Chaos Divine are one of Perth’s heaviest progressive metal bands and are a part of the Stormrider Festival lineup. They are also about to embark on an Australian tour of their own. Stephanie Jewell sat down with Mike to chat all things music and talk about the upcoming tour. Chaos Divine are made up of David Anderton (vocals), Simon Mitchell (guitar), Ryan Felton (guitar), Michael Kruit (bass) and Tim Stelter (drums).
Steph: How is it going Mike? Thank you for taking the time to chat with me, how has your day been?
Mike: It has been good. Just working away in the nine to five, and then music by night. I think that’s the way we all do it these days.
Steph: Tell me about Chaos Divine, what is your origin story?
Mike: We have been around now for just about coming up to twenty years. We got together at the start out of school. Just sort of friends and jammed. In 2006 we released our first EP, with a slightly different lineup. We’ve only changed the drummer, the drummer has changed a few times, but the rest of the band remained as is. So, we were more mates than sort of working colleagues if you will. But it sort of stemmed from those younger days when you are in your teens and we have just stuck with it. We started to produce good music, regularly enough to keep it going. And then started selling enough copies for the band to sort of fund itself. Myself and Simon, the other guitarist, used to jam together, and the original drummer, before we created our name. So we sort of stemmed from there. Then the drummer was friends with the other guitarist. And so forth. You know, once you’re in the pool of musicians, it’s just a matter getting the right five together to make it a band.
Steph: Being that you have been together for such a great length of time as well, twenty years is quite considerable. What would you say your earlier influences were back twenty years ago compared to now? Have they changed much?
Mike: I guess at the core, a few of the bands have also been around that long that we are into. A lot of the early music that we were listening to were bands like Soilwork, and Dream Theatre, Opeth, Kill Switch Engage, that kind of stuff. And then moving through the years it got a little bit more progressive in some areas, sometimes a little heavier in other areas. I guess the core bands remained, and other bands that are similar to them have come into the mix. Bands like Meshuggah, and Intervals, and all those sorts of bands are a bit more what we relate to. But then recently we supported Soilwork for example, which is a band that we listened to back in the day. And Devin Townsend, so they like come back around the sun again and you sort of end up in their company, which is quite nice, if you stick around long enough.
Steph: What was that like, given that you used to listen to Soilwork so long ago, to be on the card with them?
Mike: It was great, and Simon, the other guitarist, would probably say that Chaos Divine supporting Devin Townsend recently is iconic. It is probably one of the major influence in our sound, and one of his absolute favourite musician of all time. So that was milestone kind of stuff. And Simon was saying ‘if I go tomorrow, I’m happy’. So, I think that is a big thing, being able to be on the same card as bands like that. And even to meet them in a non-CD signing kind of way. Like actually ‘oh, we’re in the same room together, this is good’. There is nothing better than that. Being on the same card is amazing, but the couple of chats that you might have informally between yourselves, is just as good. I think that is a big thing.
Steph: Is there anything that surprised you about meeting Soilwork?
Mike: A lot of the time, with those sort of bands, you just don’t know who they are behind the video clip or the photo on the back of the CD or whatever it is. They are just generally really nice people. They are just genuine human beings, and they have the time of day for you. And that probably goes, I’d say to 95% of everyone that we’ve ever played with, they have always got the time to say hi and have a chat. And that huge, it is encouraging, you know? When you have that contact with them and it’s a positive one, its really nice.
Steph: You mentioned Soilwork was a massive moment. What would you say have been the other highlights over the 20 year career and the evolution of the band?
Mike: Getting to play the Big Day Outs in Australia and getting to play Soundwave in Australia, those sort of things. And even some of the European smaller festivals that we have had a chance to be part of. They have been highlights for sure. I think probably back in the day when we played with Slayer and Mastodon, at a 5,000 capacity venue in Perth, that was amazing. We had Kerry King watching from the side of the stage, it was really cool. For Soundwave, we got the call two days before because Volbeat had to pull out, so we got to play at their timeslot as well, which was crazy. Instead of getting the 11am opening spot, we got slotted into the big stuff. We were jammed between Gojira and Gwar, and Trivium and Testament were all on then, that’s what was happening there. So those sort of things are definitely, definitely highlights. But then even more recently we got to play three nights with Karnivool, at the end of last year. That was to close out the venue, Badlands, a pretty popular West Australian venue. It was the final three shows there. That was just a great three days. Just popping in, it’s like touring but you don’t have to go anywhere. Amazing times.
Steph: What is coming up in the short term for Chaos Divine?
Mike: We have got a short little tour stint around the tighter Australia, doing shows in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney for the Formant Tour, which is sort of our ‘get back on the go’ tour. We have been in the studio as well a little bit lately, trying to record a few singles. A couple of covers and a couple of originals, just to get those studio juices going again. Which has been super positive. The memories on Facebook pop up; like the last time we were in the studio, which was the same studio, was five years ago. So when that pops up you’re like ‘oh we should probably do something’. It was really nice to get back in and let those creative juices go again. We definitely enjoyed that. But just prioritising the shows that are coming up right away as the first focal point. And then we will see how it goes. It is the Australian summer coming up, so there is no doubt a bunch of things happening over the next six months from now. We will try to tap into that, and kind of take what we can get and put ourselves out there.
Steph: Can you tell me about your creative process with writing songs as a band?
Mike: We write, the guitarists, and now Tim the drummer writes a bit more as well. Because he came on board in the last several years, but we haven’t written anything. We wrote Legacy, so the formation songs were already done. But generally it starts with maybe one of the guitarists coming up with a primary idea, the theme riff or something, and then we kind of do the computer route. And we just sort of try to get that to form a song of some sort, or at least parts of a song, and then we’ll go jam some of that out in the studio and just kind of see if it gels. Then we will take it back home, rejig it again. So, it is a bit of a computer, band room, computer, band room. And then just kind of get it into a rough sort of demo cut, which will then get changed when you go and actually do pre-recording, or pre-production for recording anything. We’ll strip bits apart, and then go from there, but it is a very hybrid approach to recording. And it very much stems from guitar riffs as a primary start point. Which is what rock and roll is all about right? The riffs! It pretty collaborative between the two guitarists, Ryan and Simon. I have always learned that locking the bass in which is my part, with the drums is a big thing, so I definitely work a lot closer with Tim the drummer in terms of getting that core sort of set. Guitar-wise I think that it is more, they do their guitar parts and then we consult. And then they’re tightly linked with Dave, the singer, getting those melody lines and everything going. So, it is kind of a two part attack. But it is everyone putting in their little bits.
Steph: What about if you could play any other instrument, what would be your choice?
Mike: Well, I have a drum kit, and that is always fun. I can play drums, to a certain degree. But yeah, that’s always been a fun second instrument. It’s one of those things, a release sometimes.
Steph: Can we expect a drum solo from you next week at Stormrider?
Mike: Not, not me personally. But there will be one! We have got some cool between-song-transitions, and we just try and make it a whole long song. A seamless transition between songs is always nice. Make it a show.
Steph: I know that you have already played on some amazing bills. But if you could put together a lineup with any five bands, who would you pick?
Mike: A while ago, there was a trend on Facebook, where we put up a fake poster, like a fake tour poster. Anyway, that went nuts, and everyone was commenting. So, we have thought about it recently. But I think for me, I would probably have Gojira as one of the top ones, other than ourselves. And I really like Crosses, which is the singer for Deftones’ other band, the band called Dredge, which might be doing an album soon. It would be awesome to be on the stage with them. And one more good one, would probably be Bilmuri, the Attack Attack guitarist, anyway that is his band, so that would be awesome. That kind of combo would be amazing.
Steph: That would be cool. Speaking of lineups, is there anyone that you’re really excited about seeing playing on the Stormrider bill?
Mike: We have seen Orpheus Omega a couple of times now. I haven’t got to see them front row, sort of centre yet, um so I reckon that would be really awesome. And Silent Knight always puts on a good show, it’s always fun, some thrash metal, which is great. A couple of them would be pretty cool, should bring the party which will be fun.
Steph: How did Chaos Divine come to be involved with Stormrider?
Mike: The festival has been going for ten years now, and I think we have played on maybe two other lineups other than this one. But we seem to be on the same cards every now and then, so whether we are the two support acts, or whatever. We have had a quite a long history of playing shows with the same or similar lineups with them in the past. And just being in that company, around WA, there is not a million bands here. So, when they do those sort of Western Australia based festivals, you generally get a call up. When it is this kind of music. And just from knowing them, on and off, for quite a while now. It is all a big family. Everyone should come down to the show. That’s the call to action. It should be fun, it is going to be a great night. It is the first time its a two night festival as well, it has always been single day. It is good to see that it is getting the traction to be able to be spread across a couple of days now, which is probably another big step for Stormrider Touring as a promoter. It’s always the next level when you can support a two day event. Sometimes it can get a bit limited if it is a two stage and they sort of cross over, but if you split it across two days then you’ve got plenty of time
Steph: Mike, thank you so much for your time, I really appreciate it. We look forward to seeing Chaos Divine hit the stage!
A very big thank you to Mike from Chaos Divine and Stu from Stormrider Touring. Be sure to get along to Stormrider Heavy Metal Festival, happening Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th August 2024 at Amplifier over both nights, celebrating Stormrider’s 10 year anniversary. You can catch Chaos Divine playing the Stormrider stage on the Friday night. Tickets available here.
You can follow Chaos Divine: @ChaosDivineBand | Website | Facebook | TikTok | Spotify | YouTube |
Photos: Supplied by band. Live photos by Ven Tithing, VN Studios at Magnet House. Promo photos by Chaos Divine.
