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Things Are Heating Up: GUTTERFIRE! Return From Extended Hiatus With A Glint In Their Eye · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm Az from Gutterfire. I'm George from Gutterfire.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: I'm Glenn from Gutterfire.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: And we're Gutterfire.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Fantastic, guys. How's it going?
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Doing great.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Very good. Good to catch up with you again. It's
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: been a while.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: It's been a long time. We've been really looking forward
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: to it. So thanks for having us.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: My pleasure, mate.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: So, Gotta Fire have been slowly reappearing on the local
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: music scene with a few gigs spattered here and there,
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: but shit's starting to get real from about now on,
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: from what I'm led to believe.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Is that right?
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's about it.
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: We had a big hiatus for quite a long time, actually,
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: just to recalibrate, refine ourselves again, refine these guys, or
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: find these guys and get cracking again, you know, and
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: that took a bit of time. But we've got a
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: whole lot of new music He's been doing a heap
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: of demoing. We've now got a producer we're working with. And, yeah,
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: looking forward to getting it all happening.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Again with a new album. Right, Garen.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: You mentioned you have got a few new members, mate.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: So introduce us to them and tell us what they
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: bring to the Gutterfire Sound.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: All right, first we have Glenn.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Hey, mate.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: I'm Glenn. I'm the new vocalist.
• 1:12
  Speaker 5: I'm pretty inspired by Alice in Chains and grunge, so
• 1:15
  Speaker 5: I bring a little bit of that hard rock grunge
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: sort of style into the band.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: And I'm George.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I'm the new drummer.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Apparently I'm a drummer these days.
• 1:28
  Speaker 6: We also started, we almost, we played with each other
• 1:31
  Speaker 6: in other bands and I was almost a bit of
• 1:33
  Speaker 6: a gutter fire, not fan boy, but you know, very
• 1:35
  Speaker 6: much a fan.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: And I guess they couldn't find anyone good. So they've
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: stuck with me on drums. No, no.
• 1:42
  Speaker 6: I had a lot to do with the old drummer
• 1:44
  Speaker 6: and we worked together quite a lot and a lot
• 1:47
  Speaker 6: of respect for him. So it's almost, it's a nice
• 1:49
  Speaker 6: little thing for me to actually sort of be filling
• 1:50
  Speaker 6: my shoes and and, you know, put some accountability on myself,
• 1:55
  Speaker 6: I guess.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: The music that I used to love, Justice.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, cool.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: I've got to put you on the spot here now, lads. Like,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: you tell me what they bring to the band.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: Glyn brings definitely a unique approach to the writing and
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: to the vocals, where writing quite different music now, it's definitely.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: I think it's more expansive in terms of what we're doing.
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: It's still heavy. We're actually writing heavier songs, but we've
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: also got a lot more songs with a lot more
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: variation and melody too. So Glynn's definitely just bringing a
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: lot of cool variety and just a different approach to
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: the vocals, which we're really excited about. George is really
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: just thumping the tubs and keeping the groove moving.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: So we caught up.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: Obviously came along to a practice the other week and
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: had some really great feedback for George just around, you know,
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: playing to the song and leaving room for the vocals.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: And that's what we're really loving is the new music
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: is definitely way more dynamic and way more groove oriented.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: And yeah, these guys is bringing just lots of cool
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: stuff that's really going to, I think, excite people when
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: they hear the album.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: It's a while away though.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: I bet it is.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: One thing that always impressed me about Gutterfly, like he's
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: one of the hardest working bands I've ever seen out there.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: Like after Chul came out, you chawed your asses off.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: He's really starting to get a foothold in this scene.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: And then for whatever reason, he's had a bit of
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: a hiatus.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: So do you consider you've got to start again pretty
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: much this time around or are you just more or
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: less picking up where you left off?
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a bit of both.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: To be honest, we are picking up where we left off.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: We have had time away, but we needed to do that.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: we needed to make sure we got the right people in.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: We needed to make sure, we needed to write a
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: lot of new music as well. So we actually thought
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: rather than, you know, half doing it and rushing back
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: out there, let's, you know, try and write 10, 12
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: songs and actually, you know, start to prepare for a
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: new album rather than doing singles or EPs or whatever.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: And we'll definitely do singles, but.
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: We thought, you know, like let's just get back out there,
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: pick back up where we left off.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: It's going to be different. But you know what?
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: Let's just crack out with another album and get right
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: back to it. So that's the plan. We start tracking
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: in two weeks. So we're starting on drums in two
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: weeks' time.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: So we're right there.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: We're right at the start of it. Very cool.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: I'm sure there's older fans out there that just listen
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: to that. And when you said it's going to be different,
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: they're like, no, not different. So run us through that
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: so people don't get scared and think that coming out
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: is something that you're not.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: So we still have three of the original members in
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: the band. So particularly the rhythm section, the music is
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: still very much consistent with what we were doing, but
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: we're taking it in different directions. So Sean and I
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: were always writing all the music and, you know, Sean's
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: not here tonight, but, you know, we were always the
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: original writers music wise. Mike was the original bass player. So,
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: you know, the music's still there. It's just, just changing
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: a little bit.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: And we've got a new singer.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: So, you know, it's, it's still got a fire, but
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: we're taking it in a different direction. And bands do
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: that all the time. Bands also have lineup changes all
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: the time as well. So, you know, we lost a
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: few members all at the same time and that, that
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: hit us pretty hard, but we made a decision to
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: keep at it. And we made a decision to, take
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: a bit of time, get things right and in the
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: right place. And I actually think people are going to
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: be pretty keen on these new songs.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: The demos are sounding great.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: And when we get it done, when we get it
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: out there, I think people are going to be quietly surprised.
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: And it's not like it's going to be a totally
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: different band. It's just we're doing things a little bit
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: differently now.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, very cool. And you just mentioned the demos. You've
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: got them ready.
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: You're going into the studio shortly. But what do they
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: sound like in their raw form?
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: What sort of direction are they taking?
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: Um, yeah, so Glyn, he writes some really cool songs too.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: So he's brought a couple in. Sean and I are
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: still writing quite a lot of the songs. Uh, demoing
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: was great. We actually did it in our studios. We've
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: got our own demo rehearsal studio space that we use.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: And so, uh, that was great. And then George did
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: the engineering around the demos to, to get them up
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: to scratch. So they all sounded really cool. Um, so yeah,
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: we're pretty happy with them actually.
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah, cool.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: I think one of the universal things people loved about
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Alvin Chill was the production on it was so good.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Like it was a nice, massive, big sound.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: Like, are you going to be going back to the
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: same place to.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Do this one?
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: We're actually going to a different producer and studio this time.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: So we are working with.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Adam Merker. Jeez, I had to look at my notes then.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Adam.
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: So I've only just met Adam, so I don't know
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: him too well, but Adam. Yeah, Adam's done lots of cool,
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: heavy groups over the years. So we decided, look, new members,
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: bit of time off, new direction, let's work with someone new.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: And we always liked Adam's work. Sean, he's done a
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: lot of work with Adam before, so with prior bands.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: So we thought, let's.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Give this a go.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: And when we got Adam around to rehearsal the other week,
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: we had a great time and he gave us lots
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: of good feedback, so.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're really pumped to be working with him.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: Nice.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: And have you done up a release schedule yet? Like,
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: have you got a timeline of how you want it
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: to pan out or?
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: At the moment, we're looking at getting the recording finished, obviously,
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: this year. Probably looking at two or three singles off
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: it and launch out with a new single in the
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: new year. We've started talking about some possible dates and
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: where we might go with that. But, Yeah, actually, this
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: time around, probably looking to just start, you know, Brisbane, Sydney,
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: Melbourne on the first single and then something a bit
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: more expansive when the album comes out. Last album tour
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: when we finally got to do a tour in 2023,
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: three years after we recorded the album, good old COVID
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: thing we had going on. So we did 30 plus
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: dates then. So we'll see where we get to with this.
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: Might be similar, but might be a bit less. We'll
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: see how we go. You know, the music scene's a
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: bit struggling at the moment.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: And we're also, we're just getting back out there again.
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: So we'll see where we land. But planning starts real
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: soon for what that might look like.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: And have you got a working title for the album
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: yet you can tell us about, or do you prefer
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: to keep.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: That under wraps? We've started throwing a few around.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: I think we'll keep that under wraps at the moment
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: because it's definitely not confirmed.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Right, okay.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: One thing you can tell me though, like one of
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: the big attractions, fuck knows why, but one of the
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: big attractions about Chill was that chicken.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Everybody loved that fucking chicken.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: Is he going to make another appearance on this album?
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Like is he sneaking in there somewhere?
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think there's a good possibility. The Doom rooster
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: is definitely our mascot. So I'd say, yeah, there's a
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: chance that, it'll still be around in some capacity.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: Very cool.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: You're going to be showcasing some of these new songs
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: over a selection of gigs between now and the end
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: of the year, starting with Rock Beats Depression at the
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: Mansfield Tavern this Saturday, September 12th.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: It's a great cause, but it sounds like a great
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: show too. There's some good bands playing there.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's something that we're always involved with. We're good
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: friends with Katie, who runs it, and it's a good cause.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: And so... We're always doing it. We always want to
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: help out and support.
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: The lineup this year is solid. So I'm really looking
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: forward to catching a lot of the other bands and
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: we will be playing quite a few songs that will
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: probably make the album at this show.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Good.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: I want to ask you because you're sort of more
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: or less road-chested on these songs live. Just say hypothetically
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: one or two songs that you really like, they go
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: down like a lead balloon when you play them live.
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: Do you dice them from the album because people didn't
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: like them or do you work on them or do
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: you just go stick it up.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Your arse, we love them anyway, we're putting them on?
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that Luckily that doesn't happen too much with us,
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: but to be honest, if it did, you'd probably have
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: a good hard think about it, wouldn't you?
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, wouldn't you?
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: We definitely do rewrite lots.
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: So, you know, when we start working with a producer,
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: we will rewrite entire songs. We will rewrite parts. We
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: will experiment quite a lot. So, you know, yeah, if
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: we're not getting good feedback on something, we probably will
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: change it up, yeah.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: Probably a good idea.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: After Mansfield, you hit up the Gutter Ritual show at
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: Brisbane's Tomcat on October 23rd, followed by the Black Bear
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: Lodge on December 13th. So you keep yourselves busy without
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: overloading it too much straight up.
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: And what we're trying to do is just build our
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: rep back up in Brisbane first. So we just strategically
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: picked a few shows. The Gutter Ritual show is our
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: own headlining show. So that's our first show. headlining show
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: we're organizing it we're promoting it we're doing the whole
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: thing ourselves um we've got a really good lineup for
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: that one too so that that's our big one for
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: the year um we'll be road testing more new songs
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: that by then we we definitely should know what's on
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: the album so that's going to be a big one
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: for that show absolutely but yeah three shows to to
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: end out the year and then next year is going
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: to be pretty busy for us Very nice.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: On the live front, guys, when you get new members
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: come into a band, it invariably.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Changes a few things. Has it affected your live show
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: at all?
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: Have you polished it or done anything different to sort
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: of keep with the personalities, I guess, of the new guys?
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That's why we took a bit of
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: time as well. So we really wanted to make sure
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: that we had good songs. We still play some of
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: the old songs too, so we still do that. It's
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: not like we've dropped all the old stuff. We're playing
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: old stuff too, just for our fans, you know, because
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: some of those main songs still really, people are still
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: really into them. And when we talk to people, they say,
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: keep playing those songs, you know. So that's really important. But, yeah,
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: we took a bit of time just to try and
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: get the vibe right. And obviously it's a little bit different.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: So we had to take a.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: Bit of time to, you know, get the vocals fitting
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: right and riding around the vocals and drums and, and
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: getting Mike, our original bass player, back in too, you know,
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: to reintegrate. But I don't know, do you guys want
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: to add a bit about the process of the writing
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: and stuff?
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: I guess my approach to the vocals is a bit
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: more melodic than the previous singer. So the songs do
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: sound a little bit different, but like Aaron said, they
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: still maintain that hard rock grunge kind of essence overall.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: And you're a lot taller than the other singer too.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: How about you on drums, bro? Is it going to
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: be the sort of same, similar beat before, or are
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: you an animal?
• 13:18
  Speaker 6: I leave ego out of drumming. Like I say, I
• 13:24
  Speaker 6: had a lot of respect previously for Clay. So for me,
• 13:28
  Speaker 6: these guys have almost had to sort of whip it
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: out of me to stop trying to do a tribute
• 13:31
  Speaker 6: and do my own thing.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 13:34
  Speaker 6: The other, I guess, aspect I bring is drums is
• 13:37
  Speaker 6: not my first instrument that I've ever sort of performed with.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: I come in from the perspective of a guitarist. Whether
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: that brings like a.
• 13:45
  Speaker 6: Jaded mentality of what I expect drummers to do wrong
• 13:47
  Speaker 6: or whatever, maybe I'm just trying to stamp that out.
• 13:50
  Speaker 6: But I guess I come in from the perspective of
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: not I'm trying to be the world's single most talented
• 13:55
  Speaker 6: technical drummer.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: It's very much.
• 13:58
  Speaker 6: serve the music that's in front of you, change the
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: part to what's, what these guys are writing, that they're
• 14:03
  Speaker 6: the sound and the pulse that is going to follow.
• 14:06
  Speaker 6: And I'm kind of just meant to be in the
• 14:07
  Speaker 6: back there, just making it all sound right and making
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: it sound good.
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: That's my take on it.
• 14:14
  Speaker 6: I'm still, as you say, we've been working together however long,
• 14:17
  Speaker 6: but you're still sort of feeling each other out a
• 14:19
  Speaker 6: little bit, but I've, always gone in that direction and
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: it seems to be working for now like the new
• 14:25
  Speaker 6: songs are sounding good i'm yeah everyone's excited to play
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: them and make them evolve and keep working together with.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: Them yeah now you sound like you've got a fair
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: bit coming up so where's the best place for people
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: to keep up to date find out what you're up
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: to uh.
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: Just our socials at the moment so our instagram and
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: facebook are the two places to that to stay up
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: to date and uh We've got our link tree that's
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: up to date with all of our tickets and all
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: the interviews and other things we're doing, promo and stuff. So, yeah,
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: they're the main spaces, our socials right now.