Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Functioning In A State Of Dysfunction With MATTI HARROD From BEANFLIPPER

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Functioning In A State Of Dysfunction With MATTI HARROD From BEANFLIPPER · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ah, this is Maddy from bean Flipper talking to Heavy
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: about Necrosonic Festival, which we're quite excited about.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Fantastic Maddy, excited is the word made? I think there's
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: a lot of people excited about this one.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I know, well it's twenty years for us, so we're
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: very excited.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: I've got a lot of panduppy questions to get out.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah probably. It's actually been a lot easier than
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I thought, like getting to know the song is considering
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: twenty years but you know, and now it's down to
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the what I call the fully training side of it,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: where every week you've got to go into the rehearsal
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: room smash out two sets to get the fitness up.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: I mean it's a bit like an endurance game. Really
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: you'll be five made up back is in.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: So, as you mentioned, bean Flipper returned to the stage
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: on August of twenty third had a Necrositic Festival at
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: the Mansfield Tavern in Brisbane. So we just run over
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: how long it's been, Brabert. How are we actually feel it? Like?
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Is an excitement? Is it nervous? Is it relief?
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: I know we're all really excited. It's about I mean
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: I've been quite humbled by the response that we've received,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: like people are just so toughed that we're back together again.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: When I first sort of sneakily announced it on my
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: own Facebook, bearups of people going, what are you bullshing it?
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: So you can't tease us like that? And then it
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: just went off. And then I put a video of
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: our first rehearsal after twenty years up and on my
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: page alone. It got a thousand views, and then I
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: put it on the page and it got another seven
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: hundred views, and I was like, hopefully dopeally, like there's
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: obviously people are wanting to see us, and it's sort
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: of been fun. I mean, I've been in band since,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: but most of the stuff I've played since, but I've
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: played a bit of punk rock with the I mean,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: the other band I'm in right now is like sort
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: of go between the almost like as a drummer, I
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: sort of just glue it together. I don't have to
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: drive it. So I've actually quite enjoyed getting my rock
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: pig out again, and I'm actually going I've actually went
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: out and bought a special pair of two b drumsticks
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: just to do it, to get a bit of weight
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: behind it the other band I'm forced to play with
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Hot Rods.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'm sorry.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Over the years, Bro, there's been lots of people asked
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: for the band to play Get Back Together three games?
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: So why say yes to to Canton and Necrosonic.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Oh. If you'd asked me that question a couple of
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: years ago, I would have said, no, there's no hope.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: You know. We we split it up in ninety eight,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: then got back together in two thousand and four. I
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: think it was for about a year and a bit
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: because our last gig in ninety eight was terrible. The Weavy,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the League guitarist, had a broken arm, so it's only
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: four of us on stage. Rocket, who plays rhythm, was
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: really pissed and we played the most abysmal show we've
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: ever played like. It was the worst gig the band
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: had ever played. Unbeknownst to us, it was Grand Final
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Day in ninety eight. It was at the Toad that night,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: and it was just it turned out it was our
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: last gig ever, and in two thousand and four I
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: just went, look, we've got unfinished business. We can't just
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: leave it like that. That was fucking awful that gig,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: so we then so we then got back together for
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: a little while did it, and then this time round,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: like we thought we'd put it. We had our last
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: show at the Arthouse Swimming Melbourne when it was still
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: going in about two thousand and five, and we thought
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: we bettered it. But Ken just was looking on Facebook.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I saw a message where he goes as anyone, someone
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: tagged me I think and said does anyone know anyone
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: from being Flipper? And so I contacted him and he
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: proposed to me, you know, we'll fly you here, we'll
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: give you a commendation and we'll give you this amount
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: of money. And I was like, well, all right, that's something,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: and so I rang I basically because we've pretty much
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: been in contact over the years anyway, and so I
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: contacted them all except for Rick. We are having a
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: hard time finding Rick the singer, but everyone was like, fuck,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: why not, let's fucking do it. And then we also
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: realized that this year is like the thirtieth anniversary of
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: our first CD, so I was like, well, so sort
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: of fits. So yeah, we just went, fuck it, let's
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: give it a go, you know. I mean, we did
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: me and Rocket the rhythm and guitars who writes, all
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: the songs did get together for two jams before the
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: rest of the guys got on board, just to see
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: if we still had it after two jams, Like, sure,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: I think we've still got it, and so we've got
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: everyone in and it's been good since then. Pretty much
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: other other than certainly a certain member went missing for
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: a little while, but we won't going to that happens
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: on the big jobs mate.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Negrasonic. It's a great festival.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: It's got thirty bands over three stages, twelve hours, so
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: they're predominantly Australian, but they're probably the harder edge of
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Australian music. Like how important is it for shows like
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: this for sustainability I guess of the metal future of
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Australian bands.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Ah ah, well, from what I can tell, I mean,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: I'll be honest, I'm not really You're probably talking to
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: the most the less interested in heavy metal person out
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: of the bat, but I'm not that judgmental. I'll play
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: any sort of music. I don't if it, if it
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: floats my boat, I'll do it. I don't really care.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: But I must say I have missed playing this style
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: of music, but I think it is really important because
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: it seems like the whole venue scene now is so
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: tied down and it's really hard to get gigs. And
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I don't know whether that's financial woes with pubs not
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: being able to be financially sustainable on just selling beer
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: as they used to be, and so now it seems
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: like you've really got to put bums on seats to
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: even get a gig, whereas that was always the case,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: but now it seems like to be an important factor
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: from what I'm going with the I've got a four
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: page pdf from the people that run the Bendigoes booking
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: and with all the delios and the conditions and stuff,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: and I'm going, man, didn't it used to be someone
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: working two days a week some muse tho would be
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: the booking agent for most pubs who do it part time.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: But so, yeah, I think it is good to have grassroots.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, necroscything from what I can tell, is very
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: rass roots. It's not some big industry thing. It's like
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: people that are enthusiastic into this style of music putting
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: it on. So it's really important. I think, yeah, damn straight.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Now this year is Necrosonic features bands like Portal bowlser Laram,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Franken Block, which Brinder Flamed Records, heapsmat Mate. But are
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: there any bands that stand out to you personally? Like
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: who are you most looking forward to seeing it and
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: touch it up?
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: I wish I'd got someone else online here because I'm
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: going to say, I'm going to be very honest and same.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Other than Franken Bott, I don't really know any of
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: those bands. But that's because it's you know, for me,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: I'm a bit more of a rock and roll guy.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: So if you said, if you said something like the
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: viagraad Boys, I've be gone way. But but I sort
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: of take bands as I see them, when I see
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: them sort of thing you know, or hear them. I'm
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: not really I'm many only two types of music. I'm
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: not really that keen on as Americana and jazz fusion,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: to be honest, anything other than I'm pretty if I
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: like it, I like it, you know.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Yeahl about festivals is there's so many bands played, Like
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: you say, like you only know a couple of bands,
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: So there's going to be people coming along that don't
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: know many of the bands.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: So just say one of those people doesn't.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: Know much about Bend swipp gives a bit of history
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: on the band and bring him up speed well.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: We he started in ninety three and it was out
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: of Rockets previous band, Warp Spasm, which was sort of
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: like a punky, grind, crusty band. He got his friend
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Webby from the country and involved, who was more of
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: a metal person. We did have this guy, We did
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: have Bucky singing originally, and there's a guy called Dan
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: who I was in a band with a punk punk,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: sort of metally band back in the day called mull Grinder.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: We came in and joined. Then in ninety we did
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: a demo than in ninety four we swapped Dan out
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: for Sean who plays bass now, and we swapped Bucky
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: for Rick to which then that was the lineup that
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: went on to record Total Dysfunctional Road and Ulsa and
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Garden Variety Manic Depressant. So we probably played an intense
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: amount for about five years till about ninety eight, and then,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: as I was saying in Grand Final eight, I think
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: after years of touring and hanging out together, we played
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: this shit gig. We sort of went on hiatus for
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: a month or so and then it sort of just
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: fell apart. And yeah, that was it, and then we
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: back in two thousand and four we decided to bring
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: it back. But we've always been a band of I
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: think we've got massive routes in sort of punk hardcore,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: like your dischargeing Dbat sort of stuff. But we also,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: you know, we also used to listen to back in
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the day, a shit ton of Chias. We loved that
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: blues for Red Sun that album were right into stone
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: and metal some which I think that sort of influenced
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: in there. Plus we used to play when we're in
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: the early days, we played a lot with christ Blade,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Blood Dust Damaged. You know, Rick who's the singer, was
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: in a band called wicker Man. He was mates with
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Squeze and Egg from dreadnort Like. He was part of
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: that tazzy contingent that came over here in the early nineties,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: came to Melbourne in the early nineties. Yeah, I mean,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: we're sort of to describe us to someone that hasn't
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: seen us for a little bit of a mixed bag
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: of hard call meats sort of stone and metal meat,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: sort of slower sort of sort of that sludgy, doomy
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: metal and then a little bit of funk in their sorder.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's probably my influence because I always had
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: an attitude of me and the bass play were almost
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: the ones that kept the sound a little bit rock
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: rather than being fully metal, because I used to a
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: lot of the time the boys would be playing grind
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: riffs and I'd go, now, fuck that, I'm just I'm
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: going to call the time. You can do all the work,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: and then I'd maybe do one part of the riff
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: as a grind, but the first two is a halftime beat,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: slowed down beat. Because I was always like, well, I'm
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: not gonna I'm not. I mean, I'm not really a
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: metal drummer, to be honest, Like I do play double kick,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: but I'm not. I've always said I'm a bit of
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: a I'm actually a bit of a hack. I played whatever,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: play whatever. If a band's really good and I play
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: in it, I'm really good. If I'm in a band
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: that they're a bit shit, I'm a bit shit as well.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Like I just rise to the occasion at the moment.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: But I've I've sort of never been one for rudiments
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: and shit, I'm actually started doing a bit more rudiments
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: now after thirty eight years playing drums, I've actually gone
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: maybe I should learn to do a proper double straight roll.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Maybe now the time.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: I give us three songs of yours ender, people can
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: listening before they come along to get to know the band.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Um all right, holy stain, a holy stain, that's ever
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: across the section falling apart, and let's say your grotesqueness.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: They're three song because we're just doing this this this
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: time round. We're just doing our first album. We're just
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: doing Total Dysfunctional Collapse. We possibly might be doing a
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: song off the demo which as well, which is also
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: on Guarden Brady made the present when we re recorded it.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: We might be doing that, but we're just sticking with
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: the first album. I actually listened to the second album
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: the other day and I actually was like, Wow, I'm
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: glad we're not doing that, because that's that'd take a
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: lot long longer to fucking learn. That's a lot more complicated.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Can you ask me last night whether all we're doing
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: anything off Garden Briidy manic the President, and I was
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: just like, nah, I think that might be. Maybe next
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: year we might, but that will be a big learning
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: curve like it was. It was so odd that the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: album that we did first was the one that we
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: all seemed to have the most muscle memory with, where
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: it wasn't that hard to relearn. It was just like, hey,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: I remember this, this guy's there, they're there, Whereas I
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: was listening to a bit of a Then I walked
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: into the office the other day when I had it
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: on the garden bridy man pressing on and was like,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: what the fuck is this song? I don't remember this bit?
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: And then the next bit of the song started and
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: I was like, oh right, yes, that one. I was like,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Jesus glad we're not doing this one. We did have
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: a fiddle around the other day Rockets started playing one
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: of the songs off road and Ulcer and were like,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: oh yeah, we could. We could manage that because we
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: sort of without even most of three of us sort
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: of were going. So it was a bit foggy, but.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: Baby steps, baby steps, Yeah yeah. Indeed, effectively, these songs
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: are all recorded last century, like written recorded last century.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: So where do you been to relearn them again?
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Like do you think they've stood the test of time
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: or do they still feel fresh?
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: I don't.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: They don't feel antiquated. I know, they don't feel very
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: antiquated or old. Yeah, I reckon they've stood the test
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: of time. I mean, for us, this album, the album
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: we're doing is the more punkier side of us, because
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: I know, and Garden Variety may depressing. We went a
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: little bit more, we're a little bit more metal, whereas
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: this album is a bit more punk hardcore at times,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: like there's a lot of sort of punk hardcore riffs
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: in there. But yeah, I reckon they've done all right.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, hey, the world's ending and everyone's
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: looking backwards now anyway, the size of it innit. I've
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: did that for years. It's like this obsession with retro
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: and it's like no one wants to look to the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: future anymore because they don't really like what they see,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: so they just look in the other one and going.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Remember back in the nineties, it was really cool back then,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: a lot better. Yeah, Well for one of welfare state
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: to support young musicians to actually develop their craft, which
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: I feel sorry for kids these days because they don't.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: They don't get the to live that lifestyle. Is where
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: I used to call it the government arts subsidy, basically
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: being on the top. I mean, you well, so.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Many good musicians these days came from that store. They know,
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: like they did, like you said they did. They lived
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: on the dolls, they could home their craft and go
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: out and tour, and a lot of people that have
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: actually made some of themselves these days were brought up
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: with that system.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Oh it was weird. I was in the band that
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: I was, a band that I was in late ninety
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: I know, the late the early nineties. Reformed like I
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: think around two thousand and eight, no, about twenty twelve,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: and I found it quite odd going to a rehearsal
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: room and at the end seeing everyone. Most bands load
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: out by ten o'clock at night, and I was like, yees,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: because they've got to get up and go to a
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: fucking job tomorrow. You know. They don't have the luxury
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: that we had when we were all that age, where
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: it'd kick on at the rehearsal and then you'd probably
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: go elsewhere after rehearsal.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: You go and watch other bands, and that keeps a
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: cycle going.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: We'll go back to someone's house and get off your face,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: one of the two light and have a bit of a.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Fantastic All right, buddy, Well, thanks very much for your time.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: About You've been a pleasure of being Flipper of back
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: together after twenty years at Necrosonic in Brisbane on August
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: of twenty third. So they're just one of a few bands,
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: but sounds like there's going to be a highlight. Brother
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: looking forward to catching up.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: I know I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking to
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Actually we're having to smash it out big time really
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: like It's like I've said to them ever since we
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: started doing this, I don't want to look like a
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: bunch of sad old focks on, so we need to
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: rehearse lots.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: Well, I'll be there, Mad, I'll judge you, and if
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: you say it old fox, I'll tell you you say
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: it old fuck.