Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Are Tribute Bands The Way Of The Future? An Insiders View With ANDRE JOYZI From CHOP SUEY

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Are Tribute Bands The Way Of The Future? An Insiders View With ANDRE JOYZI From CHOP SUEY · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If there's one topic short of divide opinion in the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: world of music, it's tribute bands and the rapid growth
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: of such bands around the globe. Those who support tribute
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: bands argue points such as providing accessible, affordable entertainment, keeping
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: classical music alive, and preserving musical history, while those of
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: post argue tribute bands impact Darti's authenticity by oversaturating venues
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: and reducing opportunities for original bands who play their own music.
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  Speaker 1: That debate has recently spread to social media platforms like Facebook,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: whose new meta algorithm has sensored tribute bands and their
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  Speaker 1: videos to the extent of closing down pages dedicated to tribute.
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  Speaker 2: Acts were too successful.
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  Speaker 1: International tribute bands in Chop Suey and slip Knock heading
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  Speaker 1: to Australia It's made for run of shows. Heavy took
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to sit down with a man behind the
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  Speaker 1: two tributes under a Joisey to get his perspective on
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  Speaker 1: the globing tribute band phenomena Andre thanks for joining us.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: Absolute pleasure. Man's always a pleasure talking to you.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: It is my friend would be actually got a bit
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: of a bit of a serious concept these days made
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: so yes to be clear, you're not just a musician
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: who's set on tribute bands facing a quick bark like
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: You've actually had a lengthy career as a drummer for
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Breede seven seven and now Sinsane and where you've stepped
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: in following the tragic bloss with Jorderson's. You're also Joey's
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: drum check for a number of years, as well as
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: having toward the world as stage manager for Dragon Force
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: for every ten years. So in a sense you could
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: be seen as a neutral bystander in the young Guan debate.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: But you're anything but, mate, So let's start by asking first, mate, like,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: what makes you interested in playing a tribute ben to
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: sit you down.
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  Speaker 3: This path, Well, I'll be honest basically, if you you know,
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: if you don't, don't think with your ego, there's nothing
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: wrong with playing in a covers band, you know. It's
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: it's when I was twenty three, I decided I was
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: going to be a professional metal drummer. There's nothing specific
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: about like, oh, it's going to have to be death metal,
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  Speaker 3: it's gonna have to be this, it's going to have
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: to be that, because there's nothing I love more than
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: playing metal live. And the feeling you get off that.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: So it started many many years ago. I was about
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: twenty three, so twenty years ago I made the decision like, okay,
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: I'm going to do both, because nothing says that you
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: can't do both. So I've always done a bit of both.
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  Speaker 3: It used to be covers bands. Now the trend is
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  Speaker 3: more towards specific tribute bands, So I guess twen years
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  Speaker 3: ago I didn't know it was going to be working
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: with tribute bands. But I always knew that I was
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  Speaker 3: going to be doing something with covers as well as originals,
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: just because it's a different thing. You know.
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  Speaker 4: I very much enjoyed the music business, the.
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  Speaker 3: Part about planning and creating, coming up with ideas, not
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: necessarily creating songs, but coming up with ideas, planning booking shows.
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: I've always loved booking shows.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: I booked my own tours for many years. So tribute
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  Speaker 3: bands it's just, you know, you don't have to convince
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  Speaker 3: anyone to like your songs, so you just have to
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: and that makes it a bit easier. So yeah, I
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  Speaker 3: always found that very appealing to play cover songs. When
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: you do it, well, you know, it's very cool. It's
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: a very cool experience that you know, again there's nothing
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  Speaker 3: wrong with it.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: As you say, there is nothing wrong with it, but
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  Speaker 1: there's always been a lot of negative feedback, a lot
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  Speaker 1: of negative attitudes towards tribute bands made like can you
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  Speaker 1: understand why?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I one hundred percent understand why the standard is
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  Speaker 3: very low? It really is. You know, anyone can start
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  Speaker 3: a tribute band, so you know, you can go to
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  Speaker 3: the pub with your mates right now and you can
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  Speaker 3: start attribute to Pink Floyd and you're not going to
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: be the same as the Australian Pink Floyd, are you.
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  Speaker 3: So there are levels to this game, but anyone can
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  Speaker 3: start a tribute band, so which makes the standard extremely low.
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  Speaker 3: But having said that, there are some incredible tribute bands
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  Speaker 3: that I can give you an example. In the UK,
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  Speaker 3: for instance, there's I would say slipnot in top suit
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  Speaker 3: for those bands, but you also have a band called
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  Speaker 3: corn Again, you have Stiff Biscuits, Black Seraye, My Chemical Romance,
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  Speaker 3: and these bands are just as good as you can
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  Speaker 3: possibly be as being a tribute.
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  Speaker 4: Band to these bands.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, And I've seen other bands like I've seen a
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  Speaker 3: lot of Limp Biscuit tributes and none of them is
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  Speaker 3: half as good as a stiff biscuit because they're also
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: professional musicians and they do a stellar job at it.
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  Speaker 3: So I think part of the problem with tribute bands
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  Speaker 3: is that the standard is low so and it's not
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  Speaker 3: the band's fault, it's whoever books them. Because you don't
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  Speaker 3: look up the bands, you don't know if they're good
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  Speaker 3: or not. But you know that if you put a
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: metallic attribute on at your bar, there's going to be
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  Speaker 3: a lot of people there and nothing says that this metallic.
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  Speaker 4: Attribute is good or bad. It's just a metallica.
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  Speaker 3: The brand will sell immediately, sell certain amount of tickets,
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: and then a person goes through one of those shows,
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  Speaker 3: they have a not so good experience and then they
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  Speaker 3: just assume my tribute bands are ship But that's not
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  Speaker 3: how it works, you know, Like there's again, there are
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  Speaker 3: very clear levels to this game, and that was part
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  Speaker 3: part of the reason.
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  Speaker 4: Why my motivation to do this.
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  Speaker 3: It's you know, as you know, I come from fifteen
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  Speaker 3: years of working at a very high level when it
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  Speaker 3: comes to original bands, done all the all the main
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  Speaker 3: stages at all the big festivals with the Originals brand,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, Sam Topman from Dragon Force is also
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  Speaker 3: in the tribute bands. So our goal was always it
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  Speaker 3: wasn't just going to be another tribute brand. It's like, okay,
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  Speaker 3: let's try to bring our standard to this world and
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  Speaker 3: see what happens, you know, and and it's it's definitely
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  Speaker 3: working when you operate at a highest standard and the
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: musicianship is also very high level and just a mo
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  Speaker 3: in general, so that makes a big difference. Well, to
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  Speaker 3: be honest, that's gone in Europe. That's gone the last
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: five years.
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  Speaker 4: That's just it's not a thing anymore.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: I was quite surprised when I saw some negative comments
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  Speaker 3: when you went asked the Australia tour because it just
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  Speaker 3: took me back five years. That's over in Europe and
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  Speaker 3: in the UK it's just wild widely accepted as a
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  Speaker 3: fun thing to do. You know, that's all it is.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you don't have to worship a covers band.
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  Speaker 3: You just go. It's a fun night out. And you know,
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  Speaker 3: I'll tell you one thing. With the Slipnote tribute, we
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: get loads of kids between ten and twenty years old.
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  Speaker 4: They just Slipnot has really crossed that.
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  Speaker 3: Onto the new generation and they've never had a chance
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  Speaker 3: to see the real band and we go to when
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: we go to Eastern Europe or something like that, the
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  Speaker 3: places where they just simply don't have an opportunity to
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  Speaker 3: see system of a North Slipno, and they really appreciate
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  Speaker 3: you coming. And it's a it's a it's a privileged
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  Speaker 3: situation as well to be the guys who get to
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: go there and provide their experience to people. And yeah,
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: it's amazing. But yeah, in Australia, I was. I was
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: quite surprised that there was some negative comments still, but
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: mark my words, we'll talk in two years and all
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: these euro exactly exactly.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: You're running through the names of future viute bands before mine.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: And is there like, what's the protocol when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to naming a tribute band?
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  Speaker 2: Like is the idea? Is there copyright issues? Is the
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  Speaker 2: legalities there are?
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  Speaker 4: There are there can be?
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  Speaker 3: I had I had one triviuta band. I'm not going
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  Speaker 3: to tell you which one, but you know a lot
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  Speaker 3: of bands do them. Okay, if you want to start
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  Speaker 3: a Metallica trivie, you're going to call it Metallica UK
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  Speaker 3: or something like that. Yet and I had one tribute
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  Speaker 3: band to a band that I called the original name
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  Speaker 3: band plus UK and UH that was contacted by by
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  Speaker 3: their loyal lawyers, and the issue was that the name
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  Speaker 3: was too similar UH and and the fact that it
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: has had UK it made it sound like we were
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  Speaker 3: affiliated to do the original band, which they didn't want.
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  Speaker 3: And also the logo was too similar. So all they
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: asked was either changed the name and the logo or
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: or you know, are we going to go legal with this?
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  Speaker 3: And I did so. I don't think anyone has any
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  Speaker 3: problems anymore with people covering other people's songs because you
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: can't stop it.
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  Speaker 4: It's all over the internet. You cannot stop.
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  Speaker 3: You can't shut down TikTok, YouTube and all of that
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  Speaker 3: because there's people getting millions of you.
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  Speaker 4: We're just playing covers.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, So a covers band is actually a very small
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  Speaker 3: problem when it comes to copyright because if you think
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  Speaker 3: of the tribute plan of the of the YouTube erse
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  Speaker 3: and the people on social media that are getting massive
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  Speaker 3: on account of covers. So the music part has never
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: been an issue. But we did get the branding and
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  Speaker 3: I just changed it and that was fine.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Spoke with the ever increasing costs involved with international during
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  Speaker 1: these days, made like it's fair to say that tribute
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  Speaker 1: bands could be the way of the future moving forward,
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  Speaker 1: despite what people think in their renovation side.
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  Speaker 3: Do you agree with that? Absolutely, there's a gray area.
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  Speaker 3: I have strong thoughts on that, But essentially, I don't
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  Speaker 3: know if the tribute bands are the future, but I
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: know that they're definitely a part of the future. And
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  Speaker 3: there's nothing anyone can do about that, because people still
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  Speaker 3: want to see Slipnot, System of Down, Metallica and all
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  Speaker 3: the big bands, and these bands are becoming harder and
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: harder to see live more and more expensive. Okay, sometimes
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  Speaker 3: they're playing the gig and I'll see, like a couple
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  Speaker 3: about my age and there's three kids, and and if
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: you look at it, you think, okay, so if this
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  Speaker 3: family wanted to go see Slipknot or System of the
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: System of a Down, the tickets are four hundred euros
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  Speaker 3: in Europe, Okay, four hundred So if you want to
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: go see that's two months worth of your mortgage just
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: to take your family to see one of these gigs,
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  Speaker 3: and a tribute band. You get to have the experience.
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  Speaker 3: You know, it's obviously not exactly the same thing, but
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  Speaker 3: you still get to have the experience.
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  Speaker 4: For a fraction of the price, and more.
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  Speaker 3: Likely than not, it might be just a half hour
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  Speaker 3: drive from your house, and your kids won't care if
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: it's a cover band or not. You know, if it's
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: a good thing, it's an experience, and life is too
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  Speaker 3: short to, you know, for that sort of shit.
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  Speaker 4: Just have fun.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Now you touch on us a little bit before made
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  Speaker 1: but in my eyes, is basically three different types of
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: tribute bands. You got the tribute bands that play another
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: band's music, and then you get the ones that dress
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: up like the original band and in some instances actually
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: start to believe that they have a person that they're
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: impersonating on stage, Like do you think that's.
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  Speaker 3: That's a problem.
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  Speaker 4: That is a problem, and it's also a fact.
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  Speaker 3: Which is hilarious, you know for someone who's done anything
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: for real, such quite funny. I've dealt with them. Now
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  Speaker 3: I'm just now, I just work with my own brand
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  Speaker 3: and that's it. I don't, you know when it comes
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: to tours and clubs, so I don't want to work
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: with anyone else. But it's it's funny. Sometimes some of
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: these guys they think they're in the real band and
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: they make it, you know, they just shoot themselves in
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: the food all the time and I have no patience
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: for that. But but yet about the main topic you asked,
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: there some tributes. I think most tributes nowadays are going
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: for the full full blown try to recreate the experience,
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: the original experience, okay, like dress up the same, try
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: to even have some of the same mannerisms and stuff.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: And that can be tricky.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: That's there. That can also be tricky because for instance,
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: Corn again the tribute to Corn from the UK, they're
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: they're incredible and Steve when you're watching them play live,
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: it's like Steve is like young Jonathan Davis. It's you know,
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: you don't honestly, it's like what the fuck man? Someone
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: just pretty much the ten and the Stiff Biscuits and ship.
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: There's a there's a Lincoln Park.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: Tribute from Portugal which will become massive, and they went
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: to Australia.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: They pack all the venues they go to because you know.
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  Speaker 3: Although Lincoln Park is the easiest band on the planet
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: to make a covers band of it is, but you
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: need one guy that there has to be amazing, and
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: that's the Chester and that guy is basically a copy
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: of Chester. Sounds the same like incredible and they're selling
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  Speaker 3: out the arenas in Portugal, you know, fifteen thousand people, and
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: said it's crazy how how big it got.
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  Speaker 4: But you can't blame any for that.
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  Speaker 3: If people can't have the real one, this is what
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: it is, you know, this is where you go. So yeah,
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: but I think generally speaking, most tributes are, especially nowadays,
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: most of them are aiming to bring in something as
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: close to the to the real band as possible. I mean,
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: you know, not everyone can get get up done at
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: at a high standard, but that's what most tribute bands
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: are aiming for. I would say, Chopsy, it might be
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: a slight exception there for different reasons, but we'll go
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: there in a second.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Right along those lines, so I guess, man, Like I
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: remember doing an interview with Matt Hafei from Trivia years ago.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: I remember how everyone was saying that he was trying
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: to sound like James Hepfield, and then I asked about
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: that in the interview and he said to me, Mate,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: I can't help but sound like who was sound like
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: you want me to do?
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: You want me to fake it and sound like something
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: to me? And it's like, yeah, well he's got a point.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: There, Yeah, I think a lot of people have a
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: lot of time to criticize other people and that they
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: should just get get alive. But you know, people, I
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: remember when Event seventhold, especially, which is not event that
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: I'm particularly into, but I'm starting a tribute to because
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, the songs I've heard are great,
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: and I found a singer who sounds just like the
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: real guy.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: So I'm going to do that from September on as well.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: But yeah, when when when Event sevenfold came up with
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: the album that had Nightmare and most of the songs
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: basically sounded like exactly like Metallica songs, you know the
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: one I'm talking about, Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, so and
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: that whole album that sounded pretty much like a Metallica recap.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: It's still sold millions. You know, it's you know, you
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: do what you do, and if it's a winning formula,
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: why not. You know, it's this whole having to be
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: extremely original, having to be this, having to be that,
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: those unspoken rules there there from the past, you know,
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: that's all behind us. The Internet has changed everything. Social
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: media has changed everything, and if you don't keep up
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: with times, you're going to be left behind.
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: And that's just how it goes.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: And yeah, you obviously mixed in the similar circles to
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: some of these bands that that you are paying tribute
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: to in the act. So have you ever actually spoken
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: with anyone from the original band and asked them what.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: Their thoughts are when you're doing Yeah, more or less,
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: I guess.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: I know Rob Flynn.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: No, we're not close friends, but I know him, and
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: we met and and actually the first time I met
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: him was many years ago and I had just started
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: a tribute to Machine Head and he walked into dressing
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: and was the Dragon Force. I was there in America
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: and he walked in and Fred said, oh, Rob, this
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: is Joys. He he's an attribute to Machine Head, And yeah,
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: we had a brief chat about that, No, Biggie. And
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: then I happen to be very good friends with their
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: drummer for the from machine for for many many years.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: We've toured together a lot, We've done a lot of
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: things together, and I don't know, there might have been
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: a joke here and there, but there's no problems at all.
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: It's just different things. So you know, I don't think
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: any I also met the guys from System Over down
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: in October and at the and they're not fest in
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: Saint Paulo. I was there with Dragon Force last year
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: and we met the guys meet and Sam so, Sam
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: met Travel and I met John Dolmayan and uh and
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: it was funny. We went and took photos and then
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: you said, I'm you in the covers band. They thought
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: it was funny. That's cool, right.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: The problem problem tribute bands themselves getting more popular, is it?
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Tribute band festivals are also starting to get popular, especially
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: in the obc's market.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: It's giant.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: It's amazing how quickly quickly the ground with Did you
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: think they've got a place in international touring?
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: Actual festivals one one hunder And I wouldn't say an
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: international touring. It's a separate thing. It's a separate circuit.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: But these festivals are becoming massive, and I'm talking about massive,
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: like the real ones. Okay, like just last year one
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: festival called Doves of Rock in the UK.
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it was their first edition.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: So you know when they booked us early, there was
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: no no track record, so I had no idea who
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: I was talking to or what I'm was I was
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: getting myself into. And they were in interested in quite
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: a few of my bands. So I just said, yeah,
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: book all of them and let's make it happen.
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: And as soon as I got there, I was like,
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: holy fuck, this is basically just as good as Bloodstock.
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: It's big, it's huge, infrastructure, top level, thousands and thousands
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: of people.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: It's it's just it's a cheaper option, and it's a
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: fun night out, and it's it's it's it's right, man,
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: And I'm really happy that some proper professional promoters are
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: tapping into this market and providing a service for again,
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: for families. You see a lot of families in these
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: events because, as I said, you imagine trying to take
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: your family to the system of a down gig. It's
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: two months worth of mortgage. So it's a there's no point,
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: you know, it's a cheap alternative. It's a fun night out.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: And I think most people tend to forget one big,
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: big thing. The music industry is a part of a
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: bigger industry called the entertainment industry. Once you understand this,
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: people want to be entertained that it's you know, So
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: once you understand this, which I understood this fifteen years ago,
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: life becomes a lot easier. Okay, So you just look
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: at things much more in a much more straightforward way. Okay,
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: original music, I mean, I'm in sinsanam. I also have
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: the violent incident, as you know, so my in terms
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: of creative in output that I need to do, you know,
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: I need somewhere to put my creativity in terms of music.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: It's that's what I have the originals bands for, and
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: obviously within cinema play with Fred, he writes the songs,
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: but it's still you know, it's still my band, and
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: I get fulfilled from that side. And then this is
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: completely different. It's yeah, but these events are exploding, They're
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: getting bigger, and I'm really glad they do now.
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: It's all up to the standard.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: As I was saying this loves a Road Festival, I
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: was looking at their lineup. It was recently announced and
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: I'm it made me very happy. That's why I'm mentioning
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: them because they're the first test for one of the
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: few that genuinely only picks up the best tribute bands
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: to each band, because each band now has many of them. Okay,
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: and you know you have to have some musical understanding
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: to to be able to see which ones are the best.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: Were trends are not. And I don't know who's who's
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: looking into the which which bands to book from this festival,
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: But I looked at a lineup and you should look
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: at it too. All the bands, they're the main ones,
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: they're the best in the UK as a tribute to
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: that band. So you keep and trust me these guys,
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: dubs of rock, they're gonna they're gonna get even bigger
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: this year. This year we're playing main stage. We're bringing
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: a massive production, just like Dragon Force. Yea, we're bringing
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: you all the stuff, viral planes, all the ship man
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: and we're gonna be playing in front of you know,
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: ten thousand people or whatever. And it's you know why not?
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: People love it? We love it and if you're really good,
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: you'll stand out as well.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, true, true. From performing and writing point of view,
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: made I'll just say you've.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Been on the road for any tribute shows and then
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: you go back to saying them to write some new music.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: Do you find it?
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Because if you're playing this other music for so long
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: that some of that breaks through each way you're doing
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: your original stuff.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: No, I think it's completely separate things. I keep them separate,
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: and you know, like Insanum is Fred writes the music
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: and it's it's mostly Fred, so I guess I'm involved
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: on the in the management side of it as well.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: I guess with Insanum a little bit. So Fred and
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: I bounce a lot of ideas and make things happen
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: or try and with the tribute bands is different. So
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: the tribute blands once everything is booked and we're on
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: the road, it's all work, Okay, it's a it's a job.
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: You get it done. The fun part is being on
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: stage and enjoying yourself, being yourself and having fun. But
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: apart from that, it's a job outside. With Insanum, it's different.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: It's it's our baby, Fred's baby. I don't take the
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: interfere with with each other at all. Right now. It
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: doesn't help that I'm so busy with the tribute bands.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: We're playing one hundred shows a and doing massive tours,
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: like we're going to Europe right now, and after that
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: I come home for three days and then I'm going
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: to Australia to tour Australia, and then I'll come back
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: for a week and then I'm going on through within
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: sanem So I'm left with a very small amount of
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: time to practice, and so I have to manage my
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: time as best I can. But I would think, I
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: would say that's the only interference from one to the
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: other is that the tributes eat up so much of
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: my time.
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: That's just in terms of practice, but.
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: That I try to have some gaps, not many, but
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: I try to have some gaps where I can practice
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: and focus on insane and switch off from the tributes.
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: All right, let me do this. And it's fucking great, mate,
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: because you don't get bored.
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: You know, I do this full time, the live music thing,
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: and I've been doing it for full time for fifteen
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: years or so. And you know, I'm really glad with
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: the way things worked out because if I was just
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: in one band playing the same song all the time,
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: would be bored of it.
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I would, you know, It's just what it is.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: So this adds complete aversities in my life.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: You know, we do, okay, now six months of doing
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: these two tributes plus one, and then I'll go and
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: just saying and now, okay, let's do two different tributes,
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: and you know, and then we tind to set this.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: It gets interesting. It keeps it interesting, it keeps it fun.
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: And I'm loving life, man, I really am.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Did you say, brother, did you say yeah?
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Now, you're probably not gonna lot this person very much, mate,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: But do you think it's begin to get to the
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: stage where you'd have to choose one over the other,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: the Originals and Tribute.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: I don't think so, because there's only one chance of
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: that ever happening, and that is if one of the
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: actual original bands was to invite me to join them.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: And you know, if if you are in one of
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: those bands, ninety percent of the time you're on exclusivity.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: You live for that band, if you're that that level,
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: and uh, you know, they wouldn't wanted to do other things.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: And I understand that. So I think the only chance
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: of that happening would be if one of the real
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: bands came for me, and I think that's a very
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: microscopic chances are happening. So so no, I don't think
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: I'm ever going to happen two to tween one and
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: the other.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Good, good good.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: If I do, it's a good time. I hope I do,
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: but I don't think so.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: I suppose we've got to get back to the reason
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: we actually scheduled this chat, made and it's actually the
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: fact that Shop Series and Slipknot I headed back to
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Australia is May for run of shows with the Ball
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: and Insert and Engraved, starting in Woollongong on May the twentieth,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: before hitting Battles One Brawl, coross Albor, Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Bendigo and the Gold Coast and finishing up in Brisbane
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: on May the thirty first.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: But it's not long now. Packed and ready to.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: Go absolutely not. I'm going to Europe next week. I
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: couldn't be further from that. I'm not even packed and
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: ready to go on tour next week to Europe. But
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: I'm very excited about this Australia tour. I toured Australia
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: quite a few times with the Dragon Force and Cradle
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: Field and even with Sin Sina, but with the Tribute Bans,
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: we've only done a few shows that are once with
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: Chop Suey in twenty twenty and that was a lot
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: of fun. But the world has changed a lot since then.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: That was that was just just just before the pandemic.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: It was here and tributes, at least in Europe, they
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: exploded right after the pandemic, so things are very different,
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: and I'm very looking forward to see what it's going
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: to be like in Australia, but I would expect nothing
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: different than what we get in Europe, which is packed
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: then is hundreds and hundreds of people on every show.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: So have fun, that's it. Yeah, I think I'm really
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: excited about it.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and then you mentioned you were here in twenty
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: twenty Mane.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: So for anyone who saw you back then, what's changed
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: with Chop Sury in those six Usumania?
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: Well, quite a lot. We've grown a lot, uh in
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: the last three years, I guess. Also we have a
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: new singer and you know his amazing Martin was amazing
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: as well, but as she is also incredible. Uh. And
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: I think the band is better than ever now, not
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: because end of anyone.
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: Specifically, but just because we do it so much.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: We're always on floor and you know, you can only
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: get better if you're playing all the time. So I
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: think that the band now is that it's peak and
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: I'm really proud of that. So I'll say in Chop Sue,
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: that's the main difference, And of course it's you know,
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: it's me Sam from Dragon Force, Tom from Antino early
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: and the Ashes and Tigersel also a very popular band
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: in the UK. So I think with Chop Sue, what
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: we do is just be ourselves and that's the only
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: tribute that that that, at least of the ones that
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: I run, it's the only one that operates that way.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: I'm not We're not trying to sound like System over
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: Down for I'm not trying to look like them, also
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: because I think they'll be a bit cringe you know.
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: You if you look back at the new Metal era
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: when Corn came out, one hundred bands came out trying
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: to sound like Corn. The originals, okay, slipnot all the
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: bands have. People have other bands that rip them up.
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: No.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: One never tried to RePOP System over Down. Ever, there
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: isn't a band. There isn't a band that sounds like them.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: And that's for very because it's such a specific thing,
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: and I think if you try to do that very
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: specific things, it will be nothing less than cringe worthy
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: because you're not then you know they are. It's you know.
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: So my attitude from the start with Top two was
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: I want to get It was a little bit about
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: having an all star tribute. It was more I want
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: the best guys that I know as themselves and play
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: System of Down songs as ourselves, and I think I
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: have a much more metal look road than System of
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: a Downs drummer, and I've never heard anyone complain. I
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: think it really suits the song. And it's almost like
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: imagine when I was nineteen twenty years old listening to
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: the System of Now and thinking, oh man, he should
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: have done some double kicks here, I should have done
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: some crazy shit. And now I can do it.
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: I just do whatever I want. It's fucking great.
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: It's, you know, almost better than playing in a real band, yeah,
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: because there's no one saying no, don't do this, don't
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: do that. You know. It's great. Yeah, but but but yeah,
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: we talk to the main difference is that we're definitely
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: a much more solid band and you know, more exposure
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: as well.
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: It's it's going great.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: I really hope to see packed houses in Australia the
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: field because it's definitely a very fun night out if
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: nothing else.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and you're going to be celebrating twenty five
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: years of System for Down's album Propsidity as well as Slips. Ioway,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: so does that mean he going to be playing stuff
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: mainly from those two albums.
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because it's a twenty fifth anniversary, so we're going
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: to do a special theme for this year, which is
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: we're going to play the full Solsicity album, So we're
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: going to play it in full and with Slipknot. We're
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: not gonna play it all of IOWA, but we're going
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: to play more songs from from from that album out
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: of celebration.
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: So yeah, different set for us.
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: It's good because again, we play so many shows that
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: you get dadd from playing the same song. So now
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: I'm just finding excuses to keep this exciting. And every
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: year things the Settlers do something different.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Nice and you mentioned before then you're also bringing over
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: the world's greatest new middle parody band, A Ballid Incident,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: So tell us a bit about it.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: I think they're the best band in the world. It's
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: not even the best paradig.
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: Agree, I would agree.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: There are levels to this game. You know, there's metallic
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: arasmith and then there's a violent incidents. You know, it's
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: just it's just different. Things are pretty cool. Uh. But
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: but yeah, I'm looking forward to see you like I think,
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: I mean heavy and and the fin a Incident. I've
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: had a very strong connection since the start, you've you've
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: been a huge supporter of it and I'm really looking
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: forward to see what what people think in Australia.
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: I will tell you this.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: In the UK, people are loving it and it's it's
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: it's it's been a slow process, but all it needed
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: was to be in front.
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: Of crowds and people love it.
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: You know. Merch sales are crazy now and it's just
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: going really well. People really get into it, understand what
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: we're doing. No one's offended by our fucking humor because
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: and that's that's great. And from a society it's just
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: you know, from a society perspective, it's like, oh, people
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: take themselves so seriously nowadays, it's just really good to
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: see everyone come together to have a little giggle. That
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: are cheapid jokes that we're making on stage. You know,
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: it's it's great. I can't wait to see what Australia
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: thinks about it, but I'm absolutely sure going to get
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: it straight away.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: On that subject, to mate, I reckon you probably released
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Triggered about three years too early because if you release that.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: Song, yeah, it would resonate so beautifully.
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: I think it's still resonated. It's a song that could
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: could work for most times. But when we wrote that,
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: it was at the beginning of everyone being upset about
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: everything online. You know. It was during the pandemic when
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: when everyone had so much time in their hands and
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: they were just getting outraged about everything. And I'll be honest,
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: I thought of it. I thought, this is it. We've
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: got to poke there and just make fun of all
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: these people just complaining about everything. So I called my partner,
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: who doesn't want to be known, and I said, and
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: I said, we have to write a song about all
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: this complaining man, And we did. It was a phone
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: called twenty minutes, right, blah blah blah. Wrote the lyrics
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: in twenty minutes over the phone. Boom, let's go.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: It wasn't right. Well, yes, it's summon up my life.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: Despite everything we've covered here, my like, there's still bound
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: to be people who are negative about the tribute band
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: thing and who are going to be having something to
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: say about Drop seriously not coming over side.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: What would you say to people like that?
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: I don't know. If you live in a Keystone Bathurst,
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: I don't know how often you get a chance to
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: go on a night out where you get to see
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: cover band from Slipknot and System over now. But I
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: would assume it's rare or never. So you have two choices.
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: You can stay at home hating people that are going
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: there to have fun, or you can just go there
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: and have fun because you have nothing to lose.
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: It's really as simple as that.
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: It's a fucking fun night out, mate, So you can
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: stay home and be really upset that other people are
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: playing covers, or you can join the hundreds of people
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: that are going to come see us have a fun
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: night out and the beer, because that's what it's all about.
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: Come out, have fun and enjoy yourself. Me