Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Embracing Brutality With NEVILLE PEARCE From SNAKE MOUNTAIN
Transcript
- 0:00Hey, this is Nev from Snake Mountain returning to punish my good friend Chris
- 0:05Peters from Heavy mag and I'm here to talk about Brutal Coast four, which
- 0:10is happening tomorrow night or tonight when it depending on when you're listening at Most
- 0:14Desert Clubhouse with a bunch of kick ass bands, and mate, I can't
- 0:19wait to have some beers with you and everybody else. Oh yeah, brother,
- 0:23it's good to be punished by you made. No matter what time of
- 0:26the day or night it is, should say it's played by like it's that
- 0:32time of year again when Snake Mountain prepare for battle with Brutal Coast at Most
- 0:36Desert Clubhouse. It's Friday, September fifteen, So it almost sounds intimidating brow
- 0:41Brutal Coast. It's an evil name. Yeah, well, I mean I
- 0:47think it sounds kind I always thought it sounded kind of cool. You've got
- 0:51to have, you know, if you're having a show, you've got to
- 0:53have a cool kind of name, you know, just sort of you know,
- 0:58I like having that branding on it. You know, when you get
- 1:00everyone together and once a year it's it's it's a good time so it's it's
- 1:07it sounds evil, but it's it's it's not. We're all happy metal heads.
- 1:11Usually all the best things in life ire evil somewhere a long line anyway,
- 1:15so that doesn't really matter, does it. This is going to be
- 1:19the fourth annual event, which was of course started by good self at Snake
- 1:25Mountain Bro. So take us back to the first one that you put on,
- 1:27mate, Like, what was your vision for brid or Coaster when he
- 1:30first started it. I just wanted to put together a lineup that was a
- 1:34little bit more diverse than the usual shows we play, which is nothing wrong
- 1:38with those because we love like doing the heavy, heavy staff, but I
- 1:42wanted to put on something where it was a little bit more diverse with subgenres.
- 1:48You know, you have a bit of like the melodic metal, or
- 1:49you have a bit of hardcore, or you'll have you know, maybe a
- 1:53tribute. I just wanted something that brought all different sides of the scene together,
- 2:00so maybe, you know, some of their their followers might be opened
- 2:05to some other bands that they might not usually see. So that was the
- 2:08whole idea behind it to begin with. Then it's sort of just took off
- 2:14from there. Every year we do it, so you obviously assemble the lineup,
- 2:20mate, So what's the selection criteria like you look to set things in
- 2:23bands or do you take whoever it's available, or to take whoever you like
- 2:25at the time. It just depends. Usually it's you know, I'll start
- 2:31with bands that I'm friends with and like because it's about for me, it's
- 2:38about having a good time with some mates, but also diversity in their music
- 2:46as well, you know, are different from us. That's the other thing
- 2:50I look for. But I think mainly it's it's you know, friends,
- 2:54bands that I like the scene. Mate, You've got yourselves, KSh o
- 3:04Herow and death Proof made. So run us through reach of them individually and
- 3:07tell us why you chose them for this year. So we'll start with ksphere
- 3:12Kosphere. I've known those boys for a very very very long time. Really
- 3:17awesome guys. Love the band. They've just got this energy live it's just
- 3:23they just draw you in and they're just all really really good dudes. And
- 3:28I hadn't played a show with them for man, it's been a couple of
- 3:30years, so it was about time to call the boys up and get them
- 3:36on the lineup, get them on a show and have some beers. That's
- 3:39what I was looking forward to that one. Another band A Hero. I
- 3:44haven't played with those guys before, but a lot of people have been talking
- 3:47about them and how they're really cool and they're doing something a bit different.
- 3:51They're a bit progressive, bit melodic, and I just really want to check
- 3:55those guys out. Another band is of course death Proof, who are local
- 4:02hardcore band. I've known some of those guys for years, going back to
- 4:06music Mania when I used to work in Music Mania, So it was cool
- 4:11to sort of have that connection as well. And you know, obviously there's
- 4:15a bit of a separation at the moment between the hardcore scene and the metal
- 4:20scene. It's it used to be a little bit more of a crossover,
- 4:26so I thought that'd be cool just to bring that back together. And what
- 4:31better venue too than most desert clubhouse made Like every time you go to the
- 4:35gig there, it's just everything from the production to the bar stafter location,
- 4:40it's just it's spot on, it's pailor made for it. It's the best.
- 4:45It's the best. Like Christian and the crew there always look after us.
- 4:48They're always so chilled there, you know, it's like, hey,
- 4:51guys, how are you going. Like sometimes you go to a venue and
- 4:57you walk in there and you're like, just not really cool enough to be
- 5:00in this place, no matter where it is. But they're always so welcoming
- 5:03and helpful with the bands. The production, as you mentioned, is incredible,
- 5:09Like there's nowhere else you can play where you get a big projector behind
- 5:13you where you can have your logo or video and the lighting is always good.
- 5:17They just they really look after bands, you know. I think it's
- 5:23I've seen so many I don't know about you, man, but I've seen
- 5:25so many different bands play there of different genres, and they always get treated
- 5:30the same, always the great production, and there's always beers and pizza for
- 5:34the bands. They always look after bands with writers, which is getting harder
- 5:40these days. Almost impossibly, you could say, yes, yes, you're
- 5:46an active part of the Brisbane the Gold Coast music scene, made as an
- 5:49artist and media personality and just generally on a social level made. So what's
- 5:55your point of view on the current state of the local music scene. That's
- 5:59a really good question I don't quite have an answer for because it's always changing,
- 6:06and you know, you when did you when did you move to the
- 6:12coast or the Queensland from cans about okay, because before that, I mean
- 6:19we used to have the Shark Bar, we used to have other places.
- 6:23Like since venues have come and gone, the scenes have sort of changed.
- 6:27And at the moment, from what I'm seeing, the hard core and maybe
- 6:31deathcore scene is really really strong. That's where I think the scene is out
- 6:38at the moment, and the melodic sort of metal has really taken over like
- 6:44that. I think in general you've probably seen it as well. The scene
- 6:47in Australia has has changed, like the genres have have sort of melted together.
- 6:53There's like there's also this new metal mixed with this old metal thing happening
- 6:58at the moment. But I'm I'm all for it. Man. Music as
- 7:02long as it's all bringing people together and it's heavy, that's what's important.
- 7:06And as long as people are supporting each other and they're not you know,
- 7:11stabbish each other in the back or you know, we've we've seen that and
- 7:15seen many many years ago. You know, people sabotage gear or they'd you
- 7:18know, try and funk with each other. But I think I think that
- 7:23those times have gone and people are a little bit more accepting of different subgenres,
- 7:29but there is a bit of a segregation between metal and the hardcore at
- 7:33the moment that I think needs to be brought back together so everyone's looking after
- 7:39each other, if that makes sense. One thing I noticed that I'm been
- 7:43sound last week. I'm speaking of quite a few of the bands from out
- 7:46of town, Like they're all just blown away by how readily and accommodating the
- 7:50Brisbane music scene is. Like pretty much everyone I spoke to is just so
- 7:55that they wish it haven't been like that where they're from. Like I'm not
- 7:59going to dub anyone in particularly, but they all reckon it's it's a lot
- 8:01more cutthroight down south than what is in Brisbane at the moment. Yeah,
- 8:05yeah, I haven't heard that, but I find that really interesting to hear
- 8:09because I went through that like fifteen years ago, you know what I mean,
- 8:16Like that's how some would describe some of the scene here. You know,
- 8:22that's that's really surprising to hear. So do you think, why,
- 8:26why do you think that is? I'm not sure about Brisbane like specifically,
- 8:33but I've got a bit of a theory that a lot of people don't agree
- 8:37with. But I sort of trace it back to around the times when all
- 8:39the battle of the band started happening about fifteen years ago, Like all of
- 8:43a sudden, instead of people going along and supporting other bands, they are
- 8:46actually competing against them for either support slots or for money or holiday whatever it
- 8:52was. But it took that that comradeship out of it, like instead of
- 8:56bands sitting at the front of another band show that we've seen in there with
- 8:58their arms crossed, like looking at it and picking their set to pieces just
- 9:01hoping they fuck up. And I think that's sort of slowly pulled a bit
- 9:05of division in anyway. That's that's one of my theories. Anyway, I
- 9:11agree with that. That's exactly what I was saying before you just worded it
- 9:16better better, better stuff. But that's exactly right. And I think because
- 9:22there has been less You're right, there has been less competitions, that people
- 9:28have been more supportive of each other. I think I think you've nailed that
- 9:33there. Man's especially the ones that go down to like order the public voting
- 9:39or you know, people's choice and ship, because then all of a sudden,
- 9:41whatever band's got the most fans there, they win the event. So
- 9:46it's it's slowly starting to fade out because I can said there isn't so many
- 9:50of them getting around now, and I think it's starting to starting to get
- 9:54out of people's systems. Yeah, it's definitely a bite for a long time.
- 9:56I agree. And there is something else. I know this is a
- 10:00bit of a controversial hot take, but where I'm gonna piss people up,
- 10:05but there's a thing where it's where bands are selling tickets or shows. You
- 10:13know, it's it's nothing new, but I have found that some bands are
- 10:18a bit sneaky and then they'll they'll approach other bands, followers or family or
- 10:26friends and undercut them. I'm not going to name any name, but I
- 10:31think that's where that division and negativity starts to creep back in. And I
- 10:37think that's something that the scene needs to be very aware of at the moment
- 10:43because I think that could flefts and bullshit up again, and that's not what
- 10:48we want. It's not where we want to go. So I've never actually
- 10:52thought it that way before, but you make a valid point. M Yeah,
- 10:56I man, I've had people I'm not really happy with me point of
- 11:00view, but but man, I've been on the on the end of it.
- 11:05I say he's got merit? What's that? So what you say has
- 11:09merits? So you can't really argue with that. Yeah. Yeah, well,
- 11:13you know, they'll figure it out. Moving on from the controversy may
- 11:18backing back onto the music. So Snake Mautain the currently recording new material I
- 11:22under Sandbro. So what can you tell us about that? Yeah, we've
- 11:26been recording for a little while now, but yeah, but it's you know,
- 11:31we've we've just been chipping away at it. We have a new single
- 11:37in the bag that I can't wait to release, but we were just waiting
- 11:43to film the video for that with our buddy Kyle Watson, who did the
- 11:48Fans video. We're currently cooking that up now and I'm really, really,
- 11:52really excited about the concept we have and what he's working on, Like,
- 12:00it's going to be pretty cool. I can't I'm not going to say too
- 12:01much. I don't want to spoil it. I'll give you out there,
- 12:05but right i'll tell you, but I'm really excited about where it's headed.
- 12:15And of course the direction of the band has sort of changed a little bit,
- 12:18you know, between the material that we used to have and the direction
- 12:24where it's going now. You know, we're leaning towards that that's sort of
- 12:28the more veins, tech death sort of side of things, and that I
- 12:31think that's due to James, our guitarist. So we're our plan is to
- 12:37honor where we've been musically as well as this new exciting direction that we've been
- 12:45heading. So it's that balance and I'm pretty excited about it. So we're
- 12:50hoping to have more news on that very soon. Very cool. Now,
- 12:52I know you've got a few gigs coming up, but you can't tell us
- 12:54about them because I haven't been announced yet, So we're going to skip that,
- 12:58but we'll move back under brutal. So where can people get tickets from?
- 13:03If they want to pre buy it? You can get that from the
- 13:05Most Desert Clubhouse website if you want to pre sell their fifteen dollar e dues,
- 13:11or on the door if you want to come down and see us,
- 13:15but you'll save yourself a few bucks on the website. So that more means
- 13:20more beer money and or merch. Hey, we're gonna have merch all the
- 13:24bands. I'm sure we're going to have merch there tomorrow night. So come
- 13:28down and if you can help out throw it, you know, buy a
- 13:31shirt off one of the bands doesn't necessarily have to be Snake member. We
- 13:33do have shirts if you want to buy one, you know, and every
- 13:37little bit helps, you know, so you know, that's what we do.
- 13:43Bands. Bands don't make a lot of money, even the big ones,
- 13:48you know, so we we rock and roll for three Actually, now
- 13:52before we late you go, mate, I've started a new thing with heavy
- 13:56Like I've got three different Spotify playlists that I'm making up from bands that we
- 14:01speak to, so using your own song, so Snake Mountain Songs, give
- 14:05me a song for a playlist to get the party started, one for a
- 14:07playlist to save your marriage, and one for a playlistic to potentially end your
- 14:11marriage. Okay, well we've we've got three releases far four We've only got
- 14:20the singles, but there's more to come. I would say to get the
- 14:24party started would be the Hunted, which is it's a it's a song about
- 14:31predator, so a hunting party. I don't know what was the other one,
- 14:35the one to save your marriage, save your marriage? Okay, that
- 14:41would be the Burden maybe because it's a melodic song you know about family and
- 14:50responsibility and giant robots, so and the other to destroy the one and your
- 14:56marriage. Ye, not destroy, but maybe end strong term. Okay,
- 15:03all right, Well, I would say Veins because it's it's brutal, and
- 15:09it's angry and it's about Batman and Batman will works alone. So I don't
- 15:16know. I guess that I don't know. That's a really bad explanation.
- 15:22But if you if you add that to the playlist, it will take you
- 15:26on an emotional journey that I am not responsibility. So that's all we made.
- 15:33If my marriage is can end, I wanted to end on an emotional
- 15:35higher Okay, all right, very but all right, bro, pleasure speak
- 15:41with it as usual. Brutal Past is on tonight, Friday, the fifteenth
- 15:46of September at Most Desert Clubhouse. Great lineup of bands. We've got Ksphru,
- 15:50Death Proof and of course Snake Mountain first band kicks off at eight o'clock
- 15:54and I shall see you at the bar. My friend