Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Fuzz, Filth, And MUDHONEY: PRIMITIVE RING Prepare To Tear Australia A New One
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: My name is Charles. Charles Moodhart. I play guitar and
- 0:03Speaker 1: sing in Primitive Ring. We're a power trio based out
- 0:08Speaker 1: of Los Angeles. And we'll be doing some support dates
- 0:13Speaker 1: in Australia in a couple weeks, opening for Mudhoney. And yeah,
- 0:17Speaker 1: really excited. Really excited to get back out there for
- 0:20Speaker 1: me and first time for this band. But yeah, love Australia.
- 0:24Speaker 1: Can't wait. Like, very excited. Fantastic. Charles, thanks for joining
- 0:28Speaker 1: us today. yeah thank you thanks for having me my.
- 0:32Speaker 2: Pleasure so as you say primitive reed to make your
- 0:34Speaker 2: first trip to australia this month for a run of
- 0:36Speaker 2: dates with mud honey starting in melbourne on october 16th
- 0:39Speaker 2: and hitting chalky castle main manly sydney and newcastle before
- 0:43Speaker 2: finishing in brisbane on october 24th so not long now
- 0:46Speaker 2: bro you're packed ready to.
- 0:47Speaker 1: Go yeah i don't know i think i got the
- 0:51Speaker 1: i got the checklist you know going in the brain
- 0:53Speaker 1: um not quite packed but uh I'm ready, man. I'm
- 0:56Speaker 1: ready to go. I'm very excited to get out there.
- 0:59Speaker 1: I'm excited to play these shows. We're extremely grateful to
- 1:03Speaker 1: get to play with Mudhoney down there, and yeah, just
- 1:06Speaker 1: really can't wait. I'm ready to get the flight over,
- 1:09Speaker 1: and after that, I'm ready to play some music, you know? Yeah, sweet.
- 1:13Speaker 2: You originally weren't even going to bother with Brisbane, bro,
- 1:15Speaker 2: but the unfortunate late withdrawal of iHeart Hiroshima for Z51
- 1:19Speaker 2: opened the door for you to appear at the festival,
- 1:22Speaker 2: which is a good thing, mate, because you can't come
- 1:23Speaker 2: to Australia and not come to Brisbane.
- 1:27Speaker 1: I agree. I've had great times in Brisbane, and I
- 1:30Speaker 1: was really... Um, you know, honestly, I, I'm really glad
- 1:34Speaker 1: this worked out for us and I almost, I didn't
- 1:36Speaker 1: even put it together until afterwards. I was like, oh shit, man,
- 1:38Speaker 1: I would have loved to stayed a couple more days
- 1:40Speaker 1: and gone up and seen like the Mudhoney Byron Bay
- 1:42Speaker 1: show or whatever. But anyways, I'm glad we get to
- 1:44Speaker 1: make it up to Brisbane and, uh, yeah, hyped, very hyped.
- 1:48Speaker 1: It worked out for us. Sweet.
- 1:50Speaker 2: And when you come to a country for the first
- 1:52Speaker 2: time like this on tour, like are you the sort
- 1:54Speaker 2: of person, do you do your research and talk to
- 1:56Speaker 2: people who have been here before or would you rather
- 1:57Speaker 2: come in cold and just take it as it comes?
- 2:01Speaker 2: I don't know.
- 2:01Speaker 1: That's, that's tough. That's like, I feel like at this
- 2:03Speaker 1: point in my life, I always like doing a little
- 2:06Speaker 1: bit of research and, you know, just kind of, I
- 2:08Speaker 1: love looking at maps. I love, you know, reading about
- 2:11Speaker 1: like food and, you know, just like places to go see,
- 2:13Speaker 1: you know, like bars to check out or whatever. So I,
- 2:15Speaker 1: I naturally will do that. But, you know, with. I
- 2:19Speaker 1: feel lucky to, you know, the fact that I've been
- 2:22Speaker 1: down there before and I have some friends, um, scattered around,
- 2:25Speaker 1: I feel like I have a little bit more built
- 2:27Speaker 1: in of, uh, knowledge kind of already. But, um, that
- 2:31Speaker 1: being said, you know, I, I, uh, I will definitely,
- 2:35Speaker 1: I'm sure in the days leading up to flying, I'll
- 2:37Speaker 1: be doing a little bit more, um, you know, looking
- 2:40Speaker 1: at our schedule, seeing what, where we'll have time to
- 2:42Speaker 1: kind of cruise around and, um, see what, see what,
- 2:45Speaker 1: see what's worth checking out and all that. So. I'm
- 2:47Speaker 1: here for any recommendations. I'll say that.
- 2:50Speaker 2: I guess the flip side of that, mate, is like
- 2:52Speaker 2: people here have got no idea what to expect from
- 2:54Speaker 2: you guys either. So run us through a typical Primitive
- 2:56Speaker 2: Ring live show and what we can expect.
- 3:00Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, we it's definitely we try to we
- 3:04Speaker 1: try to keep things pretty streamlined. Like it's like I said,
- 3:07Speaker 1: it's a it's a guitar band, you know, so there's. uh,
- 3:10Speaker 1: we're all, it's a power trio. We're all, we're all
- 3:13Speaker 1: kind of going at full, at full steam for, I
- 3:16Speaker 1: would say about 80% of the set or 90% of
- 3:18Speaker 1: the set. And then we try to, we do try
- 3:21Speaker 1: to balance it out with some dynamics and, you know,
- 3:23Speaker 1: a little bit of, um, you know, we try to
- 3:25Speaker 1: sit back in the pocket when we can. It's not,
- 3:27Speaker 1: it's not going to just be an all out assault
- 3:30Speaker 1: the whole time, but you know, we do, we do, uh,
- 3:33Speaker 1: tend to get, you know, loud and, uh, yeah it's
- 3:39Speaker 1: just uh it's meant to be raw rock and roll
- 3:42Speaker 1: you know so um we don't we don't we don't
- 3:45Speaker 1: go into it trying to necessarily punish people but it's
- 3:49Speaker 1: definitely supposed to be like a visceral experience you know
- 3:53Speaker 1: so um we've been we've been having a lot of
- 3:56Speaker 1: fun in the last couple months with our set where
- 3:59Speaker 1: we're definitely figuring out like a fun flow to our
- 4:03Speaker 1: the order of the songs and the set and the
- 4:05Speaker 1: transitions and all that stuff. So, you know, things right
- 4:07Speaker 1: now are feeling pretty, pretty fluid, but, uh, yeah, it's
- 4:10Speaker 1: meant to keep, it's meant to keep us on our
- 4:12Speaker 1: toes and meant to keep the listener on their toes,
- 4:14Speaker 1: you know? So it's, it's definitely meant to be, um,
- 4:18Speaker 1: human and imperfect, you know?
- 4:20Speaker 2: Nice.
- 4:21Speaker 1: I like that.
- 4:22Speaker 2: As you say, you are coming over with Mudhoney, bro.
- 4:24Speaker 2: So what's the relationship between the two bands? Have you,
- 4:27Speaker 2: have you played much together in the past?
- 4:30Speaker 1: Yeah. So, um, we all have kind of different experiences.
- 4:33Speaker 1: Like my, uh, I play in another band called fuzz
- 4:36Speaker 1: that did some dates supporting, but honey, like I don't
- 4:39Speaker 1: even know, 10, 10 or more years ago. Um, and then, um,
- 4:45Speaker 1: Bert and Bert has a band called Hoover three, um,
- 4:47Speaker 1: Bert plays bass and sings in, in primitive ring. And
- 4:50Speaker 1: he has a band called Hoover three and John who
- 4:53Speaker 1: drums in primitive ring also drummed in Hoover three. And, uh,
- 4:58Speaker 1: two drums, a primitive ring also drums in Hoover three. Sorry.
- 5:00Speaker 1: I don't know if I said that correctly, but, uh,
- 5:02Speaker 1: and uh but they so they got to do two
- 5:05Speaker 1: two tours opening for Mudhoney one in the U.S. and
- 5:08Speaker 1: one in Europe so they're much more like they're very
- 5:12Speaker 1: they're pretty close with those guys and uh that's kind
- 5:15Speaker 1: of how this all really came to be like we
- 5:17Speaker 1: I think the idea was floated that we would uh
- 5:21Speaker 1: support one of the shows and I think that those
- 5:22Speaker 1: guys were really excited to be able to you know
- 5:27Speaker 1: make this opportunity work for us. Cause it's, it's hard
- 5:30Speaker 1: for a band like us to be able to get
- 5:32Speaker 1: to Australia and make it make sense. And, uh, I
- 5:34Speaker 1: think they were really down to like rally for us and, uh,
- 5:39Speaker 1: get us on, you know, a handful of shows and
- 5:42Speaker 1: help us like source gear and all that stuff. So, um, yeah. Uh,
- 5:46Speaker 1: you know, I think that that a lot of that
- 5:47Speaker 1: goes to, uh, Bert and John's prior experience with those guys.
- 5:52Speaker 1: And I'm, I'm just stoked to be along for the ride,
- 5:55Speaker 1: you know?
- 5:56Speaker 2: Yeah, just saying someone's going to head along to see
- 5:59Speaker 2: Mudhoney or they're going to Z51 and they've got no
- 6:01Speaker 2: idea who Primitive Ring are. What three songs of yours
- 6:04Speaker 2: should they listen to so they get to know the
- 6:06Speaker 2: band a bit better?
- 6:09Speaker 1: I feel like kind of our three, man, that's tough.
- 6:13Speaker 1: But the opening track to our LP that came out
- 6:20Speaker 1: this year, self-titled LP, Fire and Brimstone is the name
- 6:24Speaker 1: of the song. Um, and then the song, uh, in
- 6:29Speaker 1: the ground, which is off one of our, I think
- 6:32Speaker 1: it was our first single actually that came out last year.
- 6:34Speaker 1: I feel like that's a pretty, a pretty fun one
- 6:37Speaker 1: to kind of, you know, get, get introduced to the
- 6:40Speaker 1: band and where we tend to take things. And, uh,
- 6:45Speaker 1: I mean, I love all of our songs. But just
- 6:50Speaker 1: to choose a third on the LP as well, I
- 6:53Speaker 1: would say the song Paid is a pretty fun... That's
- 6:55Speaker 1: like kind of the... That represents the other side of
- 7:00Speaker 1: the spectrum for us. It's a little more mellow. It's
- 7:02Speaker 1: in the pocket. It's a little groovier. So, you know,
- 7:06Speaker 1: I would say that that would probably give a person
- 7:08Speaker 1: a pretty good warning and fair understanding of what they're
- 7:13Speaker 1: going to go into. So.
- 7:14Speaker 2: i like i like the way you say warning give
- 7:16Speaker 2: him a fair warning.
- 7:17Speaker 1: Yeah yeah you know because i mean you never know
- 7:19Speaker 1: you know fair warning so.
- 7:22Speaker 2: And you mentioned your debut album mate that came out
- 7:25Speaker 2: in may of this year so how was the reception
- 7:28Speaker 2: for like the modern age how do you gauge the
- 7:31Speaker 2: success i guess of an album like it with streams
- 7:33Speaker 2: and stuff like is it is it difficult.
- 7:36Speaker 1: It's tough i don't know yeah i mean um yeah,
- 7:40Speaker 1: I think like streaming numbers are a big thing to
- 7:42Speaker 1: a lot of people. I, I, I have a hard
- 7:45Speaker 1: time understanding streaming numbers sometimes. Um, just because like, you know,
- 7:51Speaker 1: I'm not a big Spotify person and, but, uh, I
- 7:55Speaker 1: know that that's like a big number of people use
- 7:57Speaker 1: and I don't really understand like the playlist game, et cetera,
- 7:59Speaker 1: et cetera. So, um, you know, I think that those
- 8:02Speaker 1: are all like valid places people can go to see
- 8:06Speaker 1: what's up. But I, for me, it's kind of just like, I,
- 8:08Speaker 1: you know, Um, we sold out of the first pressing
- 8:11Speaker 1: of the LPs. Um, so selling the physical is a good,
- 8:14Speaker 1: is a really good sign. And, uh, you know, just
- 8:18Speaker 1: when you go places and people are excited that you're
- 8:21Speaker 1: coming to town or, um, you know, you know, that
- 8:23Speaker 1: you can tell that word has been spreading and just again,
- 8:26Speaker 1: like just, just the fact that anybody wants us to
- 8:29Speaker 1: come out and play is like, uh, you know, that's
- 8:31Speaker 1: just a good sign for a newer band because we
- 8:33Speaker 1: don't have a lot of, um, We're a new band.
- 8:37Speaker 1: We don't have history. So the fact that people want
- 8:40Speaker 1: to see our music means that it's reaching them in
- 8:43Speaker 1: some capacity. So to me, that's kind of the main thing.
- 8:47Speaker 1: But of course, there are other numbers out there that
- 8:49Speaker 1: people use, and I just don't know how to pay.
- 8:54Speaker 1: And also not drive myself totally insane, because that's the
- 8:58Speaker 1: other thing. I'm not trying to pretend like I don't
- 9:01Speaker 1: pay attention. I'm just saying I have to try to
- 9:03Speaker 1: figure out how to focus on the things that are important.
- 9:07Speaker 1: yeah you know what i mean so um.
- 9:09Speaker 2: Yeah yeah nice now reviewers sort of noted that while
- 9:13Speaker 2: the record pulls from the heavy sort of sludgy cycle
- 9:16Speaker 2: of bands like blue chair and the stooges like the
- 9:19Speaker 2: energy plays out more like a party so how do
- 9:21Speaker 2: you strike that fine balance of making music that is
- 9:24Speaker 2: incredibly sludge heavy without feeling punishing and bleak.
- 9:30Speaker 1: Um yeah i don't know i i think that uh
- 9:33Speaker 1: I would say that my, my, my immediate reaction is that,
- 9:36Speaker 1: is that this is why, that's why those, that exact
- 9:39Speaker 1: question is why I, it's good for me as a
- 9:41Speaker 1: person to collaborate with other people. Cause I think I, I,
- 9:45Speaker 1: I tend to be a little bit more abrasive and,
- 9:52Speaker 1: you know, like my, my voice is a little more abrasive.
- 9:54Speaker 1: Like my writing is a little more abrasive. My guitar
- 9:56Speaker 1: playing is a little more abrasive. So it's, always good
- 9:58Speaker 1: to be matched with someone who has more of a
- 10:04Speaker 1: like pop sensibility or something like that because you know
- 10:06Speaker 1: it's like I love I love doing things that are
- 10:10Speaker 1: rough around the edges and can be challenging to people
- 10:13Speaker 1: but also at this point in my life I'm not
- 10:16Speaker 1: I'm not necessarily trying to go up on stage and
- 10:19Speaker 1: like like I said, like punish people for being in
- 10:21Speaker 1: the audience, you know? So you want people to enjoy it.
- 10:25Speaker 1: Cause like, you know, while not everything's fucking sunshine and rainbows,
- 10:29Speaker 1: especially not right now, you also want people to listen
- 10:32Speaker 1: to music and be able to feel positive, at least
- 10:35Speaker 1: in some way, you know? So I think that the
- 10:38Speaker 1: important thing is just kind of like trying to kind
- 10:40Speaker 1: of zoom out and be like, you know, what, what
- 10:42Speaker 1: would I want to hear on a record? And cause even,
- 10:44Speaker 1: you know, some, you can, there's things like about even
- 10:48Speaker 1: some of the more like heavy and, brutal records. I mean,
- 10:50Speaker 1: like Motorhead records that are, that are so pleasing to
- 10:54Speaker 1: listen to that. It's like, it's actually, you know, I mean,
- 10:57Speaker 1: there's a, you know, let me love the fucking Beatles,
- 10:59Speaker 1: you know? So, um, you know, I don't know, but anyways,
- 11:01Speaker 1: it's like, uh, I, uh, yeah, I just, for me,
- 11:04Speaker 1: it's good to be mixed with people who can kind
- 11:06Speaker 1: of keep, keep me from going too far into like
- 11:10Speaker 1: a psycho world, you know? Um, I, I like, I
- 11:13Speaker 1: like music to be enjoyable. So yeah, I think collaboration
- 11:17Speaker 1: is crucial.
- 11:19Speaker 2: So along those lines, man, like how do you, in
- 11:22Speaker 2: that creative process, how do you know when you've gone
- 11:24Speaker 2: too far in one direction or maybe not far enough
- 11:27Speaker 2: in a, in another direction?
- 11:28Speaker 1: How do you gauge that? Yeah, I don't know. I,
- 11:33Speaker 1: you know, I think that something I've tried to get really,
- 11:36Speaker 1: tried to get better about with when I'm working on things,
- 11:39Speaker 1: whether it's alone or collaborate with collaboration, but you know, I,
- 11:43Speaker 1: the important thing to me is like finishing an idea
- 11:48Speaker 1: because I, you just got to like remember sometimes that
- 11:51Speaker 1: you can record a whole song and get it all
- 11:54Speaker 1: the way up to the point where you think it's done.
- 11:56Speaker 1: And then you still might look at it and go, Oh,
- 11:58Speaker 1: this isn't done or I went too far, you know?
- 12:00Speaker 1: So I think at the end of the day, it's like,
- 12:02Speaker 1: if you're feeling stuck on something that maybe put it
- 12:06Speaker 1: down for a second, or if you're feeling like you
- 12:08Speaker 1: have a good idea, but you just don't know how
- 12:10Speaker 1: to finish it. It's like, okay, just, just finish it.
- 12:12Speaker 1: However you can finish it and then try to take
- 12:15Speaker 1: a look at it and see if it is a finished, um,
- 12:19Speaker 1: product for lack of a better word. But if that's
- 12:21Speaker 1: like the finish, if a song is finished, like to you,
- 12:23Speaker 1: then that's the only way you'll know is by completing
- 12:26Speaker 1: the task at hand. Um, you know, I think that
- 12:29Speaker 1: it's important to always, um, honor whatever voices in your
- 12:34Speaker 1: head or in your, you know, creative partner's head or whatever.
- 12:37Speaker 1: Like if someone's saying like, we need to go farther
- 12:40Speaker 1: with this, like, yeah, fucking go farther. Why not? You know, um,
- 12:44Speaker 1: see what happens. But, uh, I don't know. At the
- 12:46Speaker 1: end of the day, I really think that it's just
- 12:48Speaker 1: important to achieve what you set out to achieve and
- 12:54Speaker 1: just try to finish the thing and execute the idea.
- 12:56Speaker 1: And the only way you'll know if you've gone too
- 12:58Speaker 1: far or not far enough is if you finish what
- 13:02Speaker 1: you think is it and hold it up and go,
- 13:04Speaker 1: does this work? And there's always, you know, there's always
- 13:08Speaker 1: time to write more songs. So, you know, if you
- 13:11Speaker 1: release a record and down the line, you're like, oh,
- 13:13Speaker 1: I could have gone farther with that. Well, it's like, well,
- 13:15Speaker 1: then that's actually good news. Write another one. Yeah, it's like,
- 13:18Speaker 1: you know, that's actually positive.
- 13:20Speaker 2: So, yeah.
- 13:21Speaker 1: Very cool.
- 13:22Speaker 2: Now, lately your musical resume has been insane, bro. Like
- 13:25Speaker 2: on top of Primitive Ring, you've been moonlighting as a
- 13:28Speaker 2: touring live guitarist for Iggy Pop, man. Like how does
- 13:32Speaker 2: playing with someone like him impact when we come back
- 13:36Speaker 2: to your band primitive ring like do you do you
- 13:38Speaker 2: take elements of that back into the process with with
- 13:41Speaker 2: your band or is that just like a staging and
- 13:43Speaker 2: that's it.
- 13:45Speaker 1: Oh for sure i mean you know there's a lot
- 13:48Speaker 1: of ways in which i think playing with iggy um
- 13:51Speaker 1: has changed my guitar playing for sure but also um
- 13:56Speaker 1: you know the thing the thing about my experience with
- 13:59Speaker 1: being in iggy's band that was really amazing and mind-blowing
- 14:02Speaker 1: was that I found myself in a position where I
- 14:05Speaker 1: was yet again inspired by this person who had inspired
- 14:09Speaker 1: me so many times throughout my life. You know, like
- 14:13Speaker 1: there's been so many different moments in my life where Iggy,
- 14:15Speaker 1: whether it was like hearing the Stooges for the first
- 14:17Speaker 1: time or then like getting into like Berlin era records
- 14:19Speaker 1: for the first time and just like getting to understand
- 14:22Speaker 1: who he was. Like there's been so many times where
- 14:25Speaker 1: he has influenced me. And then yet again, I found
- 14:28Speaker 1: myself in a position where I was like, I'm a
- 14:30Speaker 1: grown ass man. and I'm still getting my mind blown
- 14:33Speaker 1: by Iggy Pop again, you know? And, uh, yeah, so
- 14:37Speaker 1: it's just like, you know, honestly, the thing that I
- 14:38Speaker 1: would say in this, in this kind of chapter of
- 14:41Speaker 1: life that I took into something like primitive ring was,
- 14:43Speaker 1: it was cool to see and to be reminded, like,
- 14:45Speaker 1: you know, this is a person who kind of similar
- 14:48Speaker 1: to what we were just talking about. Like, here's a
- 14:50Speaker 1: person who, who did care about what he was putting
- 14:54Speaker 1: out into the world. Like he wanted to make things
- 14:56Speaker 1: that were interesting to people, but he also wasn't ever
- 14:59Speaker 1: going to, um, you know, compromise himself and he was
- 15:04Speaker 1: never going to compromise his vision. Like, yes, he would
- 15:07Speaker 1: collaborate with people and he might've like, he would do
- 15:10Speaker 1: things that were, that were different depending on who was
- 15:12Speaker 1: in his orbit at the time or whatever. Um, but
- 15:15Speaker 1: he was, he had a singular vision and he was
- 15:17Speaker 1: a singular person and he never gave up. And, um,
- 15:21Speaker 1: he's a fucking legend. So it's like, you know, it's like,
- 15:24Speaker 1: sometimes it's just nice to be reminded, like, yeah, like,
- 15:27Speaker 1: you just got to do the thing, like, like go
- 15:29Speaker 1: too far or don't go far enough. Like put the
- 15:31Speaker 1: record out, do the thing, write the song, go on tour,
- 15:33Speaker 1: go play the show. Like put yourself out there. Like
- 15:36Speaker 1: this is what, this is what the world, this is
- 15:38Speaker 1: how the creative world works. Like you just got to
- 15:40Speaker 1: keep going, you know? And, and if you believe in it,
- 15:43Speaker 1: then it's worth doing, you know? So, you know, that's,
- 15:48Speaker 1: that's kind of more of the personal level of it.
- 15:49Speaker 1: I mean, like his, you know, playing those songs and,
- 15:52Speaker 1: and just getting the validation of getting to play with
- 15:54Speaker 1: someone like that, like one of your heroes and, having
- 15:57Speaker 1: them be like, give you the kind of like thumbs
- 15:59Speaker 1: up is like, yeah, that's just, that puts a little
- 16:01Speaker 1: extra pep in your step. You know, it's like, I'm like,
- 16:04Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm like, hell yeah. I got to fucking
- 16:05Speaker 1: play with that guy. That's fine. So, um, yeah, it's cool.
- 16:09Speaker 1: You know? Um, but he's a, he's such a humble guy.
- 16:12Speaker 1: So it's like, it's also about, it's also about being,
- 16:14Speaker 1: you know, reminded real. It's like, yeah, it's just being real.
- 16:18Speaker 1: He's the realest guy. He's the real, as real as
- 16:20Speaker 1: they come, you know? Yeah, shit. All right, Charles.
- 16:22Speaker 2: Well, thanks very much for your time, bro. Primitive Ring
- 16:25Speaker 2: will be in Australia from October 16th with Mudhoney, now
- 16:29Speaker 2: hearing in Brisbane for Z51 on the 24th of October.
- 16:33Speaker 2: So thanks for your time, brother, and I'll see you
- 16:35Speaker 2: at the Brisbane show.
- 16:36Speaker 1: Awesome. Sounds good. Thank you so much.