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Ten Years On With MATTHEW GRAVOLIN From HELLIONS · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: My name is not I play guitar for Alien's.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Happy to be here, Thanks Matte, thanks for joining us today,
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: My pleasure.
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: So we're here today to speak about the fact that
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: Hellion's embark on your ten years of Opera Oblivia tours,
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: starting in Melbourne on May the seventh, then hitting Adelaide, Freemantle,
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: Sydney and finishing on the Gold Coast on May the sixteenth.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: So a couple of weeks again, maybe you finished rehearsals
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: ready to go?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, so we haven't begun rehearsals yet.
• 0:27
  Speaker 4: Not very professional, Yeah, those.
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  Speaker 2: Are that's I think four or five consecutive days starting
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: next week.
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  Speaker 3: Nice, Nice, and the tour has celebrate the tenth anniversary
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  Speaker 3: of your career to finding album Opera Oblivia.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: So does that meaning can be playing the whole album
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  Speaker 4: front to back?
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  Speaker 1: We will be playing the whole album.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: The order in which we play it our leaders a surprise, ye.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: But yeah, you can expect to hear everything on there, Noice.
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: We haven't really started practice it, as you say, But
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: is that going to be easy?
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  Speaker 3: Like when you wrote that album, I can't imagine that
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  Speaker 3: you ever planned on playing the whole thing.
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  Speaker 4: You know that there'd be things in there that you
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  Speaker 4: didn't really plan on reproducing, wasn't there.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, we have done it once before.
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  Speaker 2: I think it was in twoenty sixteen at the Ostit
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  Speaker 2: Arts Factory in Sydney. From memory it was we did
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  Speaker 2: that record front to back. Obviously a very long time
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  Speaker 2: ago now, so I can't remember how it went, but
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  Speaker 2: from vague memory it felt good. And yeah, obviously been
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  Speaker 2: a very long time now, and there were some things
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  Speaker 2: that we hadn't anticipated playing live. So there are a
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  Speaker 2: couple of little challenges in there, but for the most part,
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  Speaker 2: what we have rehearsed at the start of the year
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  Speaker 2: and at the end of last year felt really good.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I hope I'm picking up you by properly here,
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  Speaker 3: otherwise it's gonna be a sort of question. But I
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  Speaker 3: think it's e they do these anniversary tools of albums well,
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  Speaker 3: when they play in fronts of back, it makes it
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  Speaker 3: a little bit predictable in my eyes, like you sort
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  Speaker 3: of you know what's coming next. So the fact that
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  Speaker 3: you sound like you're going to be playing it out
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  Speaker 3: of order is it's a lot better for the fans,
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  Speaker 3: I think, because it keeps a little bit more interesting.
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  Speaker 1: I think so too, Chris. Yeah, just to.
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  Speaker 2: Add a couple of surprises in there, just yeah, mixed
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  Speaker 2: things up a little bit. So you're not expecting the
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  Speaker 2: you're not given exactly what you expect.
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  Speaker 1: As you say, I.
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  Speaker 4: Won't push any further on that.
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  Speaker 3: You also received an ARI nomination for that album, Mate, So,
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  Speaker 3: looking back, how did that change things for the.
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  Speaker 2: Band in every way imaginable? Because we weren't. We were
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  Speaker 2: just a punk band before that, you know. I guess
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  Speaker 2: for the two records prior to that one, and so
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  Speaker 2: the in the band that we've been in together prior
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  Speaker 2: to that as well's we never expected any sort of
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  Speaker 2: success like that, and we hadn't really changed in any
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  Speaker 2: way when we were making that album.
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  Speaker 1: So the success was.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: A wonderful surprise, and I guess from there sprang lots
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  Speaker 2: and lots of different opportunities that we wouldn't have had otherwise.
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  Speaker 4: Did you do you think you were ready for it
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  Speaker 4: at that stage?
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  Speaker 2: Looking back, in a way, it's kind of kind of
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  Speaker 2: a fifty to fifty thing.
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  Speaker 1: It's like we were. We were.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Touring NonStop and always writing and always rehearsing, So in
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: that regard, we were ready for it, But there were
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  Speaker 2: a couple of things like we hadn't we didn't really
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  Speaker 2: know how to sing at that point, and that's you know,
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  Speaker 2: we kind of just we had developed some melodies, but
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  Speaker 2: we didn't really know. We had no prior training. I
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  Speaker 2: suppose it was kind of so in that in that respect,
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  Speaker 2: we were a little unprepared, like thrust into doing big
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  Speaker 2: things like like a version and things like that. It
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  Speaker 2: was kind of weird to very quickly kind of learn
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  Speaker 2: how to scrub up our singing from you know, just
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  Speaker 2: like punk not not worrying too much about pitch to
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  Speaker 2: having to be very certain about it, you know.
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  Speaker 4: And how did you handle it?
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  Speaker 3: Looking back, like it's a big step to take, like
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  Speaker 3: going from there to there's quickflight.
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  Speaker 4: Do you think it's handled it well?
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  Speaker 2: I think, given yeah, given the pressures of it, I
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  Speaker 2: think that we did handle it very well.
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  Speaker 4: Or you still.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I remember, You know, there was that
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  Speaker 1: we handled it well.
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  Speaker 2: But also the other side of that is that eventually
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  Speaker 2: it did catch up to us, Like there was the
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  Speaker 2: I left the band in twenty nineteen.
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  Speaker 1: I think it was because I guess just burnout.
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  Speaker 2: We were all it was just very constant things, things
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  Speaker 2: got more serious and busier after we put out their records.
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  Speaker 2: It was as much as we did handle it, it certainly
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  Speaker 2: did take us toll on the end, but we know
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  Speaker 2: better how to handle that sort of thing now, of course.
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  Speaker 4: That's I guess that's the thing.
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  Speaker 3: Like people look on them from the outside looking in,
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  Speaker 3: like they sort of see something like you leave in
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  Speaker 3: the band, they.
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  Speaker 4: Just go, wow, what's happened?
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  Speaker 3: But when you're inside it like it is, it's a
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  Speaker 3: matter of like to say, everything just builds up and
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  Speaker 3: then one day you wake up and what the hell
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  Speaker 3: have I just done for the last five years?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly right.
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  Speaker 2: You get very curious about the other side of the
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  Speaker 2: when you're so locked into that, and that's kind of
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  Speaker 2: your There is an element of like arrested development or
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  Speaker 2: something because you're you don't do the growing up that
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  Speaker 2: the people around you have done.
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  Speaker 1: So do you know, you're always on this.
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  Speaker 2: Circus trail or something, you know, And it's it is
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  Speaker 2: easy to take it for granted too, you know, but
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  Speaker 2: you do do get very curious about what's on the
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  Speaker 2: other side of the fence, like what it's like to
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  Speaker 2: live normally and suffice it to say, we.
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  Speaker 1: Are we know now and yeah, we would rather go back.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: Is not what it's strown up to be.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you could say that.
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  Speaker 3: If you say Opera Oblivia was a massive success for
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  Speaker 3: you guys, and any change things up a bit for
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: the follow up. Rue in twenty eighteen made like and
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  Speaker 3: at the time was it tempting just to rehash the
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  Speaker 3: winning formula of Opera Blivia. Given that it was such
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  Speaker 3: a success, It was an important for you to actually
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  Speaker 3: branch out a.
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  Speaker 1: Bit more so, always important to branch out a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: But we did feel a little haunted by the success
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  Speaker 2: of Opera and because it was so unexpected, and we
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  Speaker 2: wanted to develop and all the things that made it
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  Speaker 2: good and take it.
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  Speaker 1: Up to that next level, I suppose.
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  Speaker 2: So it was we definitely wanted to build on that
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  Speaker 2: format and make something greater.
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  Speaker 1: That was the that was the objective. It was. It was.
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  Speaker 2: It was the hardest record we've had to make, Rue,
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  Speaker 2: but for sure because of I guess, just our own
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: expectation and what we what we thought was expected of
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: us by our fans and the radio and the label
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  Speaker 2: and all that sort of thing.
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  Speaker 1: You know, you can get very in your head about it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, speak of radio, man, do you remember the very
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  Speaker 3: first time you ever heard one of your songs on radio?
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  Speaker 4: And why we are you? And what song was it?
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  Speaker 1: Oh? Man, that's a great question. I can't remember the
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  Speaker 1: very first time.
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  Speaker 2: It might have been, Gosh, it might have been back
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  Speaker 2: in two thousand and fifteen or something like that with
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  Speaker 2: a we did a community radio bit on a for
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  Speaker 2: a Perth radio station. I think that might have been
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  Speaker 2: the first time, but it's which felt unreal, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and we're all kind of pinching ourselves at the time.
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  Speaker 2: But as far as like a more like a broader
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  Speaker 2: sort of radio thing, like a Triple J or something
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  Speaker 2: like that, I can't remember the very first time. We
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  Speaker 2: had a lot of support from Short Fast Loud, which
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  Speaker 2: we've always been grateful for, and that's I think that's
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  Speaker 2: a it was an important component for any up and
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: coming band. I think they're back in yeah, like you know,
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  Speaker 2: like fifteen years ago thereabout and and since.
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  Speaker 3: Essentially a branding of my startcore with a bit of
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  Speaker 3: a melodic alternative rocks.
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  Speaker 4: Down, Like, how do you how do you get the balance.
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  Speaker 3: Between John's right in the creative process and how do
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  Speaker 3: you know when you're go on too far in one direction,
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  Speaker 3: maybe not far up in another.
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  Speaker 1: I can as try on error, Chris, because we never.
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  Speaker 2: You make a song and you know, the first couple
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  Speaker 2: of records you learn and what works and what doesn't,
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  Speaker 2: and you sort of.
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  Speaker 1: It's a very subconscious sort of process.
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  Speaker 2: You just you you learn without being being able to
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  Speaker 2: explain what's.
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  Speaker 1: How your songwriting process has changed?
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  Speaker 2: You know, yeah, super super intuitive and it's just I guess,
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  Speaker 2: like anything else, repetition is the mother of all growth,
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  Speaker 2: and just you know, the more that you're writing, the
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  Speaker 2: more that you intuitively know. Like that, that balance makes
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  Speaker 2: itself pretty clear.
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  Speaker 5: Do you ever do you ever write any songs and
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  Speaker 5: then listen to them and just sort of say that's
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  Speaker 5: too far left center for what's expected promise and throw
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  Speaker 5: it out of anything goes early in that stage.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's only.
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  Speaker 2: Now at this stage now, like writing writing new material,
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  Speaker 2: that I've had that question pop up in my mind,
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  Speaker 2: like is this a little too where treading ground that
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: we hadn't read before? And is it a little too
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: like poppy or too rappy or something, you know, if
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: it's a genre that we've not explored comprehensively before. That
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  Speaker 2: it can be a little you wonder, but that's also
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  Speaker 2: really exciting. It's like when you come into and I
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: think for our band, that's it's kind of necessary because
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: we like everything we love, yeah, just about every style
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  Speaker 2: we can appreciate, So we try to incorporate as much
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  Speaker 2: as we can, just for our own I guess for
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  Speaker 2: the Yeah, for our own enjoyment, and for the for
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  Speaker 2: the fun of it and the expansion of our of
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  Speaker 2: our craft.
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  Speaker 3: You don't ever trust anything to deside because it's too different.
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  Speaker 1: Very seldom like that.
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  Speaker 2: I think ninety five percent of the time, if we've
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  Speaker 2: written something to the end and we'll keep it, you know,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: I guess we've had that much faith in it, come
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  Speaker 2: that far than it's worth keeping.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: I suppose great ran through the pressure.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: Release Mate, it says that Hell is officially entered.
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  Speaker 3: A revitalized new era. Now I know you didn't write that.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: How so do you think how do you think we're
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: getting a new era from yet?
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Well, it was after I wasn't with the boys for.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: Especially, yeah, five years, we started talking about getting back
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  Speaker 2: together and writing new music probably about this time last year,
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  Speaker 2: and we've been working hard ever since.
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  Speaker 1: But I guess. Yeah, the revitalization.
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  Speaker 2: Just comes from the I guess the raised emotion of
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  Speaker 2: being together again because we've known each other since we
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  Speaker 2: were for Dre Anthony and I the singer of the
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  Speaker 2: drummer and we've known each other since we were fifteen
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  Speaker 2: years old and I'm thirty five now.
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  Speaker 1: So it's.
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  Speaker 2: To be reunited and make creating together.
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  Speaker 1: It's a beautiful thing.
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  Speaker 2: You kind of you forget that these are the people
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  Speaker 2: that know you better than anybody else possibly could really
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  Speaker 2: like even you know, even family, because you've been you
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  Speaker 2: grew up in a van together, in that close quarters
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: and writing music together, and your first hard breaks and bounce,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: the depression and all things like that. You know you're
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: you're with each other and so too, to be reconnected
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  Speaker 2: is kind of it is like having gaining family back.
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  Speaker 2: And that inspiration that comes with that is colossal. So
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: I think that that's that's definitely where the revitalization lies.
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  Speaker 4: What's next? For hell right, what are you planning?
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: I'm always writing, man, So I think that it'll be
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: it'll be a little more of that or a lot
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: more of that, you know. I just I do it
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  Speaker 2: for fun as well as for you know, for the career,
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  Speaker 2: So it's kind of it's just it's always important to
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  Speaker 2: me to be pushing the craft, like as far as
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  Speaker 2: getting getting it as good as it possibly can be
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  Speaker 2: for us. So I think just yeah, more revision of
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: the demos and brand new stuff as well, just pushing
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  Speaker 2: as far as we can and trying to paint, you know,
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: a broader horizon for ourselves.
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  Speaker 4: Fantastic. I may well, thanks very much for your time.
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: It's being a pleasure chat read it.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: Opera Oblivia tenth anniversary chol starts in Melbourne on May
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: the seventh, So where can people get tickets?
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: To find out more information, I'm just on our website
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: and aliensmusic dot com. I believe it is or there
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: might be an au at the end of day, but
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: if you just google it you'll figure it out.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Also our Instagram