in 2014 so I’m super new [laughs].
Andrew: So it will be a new experience for everyone then! So what is the Once Human live set experience like these days? The band has been around for a few years now and you have probably worked out how things go for the live show so what can we expect?
Lauren: Well we don’t really take ourselves seriously [laughs] so you can probably expect a lot of clowning around so every show is a bit different because of that. I like to interact with people but other than that the music is full of energy, all of us are running around as much as we can so I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Andrew: Yeah it’s great to see the live show, it’s definitely where it’s at these days. For a band to not take things too seriously and have a bit of fun is definitely the way to go I think. How has the tour been going so far for you guys? I know you have been doing a lot of shows on the back of the last album “Evolution” so how has it been and how have the fans been responding to the newer songs?
Lauren: It’s been great! We’ve toured with different headliners as well in completely different genres of metal which was really interesting to see how they would embrace us. Xandria was very operatic and we were worried that we would be too heavy for them but they loved it and then we went out with another band called Wednesday 13 and they were very vampirish metal and we thought they’re not going to like us but they liked us! And the Dragonforce kids liked us so it’s like people are becoming open minded and I feel like it’s been going really well.
Andrew: I guess that’s a very cool thing to see, to have a bit of variety in the lineups. Do you have a say in who you get to tour with or a say in supporting acts or anything like that?
Lauren: No we don’t, we just get offered something and normally we’ll just take it.
Andrew: What has been the biggest highlight so far? Who is the band that’s been the most fun to tour with?
Lauren: Oh Dragonforce 100 percent. Those guys are hilarious, I watched their live show every single night and I feel like they are one of the best live bands just because they are super entertaining and every time was different. They get wasted on stage but they don’t get too wasted so they can still play! It’s just hilarious and I became really good friends with them. But also Kobra And The Lotus was a support band for the Xandria tour and I found myself becoming really good friends with Kobra so I’m really thankful for these tours and meeting such good friends.
Andrew: Yeah Herman Li is a cool guy, he seems like a really fun guy to hang out with. I’ve talked to him a couple of times and he’s always joking around so I would imagine he must be fun to hang out with.
Lauren: Yeah they’re all cheeky! But Fred (Leclercq, bass) and Sam (Totman, guitars) as well are hilarious guys.
Andrew: So take us back to the beginning of Once Human, I know Logan is obviously the main mastermind behind the whole thing but how did you get involved in the mix and was that something you wanted to be a part of or was it something you were asked to be a part of?
Lauren: It all kind of started as soon as I met Logan. I was sent to him because of my video I made, a guitar playing video which was actually pretty shit [laughs]. I don’t know how I ended up in the hands of these big people but I sat down in the studio with I think was my $99 guitar and my crappy amp and I just started playing these metal riffs and recorded it and put it up on Youtube and Facebook and next thing I know, I’m getting to go into Logan Mader’s studio because I guess Monty Connor (A&R) saw it and he said, ‘Why don’t you try and build something around this girl, let’s have her in and see what happens’. So I came in and straight away we really hit it off and started writing together and I guess he’s normally used to people coming in and wanting to do radio music and a lot more commercial things and I didn’t want any part of that. In fact I didn’t want to do any career singing, I just wanted to do the metal riffs that I love so much and so I think he was taken aback by that because he spent so much time doing the radio stuff and yet he comes from heavy metal, that’s his soul. So when he was able to write heavy metal again with me, I feel like something awoke in him and we just started writing and never stopped.
Andrew: What’s it like working with Logan? He’s such a well known person among metal fans being a member of Machine Head and Soulfly and producing some amazing albums as well, what’s it like working with someone like that?
Lauren: Well when I first met him I had no idea who he actually was so I think ignorance was bliss in that case, because if I had known I would of gotten real nervous. So yeah I had no idea and I refused to look him up as well because then I would get nervous but then eventually…because I mean I never really listened to the American metal bands. I liked the Swedish bands and a lot of bands that came out of Europe so I knew who Machine Head was but I wasn’t too familiar with the songs. I think it was just a slightly different genre to what I was listening to but obviously when I found out, there was nothing but respect and ‘I can’t believe I’m sitting here with you!’ It was amazing and I felt like I don’t deserve this!
Andrew: [laughs] Well speaking of European bands then, who do you consider to be your main influences then?
Lauren: Well my favorite metal album when I was a kid was Dimmu Borgir’s “Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia “. I learned to drive to that album and I don’t recommend learning to drive to that album [laughs] because you’ll get a lot of speeding tickets! But them and Opeth and I love Strapping Young Lad, loved Devin Townsend and Meshuggah. My first ever album that got me into metal was Yngwie Malmsteen’s Trilogy and that was sort of the gateway as I wanted to be a guitar player and that was, ‘Wow listen to this guy!’ I listened to that record over and over again and quickly it went from that to Dimmu Borgir, I don’t know how it happened but that’s how it went.
Andrew: Those are some great bands and obviously you have been influenced by them.
Lauren: And Angela! [Gossow]
Andrew: Yeah Arch Enemy! But there’s a slight prog element that’s filtered into Once Human as well, do you have that influence too with that out of the box kind of stuff?
Lauren: Yeah I feel that’s more prominent on our second record, all of us including Max (Karon, guitars) who is the newest guitar player who we met on the Fear Factory tour, his biggest influence is Meshuggah so tha’s probably what you are hearing as well.
Andrew: Yeah definitely. Well we are looking forward to seeing you on tour in Australia, looks like it’s going to be a massive tour. I hope it works out really well for you guys and we look forward to hearing this new album that you are working on. Thanks for your time, really appreciate it and we will see you very soon!
Lauren: Oh thank you so much!
TOUR DATES
Wednesday, February 28: Crowbar, Brisbane 18+
Thursday, March 1: Shark Bar, Gold Coast 18+
Friday, March 2: Newcastle Leagues Club, Newcastle 18+
Saturday, March 3: The Bald Faced Stag, Sydney 18+
Thursday , March 8: The Basement, Canberra 18+
Friday, March 9: The Evelyn Hotel, Melbourne 18+
Saturday, March 10: The Tote, Melbourne 18+
Wednesday, March 14: Brisbane Hotel, Hobart 18+
Thursday, March 15: Club 54, Launceston 18+
Friday, March 16: Miners Tavern, Ballarat 18+
Saturday, March 17: Enigma Bar, Adelaide 18+
Sunday, March 18: Badlands, Perth 18+
Tickets onsale now!
www.stagmusictouring.com.au
