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Rockin' Down Under With BENJAMIN BERDOUS From SLOMOSA · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm Don and I play in the Norwegian Tunta
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: rock bands and also touring around the world. Currently in
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Ossiana for the first time. We've released two albums. We
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  Speaker 1: have another one in the works and yeah, if you
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  Speaker 1: have a chance, you should come and watch us play.
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  Speaker 2: Did they should in dayne Thanks for joining us today, Ben, sure,
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  Speaker 2: as you said, officially in Australia and ready for your
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  Speaker 2: first shows ever in this country. Night. So personally, how
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  Speaker 2: long you've been here?
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  Speaker 1: We've been there for one day or one night, I
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  Speaker 1: would say. Yesterday was the Norwegian Constitution Day at the biggest,
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  Speaker 1: the biggest day of all in Norway, so we all
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  Speaker 1: celebrate Norway from down here.
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  Speaker 3: So we had a little bit of tacos that taco
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  Speaker 3: bell and yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Oh so it's a great idea covered a few days early. Man,
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  Speaker 2: most fans these days come in they played this. So
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  Speaker 2: but have you got things playing there to do?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we do.
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  Speaker 1: We were just in New Zealand and there we played
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  Speaker 1: the day after arriving, so we're pretty jet lagged. I
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: think you know me personally, I've been jetgged until until today.
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  Speaker 3: Finally I got the nuts a good night's sleep. But yeah,
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  Speaker 3: it's nice to have.
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  Speaker 1: I think next time we'll we'll have a couple of
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  Speaker 1: days to get started wherever we start, you know, like
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  Speaker 1: just to get a little bit in imbalance before we
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  Speaker 1: before we hit the stage.
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  Speaker 3: But yeah, it's nice to have four days here.
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  Speaker 1: It's the first time in Australia for everyone in the band,
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  Speaker 1: so I mean it's pretty it's pretty special week for
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  Speaker 1: all of us. And we're planning to meet up with
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  Speaker 1: our friends in orb that we taught with in Europe
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  Speaker 1: plast year they live or their Melbourne Melbourne band uh
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  Speaker 1: and we'lso tonight we're meeting up with Corn or support
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  Speaker 1: Plant in Australia we know from from festivals in Europe.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, the biggest plan we've got is to see
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  Speaker 1: some animal sanctuary. So we have a choice between one
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  Speaker 1: where we can feed the animals, and we have a
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  Speaker 1: choice between another where we get to see like a
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  Speaker 1: scenic route on the way out. So that's like our
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  Speaker 1: big plan for the night to decide the Corn which
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  Speaker 1: animal sanctuary to visit.
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  Speaker 2: You've got a guy. The one way you feed him, mate,
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  Speaker 2: you've got to failure.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you can see.
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  Speaker 2: So scenery anyway you go. You can't feed animals everywhere.
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  Speaker 3: No, that's true, that's true. Feed some one.
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  Speaker 2: Bats So mentioned this is your first arm over in
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  Speaker 2: the driver, So do you get nervous when you go
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  Speaker 2: into a country for the first arm or do you
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  Speaker 2: research and find out the dudes and dips and what
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  Speaker 2: to be scared of and what not to be scared of.
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  Speaker 1: No, of course I'm a little bit nervous about Australia
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  Speaker 1: and the spiders and snakes.
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  Speaker 3: We know all about that. But I wouldn't say nervous.
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  Speaker 1: But you get excited, And I guess that's pretty similar
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  Speaker 1: to those two cessations.
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  Speaker 3: And I think, you know, it depends on what country.
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  Speaker 1: If we were going to Saudi Arabia for the first time,
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  Speaker 1: I think I would be a lot more nervous. But
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  Speaker 1: going to Australia and New Zealand kind of feels like, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: going to our neighboring countries. I mean, it's a western
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  Speaker 1: country even though it's all the way down here. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it's it's exciting. It is kind of it is kind
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  Speaker 1: of unreal to be down here to play gigs New
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  Speaker 1: Zealand as well. One of the days there, I sat
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  Speaker 1: on Mount Eden in Oakland and watch the sunrise, and
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  Speaker 1: I was just thinking, like, you know, it's it's pretty
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  Speaker 1: fucking unreal to be here at a at the end
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  Speaker 1: of the world to play fucking stone rock. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I would have never I would have never imagine or
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  Speaker 1: you know, I never imagined that you know it will
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  Speaker 1: that you know, playing rock will take me all the
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  Speaker 1: way down here. So it's a big and proud moment
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  Speaker 1: I think for the whole band.
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  Speaker 2: See. The tour officially starts in Melbourne this Friday, before
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  Speaker 2: hitting Sydney and brusboe Overy consecutive days. So when do
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  Speaker 2: you record it's going to stop feeling like a beautiful
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  Speaker 2: holiday and start feeling like a tour and work.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I guess on Friday, when we play, we'll be
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  Speaker 1: back to reality. And yeah, so we've got three sweet
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  Speaker 1: gigs to look forward to. Tickets it's all looking good.
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  Speaker 1: Still a few left, so I hope the as know
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  Speaker 1: what time it is and that they show up when
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  Speaker 1: we first come all the way from the other side
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  Speaker 1: of the planet down here.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, right, you might have been in the past, Australian
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  Speaker 2: fans have been flooding your messages for ages saying come
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  Speaker 2: to Australia, we need you down here. But now that
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  Speaker 2: you've arrived, there's the initial fan response been been what
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  Speaker 2: you expected?
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  Speaker 3: You mean our social media?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, social media and the shows in New Zealand, but
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  Speaker 2: I guess as well.
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  Speaker 1: The shows, Yeah, yeah, just like everywhere else we go.
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  Speaker 1: We have a couple of fanatical fans in New Zealand.
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  Speaker 1: There were several several parts of the audience that traveled
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  Speaker 1: from the Southern Island, you know, which obviously means a
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  Speaker 1: lot a lot to us that people make the effort
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  Speaker 1: to come when we don't come to their place.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's.
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  Speaker 1: And it's also touching to to go this far away
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  Speaker 1: from home and people know the songs and people are
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  Speaker 1: die hard fans, you know, all the way down here.
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  Speaker 1: As I said, it's all pretty unreal. I think it'll
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  Speaker 1: take some time for it to kind of land. So
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  Speaker 1: in Australia, I'm looking forward to meeting Australians now and
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  Speaker 1: to see if we have an a mental fans there
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  Speaker 1: as well.
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  Speaker 2: I reckon you Willie mate your plans a lot more
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  Speaker 2: iconic instrument venues in Australia like Max Wats in Melbourne,
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  Speaker 2: and you've got a two crowbar venues in Sydney in Brisbane.
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  Speaker 2: So how do you think the sort of the tighter,
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  Speaker 2: more in your face club environment changes the energy in
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  Speaker 2: the tracks from the album compared to like the massive
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  Speaker 2: European festival stages that it used to be in honor.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I mean in.
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  Speaker 1: So these are in Australia, I guess are one eight
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  Speaker 1: hundred and two five hundred capped rooms. In New Zealand
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  Speaker 1: we played one hundred and fifty and one two fifty
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  Speaker 1: cap room and we have a lot of you know,
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  Speaker 1: experience in playing smaller clubs, bigo clubs, big festivals, small festivals.
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  Speaker 1: Would probably say that our favorite gigs are the ones
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  Speaker 1: in the in the small small clubs. You know, when
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  Speaker 1: there's a when it's a packed one hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 1: cap room, you know, like it's the it's the wildest
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  Speaker 1: gigs that you can get because nobody can stand still.
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  Speaker 1: There's no where for them to just you know, sit
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  Speaker 1: back and watch the show. Everybody has to take part.
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  Speaker 1: So I think personally for the band, we prefer smaller clubs.
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  Speaker 1: Big festivals are nice, but in a way, you know
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  Speaker 1: it's not as personal and and you kind of you
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  Speaker 1: stand on a big stage and you look down at
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  Speaker 1: the audience. You know, there's like it's ten meters between
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  Speaker 1: you and and the crowd, so you know that also,
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  Speaker 1: you know, that's a big sensation, and and it's pretty
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  Speaker 1: wild to stand there and look at ten thousand people.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe but surprisingly enough, or maybe it's not that surprising.
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  Speaker 1: But the job is the same, you know, Like I've
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  Speaker 1: always thought about, like football players, if I was a
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  Speaker 1: football player and I have to play in the stadium
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  Speaker 1: in front of eighty thousand people, and if I was
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  Speaker 1: going to compare it for us who are watching the games,
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  Speaker 1: just you know, I always think about like the pressure
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  Speaker 1: they must feel growing up playing small stadiums and then
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  Speaker 1: going to a big club playing those enormous stadiums. But
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  Speaker 1: I think it's the same for them as it is
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  Speaker 1: with bands to play different sized crowds, that the job
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  Speaker 1: is kind of the same. I don't feel like I
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  Speaker 1: don't feel more nervous in front of bigger crowds. I
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  Speaker 1: actually feel more nervous in front of small crowds. I think,
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  Speaker 1: you know, like it it feels like you have less
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  Speaker 1: people or lets you have fewer chances to convince people.
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  Speaker 1: In a way, it feels like in a small room.
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  Speaker 1: You have to convince the people that are there was
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  Speaker 1: in a big crowd, you know that someone is gonna
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: like it. But yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing these
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  Speaker 1: clubs in Australia. I mean they are kind of the
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  Speaker 1: same size that we're used to playing in Norway and Europe,
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  Speaker 1: maybe a little smaller, but yeah, it's it's, it's.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's. The question was how I mean? And
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  Speaker 3: ultimately I would say I enjoy all kinds of.
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  Speaker 1: Clubs and festivals, you know, like it's it's nice to
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  Speaker 1: to to have a whole variety of of venues to play.
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  Speaker 1: And I hope we don't become like an arena band
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  Speaker 1: like Metallica, where we have to play for forty thousand
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  Speaker 1: people every night. I hope we can still go on
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  Speaker 1: and play two hundred cap rooms in between all the
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  Speaker 1: big giggs, pretty.
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  Speaker 2: Lightest album Charger Rocketing ill go on only positive critical response? Man, Like,
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  Speaker 2: how do you to set list between your twenty twenty
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  Speaker 2: so part of debut and this new material when you
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  Speaker 2: found a prey out like Australia that you never played
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  Speaker 2: three before.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's only sixteen songs and all together it's I
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  Speaker 1: think eighty minutes, so that's one hour and twenty minutes,
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  Speaker 1: and I had land Giggs.
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  Speaker 3: We often play nineteen minutes that headline Giggs.
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  Speaker 1: So we play most of the songs anyway, we don't
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  Speaker 1: have we don't have to struggle with picking songs. But yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we don't play the song June June Live, the ender
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: of Tonto Rock. We never play that because we still
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: don't know it or like we still don't know how
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  Speaker 1: to how to execute it live because it's a little
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  Speaker 1: bit different that song. So but we will eventually start
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  Speaker 1: finding out how to play it. A lot of people
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  Speaker 1: want us to play that song, but yeah, we we
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  Speaker 1: we tend to choose most of the songs and leave
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  Speaker 1: maybe one know to out. You know, it depends on
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: depends on how much time we had blah blah blah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so rather through a typical most of the live
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  Speaker 2: shown expect when they come to see.
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  Speaker 1: You, well, they can expect a lot of energy and power,
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  Speaker 1: also a fair share of banter.
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  Speaker 3: And yeah moshpez.
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  Speaker 1: Usually a phenomena at our gigs. But yeah, a good
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  Speaker 1: time and a night filled with positive energy and yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and the band, you know, we always we always go
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  Speaker 1: out like our Montrose to go out and play like
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  Speaker 1: it's our last game ever, so they can expect, they
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  Speaker 1: can expects' final show every night.
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  Speaker 2: That I have. Finally, do you remember the first time
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  Speaker 2: you ever heard one of your songs on radio? And
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  Speaker 2: what song was it? Where were you? Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: It was Horses and it was the premiere of Horses
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  Speaker 1: on Norway's biggest rock radio show. I mean I think, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: someone in the label told me so, you know, me
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  Speaker 1: and the other guys we were, we were sitting ready
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  Speaker 1: and yeah, I can remember actually I remember him talking
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  Speaker 1: about the songs singing.
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  Speaker 3: It was cool. We were we were.
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  Speaker 1: Not in any way a known band, you know, like
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  Speaker 1: our friends knew the band, and yeah, it was a
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  Speaker 1: it was a proud moment and it was back in
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  Speaker 1: back in twenty nineteen.
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  Speaker 3: I think.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, Begamin, thanks very much for you. Jim,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: I don't know you are on holiday. Is also appreciate
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: you chatting with us. The SRaw kicks off in Melbourne
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  Speaker 2: this Friday, the twenty second, then it's Sydney and Brucebane
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  Speaker 2: over consecutive nights. There are a couple of tickets left,
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: but people should rush out and grab them before they're
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: all gone because from what I hear, you guys are
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: definitely worth seeing.