Melbourne prog rockers The Omnific are about to kick off a national tour in support of their new EP “The Mind’s Eye” which will include a stop over in Perth as part of the May edition of Hornography as well as a series of special shows set in Cathedrals and Halls featuring choral voices from The Song Company. The interesting thing about this band however is that the bass instrument is the main focus of their sound with 2 lead bass guitars driving their music so we talked to one of the bassists, Matt Fack to find out more on their unique sound and what people can expect at their live shows.
Andrew: So we have a lot to chat about with the tour and the new release, hows it all been going with you guys?
Matt: Yeah it’s been going really well. We just finished the EP off not too long ago with the mixing and all that, we’re really stoked on that. It’s all done after almost a year and a half we’ve been working on that one and we’re really stoked on that. The tour, especially the one with the choir is quite exciting.
Andrew: Yeah the choir is an interesting idea and you are taking it on the road and doing some shows with, I guess they are called The Song Company?
Matt: Yeah we got offered to do that actually, we didn’t really plan that ourselves. The whole idea was brought towards us and then we worked our own tour around that scheduling so it really worked well with the dates that they offered us. We’re really excited, for the whole tour but all the new different thngs that we’re doing as well.
Andrew: I guess that makes sense as your music is different and I love the idea, it’s obviously more bass oriented which is not something we see that often. How did you guys first start? What was the idea initially? Did you always want to do this kind of music with the idea of bass being the main proponent of the music?
Matt: We never really planned to do this kind of band I guess, it all just kind of fell into place. Toby and I knew each other purely over the internet really, we both lives in Melbourne and we both uploaded videos through Facebook and all that, just bass oriented videos. Essentially I went and demo’ed one of my old band’s songs with him and we kind of came to the conclusion that we should do a song together with just two basses and share little snippets on Facebook to see how that goes and we had no clue what kind of music we wanted to do, like how it was going to work and all that. Then we did a snippet from Facebook and it kind of did really well, had a lot of attention towards it so we did another one and that got the same kind of attention. So then we ended up writing songs which created our first EP. We never really planned to do an EP, it kind of fell into place and from there we just kept going as a band. We found Jerome as a drummer and it all kind of fell into place as a band.
Andrew: I love the idea, it’s kind of a cool thing. Obviously you have a new video “The Stoic” and you did some shows with Cog recently right? A couple of shows on the east coast, how was that?
Matt: They definitely were the best shows we played so far and Cog are an incredible Australian prog legends and to see how their live performances is, is just unbelievable. Them offering us to play the shows with them, we’re incredible stoked to now have done that. We just filmed that live video on all the…we’ve done 5 shows so far, there’s actually one left in July but that music video is done on the 5 shows that we did with them around the east coast.
Andrew: Great stuff, it’s something different and unique and really grabs people’s attention which I guess is the whole idea, to do something a little different. So obviously you guys have been pretty stoked by how it’s all been going so far, have you been surprised by the reception from people?
Matt: Initially when we started it was quite unbelievable and it still is but at the start it was, ‘Wow people are actually enjoying this’, and it kind of just kept building on that. So we noticed, or I think I had noticed when we started that it was all bass players that were really into it and as we’ve progressed it’s kind of more moved into general music people enjoying it which is what you want as well. So it’s really cool to have all people digging it even if it’s bass players or people who don’t really play music at all.
Andrew: It’s funny as I was talking to a bass player a few weeks back and I asked him how he got into it in the first place and the story always seems to be the same for bass players, that they initially wanted to play guitar and they already had a guitar player slot filled so they just took the bass player position. How did you personally get into the instrument?
Matt: There’s definitely been a few different things that made me want to play bass but I remember my Mum actually had a bass laying around. She actually studied bass at Berkeley School of Music which is a huge music school in America, had a bass laying around and I never really knew what it was, I just knew it was a guitar looking thing and music was always kind of the thing that Mum had going on. So I was always kind of brought up in music and I was learning the piano in school which was what Mum wanted me to do to get the music foundation there and I wanted to change instruments and they were offering me instruments and I just said bass guitar because that’s what we had lying around at home. So I started doing lessons on that a little bit and not really enjoying it because it’s hard to enjoy something that you’re kind of just given the music to play but then in year 9 I started getting into more music and more metal music, that’s kind of where I started out with playing as I think a lot of people in this kind of genre got into and just because I had the bass laying around as an instrument I wanted to play. So I just got into it then and kind of haven’t looked back since that.
Andrew: Have you appreciated the bass a lot more now that you’ve gotten into it and understand the whole idea of what the instrument really does? Because I always feel the bass guitar is sort of an underrated instrument and it has a really pivotal role in being the backbone of any decent band.
Matt: Yeah I guess how I always first initially thought about it was that kind of thing for the music, kind of the pushing force like the drums as it is in most music. But I think when we did this band we kind of wanted to just make it all of it because in our music we have the bass as the bass guitar still and kind of mimicking what the lead guitar would do I would say so we just explored all the possible combinations of how the bass works together in music. We’ve definitely taken the lead guitar as a reference of how we want our bass to sound in the recordings and we’ve kind of gotten our bass to do all the things that the guitars and the actual bass guitars would do in music.
Andrew: I want to ask you about influences but I also want to ask about the tour because you are coming to WA with a couple of shows. Is this going to be your first time on this side of the country?
Matt: Yes first time in Perth, I think for all of us because we’ve all played in other bands that have toured a bit as well but none of us have been to Perth so it should be exciting for the band and us individually.
Andrew: The Rockpit is one of the media sponsors for the Hornography event which is what you will be a part of on your first Perth show and you will be the first band to come from over east for the Hornography event so very excited to have you guys over our way.
Matt: Yeah we’re excited too, especially play Perth and that whole setup is really sick. It’s not just bands but there’s DJ’s as well?
Andrew: Yeah it’s a whole event so there’s bands and ticket giveaways and all kinds of stuff and there’s always a good turn out too. So I’m sure when you guys rock up there’s going to be a lot of of people who will be curious and you’ll probably score a lot of new fans which I guess is the whole point of touring!
Matt: Yeah that’s the plan, especially in new places we’ve never played before.
Andrew: I do want to ask about the other show you are doing in Perth which is at St. Georges Cathedral. Now that’s a very interesting one and a very prestigious venue to play at.
Matt: Yeah that’s the one with The Song Company. That’s just going to be me and Toby so just two basses, no drums and then I’m not 100 percent sure on how many singers but I believe it could be 8. So I think there’s a few cathedrals on the tour and some recital centres, we’ve never played in a venue with that echoey…it’s going to have such a different sonic vibe to what we are used to which is also going to be quite exciting. You hear, especially in classical music and I don’t listen to too much of it, but what you do hear is always really ambient and echoey which isn’t too big in metal music. So it’s going to be quite exciting to hear the differences with that.
Andrew: Yeah it’s going to be some interesting shows for you and for everyone there for sure. So getting back to those influences that I wanted to ask you about, was there any particular bass players at all that you were drawn to that helped shape your style?
Matt: For me personally I’ve always been a massive Dream Theater fan so John Myung is definitely my number one bass person I look up to. Mainly just for the playing, Fall Out Boy was the band that got me into playing music and they were the band I loved in year 5 and 6 which is kind of odd when you tell people like, Really? That’s totally not the band you would think. I would say Pete Wentz their bass player is an influence on me for that reason. I’ve forgotten his name but Muse’s bass player is huge for me just because he treats the bass as such a different instrument in the kind of band he’s in compared to similar bands which is what we do with The Omnific as well. So I’ve taken a lot of influence, especially with writing music in things he does in their music because it’s very bass focused so taking a lot of elements their using and trying to incorporating it into our own music. It’s been working really well so I would say he’s my third influence as well. I can’t think of too many more that have influenced me heaps but there’s definitely a lot of bass players that do some sick things that you want to learn off.
Andrew: Yeah especially in the prog rock and metal world, bass has become a little more prominent than it used to be and certainly someone like John Myung from Dream Theater is a monster on the bass as well. A very quite guy but what he does on the instrument is certainly amazing stuff so not surprising to hear that from you.
Matt: He also influenced me into the bass I wanted to play because he plays the Music Man Bongo which is what me and Toby both play now, so he’s definitely the number one up there.
Andrew: Well we are looking forward to seeing you in WA and it looks like it will be a fantastic tour for you guys so I wish you all the best in how it plays out. Thanks for your time, really appreciated! Will come say hi at the Hornography event and have a bit of a chat further on all things bass.
Matt: Yeah perfect, definitely.
THE OMNIFIC THE MIND’S EYE TOUR
The Omnific Headline shows:
Camberra: May 10th, The Basement
Sydney: May 17th, Crowbar
Perth: May 24th, The Boston
Melbourne: May 31st, Workers Club
Ticket link: www.beardfoot.com.au/the-omnific
With the voices of The Song Company:
Sydney: May 7th, Ara Dating Quarter Theatre
Newcastle: May 9th, Newcastle Conservatorium
Canberra: May 11th, The Street Theatre
Melbourne: May 13th, Melbourne Recital Centre Salon
Hobart: May 14th, St. Cathedral
North Sydney: May 18th, The Independent Theatre
Wollongong: May 19th, Wollongong Art Gallery
Berry: May 22nd, Berry School of Arts
Perth: May 25th, St. George’s Cathedral
Ticket Link: www.song.company/power-chords-attached
