Hailing from the small town of Warrnambool in remote Victoria, The Ascended blend traditional groove elements and new-age, break-neck speeds to achieve a sound that is not only powerful but memorable modern metal classic. The groove-thrash metal rising stars released their debut, full-length studio album ‘Awaken Within’ on May 4th and followed the release with a string of tour dates across Australia. After a short break the band hit the road once again in support of their new single ‘Drag Me To Hell’ so we caught up with main man Mat Wale to discuss the new album and tour and how they fit in within the Australian metal scene.
Andrew: How’s things with you and the band at the moment?
Mat: Yeah good man just trying to keep busy. Always gotta have something going on pretty much.
Andrew: Yeah definitely. I know you just came off a run of shows back in May, June and July, how did it all go for you guys?
Mat: Yeah really good dude, it’s been really cool. It’s been good fun and we are already about to go back out on the road in two weeks and the break has gone so quickly but it’s good, I’m excited to get back out there and keep it going.
Andrew: Yeah exactly that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? It’s all about hitting the road and doing the small shows plus the big cities and all that.
Mat: That’s it, I just love playing shows. Once you’re in show mentality and you know you’re doing a run of shows, that’s the best for me. It’s easy to get through the day knowing you get to play music [laughs].
Andrew: It’s all about the music! Speaking of music you have a new album that came out a few months ago “Awaken Within”. I’ve heard a few tracks from it and it’s sounding killer, what kind of feedback have you been getting from people around Australia at the moment?
Mat: Everyone has been kind of digging it which has really been blowing us away, we’re getting a lot of positive feedback about it man. We’re glad because as a musician you’re like, ‘What are people going to think about something that you love so much?’ Being in the music scene and all that jazz, you can love something so much yourself but you just don’t know what other people are going to think about. You never really know until it’s actually out there so it’s been really good which is a sigh of relief for us, we don’t have to worry about that, people like it so now we have to get it to more people!
Andrew: Yeah it’s a good job that you’ve done on there so how was the whole recording and writing process for the album? Was it difficult or did you find it was more fun than you thought it would be? How did it all go?
Mat: It’s always fun. Looking back at it, towards the end it gets a bit long in the tooth when you just want to finish it but now I just can’t wait to do it again. I think we did two and a half weeks of actually recording it and it was such a good vibe, good fun. We did the work that we needed to do, we got to have a bit of fun doing it. I love being in the studio and love making music, seeing something come to life especially with the way we do music where we don’t do a lot of demos ourselves. A lot of bands these days are basically the doing the whole getting a song to the point where you could release it the way it is and then they go and record it with a proper producer. We don’t do that, we pretty much just have these dirty, dodgey demos that are just basically ideas. We never have any vocals laid down for it, it’s just literally guitars and drums so when we get into the studio and actually hear it come to life, it’s just amazing and we really love being in the studio because of that reason where we really get to hear things come to life.
Andrew: And being in the studio is different to anything else as far as being a musician is concerned so taking it out on the road and seeing these songs come to life on stage, how has that transition been like for you guys?
Mat: I guess for me as a singer and guitar player, the transition is always a little more difficult because I record all those instruments seperately in the studio and so then when it comes to live, I have to learn to do them both together and the way that I write and things like that, I don’t actually write the lyrics while I’m playing the guitar. I don’t think about doing them together, I try and get the best I can and then just learn to do it so it’s always interesting picking a song and going, ‘Right this is going to be fun to learn how to play this’, and then working out which songs are going to be the best ones to play live. It’s been really good, we’ve got a core 5 songs on the record that we’re playing that we feel are the strongest and that are getting the best reception. I guess for this run it’s been really cool because our next single we are about to release has kind of been determined by the feedback of the album so we didn’t plan to actually have this song as a single at all. In fact it was just a song that we had on the record but because of the feedback and it seems to be the most popular on the record, we decided this will become the single and one that we’ll do a film clip to. So transition wise, yeah it’s been really good to bring them out on the road to see what people think and see what people like the best.
Andrew: Yeah that’s good that you pay attention to what people are responding to the most, adapating to what works and trying to make success out of that. I think it’s something a lot of musicians try to forget about once they are done with the recording. Are you conscious of the fact people do respond to certain songs better than others and things like that? And does that change from show to show or do you find it’s been pretty consistent on these run of shows that you’ve done so far?
Mat: Yeah absolutely and I think it’s been pretty consistent on these run of shows in terms of the songs we are doing because I think we’ve picked the ones that we think are going to be the best and we think that people are going to respond to these the best. We’re definitely conscious of it, if we get good feedback on certain songs we definitely bring it in rotation. We’ve gone based on most popular or most listened to song on Spotify is going to be the single because it has the most listens and it really surprises us because we never really advertise that song seperately in anyway. It wasn’t the first, it never got it’s own limelight, it’s just been a song on the record and yet it’s just doing a lot better than any of the other songs so obviously people are talking about. So we’ve listened to that and gone, ‘Obviously people are digging this song, lets give them more of it and a film clip to watch with it. Let’s really make a thing of it and show everyone else why people are digging this song’. So we’re very mindful, we do what we do for the fans so if they wanted to hear something and if a fan ever said, ‘You’re coming to this town to play for us, we want to hear this song’, we would 100 percent adjust our set based on request if we could.
Andrew: It’s interesting you say that as I’m starting to see some bands, some well known famous bands starting to select setlists and do certain things based on the kind of feedback they get as far as digital media is concerned like spotify, itunes and all that kind of stuff. I think that’s something that’s relatively new that people are starting to pick up on and it’s great to see Aussie bands like yourselves doing that same thing as it’s a great indication of whether your music is going in the right direction.
Mat: Yeah I agree. We wouldn’t be able to do this if it wasn’t for the fans and people listening to the music so any chance you can get to communicate with them in some way whether it’s choosing songs they think are popular or whatever it might be, any way you can connect with the people and keep the connection there, you gotta do it. Especially in this day and age of people losing connection and people losing touch with each other due to the social [media] worlds, any way you can regain that connection and make people feel connected like you give a shit, you gotta do that absolutely.
Andrew: So now being on the road for a bit and now going back on the road, what has your experiences been like in the Aussie metal scene? Have you found the crowds are really good in certain areas? What’s your take on the Australian metal scene at the moment?
Mat: Oh man it’s a really hard one. I think that at the moment it’s over-saturated, there’s a lot of bands doing stuff, touring, releasing music, there’s a lot of stuff for people to digest. And look that’s a good thing, it means there’s a lot of music and a lot of people wanting to get out there and still do the whole band thing in this day and age of metal and live music, it’s a dwindling music industry. It’s a good thing but on the other hand it’s hard to capture an audience because you’re basically in for a week and then you’re out and they’re on to the next thing. So I mean overall I think the scene is doing well in Australia, the shows have been really good but it’s just so saturated that you’re always going to clash so we are always a little worried when we go out on the road because such and such might have played the night before or the night after or in a week which makes it very hard. But at the end of the day you just gotta keep working at it, just keep grinding away. It’s not going to stop us, we’ll always go out and play but at the moment I believe that Australia’s scene is very saturated with artists which is a good and bad thing.
Andrew: Yeah I’ve been hearing the same thing from a lot of bands. I’ve been speaking to bands particularly from Sydney and Melbourne as of late and I had one discussion with one of the guys from Hadal Maw who are from Melbourne and them being on the road and hitting all these places, it does seem like everyone gravitates towards Melbourne these days and I guess it’s been like that for a long time I suppose. Do you feel Melbourne is the epicentre of where metal is at the moment, or always has been?
Mat: Yeah it really is, especially with these bigger tours dwindling away and taking away the western side and Melbourne is kind of that premier spot where you see all these bands who are willing to do 2, 3 nights in Melbourne, they’ll put on more shows but that’s the only place they are willing to do it. It seems that, whether by Melbourne is actually the capital of metal or it’s just happened somehow but that’s what seems to be what’s happening. Don’t get me wrong, there is some great scenes everywhere else. Adelaide has a really good scene, we have a great time in. Sydney is struggling a bit I think personally due to some of the issues that they have had with their night life and restrictions on things, Brisbane does well but I think they kind of suffer from the same thing being distance wise. So I think it really does just leave Melbourne and Adelaide to really hold the ranks and when big bands pull their support from Adelaide, it kind of just leaves Melbourne.
Andrew: Yeah that’s right, it’s the way it goes so it’s interesting to see how it all works out these days. Whatever works on an international level certainly impacts the local scene as well.
Mat: Oh absolutely man. We can’t go to Perth, I mean we can but it’s just financially not viable at the moment to go to Perth because honestly we can go overseas for the same price and why wouldn’t you? We will get to Perth some day, we would love to and personally I love Perth and have been wanting to get there but it’s hard and what I think needs to happen is these big bands need to start taking the plunge and go, ‘We’re not going to make thousands and thousands of dollars over there but we’re not going to lose out’. And I think that at some point it’s going to have to be a bit more about the music and the fans than it is abut making a profit but unfortunately this world is ruled by profit so it’s hard man.
Andrew: Especially with the way the music industry is now, there seems to be less money floating around than there used to be back 20-25 years ago.
Mat: That’s it, bands have to go on tour to make their money and if they know they are not going to sell 500 to a thousand tickets in a place, why bother going over there? This is where the whole Melbourne doing 2 or 3 nights in a row is that why bother going to Perth when Melbourne will probably put on 3 shows if it goes well. So Melbourne is kind of shooting everyone else in the foot by doing so well!
Andrew: It is a little sad to see but that is the reality of it I guess and I think people need to accept the fact that there are certain things in place that need to be looked at. Anyway congratulations on the new album and have fun on this second leg of the tour. Maybe and hopefully at some stage in the future we will get to see you on the west side of the country and I’m sure at some stage I’ll be coming through Warrnambool again and we will have to have another chat about the Aussie metal scene again.
Mat: Yeah absolutely anytime you are nearby, reach out and we will try and catch up and and have a beer and a yarn. It’s good to chat to people who are passionate about the scene and whatnot and I appreciate you taking the time to have a chat with me, it’s always good to see some people do care about the upcoming metal scene so it’s really good.
