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Putting Your Faith In Rock N Roll With SCOTT OWEN From THE LIVING END · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, here I am and there you are, and I'm
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  Speaker 1: Scott from the Living End. We're a three piece rock
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  Speaker 1: and roll band from Melbourne and we've been putting out
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  Speaker 1: records for twenty five years or so and the latest
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  Speaker 1: installment is coming out this Friday. We've got a few
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  Speaker 1: singles out and about so people have had a taste,
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  Speaker 1: but the whole, the main course, is coming on Friday.
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  Speaker 1: The new album is called Only Trust rock and Roll.
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  Speaker 1: It's been a fair time in the making. Yeah, it's
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  Speaker 1: been a slow process, but you know it's given us
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  Speaker 1: the chance to give it everything we possibly can. Every
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  Speaker 1: idea we have, every thought we have has gone into it.
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  Speaker 1: We didn't want to rush it. We wanted to make
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  Speaker 1: sure we got it right and I think we did.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's ready to be born and to get
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  Speaker 1: out there.
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  Speaker 2: Fantastic scut that. I'm very all encompassing intro brother.
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  Speaker 1: You know what they say, there's no such thing as
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  Speaker 1: a finished album, just a deadline.
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  Speaker 3: That's so true.
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  Speaker 2: Now after that beautiful introduction there though, mate, like you
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  Speaker 2: have got the album I Only Trust rock and Roll
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  Speaker 2: drop on this Friday, September twenty sixth.
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  Speaker 3: But how are you feeling about a brain. Are you confident?
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  Speaker 1: I am, Yes, I do. We've all I speak for
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  Speaker 1: the three of us. Yes, there is confidence, and we
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  Speaker 1: do feel really good, and it's because we definitely feel
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  Speaker 1: like we should be feeling. Put it that way, We
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  Speaker 1: really did concentrate on keeping it simple and keeping keeping
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  Speaker 1: the message simple, keeping the music simple, sort of staying
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  Speaker 1: in our own lane, like knowing what we do good
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  Speaker 1: and not trying to reach beyond that, just just doing that,
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  Speaker 1: just doing our thing, doing the thing that we really like. Like,
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  Speaker 1: we've worked on all these songs with the thought that
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  Speaker 1: we're going and we're going to go out and play
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  Speaker 1: them on stage, So we need to make sure that
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  Speaker 1: they're just lean and they're built for a three piece
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  Speaker 1: band on stage, you know, not too many overdubs and
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  Speaker 1: not too many, not too many studio things, you know,
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  Speaker 1: just just just just good, good rock music. Answer your question,
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  Speaker 1: very very very confident, and very very proud and very yeah,
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  Speaker 1: very excited to hear what other people think.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I know that the title is a song on
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  Speaker 2: the album, but I only trust rock and roll. It's
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  Speaker 2: the perfect sum up with the whole album somes everything
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  Speaker 2: up in six little words.
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  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean it certainly does some up the music,
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  Speaker 1: but it's also a bit of a sign, you know,
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  Speaker 1: it's a bit of a statement on the times. At
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  Speaker 1: the moment, it's hard to know what to trust. You know,
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  Speaker 1: it feels like we're living in a a weird age.
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  Speaker 1: You know, like I don't like going down the rabbit
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  Speaker 1: hole too much, but it certainly feels like a weird time.
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  Speaker 1: And and yeah, you know, yeah, it is really hard
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  Speaker 1: to know what to trust. So rock and rolls it's
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  Speaker 1: always going to be there.
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  Speaker 3: Right now.
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  Speaker 2: You sort of touch on this a bit before, mate,
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  Speaker 2: but Christmas Quoto is saying that this one had to
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  Speaker 2: sound like a slick machine. We had to trim the fat, Like,
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  Speaker 2: can you elaborate on that for people who are non
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  Speaker 2: music orientated.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, when you know, in the past, when we've
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  Speaker 1: spent time you know, writing, rehearsing, getting material to get
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  Speaker 1: getting new material together with you know, when we're when
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  Speaker 1: we're about to make albums, it's really easy and fun
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  Speaker 1: and and and worthwhile and rewarding to really push yourselves
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  Speaker 1: as musicians and and and try and try and experiment
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  Speaker 1: with some different things, you know, because over the years
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  Speaker 1: that that's that's that seems like the way forward after
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  Speaker 1: and is to is to push the boundaries and to
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  Speaker 1: try and do things a little different from time to time.
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  Speaker 1: Whereas this which is great, I'm glad we've done that,
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  Speaker 1: whereas this time, but this time we just decided not to.
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  Speaker 1: We decided to just keep the focus, keep the focus
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  Speaker 1: kind of you know, slim and trim and tight and yeah,
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  Speaker 1: not not not overly complicated. Yeah yeah, slick machine. That's
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  Speaker 1: a good way to put it.
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  Speaker 2: Title for the album, too Machine. The singles to date, Misery, Alphy,
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  Speaker 2: Strange Place, and the title track. So that's all people
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  Speaker 2: have heard of the album so far. Is that a
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  Speaker 2: good sonic representation of the whole thing?
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  Speaker 1: It is a good son representation because every time I
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  Speaker 1: listen I've listened to the album since it been complete,
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  Speaker 1: I get a really great feeling of just every song
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  Speaker 1: it just doesn't let up, like there's no there's no
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  Speaker 1: ballad on this, there's nothing. There's nothing, there's nothing that's
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  Speaker 1: not pretty white knuckled, you know, pretty foot to the floor,
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  Speaker 1: pretty going for it. Because that was the focus, to
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  Speaker 1: just make sure it was just like it wasn't It
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  Speaker 1: wasn't energyic, that didn't make it. So, yes, it's a
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  Speaker 1: very good representation those four songs because that's what the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the albums like. It just grabs you by
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  Speaker 1: the ears at the beginning and it doesn't let go
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  Speaker 1: until it's completely done.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, my my personal favorite brother is Gypsy Blood. Like
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  Speaker 2: it's got a real, live, real raw sort of sound
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  Speaker 2: of it. Like is that easy to do in the
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  Speaker 2: studio to make it sound live and raw?
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  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, it can be. It can be difficult sometimes.
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  Speaker 1: But when you've got a song like that that's literally
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  Speaker 1: just a riff pretty much the whole way, the whole
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  Speaker 1: way through it, you know, minus a couple of other things,
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  Speaker 1: it's I guess it's easier to just yeah, you know
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  Speaker 1: again like like like you were saying about what Chris
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  Speaker 1: said that you know, there's no fat on it. That's
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  Speaker 1: just a riff and a chorus and his house and
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  Speaker 1: pretty much it. There's nothing else going on. Keep it simple,
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  Speaker 1: you know, like just keep it trim and and keep
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  Speaker 1: it keep it focused. So but as far as like
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  Speaker 1: getting it to sound live like a like a live
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  Speaker 1: band is really yeah, just the less it's more kind
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  Speaker 1: of approached, not too many overdubs and yeah, just you know,
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  Speaker 1: like there's ways of of of ironing out the liveness
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  Speaker 1: in recording studios by like using click tracks and making
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  Speaker 1: things sound a bit too clean and highly processed and
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  Speaker 1: stuff like that. So yeah, we did. We tried to
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  Speaker 1: avoid that as much as possible this time to just yeah,
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  Speaker 1: keep it, keep it human.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's sort of touch on this a bit too, man.
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  Speaker 2: But you guys have had a great career that spans
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  Speaker 2: over twenty five years. But you've got fans all the
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  Speaker 2: way through from your punky your stuff from physics Society
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  Speaker 2: right through your current more rock orientated sound. But how
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  Speaker 2: do you get the balance right in the creative process
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  Speaker 2: to a piece fans across the board or does that
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  Speaker 2: sort of thing not even really come into consideration.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we usually don't try to put much
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  Speaker 1: any sort of limitations on ourselves when we're in the
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  Speaker 1: creative process because you really just want to let the
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  Speaker 1: juices flow and do whatever, can't you know, like experiment
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  Speaker 1: and give give everything that comes out a guy, you know,
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  Speaker 1: give everything a chance to work, you know, no matter
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  Speaker 1: what it is. And then there is always a bit
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  Speaker 1: of a process of yeah, like what because we tend
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  Speaker 1: to Chris is a really prolific writer. So there's always
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  Speaker 1: a lot of songs to choose from, like a lot,
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  Speaker 1: a lot, a lot of songs. He doesn't stop, it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't go right. We've got an album, so that's it.
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  Speaker 1: I'm done writing songs. They just keep coming. So so yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we're always spoiled for choice, and we always you know,
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  Speaker 1: get the chance to go, all right, well, there's all
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  Speaker 1: this material here, what kind of album do we want
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  Speaker 1: to make and what does fit on it? And what
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  Speaker 1: doesn't fit on it? Because that's I think that's important,
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  Speaker 1: you know, like it might not be in the greatest
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  Speaker 1: scheme of things anymore, is important to have albums that
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  Speaker 1: set up cohesive from start to finish. But you know,
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  Speaker 1: we're from a time when when when it was it
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  Speaker 1: was important where you did where people did listen to
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  Speaker 1: whole albums, not just you know, picking songs on playlists
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  Speaker 1: in Spotify or whatever, which I don't know, I've got
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  Speaker 1: nothing against it, but but we still we still understand
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  Speaker 1: that the beauty of a whole album where you get
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  Speaker 1: that whole hour and however long, of material, and it
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  Speaker 1: gives you the chance to get to know the band,
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  Speaker 1: you know what I mean, get to know it, So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I can remember.
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  Speaker 2: The question was I've forgot myself mate, So let's move
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  Speaker 2: on cow Inside with the album release, you're hosting three
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  Speaker 2: explicit Q and A sessions kicking up in Melbourne on
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  Speaker 2: September twenty eighth. He hit Bristoe on the thirtieth Sittney
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  Speaker 2: in October first. That's a great idea before the actual
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  Speaker 2: tour start. So, like, what was the thought process behind
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  Speaker 2: doing that?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well we did yeh. You know, it's we're always
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  Speaker 1: trying to think outside the box a little bit and
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  Speaker 1: sort of embrace new and different ideas. You know, like
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  Speaker 1: you said, we've been putting out music for like twenty
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  Speaker 1: five years, so kind of you know, it can run
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  Speaker 1: the risk of just, you know, like a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a rinse repeat kind of thing sometimes when the albums
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  Speaker 1: come out, so to So the thing that kind of
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  Speaker 1: sparked it was we hooked up with this guy called
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  Speaker 1: Callum Preston and when the Strange Place single came out,
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  Speaker 1: he built this this art installation. That's what he does.
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  Speaker 1: He's an artist. He builds these installations and creates these spaces,
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  Speaker 1: and he built this installation at the upstairs bar at
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  Speaker 1: the tote that kind of encapsulated his take on what
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  Speaker 1: Strange Place was all about. And it was wild. It
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  Speaker 1: was this whole kind of room that people came into
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  Speaker 1: and you kind of have this immersive kind of event
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  Speaker 1: and there was audio and there was music, and there
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  Speaker 1: was big and there was all of this this art
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  Speaker 1: and stuff that he created and it was really good.
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  Speaker 1: So we just opened the doors on that for a
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  Speaker 1: day and let people come in and have a look.
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  Speaker 1: And we were there and you know, we'd we'd sign
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  Speaker 1: things and we'd chit chat and yadi yadi, YadA, and
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  Speaker 1: it was just really good. It went really well. It
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  Speaker 1: felt like a really nice thing to do. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we just thought we'd do more of it. But we're
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  Speaker 1: not obviously not with the installation thing, because we're just
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  Speaker 1: going to you know, jump on the road and do it,
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  Speaker 1: do it in three places. I just feel weird saying
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  Speaker 1: to jump on the road because we're going to three
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  Speaker 1: city but we're not playing gigs. Bring our instruments.
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  Speaker 3: Well.
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  Speaker 2: The other thing too that's gonna be a bit stranger
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  Speaker 2: is the Melbourne session is all ages as well.
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  Speaker 1: Well.
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  Speaker 3: That's going to make for some interesting questions from.
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  Speaker 1: The kids. Ask the kids asked the best questions. They
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  Speaker 1: asked the most, the most honest and important questions. The
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  Speaker 1: one I was just talking about that the type was
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  Speaker 1: an all ageous thing and that's great. People can bring
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  Speaker 1: their kids, you know.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've actually started taking my kids to a few
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  Speaker 2: soundcheck don't mind are only nine and eleven. So I
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  Speaker 2: took Wing in the sound check and I'm took him
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  Speaker 2: to Don Brecos and the other day, just to sort
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  Speaker 2: of integrate them into the music a bit more.
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  Speaker 3: And things like that are important I think for the
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  Speaker 3: next generation.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: God, remember what it was like discovering it for the
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  Speaker 1: first time. Like the volume and the sheer power of
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  Speaker 1: it pretty amazing.
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  Speaker 2: Huh Yeah, I've got the pubs talking about it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: So after those qu a.
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  Speaker 2: Sessions, mate, you do hit the road for a proper
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: album tour starts Busy on November. The eight, goes through Adelaide, Melbourne,
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  Speaker 2: free Mail and finishes in Sydney on December twelfth. But
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  Speaker 2: the beauty of this is you're going to be playing
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  Speaker 2: two different sets every night, So runners through, what are
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  Speaker 2: you going to be doing with them?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, again inspired by something that we did last year,
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  Speaker 1: I think it was last year. Yeah, pretty sure it
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  Speaker 1: was last year. It was the twenty fifth anniversary of
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: the first album, the self titled album, so we did
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: one show at Festival Hall in Melbourne to celebrate that
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: and we played the first album in its entirety and
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  Speaker 1: it was awesome. We had a ball, We had an
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: absolute ball. So we thought, why not do it again?
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  Speaker 1: And you know, we've got these shows this tour coming up,
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  Speaker 1: and we obviously want to play some new some songs
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  Speaker 1: off the new record obviously, but it's a you know,
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  Speaker 1: it's a good chance to just kind of play a
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  Speaker 1: bit of everything. We'll do the first album, we'll do
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  Speaker 1: the first album, some new songs and things from in
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  Speaker 1: between as well.
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  Speaker 3: A couple of those shows.
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  Speaker 2: Man, Like you've sold out the Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane.
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  Speaker 2: I can't count that high, but there's a lot of
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  Speaker 2: people fit in that joint.
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  Speaker 3: Man, you're doing well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, so far that Adelaide and Brisbane mins are
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: sold out. I think I think Frios Melbourne and pretty Clear. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: they're all getting pretty close.
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  Speaker 3: I think good on you man.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Good on you now wednesd In between those two runs
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: is are performance that wander a festival at Pamballa Beach,
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  Speaker 2: New South Wales on the weekend or October fourth and
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: fifth light.
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  Speaker 3: I've never been, but it sounds like an awesome festival.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Bro. There's fans around Ausrael, around the world. You got
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: international food stores, market stalls, camping, art stores, but you
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: name it. They seem to have got a coveredy are they.
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  Speaker 1: The Wanderer Festival is over in Pambula and that's like
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  Speaker 1: southern corner, southeastern corner of New South Wales, not over
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the border in Victoria is that beautiful far East Gippsland
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: region which is just gorgeous, spin Boyd, National Hark and
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: all that. I love it there. Yeah, and the festival
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  Speaker 1: sounds great. It's like a boutique festival with a really
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: eclectic lineup, so there's something for everyone there and yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to.
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  Speaker 3: It and I'll take it. You won't be playing two.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Sets at that one, no, just the one said of.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: That fantastic All right, brother, Well that's all we've got
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  Speaker 2: for you today. With the new album I Only Trust
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  Speaker 2: Rock and Rollers, out this Friday, September twenty sixth, I've
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: been fortunate enough to have an advanced listen and I
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: think it's pick Aarsbroy some of the best shit you've
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: done in years, so congratulations and.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Hopefully see you at the Brisbane show. If I can
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: talk my way into a sold out show.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Please do. Thank you.