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Confronting Truths: VAULT HILL Unleash Their Most Lethal EP Yet · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Morgan, I'm the vocalist for the band, and yeah, I've
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: been with the band since its inception, probably about 20
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: years ago now.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's me.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: My name's Adro, I play guitars at Vault Hill, and yeah,
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: pumped to have a chat with you about the new single,
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Time to Keep Alive, and a new EP, The Modern Way.
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: Fantastic, guys, thanks for joining us this evening.
• 0:30
  Speaker 5: Thanks for having us. Yeah, thank you. My pleasure.
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: So, Bob Hill, premiered your new single, The Pain We
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: Keep Alive, by Heavy, back on August the 27th. But
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: it's been just over a week now, guys. So how
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: has your response been?
• 0:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's been great. It's been great. And thanks again
• 0:46
  Speaker 5: for the premiere. That helped us a lot. Pleasure. Yeah,
• 0:50
  Speaker 5: but no, we're getting good reception from it, which is great.
• 0:53
  Speaker 5: And hoping the message is getting out there.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, cool.
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: It's your first new music since the song Break the
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: Silence two years ago. So what's changed with the band
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: since in that time?
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Well, pretty much now Morgz is living up in Darwin
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: these days, which makes things a little harder to write.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: But yeah, for this EP, what we did is we
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: pretty much normally would get either myself or Dino would
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: write some riffs, we'd bring it in and sort of,
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: you know, pretty much write the song. then get Frankie, Jamiro,
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  Speaker 3: our session drummer, to sort of add his parts to it,
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  Speaker 3: and then vocals would come later. But this time, myself, Dino,
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  Speaker 3: our bass player, and Frankie all sat down in the
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  Speaker 3: one room and might have brought like a riff to
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  Speaker 3: a particular session, but just let it grow a lot
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  Speaker 3: more organically.
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: And then we sent it up to Darwin, up to Morgz,
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  Speaker 5: and he would add his parts to it. Yeah, very sweet.
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: And that song is taken from the upcoming seven-track EP
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  Speaker 4: Modern Way, which is due out on September 25th. So
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  Speaker 4: what I'll do now, guys, because there's only seven songs
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  Speaker 4: on it, I want to run through the tracks one
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  Speaker 4: at a time and tell us a bit more about
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  Speaker 4: the song and how it represents Vault Hill moving forward.
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  Speaker 4: So we'll start off with Broken Promise, Sands of Time.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really like the introduction, like framing the concept
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  Speaker 1: of the of the release and what it's about. The
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  Speaker 1: concept is about my time up here in the Northern Territory, the.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Current political climate and racism is still really alive.
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  Speaker 1: And well up here, sadly. But also about the landscape
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  Speaker 1: and that track in particular, there's a lot of competing voices.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: It's hard to pick out any one vocal thread and
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  Speaker 1: that's on purpose because we wanted it to be symbolic
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  Speaker 1: of there's a lot of noise up here and a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people not listening to each other and we
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: wanted yeah that track to really I guess conceptually sort
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  Speaker 1: of give that message but also frame the larger concept Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it's very cool.
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  Speaker 4: And then the next track is Modern Day. I like
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  Speaker 4: what you've done here. The EP is called Modern Way,
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: but you've got a song called Modern Day.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So that was, we sort of came up with that.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I think that was driving to work at some ridiculous
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: hour in the morning. We were trying to, we were
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: sort of tossing up a few different ideas, but we
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: wanted to bring the first track and the last track
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: and you know, it comes to sort of full circle.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: The first tracks are sort of laying out, you know,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: the issues and the divide up here, whereas the last
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  Speaker 1: track is about a message of hope and about a
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: future that we can all work towards.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, that's how we ended up linking those two. And, yeah,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: it worked well. It was a happy little accident.
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  Speaker 4: Nice. Then you've got one, I hope I pronounced this right,
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  Speaker 4: is it called Wadai?
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  Speaker 2: Wadai, yeah. So that's about a community up here to
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  Speaker 2: the west of Darwin.
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  Speaker 1: And it's a community where there's a lot of violence
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  Speaker 1: and the track speaks about that violence. it's, it's a
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  Speaker 1: place that I think every Australian, um, it's, it's very remote.
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  Speaker 1: It's hard to get to, but it's, it's, I think, um,
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  Speaker 1: you know, one of the larger, uh, communities in the NT. And, uh,
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  Speaker 1: I think everyone should, should visit there and just see, um,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: what it's like for, for people living there. Like the,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the first time I went there, I was, I was
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: pretty taken aback. Wasn't, wasn't, uh, expecting to, to see, um,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: like there just been a lot of unrest there. Um,
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  Speaker 1: there was a lot of, uh, burnt out houses, uh.
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  Speaker 2: From rioting and the, the, the fighting flares up all
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: the time.
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  Speaker 1: And it's because it was founded on a, as a
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  Speaker 1: religious mission and they brought all the, uh, neighboring clans
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  Speaker 1: into the one location. And that infighting hasn't really, really stopped.
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  Speaker 1: It's still ongoing. Um, it flares up from.
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  Speaker 2: Time to time.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. So that's, that's what it's about. We've got Mark Nino, uh,
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  Speaker 1: one of, uh, local musicians. Um, he's in the red
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: sunset band. He actually, uh, is the, the drummer for
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  Speaker 1: that band. Um, uh, we had Cyril, his, his brother,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Cyril Nino, uh, try and, uh, uh, collaborate with us
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  Speaker 1: as well. But Mark just with the, the metal's not there,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the music that they play. So, uh, Cyril
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  Speaker 1: sort of found it a little bit difficult, but Mark
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  Speaker 1: took to it really well. And, yeah, we got him,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: flew him into Darwin. One of the companies out there
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  Speaker 1: sponsored his flights to come.
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  Speaker 2: In, so that was really useful. And, yeah, we just.
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  Speaker 1: Wanted him to say his piece about what air and
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  Speaker 1: get his contribution. And it was very much in line
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  Speaker 1: with what we were writing about, about the violence stemming
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  Speaker 1: from the clans being forced together but also a message
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  Speaker 1: of hope for the future about everyone coming together.
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: Very cool.
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: The next track is called Wilt.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Wilt.
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  Speaker 1: So Wilt is the other sort of contrast with the.
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  Speaker 2: EP and what it's about.
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  Speaker 1: It's just about the harshness of the the landscape and
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  Speaker 1: environment up here. Like we're very, with my work in aviation,
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  Speaker 1: go out to a lot of different communities and the
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  Speaker 1: weather conditions.
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  Speaker 2: Are really quite extreme. We've got high humidity, high heat,
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  Speaker 2: but also this incredible landscape. And Wilkes is about.
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  Speaker 1: The strong climate uh, surviving, uh, in that, that harsh environment. Um,
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  Speaker 1: but also the, yeah, the, the beauty that's within that
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  Speaker 1: and that you can unlock if you really explore and
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  Speaker 1: sort of let, let yourself go in that environment.
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  Speaker 2: Something that's, that's really special. Yeah.
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: Sweet.
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: Um, moving on, we've got Curly. Is that about the bird?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is about the bird.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: The bird, uh, the Curly, it's, um, I'm not sure
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  Speaker 1: if you're familiar with its cry, but it.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: Sounds like a wailing cry. And that.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Was something that just thematically fit. The curlew is not
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: just in Darwin, it's a tropical bird. I know they're
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: on the east coast as well. But it's the cry,
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  Speaker 1: the haunting cry.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: It's like someone's being murdered. Yeah.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: There is that sense, like, in the communities, there is, sadly,
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  Speaker 1: a sense of hopelessness and there is.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: High amounts of domestic violence and.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: That bird just fit for, I guess, one of the
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  Speaker 1: underlying themes. The track itself is about the, again, about
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  Speaker 1: the weather up here, more specifically about the storms and
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  Speaker 1: how ferocious they can get and the respect that you
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: need to pay uh to them but also how they
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  Speaker 1: fuel the cycles of of of the wet season and
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  Speaker 1: um and the different you know cycles that the land
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  Speaker 1: goes through on a yearly basis and how it just
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  Speaker 1: repeats uh so that one is a bit of a
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  Speaker 1: tie-in we've got ricky mccandlish um from saving face on
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  Speaker 1: that one does a fantastic job and yeah he's um
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  Speaker 1: yeah always been a good mate of ours and a
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  Speaker 1: strong supporter of the band ricky um but yeah he's
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  Speaker 1: a he's.
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  Speaker 2: A great guest guest feature in that one very.
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  Speaker 4: Nice and we've already spoken about the pain we keep
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  Speaker 4: alive so the final one is the new way.
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  Speaker 1: New way yeah so the new ways is uh a
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  Speaker 1: kind of um look focused on on on listening to
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  Speaker 1: um or what what we think or what I think
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  Speaker 1: would help is that, and this is something that was
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  Speaker 1: raised in the closing the gap report you know it
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: happens annually and that is there just there needs to be.
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  Speaker 2: Legislative change in the way that.
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  Speaker 1: Help is addressed up here you do see a lot
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  Speaker 1: of spending of money but there is no there's in
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  Speaker 1: a lot of ways there's no accountability for that spending
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  Speaker 1: or how the results are being measured and the progress
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  Speaker 1: is slow it's not from a will of wanting to
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  Speaker 1: help there there certainly will um but there as as
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  Speaker 1: that report highlights is you know we need to be
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: more accountable and more focused and and that starts with
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  Speaker 1: with listening um the community-led initiatives are the ones that succeed.
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  Speaker 2: And that makes sense.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it gives people a voice that makes people
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  Speaker 1: feel important and that they're leading change in their community.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: And that's the lasting message.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Of the release that we want to, it's not, you know,
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  Speaker 1: although there is disparity and things are bad and it
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  Speaker 1: needs to come a long way, there is hope if
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  Speaker 1: we can refocus and do things the right way.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, cool.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: It's a pretty thorough wrap-up of the lyrical content of the.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: Album, guys.
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  Speaker 4: But how does the EP represent Vault Hill musically in 2026?
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: I think musically this time, because we all wrote it together,
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  Speaker 3: like instrumentally, like we get... Yeah, so Frankie's sort of
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: groove and his structure really sort of helped influence the riffs.
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: You've got me and Dino, who normally.
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  Speaker 3: Sort of come from a very sort of metalcore, you know,
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  Speaker 3: lots of very different influences as well from like, you know,
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  Speaker 3: various death metal and sort of, you know, grindcore and
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  Speaker 3: then also the Melbourne hardcore sound, sort of all just
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: sort of combining, coming together. And so it just felt
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  Speaker 3: like this EP just really flowed when we came to writing.
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: Um, yeah, I think it's more of an augmentation of,
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  Speaker 5: of all of us really.
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  Speaker 1: It sounds really matured with this one. We have, it
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  Speaker 1: has been two years. We have spent a lot of
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: time with these tracks. And, um, I think in that
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  Speaker 1: time we've all, we've all.
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  Speaker 2: Grown as, as musicians.
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  Speaker 1: Frankie's been a, uh, you know, our drummer, he's been
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  Speaker 1: a great, um, influence for us too in his musicianship
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  Speaker 1: and songwriting and that's something we've definitely delved more into.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: He's been a.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Lot more involved in the songwriting of this release. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: but it feels like a good solid step for us
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: and we're excited to get it out there.
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: The press release calls it your most ambitious work to date.
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  Speaker 4: Would you agree with that statement?
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  Speaker 5: Definitely.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's something that we've tried to push our
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: boundaries as far as we can, sort of in every way.
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  Speaker 5: Like we've tried some more faster technical stuff.
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  Speaker 3: We also try to really slow down, actually sort of
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  Speaker 3: put some, I guess, more traditional breakdowns and stuff in
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  Speaker 3: there as well. And then, yeah, push Morgz with, you know,
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: the lyrical content, but also his vocabilities as well.
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  Speaker 5: And then Crisp.
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  Speaker 3: From Monolith Studios comes along and just sort of mixes
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  Speaker 3: it all together. And yeah, there's a lot of his
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: ideas in there as well. Every time we work with him,
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  Speaker 3: it's almost like me and Dino sort of fight each
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: other to hand him the guitar or the bass first
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: when he.
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: Has an idea.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: And every time, like it just, he's very diplomatic as well.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: He'll turn to us and go, Hey, if you're not vibing,
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: just let me know. And we're always like, no, that's,
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: that's awesome.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, but I think also, as Morg said, having.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: Two years to spend with these songs and really explore them.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: We actually had it all written in Drop B, and
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: then we actually dropped it down to Drop A as well,
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: very near the end.
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: So sort of exploring heavier tunes as well, which has
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: been good. Yeah.
• 14:11
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I've spent a lot of time with the pre-production
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: and recording it, I think that that shows, um, in,
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: in the way that the tracks have come together, like
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: it's very well, you know, we've tried our best to,
• 14:26
  Speaker 6: to make a really thought out, uh, release and.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: It could just see all the things sort of coming together.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Uh, those little, uh, link ups, you know, even with just,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: you know, the naming and, um, uh, also the, the
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: way that the tracks flow into each other, um, for us, it's, yeah,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: definitely it's, it's new territory and we've, yeah, really tried
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: as much as we can to to make it as
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: strong as possible.
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah you guys know just as well as i do
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: that you can't release an ep and not promote the
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: hell out of it and show it off so you've
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: got any shows coming.
• 15:01
  Speaker 7: Up uh we do we can't sort of announce anything
• 15:06
  Speaker 7: yet um but let's just say shortly after the ep
• 15:08
  Speaker 7: drops there will be some dates in late november announced
• 15:12
  Speaker 7: yet Yeah, very cool.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: And that EP, The Modern Way, does drop on September 25th.
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: And as I was saying earlier, guys, it's a fucking
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: fantastic slab of metal. So congratulations and best of luck
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: with it. Where can people keep up with the band,
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: pre-order the EP and find out what you're playing?
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, all across our socials, but any major
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: streaming service as well. So, you know, your Spotify, Apple Music,
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: YouTube Music, even some of the smaller ones like Audio
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Mac as well. Yeah, so pre-orders will go live. Pretty much,
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: if you see a teaser video, you.
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: Can pre-order it. So, that'll be coming soon too.