Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / A Night Of Local Brutality With KAT WARTOOTH At MELBOURNE METAL MATE'S One-Year Anniversary Gig

Transcript

A Night Of Local Brutality With KAT WARTOOTH At MELBOURNE METAL MATE'S One-Year Anniversary Gig · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So my name's Katwalktooth. I'm from Melbourne Metal Mates. I
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: started Melbourne Metal Mats almost a year ago twenty sixth
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: of April because I didn't have anyone to go to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: rod In Christ with and I needed more black metal
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: gig buddies. There are a lot of people talking about
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: how they didn't have people to go to gigs with
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: in a lot of the music forums I was seeing online.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: So I got permission from Dag Balfoort Metal Evolution to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: start my own version of what he was doing in Sydney,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: and that became Melbourne Metalmates. We use Facebook just because
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: it's got all the features we need and that way
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: no one has to pay. And basically it's just a
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Facebook group and chats so that people can find people
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: who are going to the same gigs they are and
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: then they don't have to go to gigs alone. And
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: we also do meetups as well, so everyone can just
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: sit around talk about music and meet new friends.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. And how do you think the communities grow?
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Instance Like when you first started last year, So.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: I thought it'd probably be about two three hundred people
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: when I started, and we just you know, have a beer,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: go to gigs and that's it. It grew by our
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: hundred people a week for a really long time. It
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: really really took off, and I think we can thank
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: the bands for that because a lot of the early
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: members were musicians and they just sent it out to
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: their whole friends list. So I was really really lucky
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: that I got support from musicians in Melbourne and they
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: helped me start it. And also the other admin, Jen,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: She's been in Melbourne for many many years. I'm from Sydney,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: so she sent it to all of her friends and
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: they sent it to their friends and it just kept
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: growing from there. And about a month in everyone decided
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: that we definitely needed to all meet in a big space,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: so we booked a table at the Beast of Brunswick
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: and yeah, everyone has been friends ever since. We've still
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: got people from that original meetup that we see all
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: the time. We call them the OG the original crew,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: and yeah, we've all been hanging out ever since.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: That's also I was having a look before on Facebook
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: and Instagram about like the Maniacs meetups and how frequent
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: they are. Have you found like just reception to that
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: has been great, Like are you growing the number of
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: people that actually come to those meetups.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Well, the meetups kind of say static because it's usually
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: where everyone starts out, so they might come to a
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: meetup so that the gig meat is less scary, so
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: they know a few people going already. So I tend
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: to find that the meetups are you know, usually around
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: fifty to sixty people, and it's usually a mixture of
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: you know people who come to every meetup and brand
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: new members, which is great because then they already know
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: the faces from the Instagram.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: We've got an introvert support post.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Where people can actually go up to certain members that
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: might be a little bit more friendly or a little
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: bit more available and have been around you know, Melbourne
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: metal meets since the beginning, and they'll actually sit with
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: them and make sure that they settle in before because
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: it's really intimidating. It's you know, walking into a pub
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: full of fifty metal heads and a lot of people
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: tell me stories about you know, having anxiety about what
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: banshit to wear, and then they feel silly when they
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: enter because everyone's so chill. So yeah, about fifty to
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: sixty people, probably about half new.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: Half existing members at most of them.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: And I think that the upcoming gig, which is also
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: technically a meetup, is probably going to be a bit
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: bigger than that.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Do you think that's helped, like, you know, get rid
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: of those stereotypes about metal heads being on gatekeepers and
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: they don't want new fans. Do you think the meetups
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: and like your first anniversary gig has kind of helped
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: get rid of the stigma behind being a metal head.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: I think so.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: I think also we represent a really diverse cross section
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: of society. Like our youngest member is you know, two
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: weeks over eighteen at any given point, because we don't
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: allow people under eighteen to join, and our oldest members
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: are you know, approaching sixty, if not over.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: So we have a.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Really really diverse group of people. So I think that
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: kind of fights the stereotype. And you know that we
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: all look so different, we're all in different professions and
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: that sort of thing. A lot of tech represented, but
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: we are mostly in you know, it's just a really
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: accurate cross section in society. I think regarding the stereotypes
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: about elitism and things like that, that was a deliberate choice.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: So in the rules, you're allowed to make fun of
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: other people's music taste. One thing I saw in a
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: lot of the forums was people would speak up about
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: a band or they're new to metal, and they you know,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: kind of going into those gateway bands and they get
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: a lot of people jump in the comments and you know,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: give them a hard time for not knowing some of
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: them more obscure or you know, older bands, and I
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: didn't want that, so we're completely open that way. We're
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: also multi genre. So it's been really interesting because there's
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: been a lot of people who've been in the metal
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: scene for ten, twenty years or even Federal US five years,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: and they're meeting people that've never met before because of
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the cross genre and everyone's sharing music and getting into
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: different genres as a result.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: That like cross genre and diversity, I think comes across
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: in the lineup for your anniversary gig. You know you've
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: got Hybrid, Nightmares, Vault Hill, The Kansas or Months as
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: a Human. Is that also a deliberate choice to have
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: such a wide ranging of bands of different genres on there.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I was hoping that would happen, but it's all volunteer,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: so I didn't know for sure. I put the call
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: out in the Facebook group and these are the bands
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: that answered and were able to fill the bill. I
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: actually had no idea that I would get bands to
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: speak either, so I was I was figuring, you know,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: we'd have probably smaller sets of lots of up and
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: coming bands, and was very pleasantly surprised when the first
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: volunteers were Hybrid Nightmares. You know, their veterans and the
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Encantas are award winners and Vault Hill have been around
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: for many, many years in the metal scene. All Monsters
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: of Human are really they're probably a bit newer, but
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: you know, again all the members have been in other
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: bands as well, so it's been it's been a really
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: nice feeling that every genre wants to contribute, because that
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: may not necessarily have been the case. But this is
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: good because we've mixed up the lineup as well, so
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: you've got kind of an even spread at the different
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: you know, genres and different groups and that way you
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: get a more inclusive, you know, genre mix the whole
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: way through the gig.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, what's the reception been like from other
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: bands around Melbourne? Like, do you guys connect with them well?
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Do they also connect well with the fans and the meetups?
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Absolutely?
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: So, for example, we've got a lot of bands that
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: were with us from the beginning, like Which Grinder and
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Void for the in Cantas Hybrid and Vaul Hill, but
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: we've also got a lot of you know, new and
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: up and coming bands that have started filter.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Ring in as well.
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  Speaker 1: And it was really the bands that joined first and
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: the people that work in the industry that joined first.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: And it's been really nice because everyone can, you know,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: share their learnings and share their music and ultimately even
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: the musicians, we're all fans, so we all have that
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: in common, which is really really nice.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: But we had a great one the other night.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: One of the bands had not one, but two gigs,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: have circumstances that we're going to shut down the gigs,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: and we just got a group chat together with you know,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: everyone who knew the right people and everyone brattinstormed as
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: to what they could do to make sure the gig
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: still went off. So it's really nice that way and
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: that everyone helps each other. And in regards to whether
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: they interact with the fans, they absolutely do. Sometimes accidentally
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: it gets a bit silly. Sometimes We've got these gig
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: chats where so everyone can find each other at a
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: gig and people will kind of read each other up
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: and go. You know, I made a Spotify playlist for
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: the bands at this festival if anyone wants to see
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: it or what have you. And sometimes the bands and
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: promoters will be in that and it does get very
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: funny because someone will be like, oh, you know, I
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: can't wait. I can't remember who it was. I think
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: it was Munitions, so like I would love Munitions. I
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: can't wait to see them. I've been hanging out to
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: see them forever. And Clinton News, the lead singer of Munitions,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: was like, thanks, guys, it's really I'm really pumped for
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: his kig now because he just happened to be in
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: the gig chat just so you know, he could see
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: what was going on. It's helpful for the promoters as well,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: because if they have any you know, technical difficulties, delays,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: what have you, they can just message all the maniacs
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: and they'll get the word out to you know, everyone
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: who's waiting or what have you, or you know, bitching
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: to help if it's a smaller gig and they need
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: to help.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, like, I'm so impressed by how good
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: the community is in Melbourne. Metal mates just because like,
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: especially me coming out of COVID, Like, I didn't get
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: to go to many shows before COVID, and there's so
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: much talk about how it's changed and how metal communities
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: are different to what they were before. Was there an
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: anxiety from you guys about starting something like this that
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: were you scared it either wouldn't take off or people
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: would be too shy.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: I kind of have been learning as I went.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: I am not naturally extroverted, So one of the reasons
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: I probably needed Gigbuddies is because I'm not the kind
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: of person who would normally approach people. I kind of
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I needed an excuse to do that, and I think
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: a lot of our members feel the same. I think
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: when you have people that appreciate music that usually requires
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: you to play guitar for eight hours a day by yourself,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: you're going to have a lot of introverts. So I
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: think that our community is we do have like some extroverts,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: and thank goodness because they keep everyone talking, but we
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: do have a majority of that introverts as well, and
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: it's been really nice watching people come out of their shells.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: And I think the reason that that happened was that
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: everyone was very honest about.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: You know, a lot of us have social anxiety, a
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: lot of us, you know, it's intimidating.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: The first meetup, I took a friend with me because
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: I didn't want to go on my own, and it
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: was really really intimidating walking, you know, into a room
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: with forty people and the only person they know they're
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: from online is me. So that was you know, a
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: huge deal. And I think a lot of people feel
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the same when they go to the meetups, and then
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: over time they you know, they find people who've been
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: there longer, who've had the same experience, and they learn
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: that kind of everyone's been there. There's a couple of stages,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: like people are shy and they don't know anyone, they
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: start meeting people, they go to so many gigs that
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: they have no money, and then they find an equilibrium
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: somewhere in the middle. So yeah, it's a very interesting journey,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: and we all seem to make the same one of
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: you know, being very intimidated at first getting right into
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: it and you know completely overlearning on gigs, and.
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: Then finding that balance at the end of it.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: So yeah, it seems to be the same for everyone, actually,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: even the extroverts.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you make about just going to so
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: many gigs and eventually being broke just because of how
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: expensive gigs are, which it's so impressive that this anniversary
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: gig is a free event to go to and to
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: support all these bands. Can we expect more of that
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: in the future, more anniversary gigs and more celebrations of
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Melbourne metal mates, I hope.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: So it really relies on volunteer. The whole thing relies
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: on volunteers, and it relies on people buying much. We're
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: just about to learn launch our T shirts. We've already
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: done patches, so it kind of relies on the people
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: who can afford to help helping, and the people who
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: have time putting in their time and the band's just
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: having their schedules line up as well. So it will
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: very much depend on who volunteers. I really hope that
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: that happens. I don't see why not. I'll try to
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: keep it as free or low cost as possible because
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: a lot of our members are artists or students or
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: stuff out and you know they've they've got a right to.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: Be in the scene as well.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: The other thing I would point out is that a
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: lot of the bands we support and a lot of
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the bands that are members, they're local bands, their gigs
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: actually aren't that expensive. There was one I went to,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: I think, and a lot of them, you know, Last
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Chance in the smaller venues like Old Bar does a
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: lot of free gigs, and the smaller venues tend to
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: have gigs that are you know, ten twenty dollars and
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: they're really affordable. So I hope people will actually you know,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: explore those gigs because sometimes you can get an internationally
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: you know, international standard. We're very spoiled in Melbourne. We
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: can get an international standard a band that's doing a
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: gig for thirty dollars. We're really really lucky that way,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: and that our scene is that big, so I would
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: say keep an eye out for those as well as
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: future metal Mates events as well.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: The meetups will be free as.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Long as I can find venues that don't charge us,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: and we do lots of other free activities as well,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: like you know, we did a beach meat and we
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: did a month's meetup wherever I brought dogs and that
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: sort of thing. So I'll always try and do low
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: cost or free as much as i can. But yeah,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: it is reliant completely on volunteers. So we'll have to
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: see what happens.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, support your local artist and your bands very much,
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm just going to throw out that. Yeah,
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: I'm a huge Hybrid Nightmares fan. I was seeing them
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: so often and I'm so glad that they're a part
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: of your community because they're so they connect so well
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: with their fans and you guys that it's so cool
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: to have them do this event and promote this.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, we had a great moment with them from
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: the first gig that we did where we did a
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: gig meet for them because nothing was filming their music
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: video there, so we kind of we started a pit
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: with ourselves because no one was jumping around and we're like,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: what we come at that? So we started a pit
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: and then it continued into the Hybrid Nightmas gig and
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: Adam and Loki were both members, Adam's drummer and top
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: stage and walked up to us and said, this is
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: all very wholesome, and we're like absolutely not, absolutely not wholesome.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: We will chance satan at you for as long as
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: we have to to prove that we're not wholesome and
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: completely unhinged. So we've been chanting satan at the medic
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: since so they always know when we're at a gig.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Well that's probably everything that all we have time for.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: But thank you so much, and I hope the event
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: goes well and everyone should go to it, you know,
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: especially in Melbourne. The metal scene is incredible and that
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: playing is just something you have to go see.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: Yes, and it's not a late gig.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: It is on a Sunday, but it's not going to
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: end super late, so it's still work friendly. Also, please
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: come because if we can prove that we can fill
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: a venue doing these free gigs, then we've got more
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: chance of doing it again. So the more people come,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: the more free gigs we can put on, and the
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: better of an invest minute it will be for future venues.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: So definitely come and represent if you like free gigs