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Spreading The Word Of Metal With BEN HOSKING From WHERE THE DEVIL · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm Ben from a Newcastle band called Where the Devil.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: We're going to be playing at HoloFest 2026, which is
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: happening on Halloween, October 31st.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Fantastic, mate.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: Thanks for joining us today.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: My pleasure.
• 0:13
  Speaker 4: As you say, Where the Devil will be appearing at
• 0:15
  Speaker 4: HoloFest 2026 at the Mansfield Tavern in Brisbane on October 31st.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Not long now, bro. Are you all rehearsed up, ready
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: to go, ready to rock?
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we just had two shows over the last weekend,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: so we're well-oiled.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: And ready to go.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Nice.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Already been in Queensland once this year and we always have.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: A good time.
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: One thing that really stands out for me about HoloFest
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: is that every band is Australian. So organisers aren't relied
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: on internationals.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: To get people through the door.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: Like how important are festivals like this that feature just
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: homegrown challenge?
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I think it's incredibly important.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: You know, the more opportunities that the underground stuff gets
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: to show off what they can do, the better. And yeah,
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I think not only that, it helps keep the price
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: down for spectators as well. You know, you get an
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: international ban on the headline, all of a sudden the
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: ticket price will jump probably 50 bucks or more. So,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: you know, everyone wants to have a good time at
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: a reasonable price, right?
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: That's exactly it, mate. These days you do anyway.
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: The holo first includes yourself. There's Read the Holo, Firefly, Depuration,
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: Here's to Waken 8, so many more, bro.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: But who are you most looking forward to seeing, playing
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: or catching up with?
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Um, we've played with, uh, several of the bands on
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: the bill before, um, probably most recently it was Firefly
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: and it was the first time I'd seen, and they
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: were fantastic, very entertaining. And, um, just a bunch of
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: larrikins as well. So we're definitely keen to hang out
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: with them again. We played with, uh, We The Hollow
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: here in Newcastle, I think it was early this year
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  Speaker 2: or late last year. And they, they were awesome too. So, um,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: they're probably still highlights for me, but as you said, there's,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: I think there's 20 bands in total and there's a
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: lot of talent on there.
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: So other than yourselves, mate, which band do you reckon
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: will get up to the most mischief on the day?
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: I'm glad you say apart from ourselves because I think
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: it's a bit of a mischief maker.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: It's hard to know.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: I don't know a lot of them personally, but I
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: presume with a couple of beers in them, everyone's got
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: the opportunity and, you know, yeah, who knows?
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: Who knows?
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: It's a massive 12 hours of music spread across two stages, mate.
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: So what's your trick for pacing yourself and making sure
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: that you're far on all cylinders come stage time?
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: To be honest, I'm not the most social guy. So
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: it's probably easier for me. I don't drink either.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: So I'll just kind of take it easy and watch
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: the talent and hang out and not do too much.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Probably a bit harder for my other bandmates. They like
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: to have a few and.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: not necessarily get rowdy, but definitely very social. And, you know,
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: so we'll, I don't know if it's my job to
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: keep them under wraps until showtime, but, uh, yeah, that's
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: my advice.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Just, just watch the bands, enjoy yourself. Don't drink too many.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: Fair call, man. And it is on Halloween night as well.
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: And they're encouraging people to dress up and come on.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: I think there's prizes for best dress and stuff. So
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: are you guys going to get in a spirit? You
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: got anything, anything planned?
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: We haven't discussed it, but it's not a bad idea.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: Um, Probably just have to try and find a subject
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: matter that everyone else isn't already doing.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, true. That'd be the hard part. True, true.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: What about yourself? No, I won't be there, unfortunately. I'm
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: going to rock the boat.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: So I'll be out at sea in Vanuatu or New
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: Caledonia or something like that. Otherwise, I'd be there with
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: bells on.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: That sounds pretty awesome, too.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'll get back the day after the show,
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: so fucking time is everything, isn't it?
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Yes, definitely.
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: One of the beautiful things about music festivals is stumbling
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: across fans you may not have heard of before. So
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: say someone's headed to HoloFest and they don't know too
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: much about We're the Devil. What three songs of yours
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: do you reckon they should listen to in order to
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: get an idea of what to expect?
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Well, it has to be at least to start with
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  Speaker 2: our first two, our two latest songs. They're both a
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: couple of years old now, but Counting Bruises and Sickened
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: and Stained, they probably best represent where we're at at
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: the moment because they have a new bass player.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: And singer on them. And we actually have a new
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: EP coming out as well.
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  Speaker 2: Sadly, not before this show, but we'll be performing a
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: bunch of songs off it. So we hope to impress
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: everyone with those before the EP comes out early next year.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Nice.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: And you mentioned a couple of new band members, mate.
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  Speaker 4: Introduce us to them and tell us what they bring
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: to Wear the Devil.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Well, by new, I guess, for people who haven't seen
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: us before, they might be new.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: We've had Dan, our bass player, now for three years.
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  Speaker 2: um so new by comparison to our first ep of
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: material that came out and uh jake i.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Think i've been with this a bit over two years so.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Uh they're definitely well bedded in and everyone you know
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: i've never been in a band where everyone gets along
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: so well so that's that's awesome but um jake and
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: uh jake and dan that's the two new guys and
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: uh you won't.
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  Speaker 1: Be able to miss jake he's like six foot five
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: and don't look at us.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: So stay out of his way.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: In other words, don't make him angry.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: 2026 has been where the devil's largest year in terms
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: of getting out and playing shows, mate.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: So have you seen the fruits of those labels yet?
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: Or is that something that comes down the track?
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Um, I think in general, our social media reach is,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: is higher than it was. Um, we're hoping that helps
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: when the new EP comes out and the single, which
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: we should have out before the end of the year,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: we just got to film a video for that.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Um, But every time we post something, it definitely gets
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: more reach.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: And when we play gigs, I'd like to say we've
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: got at least a handful or more people that we
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: normally see. And just getting to play new places all
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: the time. We've played heaps of new venues and new towns.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: And as I mentioned, we've been to Queensland once already
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: this year and Victoria as well.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I hope that all helps.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: It should do, mate.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: It should do. And you've got a pretty big show
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: coming up on November 28th too, and you're going to
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: support King Parrot at Crowbar in Sydney, mate.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: That's definitely one to mark down on the calendar.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: It's going to be our last show for the year
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: as well. Last weekend we played our last hometown show
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: for the year. This will be November 28th, our last show,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: and we're definitely going out with a bang. It's a
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: massive lineup, headlined, as you said, by King Parrot. Our
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Last Enemy, Dead by Dawn, Whisperhead. sons of arabus it's
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: just yeah it's huge and um it's going to be
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  Speaker 2: uh i'm hoping.
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  Speaker 1: It packs out the crowbar we haven't played there for like.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Four years or more and um yeah it's definitely one
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  Speaker 2: of the bigger bigger venues in sydney to play.
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah very nice man and you've sort of alluded to
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: this a couple of times bro but where the devil
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: have a new single coming out sometime before the end
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: of the year called coward so what can you tell
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: us about that.
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  Speaker 2: Um I was trying to explain it to someone the
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: other day. In the verses, it's got a bit of
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: a nu metal vibe. The pre-chorus is thrashy, and the chorus, musical-wise, instrumental,
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  Speaker 2: it's almost a bit progressive in terms of the chord
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  Speaker 2: progression and the melody over the top.
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  Speaker 1: So I think it pretty well encapsulates where the devil
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: are about.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: We've been pretty restless in terms of what we we
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: do we don't stick to one metal sub-genre and we
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: never have and we probably never will um all the
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: songs tend to be a bit different just gelled up
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: with the the lyrics and the vocal style and um
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: it's going to be more of that but once again
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: it's something different from everything else we've released before.
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: Nice and that's part of a six-track ep that you
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: plan to release in the first quarter of next year
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: so have you got a working title for the.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Ep yet yeah it's going to be called acts of
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: violence nice And one of the songs off there is
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: called Active Violence, so that's where that was inspired from.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Five new songs, plus Counting Bruises, which previously have just
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: been released as a single. So five new tracks, all
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: of which we've been playing live. So people who have
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: seen us before may remember them or be familiar with them.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Otherwise, it's all new stuff for everybody. I've been listening
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  Speaker 1: to it.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: Flat out for the last two or three days. We've
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: got the final mixes back now. That's pretty much all
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: I've been listening to for days and it's putting a
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: smile on my face.
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: That's a fucking good thing, bro.
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: Is it what fans would expect from Where the Devil
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: or is it going to be a few surprises in there?
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: More of the same in terms of each song has
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: its own personality. You know, we're not a metalcore band,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: we're not a djent band, we're not a doom band
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: or anything else like that. We kind of mix things up.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Paul Scarabelli, who records us, he once coined the term,
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: he said, you're like you play all the shades of black.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: And I think that was pretty apt. And, you know,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: it's just the way we roll.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: We've all got very different influences and we bring different
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: stuff to the table as far as songwriting goes.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: And it just comes out in the mix.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Really, Jake's, the way Jake sings, that's probably what helps
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: in terms of continuity for people hearing us. So that
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: it's often quite the same, but musically there are.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Between a range of wide and subtle differences between each song. Yeah, nice.
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: And again, for people who may not be familiar with
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: the band, bro, run us through a typical Where the
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: Devil Lives show and what we can expect at Holofest.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: A lot of sweat, a lot of strained muscles, and yeah,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: we definitely are not shoegazers. We love to try and
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: put on the best show we can, and the songs
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: mean a lot to us, so we just want to
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: put our best foot forward there.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: We want to be as tight but as angry as
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: we can.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Very nice. That sounds good to me, brother. Well, in
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: the meantime, mate, you take care.
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: HoloFest is on October 31st at the Mansfield Tavern in Brisbane.
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: Tickets through AusTix. And happy Halloween in advance, brother.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Have a safe trip on that boat.