Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Making Up For Lost Time With JAMES SPENCE From ROLO TOMASSI
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Hi, I'm James playing a bank called roller to Massie.
- 0:03Speaker 1: It's nice to be here, nice to be chatting, nice to.
- 0:06Speaker 2: Have you and what have you guys been up to
- 0:08Speaker 2: in Australia.
- 0:10Speaker 1: So we arrived maybe midnight last night, so so far sleeping.
- 0:18Speaker 1: We yeah, tried to kind of see what was happening
- 0:21Speaker 1: last night when we got in. I think everyone was
- 0:23Speaker 1: sort of a little bit buzzed from the travel and
- 0:27Speaker 1: kind of didn't just want to go to bed straight away.
- 0:29Speaker 1: I think people have been napping throughout the day as
- 0:31Speaker 1: we were traveling in, so we tried to see if
- 0:33Speaker 1: there's anything going on. It kind of felt like we
- 0:35Speaker 1: were maybe a few hours too late, and I know
- 0:37Speaker 1: it's a public holiday today, so it wasn't.
- 0:41Speaker 3: Anything to do.
- 0:42Speaker 1: But this morning we've just got up acclimatized and for coffee,
- 0:46Speaker 1: I went for a run in a park just to
- 0:49Speaker 1: kind of field some semblance of activeness. I've been very
- 0:53Speaker 1: sort of passive and enjoying myself in the last week,
- 0:57Speaker 1: so I couldn't resist the opportunity to do something that
- 1:01Speaker 1: wasn't just drinking.
- 1:02Speaker 3: Beer or you know, eating really really rich food.
- 1:07Speaker 1: So yeah, but happy to be here and like looking
- 1:11Speaker 1: forward to kind of doing a few touristy bits. Tomorrow,
- 1:13Speaker 1: we're gonna take the ferry to Rottenest to see the
- 1:16Speaker 1: Walkers ahead of the tour starting on Wednesday.
- 1:20Speaker 2: Oh your love, have you been to Rottenest before?
- 1:24Speaker 3: You know? I haven't.
- 1:25Speaker 1: I think the last time we came to os in
- 1:27Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, I'm not even sure.
- 1:29Speaker 3: We did a Perth show, and.
- 1:31Speaker 1: Then before that we weren't here for long enough to
- 1:35Speaker 1: do anything kind of around just the gig. So it's
- 1:39Speaker 1: nice to have a couple of days in a city
- 1:40Speaker 1: that I'm not too familiar with. We have a really
- 1:43Speaker 1: good friend here as well, who we're going to go
- 1:45Speaker 1: out for dinner with tonight, and she's given us loads
- 1:47Speaker 1: of really cool tips.
- 1:48Speaker 2: So good.
- 1:50Speaker 4: Touring with Sleep makes waves for their tenth anniversary tour.
- 1:53Speaker 4: Have you guys had a long relationship with.
- 1:55Speaker 1: Them, so we were supposed it's all of them in
- 1:58Speaker 1: twenty twenty, and that didn't happen because of a global pandemic,
- 2:04Speaker 1: and I think since then there's been sort of a
- 2:08Speaker 1: willingness to try and make something happen again.
- 2:11Speaker 3: I met them earlier.
- 2:12Speaker 1: This year at a festival in Europe and got to
- 2:14Speaker 1: hang out and like really got on immediately and just
- 2:17Speaker 1: could kind of tell that, yeah, there would be like
- 2:20Speaker 1: nice people to spend time with and a good band
- 2:23Speaker 1: to play shows with. I think there's definitely something in
- 2:26Speaker 1: our sounds that kind of compliments one another and it
- 2:29Speaker 1: sort of fits together in a cohesive way without being
- 2:33Speaker 1: the same thing. So yeah, we're looking forward to the
- 2:36Speaker 1: shows and it's going to be nice playing with them.
- 2:38Speaker 2: Oh awesome.
- 2:39Speaker 4: Is being in a band with your sipling frustrating at times?
- 2:43Speaker 2: Or have you guys always gotten along?
- 2:45Speaker 1: I think to be honest, we've made it to nearly
- 2:48Speaker 1: twenty years, so like it works.
- 2:51Speaker 3: Yeah, but I mean yeah, I think.
- 2:53Speaker 1: Probably when we were younger it was it was maybe
- 2:55Speaker 1: a bit worse, but like, I mean, we're both sort
- 2:58Speaker 1: of in our mid thirties now, so it's all good.
- 3:00Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, it's quite nice. So Evil lives in
- 3:03Speaker 1: the US now, so I typically only really see her
- 3:06Speaker 1: when we're playing shows, so it's nice to have something
- 3:09Speaker 1: that kind of ties us together. I think if she'd
- 3:11Speaker 1: have just moved to the US and we didn't necessarily
- 3:14Speaker 1: have this, like, we wouldn't be seeing each other half
- 3:16Speaker 1: as much.
- 3:16Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, I'm grateful for that now at this
- 3:19Speaker 3: kind of point in our lives.
- 3:20Speaker 2: Yeah, oh beautiful.
- 3:23Speaker 4: You guys started as a very DIY band with control
- 3:26Speaker 4: over everything you guys released. Do you still retain some
- 3:30Speaker 4: of that DIY doing things yourself or is that kind
- 3:34Speaker 4: of out of you don't do that anymore?
- 3:37Speaker 1: I mean, I think we like to be to kind
- 3:40Speaker 1: of I wouldn't use the word DIA anymore. I think
- 3:43Speaker 1: that would be a huge disservice to bands that do
- 3:45Speaker 1: everything themselves. Like we work with a label, we're with
- 3:47Speaker 1: a booking agency, we have someone that does our press,
- 3:51Speaker 1: and that we have like a really good team around us.
- 3:54Speaker 1: But I think we like to retain kind of control
- 3:56Speaker 1: and everything creative. And we've been really cautious in working
- 3:59Speaker 1: with people that allow us to kind of have the
- 4:01Speaker 1: final say and everything, and that's sort of there, I guess,
- 4:04Speaker 1: to kind of help us achieve what we want to
- 4:06Speaker 1: do creatively. So the spirit of the kind of independence
- 4:11Speaker 1: still exists, I suppose.
- 4:13Speaker 3: Yeah, but yeah, I wouldn't.
- 4:16Speaker 1: You know, we're kind of like we're very heavily involved
- 4:20Speaker 1: in everything that we do. It's not like we just
- 4:22Speaker 1: sort of reached the point we kind of gave a
- 4:24Speaker 1: relinquished to kind of a lot of control or whatever.
- 4:27Speaker 1: I think it's so in our DNA at this point
- 4:30Speaker 1: that we'd never want to kind of give everything up.
- 4:33Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 4:34Speaker 2: No, No, that's really good.
- 4:35Speaker 4: I think it's really awesome if you can retain that
- 4:38Speaker 4: final say and you know, not just sit back and
- 4:41Speaker 4: go here, go let everyone else deal with it.
- 4:43Speaker 1: I like that.
- 4:44Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
- 4:45Speaker 4: Yeah, from your very first album to your latest one,
- 4:49Speaker 4: what stayed the same and what's been different between each one?
- 4:54Speaker 3: That's a good question, A big one. Sorry, the same,
- 4:58Speaker 3: I mean the I don't know. I mean that what's changed.
- 5:05Speaker 1: I think over time the sound has definitely become slightly
- 5:09Speaker 1: more focused. I think in the earlier material it was
- 5:11Speaker 1: definitely more chaotic, kind of scattered approach to the songwriting,
- 5:17Speaker 1: and we were still kind of finding our feet, like
- 5:18Speaker 1: as very young people in terms of what we wanted
- 5:21Speaker 1: the band to be or music we're into. And I
- 5:24Speaker 1: think naturally, over time, like the things that you like
- 5:28Speaker 1: and the art that you like changes as you get
- 5:30Speaker 1: older and sort of your tastes change. I mean, I
- 5:33Speaker 1: definitely don't just listen to the same music that I
- 5:35Speaker 1: did when I was sixteen and that's obviously gonna over
- 5:40Speaker 1: time kind of pour into to what you're doing and
- 5:42Speaker 1: what you want your output to be. I think the
- 5:46Speaker 1: other side of that coin is what stayed the same
- 5:48Speaker 1: is just a desire and a willingness to make interesting
- 5:54Speaker 1: music and what you know, the operative word being interesting.
- 5:58Speaker 1: That's what changes over time, what rest to you. So
- 6:02Speaker 1: I think, yeah, kind of staying true to that as
- 6:05Speaker 1: the ethos and attitude at least has remained the same.
- 6:08Speaker 4: Yeah, because I listened to your earlier stuff and then
- 6:12Speaker 4: your latest stuff and there's such a difference.
- 6:15Speaker 2: Do you feel that as well?
- 6:16Speaker 1: In the of course, yeah, And I think it would
- 6:20Speaker 1: be weird if there wasn't any difference over such a
- 6:22Speaker 1: like a long amount of time in six records. And
- 6:25Speaker 1: you know, I think as well, it's kind of important
- 6:27Speaker 1: to point out that the first we have a different
- 6:29Speaker 1: lineup to the band that played on the first record
- 6:32Speaker 1: now and I think, you know, bringing in new people
- 6:35Speaker 1: that have a big say in the writing is obviously
- 6:37Speaker 1: going to make it sound different, and that's good. I think,
- 6:41Speaker 1: you know, the lineup that we have now significantly more
- 6:45Speaker 1: in tune with each other and kind of want to
- 6:47Speaker 1: pull in the same direction. Whereas before and this was
- 6:50Speaker 1: you know, we played to it as a strength.
- 6:51Speaker 3: At the time.
- 6:52Speaker 1: We had like everyone kind of wanted to do something
- 6:54Speaker 1: a bit differently and that led to like interesting results.
- 6:57Speaker 1: And I mean to say something's interesting is not always
- 6:59Speaker 1: to say that it's good. But you know, I still
- 7:03Speaker 1: look back on the early stuff quite fondly and the
- 7:05Speaker 1: experiences that we had, and you know, it's nice to
- 7:08Speaker 1: sort of see where it started and where it's at now.
- 7:12Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I agree. How did you come to start
- 7:14Speaker 4: playing the synthes? Size are all the keys?
- 7:18Speaker 1: So I have played piano from like quite a young age.
- 7:21Speaker 1: And I guess at the time when we started our band,
- 7:26Speaker 1: it felt like every band had two guitarists, a bassic player, drummer,
- 7:31Speaker 1: and a vocalist. And I think we wanted to be different,
- 7:35Speaker 1: I suppose, and just yeah, I thought we were being edgy.
- 7:40Speaker 1: I don't know, Well, I felt like a cool thing
- 7:44Speaker 1: to do at the time, and then kind of back
- 7:46Speaker 1: myself into a bit of a corner with it. I
- 7:47Speaker 1: played guitar when the band first started, but.
- 7:51Speaker 3: But yeah, we were listening.
- 7:52Speaker 1: I was listening to a ton of music at the
- 7:54Speaker 1: time that had like keyboards or slightly different influence, and
- 7:56Speaker 1: I knew that something that I could do and and
- 8:00Speaker 1: that's kind of it really, like, yeah, nothing more to
- 8:02Speaker 1: it than that.
- 8:03Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, well you're right, like it separates separated you
- 8:07Speaker 4: guys from the other bands, Like you said.
- 8:08Speaker 3: That that was it.
- 8:11Speaker 1: You know, we were the band that had a keyboard
- 8:12Speaker 1: and vocalist, which you know when we started wasn't wasn't
- 8:16Speaker 1: quite as common, So we were kind of really, yeah,
- 8:19Speaker 1: doing our thing to to stand out, I suppose, and.
- 8:21Speaker 4: She's an amazing female vocalist as well at that. So
- 8:26Speaker 4: is it easier nowadays to capture your audience and fans
- 8:28Speaker 4: compared to when you guys first started in terms of
- 8:32Speaker 4: social media or were you guys already doing the social
- 8:36Speaker 4: media thing way back when you started?
- 8:38Speaker 1: So I think we were lucky in that we were
- 8:40Speaker 1: one of we were part of a generation of bands
- 8:42Speaker 1: that were first kind.
- 8:44Speaker 3: Of had social media as at all.
- 8:46Speaker 1: Like you know, we started out in MySpace, and we're
- 8:48Speaker 1: able to kind of really use that to engage with
- 8:52Speaker 1: an audience into book tours and to find the bands
- 8:55Speaker 1: and like like minded people. Yeah, so I guess from
- 8:59Speaker 1: from the band's beginnings it's you know, that's always been
- 9:03Speaker 1: there and always been something we've been able to kind
- 9:05Speaker 1: of harness to use. And I mean, I suppose there's
- 9:09Speaker 1: probably an argument that it was easier to reach people
- 9:11Speaker 1: then on it than it is now, given that everything's
- 9:14Speaker 1: been monetized within an inch of its life, and things
- 9:17Speaker 1: you posts aren't necessarily reaching the audience you want them
- 9:19Speaker 1: to and all of that. And it's kind of comforull
- 9:21Speaker 1: circle in a way that mailing lists seem to be
- 9:24Speaker 1: the only effective way to kind of communicating anything. But yeah,
- 9:28Speaker 1: I mean we Yeah, we've always been a band that's
- 9:31Speaker 1: existed online and been able to use that to reach
- 9:34Speaker 1: the audience that we've got for better or worse.
- 9:37Speaker 4: For sure, you guys are playing at the Sydney Opera
- 9:40Speaker 4: House in Sydney, which is a very fancy place.
- 9:44Speaker 2: Can fans still expect.
- 9:45Speaker 4: The heaviness they know from you guys at that show?
- 9:48Speaker 4: Or will you tone things down a beer? Oh?
- 9:51Speaker 3: No, of course.
- 9:51Speaker 1: I mean, Look, we're going to go out and put
- 9:53Speaker 1: on the show that we want to put on that
- 9:55Speaker 1: is like true to what we do. It's just in
- 9:57Speaker 1: a nice, famous building, Like I think it's It's one
- 10:00Speaker 1: of those things I think sometimes when I talk to
- 10:04Speaker 1: people at home, like friends that maybe don't necessarily get
- 10:09Speaker 1: what our band is or does, but like they still
- 10:11Speaker 1: want to be nice about it, like being able to say, like, oh,
- 10:14Speaker 1: we're going to play the Sydney Opera House, you know
- 10:16Speaker 1: huge well like global landmark that everyone knows, and yeah,
- 10:20Speaker 1: the idea that we can go and do that, like yeah,
- 10:23Speaker 1: it's funny, Like it kind of legitimizes it to family
- 10:25Speaker 1: members that don't understand.
- 10:28Speaker 3: Or I don't want to say I don't understand. That's
- 10:30Speaker 3: not fair, but.
- 10:31Speaker 1: Yeah, you can't relate to the music like you know,
- 10:34Speaker 1: it's Yeah, it's quite a cool thing to do.
- 10:36Speaker 3: And I mean for us as well.
- 10:37Speaker 1: You know, every time we've been Sydney in the past,
- 10:38Speaker 1: like we've been out to the Opera House and the
- 10:39Speaker 1: Harbor and had a look and like I've never been
- 10:42Speaker 1: in so I'm just very excited to have the opportunity
- 10:46Speaker 1: to do that, Like.
- 10:47Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, I think it'll be amazing for you guys.
- 10:51Speaker 4: The acoustics. I've been there a few times and seen
- 10:53Speaker 4: a few shows. The acoustics are just on another level.
- 10:56Speaker 4: And yeah, I think you guys will.
- 10:58Speaker 2: Really do so well. There is there any plans for
- 11:01Speaker 2: any future music from you guys.
- 11:03Speaker 1: Yeah, we recorded some new music earlier this year that's
- 11:06Speaker 1: going to come out next year.
- 11:07Speaker 3: We're still figuring that out.
- 11:09Speaker 1: And we just put out a live record on Friday
- 11:12Speaker 1: last week, which is, yeah, something we've not done before
- 11:15Speaker 1: as well, and we've got a few other creative things
- 11:18Speaker 1: kind of bubbling in the background. I guess everything will
- 11:20Speaker 1: become a bit clearer in the next few months us
- 11:24Speaker 1: and when as and when they're ready. But but yeah,
- 11:26Speaker 1: we we finished some new music and that's it's going
- 11:28Speaker 1: to come out next year.
- 11:29Speaker 2: Oh exciting.
- 11:30Speaker 4: I'm a huge fan of Enter Shakhari and you guys
- 11:33Speaker 4: have I've noticed listening to Into Shakhari and you guys
- 11:37Speaker 4: that there's some similarities there and you guys have played
- 11:40Speaker 4: with them. Are you guys friends or are you close
- 11:43Speaker 4: with any other bands that maybe you look up to
- 11:46Speaker 4: or anything like that.
- 11:48Speaker 1: I mean, I we we know those guys, and like
- 11:51Speaker 1: if I saw them at festival, I would definitely say hello,
- 11:54Speaker 1: and like we're kind of on hello terms. I wouldn't
- 11:56Speaker 1: I wouldn't sort of pretend it was anything more than that.
- 12:00Speaker 1: But like, I have really good memories of touring with
- 12:02Speaker 1: them like that. The band and the whole team were
- 12:04Speaker 1: like awesome with us, and they were really big shows,
- 12:09Speaker 1: and it's it's very very cool to see that band
- 12:11Speaker 1: kind of go from strength to strength like globally. And
- 12:14Speaker 1: you know, again, they're a band that's kind of really
- 12:17Speaker 1: done it their own way and independently. And I have
- 12:20Speaker 1: a lot of respect for that bands that we're friends with,
- 12:26Speaker 1: Like we're such a dull you know. The whole backstage
- 12:30Speaker 1: mythos is just you know, we like to just eat well,
- 12:34Speaker 1: drink good coffee and like hang out with each other.
- 12:36Speaker 1: It's yeah, yeah, yeah, but but yeah, I mean we
- 12:41Speaker 1: had a very good time in Tokyo.
- 12:43Speaker 3: We did like karaoke and.
- 12:46Speaker 1: Went to baseball, the studio, ghibli Museum like this. This
- 12:49Speaker 1: is kind of like a bit of an insight into that, Yeah,
- 12:52Speaker 1: the kind of things we like to.
- 12:53Speaker 3: Do when we're away.
- 12:54Speaker 1: It's nice to have time around playing to like to
- 12:58Speaker 1: be tourists. I think, you know, we tried to trip
- 13:00Speaker 1: is a bit of a holiday because this is the
- 13:02Speaker 1: only only tour that we've done this year actually, so
- 13:05Speaker 1: we wanted it to be like a big one and
- 13:07Speaker 1: a good one and and something that was was going
- 13:09Speaker 1: to be fun outside of getting to play shows.
- 13:12Speaker 4: So yeah, oh I think that's important because otherwise, if
- 13:14Speaker 4: you're just touring straight like can I can imagine.
- 13:17Speaker 2: It could just get monotonous.
- 13:19Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's it. And I think, you know, it's
- 13:23Speaker 1: the travel schedule. Now we're in Australia. As soon as
- 13:25Speaker 1: the tour starts, it is, it's pretty full on, like
- 13:28Speaker 1: a lot of early starts at airports and flights and
- 13:30Speaker 1: all of that, so we wanted to make sure we
- 13:33Speaker 1: got in some Yeah. I just got to see some
- 13:35Speaker 1: things before it started. Yeah, yeah, yeah, very very grateful
- 13:39Speaker 1: to have done that.
- 13:41Speaker 2: Yeah. If I was to jump on your Spotify, what
- 13:43Speaker 2: bands would I see?
- 13:46Speaker 3: My personal Spotify? Yes? Oh good, good question. Let me
- 13:51Speaker 3: just you know what.
- 13:52Speaker 1: I'm literally looking at it now because I can't even
- 13:54Speaker 1: remember what I've been listening to this week. I think
- 13:56Speaker 1: I've been out and just seeing things or that I've
- 14:00Speaker 1: not even really been listening to music.
- 14:01Speaker 3: So okay, So recently.
- 14:04Speaker 1: I've been listening to the new album from our friends
- 14:06Speaker 1: in Harriet. They just put out a record last week,
- 14:10Speaker 1: The Story so Far. My girlfriend really got me into
- 14:13Speaker 1: that band and they put out a great record this year.
- 14:16Speaker 1: Weezer I've listened to a lot in the recent past,
- 14:21Speaker 1: and then also let's go with.
- 14:27Speaker 3: Well else, I've got an it.
- 14:28Speaker 1: Angel Dust is something that I've listened to loads this
- 14:31Speaker 1: year outside of playing in our band, Like I do
- 14:35Speaker 1: a lot of freelance work running shows for promoters in
- 14:37Speaker 1: the UK and a gig that they did earlier in
- 14:41Speaker 1: the summer and they really blew me away.
- 14:43Speaker 3: Absolutely loved it.
- 14:44Speaker 1: And yeah, it's just really good fun music when the
- 14:47Speaker 1: weather's like like this. Yeah, just really good, solid, kind
- 14:51Speaker 1: of like punky hardcore.
- 14:53Speaker 2: Yeah, oh that's sick. Is there a song that you
- 14:56Speaker 2: love to play live of yours?
- 14:59Speaker 1: There's a you that since the new record newest record
- 15:03Speaker 1: came out that I've just loved every time. There's one
- 15:06Speaker 1: in particular called Tourists Forgetting. I think it's just got
- 15:11Speaker 1: loads of energy. I really like the parts that I
- 15:14Speaker 1: play in it, and it seems to get a great
- 15:16Speaker 1: reaction that every time we play it.
- 15:18Speaker 3: I look forward to it whenever it comes up in
- 15:19Speaker 3: step Oh nice.
- 15:21Speaker 2: Can you believe you've been in this for nineteen years?
- 15:25Speaker 1: Yeah, it's I can, and it doesn't make it any
- 15:30Speaker 1: less sort of of of a thing. I'm really happy
- 15:35Speaker 1: that we've kind of stuck it out for this long
- 15:37Speaker 1: and that we're still at this point getting these opportunities
- 15:40Speaker 1: and we're getting to come and play places like Australia.
- 15:43Speaker 3: This is this is.
- 15:44Speaker 1: The fifth time that we've been over, you know, and
- 15:48Speaker 1: that's with one failed attempt as well. So it's it's
- 15:52Speaker 1: awesome that there's still people that are into what we're doing,
- 15:56Speaker 1: that we're getting these chances, and yeah, we're we're super
- 16:00Speaker 1: grateful for it. We feel kind of really creative and
- 16:04Speaker 1: excited to keep working on new music and kind of
- 16:06Speaker 1: keep pushing it forwards.
- 16:07Speaker 3: And yeah, it's a good thing.
- 16:10Speaker 2: Yeah, awesome. Well, thank you so much, James. It's been
- 16:13Speaker 2: an absolute pleasure having you on here. Best of luck
- 16:17Speaker 2: with the tour and we can't wait to see the show.
- 16:20Speaker 3: Awesome, it's very nice to chat. Thanks for your time.