Latest / 78 Amped / For the Love of the Game ft. Holding Absence

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For the Love of the Game ft. Holding Absence · 78 Amped

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: I would argue this is our nicest interview of the year.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: No, well, yeah, you so it's certainly up there.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's very lovely.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: He's a lovely boy.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: He is.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: We are joined uh very shortly by Lucas from Holding Absence.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: And they're dropping a new album, Modern Life is Lonely.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna go out on a limb here, Maxwell.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I've said it a couple of times on the show already.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: This album is very good.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: IOTY, you've called it.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Contender.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: IOTY C.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: AOTYC.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: But um no, we caught Lucas backstage on the Brisbane leg of their uh first headline tour in Australia, just before everything kicked off, and seeing them live incredibly.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: He's got to be one of the best vocalists I've ever seen live.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Just his control and power and just pure joy on stage needs to be seen.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, all that aside, you two had a little nerd nerd out together.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: We did.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: It happened off camera, so it won't be included in this chat.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: We had a quite a good in-depth analysis of the Odyssey, uh, the film, and kind of the how that came to came to be.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Then we talked uh other podcasts that we both love, shout out the Weekly Planet.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think there's yeah, just it just like one honestly, one of the nicest guys we've ever interviewed.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely, and just so genuine and so interested in what we do, which is sick because bands don't have a lot of time and they don't they meet a lot of new people, so we didn't have to do that.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, shout out to Lucas as well.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: I saw on his Instagram story at Time Record he just got a Digimon tattoo.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Sick, so sick.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Come on and talk uh Digimon movie soundtrack with us.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, do it.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but to give you guys full context, we I was with our photographer uh trying to set up our shot, and all I hear from Max on the other side of the room is So what'd you think of the Odyssey?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then I couldn't stop them talking for 10 minutes.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we really went on for a while there.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to stop you guys.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: You were having a fat yap.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, I mean, let's dive into it.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, Maxwell, backstage at the Princess Theatre, Lucas from Holding Absence.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Mate, welcome to the show.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm very excited to be here.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pleasure to have you here.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: You've had a couple of days to acclimatize to the Australian climate, but you know, weather aside, we always ask the same question every week, and that is just to get an understanding of what's spinning in your playlists.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: Ooh, good question.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I'm really in my like to be to be honest, I was such a guitar band guy my whole life that, like, in the last few years I've actually tried to make an effort to like listen to music that doesn't have to be a band, like you know what I mean?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: So I listen to loads of hyper pop.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: I love an artist called Tiffany Day at the moment.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: Nina Jiraci.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Great, she's amazing.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: She truly is, I think, the most interesting artist making music right now.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: I think what she's doing is amazing.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Porter Robinson is like a big inspir for this new album.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: So that's big.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: I love K-pop, I love Esper, Illit, I love you know blackpink, all that.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: And then um, yeah, I'd say that's kind of the those, those are my like go-tos at the moment, really.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: Those are pretty good go-tos.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's interesting that you mentioned Inidrachi and Hyper Pop as a kind of influence for the album, but we'll come back to that because look, Modern Life is Lonely is the new album.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, it's it's feeling emotional, it's feeling experimental, uh, you know, along those lines.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we know to get here, there's been a few false starts and a bit of, you know, will they, won't they?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: But how are you guys feeling now that we're kind of on the eve of the eve of the release at the moment?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, good, yeah.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's like it's funny because it's like we sort of found our thing, and I always think, you know, we were a bit of a pig rolling around and shit for a while.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: We're just like, we're just loving it, you know what I mean?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and I think there's always this expectation to change.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: I I just I find basically there are two types of bands.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: There are bands that will never change, or bands that don't stop changing, yeah.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I think for us it was this set of sort of weird spot where it was like, I wanted to make sure that we did change, but I also made wanted to make sure we didn't change too quick, right?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so this album is sort of that nexus point where we're like, finally, let's try new stuff.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: How do we marry that with the band we've been for the last 10 years?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: But how do we sort of evolve with it?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I sort of feel like so proud and so you know, so excited, and I can't wait for everybody to hear the full thing, but I also can't wait for me to hear the next one.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's where I'm at with this.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's such a new room that we've just entered.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: I just want to explore it, you know.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, 100%.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, sonically, you know, you mentioned harper pop and stuff.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: The album is it's glitchy, it's poppy, but it like you said, it's got these roots in holding ups and sound that you know fans have grown to really love.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: But listening through it, it does feel like that next step.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're in the studio writing it, was it ever hard to find that balance between exploration and staying true to the band?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, good question.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: We spent I'd say we spent a year to 18 months writing demos and then just gutting them constantly and like genuinely, like ruthlessly, like, you know, getting rid of songs that probably would have been real hits on the last album and felt like really us from before, but just not us now.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: So there was definitely a period where I have this, I have this sort of mantra where it's like you must fail to succeed, and it is always so much better to fail in private.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm so glad Holden Absence, I'm so glad me and the boys were in a band before Holden Absence.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: We sucked for five years.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: And then when everybody started paying attention to Holden Absence, we'd had five years of sucking behind us and we were ready to go.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I think with this one, it was like, yeah, we spent a year failing, basically, and then when we got to the studio with Dan Bronstein, the guy we worked with, who was an amazing producer.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: I think a big sort of rule that we had was now that we know the parameters and we know where we're at and stuff, like a big part of it was essentially pushing against our instincts.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: So if we felt like this is something we would have done last album, even if it's just a momentary structural thing where it's like you know, this would have gone into another chorus or whatever, like let's do a bridge, you know what I'm saying?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: And like it's constantly, I think we were so instinctive for the first three albums.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: This one was like, right, what do you want to do?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, don't do that, you know what I mean?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, there are a few songs that really sort of stopped me in my tracks listening through the album, and they were sort of the different ones, like Heaven to me was a really big one, Shells Like Us as well was really interesting.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: But then Kyoto Snow felt like I mean, every album sort of got that one standout, and to me, that sort of felt like the magnum opus in the album.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how did that one come together?
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because it is it's a journey and it feels very personal.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it it is, yeah.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, I think we have this funny thing where like we love rising to the challenge of closing an album.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's sort of like, you know, uh, I don't know, it's like the Marvel boss battle or whatever, you know what I mean?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's just like get me in the going into the sky, yeah, yeah.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: I just want to do that.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: And and I honestly do believe that there's a life where we care less about the sort of expectations of being in a band, and we just release albums full of six-minute long emotional post-hardcore songs like that, you know?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: But anyway, I guess to your point, you know, when we were thinking of closing the album, it was just like there was a demo that we'd actually dropped, and it just felt right to sort of dig into.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: And but and basically the thing that I I think a lot of like emotional music has to be symbiotic with the lyrics.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, if the if the lyrics to that song were like quite like surface level, yeah, it probably wouldn't feel epic, right?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: Do you get what I mean?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: If so, I I do think a lot of the time imbuing a song with a genuine narrative is sometimes what takes it over the edge.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: And with Kyoto, it was like, I wanted this song to speak about love, sort of transcending everything.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm I'm I'm really big into like sci-fi, and I was watching Interstellar, and I was like, this film is about missing things, this film is about life passing you by in a way that you can't imagine.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: You can't imagine every minute of your life lasting seven years of your daughter's life.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: Do you get what I'm saying?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I just remember thinking, how how emotional is that?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's taking what I understand.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, I'm waffling, but it's taken what you understand of missing things.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm I miss my sister's, I miss my sister's birthday every year because it's tour time.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: And she's about to give birth to her first child, and I'm about to miss that.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: So when I watch Interstellar, I'm like, dude, I can't imagine how hard it would be to miss the whole childhood of your own child when I'm sort of grieving missing my sister's birthday every now and then.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, the point I'm getting at is with Kyoto Snow, it was like, I wanted it to be a love sick sort of song that transcended time and space, language, you know, there's four languages spoke on that song.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the opening lyric is about being in Japan in the winter, and the second verse is about being in Toronto in the summer.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I wanted the world to feel tiny, and you know what I mean?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, yeah.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's incredibly interesting.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: That's an incredible story, yeah.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: I suppose going back to where you were saying, you know, some of the the music you've been listening to, the hyper pop, is all well, at the moment it's all about kind of breaking down that song structure, breaking down the the boundaries between genre, and you've done that really well in this album, like the the way that you kind of bringing all that in together.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Was it a was it a sort of a conscious choice, I guess, or was it kind of just something that happened where you you sort of went, let's pull down those those barriers between genre, let's let's bring it in.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like what when you you said you want you wanted to make sure that you're always changing but not changing too much.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Was that kind of a central theme for you guys, or did it just kind of happen?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it very much was.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I think I think for us it was sort of unlocking the idea that like production and texture can do a job, and like songwriting can do a whole different job.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: So I I personally I we've always had this sort of rule where like a song passes the litmus test if you can play it on an acoustic guitar like all the way through, you know, and and like I guess for example, you know, for example, if if you were like a metal core band, you wouldn't be able to play that song.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, I like I think for example, like Akudama by Alpha Wolf is like a masterpiece, yeah.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: But like you couldn't play it on an acoustic guitar, you know what I mean?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: So, and then whereas for us it's like we just have such a different sort of vision with that.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: But I almost like a breakdown feels like sort of like you know, we're compromising uh the the Beatles.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like, do you get it?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: So I think what we really managed to pull off with this record was like keeping them all to be like songs and like you know, the sort of thing you could play on an acoustic or a piano, but then the production feels so different.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: We sampled loads, we chopped stuff loads, so I think that was sort of the the the unlocking for us, you know.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to hear the uh the acoustic versions, you know, the the the strip back songwriters, the tiny desk of this.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, versus I mean, it's all there to be done, you know.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I think actually, like you said about shells like us, yeah, that was an interesting one because I'm really big into something called Slowden Reverb.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: I love it, and it's it's like it sort of made me fall in love with songs in ways that even the artist didn't intend.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: So with Shells Like Us and Lullaby, those two songs we wrote and recorded in a higher key and a faster BPM, and then we slowed them down, and they just feel more emotional, don't they?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: So maybe we'll do that with acoustic versions of these songs, you know.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad you said that because when I was listening to it, I was like, fuck, is another band member singing it or what's going on?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Sload and Reverb, that's unlocked like my my late night, no one knows I do that shit.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're your neon light, like I've got my scrolling, my like low lighting, oh no big light, no big light light, no big lights, and then a slow and reverb stuff.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: So same yeah, perfect.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Lucas, your voice on the album needs to be talked about because you know, one of the things people love about holding absence is your voice, and when you choose to belt, it's so powerful.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: But do you choose moments to, I guess, like unleash your voice through the album?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because I feel like you know, when the song calls for it, it's got to be there.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: But if you do it too much, it sort of loses its impact.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: 100%, yeah.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you're you're so so right, and I think it's as much like you know, your favorite meal every day stops being your favorite meal, as much as like I have to tour these songs, you know what I mean?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I've learned the hard way to write for the road because some songs you just can't sing every night, like but but yeah, I think I think that is an astute observation.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: Is like now for me, it's like I know I can sing up there and I know everyone likes it, so it's like making sure that I'm I'm rising to the occasion when the time is right.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why the the the funny little voice changing thing that we do a lot on the record.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: I love that because it just hits this dynamic switch where like it feels like like like you said about shells like us.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: Like we had loads of people, I had loads of people be like, oh, is this his sister's singing on this track in Whisper?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, no, that's just me with like a stupid voice effect.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like it's like finding how to just you know manage the journey so it doesn't feel like you're over expens uh overspending your resources.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, definitely.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like there's a lot of like you know, very intricate stories behind all the tracks in this album.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Do you yourself play favourites?
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have a you know a the the standout that you think this is this is the one this it captures the story the best?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: Ooh, good question.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: I think with this album, obviously it's very much a we live in a society album, and you know, it's like whoa, mother life is lonely, you know.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: But like, so you know, for me it was like it was a different album than we'd written before because it was all very much about emotion before.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: Whereas with this one, it was like I did want to speak more about society and sort of psychology, you know, as much as just the heart work.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: But um, I'd say the two songs I do think I really got in the flow state were Whisper of a Dream and Modern Life, the the track.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, the the title track.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: I think those two are like intricate, dark, emotional, intelligence.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: I think intelligence was something I was trying to make for this album as well, rather than just emotion, you know.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so bit of head, bit of heart, bit of life, big ass breakdown in modern life as well.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that caught me off guard.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: I was listening to Jesus Cross.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's our guitarist Scott screaming.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, yeah.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: So we were kind of because for a while I haven't said this in an interview, but we wrote that for Lothe because we did an EP with them in 2018, and we're best friends with those guys, and we love them so much.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, and it and you you reach a thing where like after 10 years of knowing people, you you just it's just different, you know what I mean?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: Like our friendship with them is very unique, yeah.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: So it just felt right that maybe they'd be on it, and we couldn't line it up, we nearly did, but I just remember thinking it was written for two vocalists, right, Kadeem and Eric.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, it would be cool if it was me and Scott, basically.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and Scott's done Screams Live before, so basically it was like, let's roll him out, you know?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it was really cool because it was literally the last thing we did for the album, and I think it sort of unlocked the next album a little bit.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I imagine he'll come and do more stuff on the record now.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: It sounded like a very natural sort of progression.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, man.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because we would, you know, we self-tracked it like a month after we'd finished, you know.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, and we were like, We're gonna ruin this album, you know what I mean?
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: We were like, dude, this is like really bad idea.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, so I appreciate that.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, we do actually have some fan questions coming in about Lothe, but I mean, as a friend of theirs, what's your take on the new album?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: It is amazing.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: It is like art, it it it's like it's so good that I don't think anyone understands how good it is.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: I just think it's just above any like truly they are peerless now.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I really challenge me on that.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think any band in this space competes with them in in that that way.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um and yeah, it's it's like it isn't just production or emotion, but it's like sort of I don't know, dude.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's it's just special.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: We were talking about it when it first dropped, and we were saying it feels like in another six years' time, everyone will be like, this was a masterpiece, and no one gave it away.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, for sure.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: No one understood at the time, like how good it was.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like and I I think that's how culture shifting albums work.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's like people don't really get it because it's like Sam Paturnal was was obvious, but it oh my god, it was a lot more obvious six years later.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, as was like the architects sort of thing, and I think it's funny actually.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: I was speaking to Faisal from Lothe.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: Mind the name drops here, right?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: I was speaking of Faisal from Lothe, who was telling me about a story he had where he was speaking to Sam from Architect, yeah, and basically they were saying that it's sort of weird where architects are, where they invented a sound, basically, you know, kind of modern metal core with gentriffs, really.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_02: They invented this sound, and then essentially everyone copied it so much so that it actually sort of bastardized what they did in the first place.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: Do you get what I mean?
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's such a weird thing to actually be represented by your copycats rather than yourself.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_02: And does that make sense?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was just thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense because you think after architects kind of did oh, the album's gonna the wide album.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: All our gods, yeah, so on.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like that sound was just everywhere.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: Everywhere huge riffs and and I to be honest, you know, let's tack onto that.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like when I let it in come out, five years later now, it's like everyone's just doing Deftones core, yeah, yeah, and Sugay's core, yeah, and like Lothe did that, and and and I guess what I'm getting at is like they're sort of defined by their imitators, and I challenge anyone to imitate their new album.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what the hell do you think?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the production on it is just like mind-blowing, it's insane.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh look, before we get to the fan questions, stepping away from the music with the album, the campaign has been incredible.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you've had animated music videos, you've had the action figures, the VHS tapes, and everything.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: How I suppose like when you were ideating how you wanted this record to come to life, what was the what was kind of like you sitting down going, we're going full 90s, we're just going back to it.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, dog.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: Man, it was it's just been such a blast.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: I think, you know, we signed with Sumerian and they just gave us so much support.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I basically I'm such a massive nerd that I was just like, I want every dream of mine to come true on this campaign.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, dude.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, you know, the stupid robot head thing, you know, let's get that made.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: Let's have a four-music video long story that you know shows this, you know, the story of a robot who was brought to life, is observing nature, the human condition, and then the we've just filmed a music video now where he sort of spoiler alert, like goes to earth, right?
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like he experiences human and nature, and it's like, oh, how cool is that?
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: And also, I want a plushie an action figure, an anime music.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I think that was the thing, is like, especially now, four albums in, ten years in, it's my job, you know, blah blah blah.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like, there's so many things that I'm beholden to in in this sort of space, but it's like, why on earth wouldn't we just have as much fun as we could?
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: So why the fuck not?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so that was sort of the mantra with this campaign, really.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: No, definitely.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: I suppose it's time to get into the fan questions.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've had one in from Brandon who basically wants to know like, look, you guys are known to be working hard, but what is the hardest song for you guys to play live?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, oof, that's tough.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it could be one of the new ones you haven't quite debuted yet.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's really hard because it's like some man, it's tough.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: I think afterlife is really tough to be honest.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think it actually gets carried by the crowd.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: Because the crowd is so up for it that I almost get a free pass.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, so and then sometimes I'll watch videos back and I'll be like, whoa, dude, that's not a normal chorus to be singing.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I actually think I'm just gonna say afterlife because it's such a zinger.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's a that's a that's a good choice.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Stefano wants to know what your favorite load song is.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my favorite, and I think I I put it on my Instagram the other day when I shared this song, but like I think this song is like my favorite song like the last five years, but it's called It's the Ladder of the new album.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think that is timeless.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: I I it genuinely reminds me of the Beatles, and I just like when I first heard it, I got goosebumps.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: It was just like so for now it's that, but I also listened back to their EP the other day because I met those guys when they were touring that EP and like Banshee in Death, songs like that, The Cold Sun is so good as well.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm gonna have to stop talking.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, we'll do another loath podcast.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh obviously, you're here in Australia right now, uh, you're heading to Japan after this, and then off to the States.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, will we see any of the unreleased tracks, you know, get a get a little run in the set list tonight in the Japan tour?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: What's what's it look like?
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's been tough because also our album got pushed back as well.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: So that was a pain in the ass.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: So we were actually supposed to play a few songs in Japan when the album was out.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: But to be honest, I know it sucks, but it makes narrative sense to play the set list we're playing tonight because we've never headlined Australia.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: So we were like, if we put in pre uh pre release tracks instead of like classics for people who've never got to see us headline a show, sort of like self indulgent.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Really, do you get what I mean?
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: So the answer is no, unfortunately.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, that's but that's a good thing.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: But I am dying to play these new songs, like so.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: But when we come back next, it'll be it's always a weird one, like headlining then going, Hey, here are a bunch of songs you guys don't know.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Just like I know, and it's 50-50.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the crowd's like, fuck yeah, then some crowd's like, hang on a minute.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and like, especially to be honest, because we are playing three new songs anyway.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: So if we tried to play too many more, like I I just I really just want any version of a Holden Absence fan to just enjoy our band, really.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like, do you get what I mean?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like if you come into a show tonight and you you were there for the first album or the second album or the third or the fourth or all of them, like I hope that it's as enjoyable.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like, but I just think you know, I think you know, if we played seven new songs, two last album songs, whatever, it's just like someone's gonna miss out.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I don't think we're sort of like in that part of our career where we should be turning our backs on any version of a Holden Absolutes fan, really.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's great.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: So just trying to balance all the plates.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's a big tip.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome them all in.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, you mentioned that before, before you outro it, Maxwell.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: The music gods love testing you guys, don't they?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's like when we were young festival, you know, you've had the AI stuff try and debunk you guys, and now the album delay, like I think you guys are owed a number one after this.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, we're definitely not gonna get but uh you're right though.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: We we have a really good bad luck streak going.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I did know that makes for a great story.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was gonna say it makes for a great story, but it must be nice seeing all the fans like just be like, take your time, guys.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: For sure, yeah, for sure, man.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: Because yeah, it's it's it's a tough job, you know, because like I mean, woe is me, right?
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's an awesome job, but it's like there's just so much to worry about, so much to think about.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: Even to be honest, touring is so physically so intensive, yeah, and like I still, you know, like I said, I've been here three days, like the flight was just such a ripper, and I just have such so like every time I come to Australia is purely for the love of the game, you know.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like we do hear that a lot, yeah.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: But it's like, oh my god, like you know, oh, you know, like I I would not I promise you, I there are no other things in my life that I would exp I would experience a flight to or from Australia for, other than this, you know.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I I think every band that flies to Australia they're like, fuck, it's a long way away.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Unless you're doing like a Southeast Asian date ahead of this and you're just like an eight hour, six hour flight.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_02: Even then, I mean, like we're doing Japan on the way back, and it's like we've got a transfer in Hong Kong.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, dude, listen to this.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_02: We've got a transfer, we've got to leave Perth, transfer in Hong Kong to go.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a that's a good, that's a good ten and a half hours from Perth to Hong Kong.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Fuck that.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then leave j leave Tokyo to go through Hong Kong back to Heathrow.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like, so we do we've done three stops in Hong Kong on this trip.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, why the frequent flyer miles though?
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Think of think of the rewards.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, so I can get more flights.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing, right?
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: I will say Perth will put it on for you guys though.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: They don't get a lot of shows.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're great, man.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and same with Adelaide as well.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, I think, especially like growing up in the UK scene, where like we're from Wales, obviously, and Cardiff is like a sea market.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I know what it's like to be the city the guests missed.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: So like I think for us has always been like making sure that we don't we sort of break that tradition, you know what I mean?
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, I'm I'm as excited for every show on this tour as well.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, listening to Modern Life is Lonely, the upcoming album from Holding Absence, dropping on September 18th.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you're in Australia, too bad, so sad, you've just missed the tour.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but they're in Japan.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, for US listeners, they are touring uh on a co headline tour with arm's length all throughout the country in September and October.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Lucas, thanks so much for coming and have a chat to us today.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: Appreciate you.