Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / No Labels, No Limits: MILITARIE GUN'S IAN SHELTON Ahead Of Aussie Tour With TOUCHE AMORE

Transcript

No Labels, No Limits: MILITARIE GUN'S IAN SHELTON Ahead Of Aussie Tour With TOUCHE AMORE · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: This is Ian from Military Gun Beautiful.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much, and you're hitting Australia next month with
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Touche and more. What's on your bucket list for when
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: you guys get.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hit Well, we did Australia last summer. Well, I guess
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: winter for you, and it was an amazing time I
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: got to I was told we were the last band
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: to get to hold the koala at the Sanctuary or
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: whatever it was like. They said it was literally the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: last day for doing that. I don't know if that's
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: actually true or not, so I guess my bucket list
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: would be I want to see in the flesh one
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: of these like disturbing Australian spiders that everyone talks about.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I don't want it to be. I don't want to
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: actually be in danger, but I would like to see it.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Oh well, I'm sure I've seen a few out lately.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you probably might be able to, but I
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: don't know if you really want to do that.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: They gross. Yeah, I imagine they're horrifying, but it's as
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: far as you know. We had to see the kangaroos
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: and everything else. But I guess on the list it
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: just besides playing with killer shows, I think it would
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: just be to see one of these horrific things in person.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Your sound blends hardcore roots with catchy melodic hooks. How
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: do you strike that balance in the writing room.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: I think that balance just comes natural to us. It's
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: just the culmination of all the things we've ever listened
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: to and been inspired by it. And I just love big,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: hooky music. So it's just about making something that we
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: would actually choose to listen to. Like, you know, we
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: grew up with the truly like purely uncatchy, even though
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: I mean if you think about a lot of the
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: hardcore or punk or whatever that we like, it has
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: catchy elements, but you know, like we spent our time
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: with that and it's like, how do we touch on
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the of what we love about aggression but then find
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the thing that makes us want to hear it over
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: and over again.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So what were some of those bands that you
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: guys were inspired by?
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I mean, as far as what we've been inspired by,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's just anything from We just view anything
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: from the continuum of rock music, like anything from sixties
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: rock to nineties and early arts and you know, like
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: to speak on Australia, like we love the Vines was
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: a huge, huge inspiration for Military Gun and even then,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: you know, like bands like Royal Headache very very inspiring
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: as far as capturing the energy and the rawness of
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: what's cool about punk music, but then adding such great
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: melody to it that you want to hear it on repeat. Yeah.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And look, I have to talk about the WWA collaboration.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: You guys have.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: How did that come about? Did you guys have the
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: song first or did the WWA approach you guys?
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: I mean that was just our buddy Postalon was supposed
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: to write his own wrestling intro, but he lives a
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: very very busy life and lost track of it, and
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: so it was like, hey, we need this done. You
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: can you make something? And so I remember, I just
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: literally woke up to a text about it and then
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: spent like two days just working on riffs and trying
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: to come up with what would be a cool wrestling intro.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's insane, that's so cool. There's an emotional rawness
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: in your lyrics. How personal are the songs for you?
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: And do you ever hold anything back?
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: I never hold anything back. I mean I've you know,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: I feel like I lived a very odd specific childhood
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: and life sense, and it's not really appropriate to recap
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: those things in normal conversation with people. And what I've
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: kind of used is my tool of hoping to communicate
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the things that kind of thick in my brain that
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: I can't get rid of. But I also don't want
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: to bum out anyone by making them have to hear
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: me say it. The songs have been historically the only
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: appropriate place to put those feelings or thoughts or memories,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: and so I just, to me, it's the most natural
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: thing on earth. I'm an oversharer, and I just try
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: to do it in the songs instead of in a
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: one on one setting, and so definitely never hold anything back.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: I mean there's times I think, specifically for the record,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: whereabouts release where I probably should have, But to me,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: it's not a natural instinct. I grew up being told,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: despite everything going on, that I didn't need to hide it.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I think when you try to hide these things, that's
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: where like corruption of your soul is born. And luckily
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: I was told to share it and to not hold
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: it back. And I was also told the value in
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: art of that comes from fucked up people, and so
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to join that tradition of like letting
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: the world know how fucked up you are through the
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: through the art, through the lyrics, through through whatever other
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: means I can communicate it in an appropriate way.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. And I think doing it through art, like
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: you said, gives the opportunity for people to feel a
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: common ground, like maybe that like they're not alone and
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: in that experience or the experiences that you're talking about,
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: they may be going through similar things. Did you find
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: it cathartic as well to write these songs?
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Definitely cathartic. I mean that's the whole thing is trying
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: to externalize, you know, whatever dramatic way you want to say,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: enter demon or whatever else, and externalizing and putting in
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: front of you so that you can kind of more
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: easily pick it apart. And I mean a huge part
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: for me is I want to make everything that I've
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: experienced make it something that benefits me. You know, Like
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: I think that it would be really easy to view
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: the things that I've gone through as a negative, but
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: instead I viewed as a positive because it gave me
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: my personality and my perspective, which I think is really
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: you know, you can have great songs and nobody like
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: them because they don't relate to them. And I think
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: that we've luckily found an audience that is looking for
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: that personal connection and I'm willing to offer it up
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: and they seem willing to receive it and translate it
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: and put it onto their own experiences in life. And
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: I'm just really grateful that, like you know, that we
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: found each other, the people who choose to listen to
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: military gun and myself. I mean, I think that like
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: when you put two fucked up people in a room together,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: they can usually sniff it out pretty quick and start
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: going into all of the intense things that they've experienced together.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: You know. Yeah, that's so true. And you guys, your
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: shows are known for their intensity. Do you have a
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: most memorable unhinged gig that you can think of?
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, Sydney, last time we played it was I
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: don't I think it was the Landsdown that we played
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: and it was Chaos. I mean, we did our this song.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: You know, we were definitely partying quite a bit, but
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: you know, we did this song do it Faster I
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: think four times at the show, and by the end
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: of it, it was a kid from the audience on
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the drums and just one guitar player left on the
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: stage and the rest of us have all just jumped
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: into the audience and left. I think that was a
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: very it's a very hazy show for me to remember,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: but it is a very memorable show in the history
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: of the band.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: That's wicked. I'm sure it's feeling somewhere. I'd have to
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: go watch it. That sounds awesome.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: I have a clip of all of us at one
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: point being gone from the stage and they're just being
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: one and the base cab got knocked over like it was.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: It was chaos.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that's wicked. And do you notice a
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: difference in how international Crown crowds respond to your music
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: compared to American ones.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: I mean, Americans kind of set the tone. I think
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: European audiences are so much more reserved. UK audiences are
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: a little bit more like America. In my experience, it
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: seems like Australia is a little bit similar to America
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: as as just like yeah, let me fuck this shit
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: up too, you know, just like let me get in
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: the mix. But definitely, you know, there there's there's there's cold,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: truly audiences where it's just people are not as apt
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: to insert themselves into the performance, and obviously it's something
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: we welcome of the audience being a part of it.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: You know. For us, we play the same songs every night,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: We you know, try to communicate the same things, and
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: it's like the audience is the X factor of whether
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: or not the show is truly great, because it's about
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: the reciprocal energy of like we're trying to put off
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: energy the audience and then we also hope to receive
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: audience back in exchange.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, so you can really feel the audience energy
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: from where you are on the stage.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: That's the hope. I mean there's times where it doesn't
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: doesn't work, especially when you're supporting a band or something
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: when their audience is either reserved in general or just
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: isn't feeling you, which definitely happens. But yeah, yeah, that's
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the hope.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And do you guys still identify as a hardcore
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: band or do you feel that label limits how people
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: interpret your music?
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: First I started calling the hardcore. I started calling military
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: and a hardcore band to make people mad because to
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: me it was so clearly not a hardcore band. And
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: then the big turnstile boom happened, and then it was
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: like we were suddenly belonged to an identity or a
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: scene of bands that all came from this world but
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: use the palette to like paint a broader picture, and
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: I definitely find it very limiting. I mean, I think
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: it's also disingenuous to call us a hardcore band. I
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: think that you know, if you listen to it, it's
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: not we don't. We never had breakdowns. The closest thing
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: to hardcore song we have is the the wrestling intro,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: and it's it's definitely, you know, a thing that we
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: grapple with in some way. It's because sonically, I think
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: that there's no one. I don't think anyone on earth
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: really truly thinks for a hardcore band. So it's this
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: weird back and forth of like just it just being
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: the world that we all came from and loving that world,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: and we love participating in that world. But I think that,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: you know, some people are mad about us being called
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: a hardcore band. Some people are turned off by it
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: and won't listen to us to begin with. It's just
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: it's one of those things where I think it's just
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: largely been a press narrative. It's been something that's been
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: swallowed up by people to talk about in interviews like
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: this given circumstance.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Yes, sorry, I guess from my perspective, I understand what
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: you're saying. I think it's really hard these days to
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: even label, and the point of labels in the music
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: industry I think is a bit redundant anyway. But yeah,
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: labeling you guys as one certain genre even and as
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: with a lot of bands, labeling them as one certain
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: genre just usually rub some people the wrong.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: So well, it's like, you know, people are so big
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: on the whole sub genre conversation, and it's it's like,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: to me, we belonged to the tradition of punk, which
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: is like a position of difference, Like I don't think
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: first wave punk anything sounded the same, and then it
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: moved towards like kind of a gross traditionalism, and we
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: don't belong to that traditional sounds, which is what people
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: consider to be the modern hardcore thing. And probably ever
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: since the eighties, it's been more rooted in tradition than difference.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: And so it's, uh, yeah, I don't know, it's one
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: of those things. We just play rock music. We will
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: take inspiration from literally anywhere we choose and try to
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: put it through the filter of military gun and we
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: just want to sound like military gun.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, good e'swer And was there a certain point
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: in your career with military Gun that you guys are like,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: we've made it.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: No, No, I mean it's it's it's we're inside of it,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: and we're constantly on a roller coaster of the next thing,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: and so we're always we're a little cheated in the
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: current moment, you know, because everything is about what is next.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: It's you know, like when you're on a tour, you
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: know the next tour you're going to be on, and
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: you know that the next records coming, or you have
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: to write the next record or whatever else. And so
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: I think if we were ever to have the sense
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: of making it or anything else like that, it would
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: be robbing our potential for creativity. I think that that
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: feeling like you've you've accomplished something is somewhat the disadvantage
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: of the creativity, because I think that you should always
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: be operating under the assumption that you haven't done your
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: best yet and that you can do better. And that's
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: certainly the way that I view myself of like I
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: could write a better song. I need to write a
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: better song, and that's what drives all of the the
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: momentum of the band.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's an interesting perspective. So it's like, yeah, if
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: we just thought we've made it, then what like, then
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: where do we go? You know, it's a constantly evolving
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: thing that sounds like.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: For you well, and you think about all the bands
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: that make worse and worst records as their careers go on,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: and even referring to it a career as a career
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: feels like self serious and kind of puts it in
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: a different light where it's like, this is not a career.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: It's an artistic pursuit. And even though it is the
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: way that this is my job essentially, but it's a
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: weird thing to even consider it. Like I don't ever
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: use the word my career unless I'm prompted to say
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: my career.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense. That makes sense. It's
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: more of a creative outlet rather than a business, I guess.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and you have to straddle the line. You know,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: it is a business, but it is also you can't
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: let the business step on the art of it all.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense. And what advice would
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: you give to a new band trying to carve out
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: a space in today's fractured rock scene.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Be yourself, be as loudly as of yourself as you
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: can be a caricature of yourself. Amplify the things that
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: you think are special about you and put them to ten.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: A band that I love so much right now is
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Shady Nasty from Sydney, and they are so unique, Like
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: you can't really point to another band that you can
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: go and hear their sound. And I think that everyone
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: should be chasing that. Don't think of your band as
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: a formula of this band, plus this band equals my band.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: Think of like what's truly unique in the way that
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: you talk to each other and the way that you
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: be And I think spend a lot of time ide
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: eating on who you want to be, and and like
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: what what your actual conversations in a room together are
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: like and how to put that onto and do a
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: piece that is listenable? Yeah? Yeah?
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: And lastly, what is something you hope that listeners or
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: audiences walk away from after a military gun show or
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: hearing one of your albums.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, I hope that they feel something I hope
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: that and even if that's anger about disliking it, I
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: hope they feel something I don't want to make something
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: that you know is as provides a stance of indifference,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: and you know, with having a name like military gun,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: it's like almost trying to tempt you to make a
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: decision before you hear it. And you know, I just
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: I hope it's an emotion. I hope it's I hope
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: that it just you know, people feel good after they
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: see us play, and that they feel like they got
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: something that they can't get somewhere else. Yeah.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well I can definitely speak from my own experience.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: That's what I get after hearing you guys. We so
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: can't wait for you guys to come here next month. Ian,
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: thank you so much for your time today.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you. What's are you going to be at the
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Sholve next time?
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: I'm hoping to. I'm actually heavily pregnant, so but I'm
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: hoping to.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Congrats.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you so much.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: You will get you a special viewing area so that
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: you can be protected.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Yes, one with a chair.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Yes,