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The Calm Before The Storm With JOE HENLEY From DHARMA · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Joe, a vocalist from Dharma. We're coming
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: down to Australia for a couple of dates in November
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: and however ninth we're playing Froth and Fury and Adelaide
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and then we're playing Max Watts in Melbourne with Pestilence
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: on Sunday the tenth. So we hope to see you
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: all there. It's Buddhist death metal. If you've never heard
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: it before, come down, check it out, see what we're
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: all about. We hope you like it.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Thank Jay, thanks for joining us today.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Rather thanks man, it's a pleasure. It's a pleasure to
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: finally get to talk to you.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Sorry it took so long. Maybe I had a couple
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: of little hiccups there, but we're here now.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: It's all good, man, it's all good. You can't control
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the weather no matter how hard you try, man.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: And it rides John for a good cup of ice too.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: It was terrible, Yeah, that's brutal. We just had a
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: typhoon here going through here as well, so that probably
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: would have reaked havoc with it anyway, So it's all good.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Wait as man, So, as you mentioned, yeah, I'm a
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: hit Australia next month for two shows, only, stopping in
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: Adelaide for Froth and Fury Festival on November the ninth,
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: before heading to Melbourne. The following data support Pestilents Mate Like,
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: it's a short and sweet visit, but you you're not
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: gonna have a couple of good shows a area.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, man, Like, I mean, it's we're just kind of
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: dipping our toes in the waters. It's our first time
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: down there. We've we've wanted to get down to Australia
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: just for so long, and finally the cards aligne Like.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: We ended up getting involved with Bleeding Art Collective and
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Greg Shaw who is based out of Australia and so
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: he had the hookup. He had the connects with Jason
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: North at Froth and Fury. So shout out to Jason
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: for taking us on. You know, being a new band,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: it's it's always a bit of a gamble, you know,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: for people to take a chance on us. So we
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: don't take that lightly lightly. So we're gonna come down
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: there and we're gonna just rage for two days. Man,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: We're gonna leave. We're gonna leave. We're gonna leave with
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: nothing left in the tank. We're gonna go down there
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: and just hopefully level the place and hopefully makes some
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: new friends, makes some new fans as well.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Hey, when you're on a tool on this, you're coming
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: to Stripe, like you said, so you talk to people
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: and get an idea or what to expect it. Would
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: you rather just come here and make it up as
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: you guys.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Rather just hit the ground running, man? Like, I think
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: we have a little bit of an idea of what
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: to expect. We know, we know fans down there are passionate.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: We know they we know they like the party, we
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: know they like to get down in the pit and
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: all that. Man. So I mean, we have an idea.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: But you know, it's always nice to be surprised too.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: You don't want to know too much, you don't want
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: to know everything. It's always nice to go in there
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: and just let the people do what they do and
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: you know, blow you away a little bit. And that
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: that always happens no matter where we go. There's always
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: some sort of surprise. And I know, I know Australia
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: is not going to let us down. I know the
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: people there are going to only going to exceed our expectations,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: and we have some pretty high expectations. So I don't
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: say that lightly either, But I know this is going
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: to be huge. It is going to be big, the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: fest and the show, the show with Pestilence, It's gonna
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: be massive. I know the people they are going to
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: bring it.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, now it brought through Fury. It's a massive show.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Mate, like you got Bee Factory, north Land Bayout, His Murder, Psycroptic,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: and heaps more. Man, But are there any bands in
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: particular that you really want to see while you're at it?
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Definitely want to catch the I art as Murder because
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: they came up here a while back and I missed it.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I was out of town. I really wanted to go
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: to the show. I'm like, man, when's the next time
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: I'm going to get to see them again? And lo
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: and behold, they're on the bill for this one. So
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I got to catch them Beer Factory for sure, just
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: because they're absolute. They're absolute legends. And again, like they
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: had been supposed to come to Taiwan, like I don't know,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: fifteen years ago and for some reason the show got canceled.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: I'm like, again, man, like, when am I going to
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: get Chancey Fear Factory again? They're on the bill too.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: So those two for sure. I've been saying it. I've
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: done a few of these interviews, like promoting this little
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: tour in Australia, this little Johnt I keep saying test Egals.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I didn't know anything about them before, but the name,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: like you can't see that name and not like check
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: it out. So I check that out. Gotta go see
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: test E Goals an not the one I haven't mentioned
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: in interviews yet, but legends from the punk scene. They're
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: the hard Ons. I got to see the hard Ons.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Well sure not in the line.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: You go to see the hot.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Ons and it's I see, it's like a reunion, like
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: they're getting back for like one show only. So if
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: you don't see him now, when you're gonna get the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: chance to see him again. So those those ones for sure.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: But like I've said before, and and these other little
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: chats I've had, like up and down the bill, you
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: can't go wrong all day long. So it's gonna be huge,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: and I'm gonna be when we're not playing, I'm just
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: gonna be running back and forth like all three stages
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: all day long. I'm gonna leave dehydrated and probably with
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: a bit of a sunburn and a big ass smile
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: on my face. I know that much there.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: Anybody listen, this is going to be at the show,
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: and make sure if you see you running by you
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: and you bottle of water.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Have me a bottle of water. And don't if you
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: see me looking like the loves or just don't slap
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: me on the back because I'll scream. I'll scream like
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: a little girl. I guarantee it.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: So you sort of touch with us a little bit before, Brian,
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: but you're played with pestil once the night after. So
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: how different are the two show is going to be
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: like ones that are at a festival in that environment
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: and the other ones at a music club for a
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: specific purpose.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Like are they going to be different sets?
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: It's going to be the same set, same set both nights,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: I believe, Beau. I think we've got the same amount
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: of time for both. I think it's about thirty minute
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: set for each each show. So we're going to prepare
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: the same set. But you know it's a different environment.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: You know, you've got the festival environment where it's a
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: bigger crowd. It's a different kind of vibe, the energy
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: is different. You're you're a little bit farther away from
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: people too. That's a that's the only thing that you
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: might call it downside to a festival environment, you don't
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: get that like right up posts and personal thing. Then
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: the club show you get people right up front. You're
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: sweating on each other, you're bleeding on each other, you're
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: screaming in each other's faces. So it's a different type
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: of energy. They're both good in their own way. So
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: I like the fact that we're just going to come
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: down there rage for these two shows. But we kind
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: of get the best of both worlds. You get the
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: huge festival vibe, big stage energy, big act energy, and
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: then we get the privilege of performing with the legends
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: in Pestilence, something I never would have imagined, Like fifteen
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: year old me is freaking out right now. But we
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: get to do it in the club setting. You know,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: you get the people right up front, and you know,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: we just hope people come out early, check us out,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: get up to the front, get in the pit, and
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: give us a shot. You won't be let down.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: I've never actually thought as this one before, right, but
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: like from a band point of view, like you're coming
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: out of here and not a great deal of people
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: know the band. So do you find you get more
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: fans from a festival with like an eclectic audience there
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: watching different bands kind of say pestil Instid You've got
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: a shitlight of people there, but they're sort of all
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: there for the one reason.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: I think there's a chance for both. Definitely the festival,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: you know, it's a wider it's a wider audience, it's
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: a more diverse audience. You know, some people might be
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: there more for the punk show, for the punk band.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Some might be there more for like the more mainstream acts,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: the more sing songy type of vibe. Some people might
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: be there more for like the brutal acts. And I
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: think our band, we've got a little bit of everything
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: to offer two people, so hopefully we can draw people
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: from all those different audiences and kind of make them
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: a part of our tribe. That's the goal. Anyway, to
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: go there to the festival and in the club setting,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: again it's a different sort of opportunity, but where people
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: get a chance to get closer to you, and where
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: there's an environment where there's less people, where maybe they
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: can come up and feel more free to have a
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: chat with you after the show, talk to you. That's
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: always really nice because you get more of a chance
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: just to spend time with people. And it's not only
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: the music that draws you, and you know they're drawn
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: to the personalities in the band too, so it gives
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: them a chance to talk to you, see what you're
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: all about, learn a little bit. We learn a little
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: bit about them, they learn a little bit about us.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: So different sorts of opportunities, but they are both absolutely
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: opportunities for us to hopefully win some people over and
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: just get to know people. I mean, this whole thing
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: that we do, this extreme metal thing, it's not about money,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: it's not about definitely not about fame, but it is
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: about people. The whole thing that's kept me going for
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: twenty years doing this is I go someplace, I play
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: a show, I walk away with at least four or
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: five like people that I'm going to know for years
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: down the road. And if I'm coming into your town,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: I can say, hey, buddy, like, can I crash on
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: your couch? Can we hang out? Go see the sites?
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: And it's vice versa. They coming through TYPEI, I'll show
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: them around, I'll play host, I'll you know, take him
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: out for a meal, show him the good spots. So
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's what it's all about. At the end
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: of the day.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Now speak to Lennon Brilight.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: But a benefit of people that might not be too
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: familiar with Dominic, just give us a brief history of
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: the band.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Brief history, Okay, let me let me cram twenty years
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: into two minutes. I've known I've known Jack, our drummer,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: for like I say, about twenty years. We've been playing
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: in bands for that whole time, different bands. We had
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: a death metal band for a number of years, we
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: had a grindcore band for a number of years, and
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: then a few years ago it was his idea to
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: start up Dharma. He had always he's been a devout
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Buddhist his entire life since birth, and he always wanted
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to kind of meld the two worlds of Buddhism as
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: an extreme metal He just had trouble finding people who
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: could kind of share the vision. And finally, just a
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: few years ago, through his connections with various bands that
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: he's played in, he took Andy from Demise, a death
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: metal band that he'd played, and he took me from
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Revilement and Stench of Loft, both bands that he had
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: played him and a few other friends from other groups,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: and he was finally able to get some demos done
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: and convince people that yeah, this can work. We can
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: do kind of kind of like what Nile did with
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: like Egyptology and Middle Eastern sort of vibes and music
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: and history and do that with Buddhism and death metal.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: And he got the demos done, was able to show
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: those around. We took them around to the Buddhist community,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: like the temples, kind of like did almost like a
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: presentation like this is what death metal is. Like here's
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Cannibal Corpse, Here's Behemoth, here's Nile, this is what it
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: sounds like, this is what we want to do. Play
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: the mar demos, and the authorities, the higher ups in
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: these Buddhist organizations and temples, thankfully, they went for it.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: They were actually like they sat there and they seriously
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: considered it. They listen to it, and they said, yeah,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: you have our blessing to go ahead and do it.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: So with that we just started playing shows. Our first
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: show was with Marduk from Sweden, so that was the
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: diverse bill. You had the Satanists and the Buddhist just
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: playing on the same bill, same stage, so that that
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: was an interesting start and which has been rolling ever since,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: playing a lot in Taiwan and also getting out to India,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Hong Kong, Japan and now down to Australia.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: Live shows have been described as fascinating and brutal. You
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: think that's a pretty fair assessment.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: I like that, Yeah, fascinating. I hope, I hope it's
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: interesting for people because we do take we present it
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: like a ritual, like a ceremony. It's not unlike it's
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: basically like if you go to a Buddhist temple and
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: a death metal show broke out. So we have Master
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: mel beIN which as she's been a nun for the
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: better part thirty years, and she is on backup vocals
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: and a few other instruments with us. She's kind of
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: like the MC of the whole thing. She begins the
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: show with the blessing for all of the people there,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: which she sings out for the crowd, and we then
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: we dive into the set list, which is if people
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: are not familiar with our songs, all our songs are
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: the original like Buddhist sutras and mantras in Sanskrit, and
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: some of them we sing also in Chinese and we
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: just make death metal songs out of them. So in
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: between those, Master Melvin has her own kind of solo
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: spots where she's again singing the intros to the songs.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: She's on backing vocals for some of the songs, and yeah,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: the music. I mean, we're all lifelong hardcore life for
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: metal heads. So it's not Barbara streisand I'll say that much.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: It's not. It's brutal. It's brutal. I hope. I hope
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: people walk away say, yeah, that was brutal, but I
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: hope they're also intrigued in a way. We're not coming
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: to convert people. We're not coming there to say, oh, yeah,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: you should adopt our beliefs. It's a concert, it's a show.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: It's about having a good times. It's about feeling better
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: when you leave than when you came in. That's what
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: we hope. But we also hope that we expose you
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: to something a little bit different than if you went
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: to see any other sort of any other sort of band,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: just through absorbing the culture that we have here in Taiwan,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: and some aspects of Buddhist pomp and ceremony as well.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Now you mentioned that you take the Buddhist searchers and
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: the mantras and any can bond with the death metal.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: But is that an easy process?
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: So I went when these things were first done, like
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: they would never have been emerged, to go with death metal.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: So is it easy to Melton?
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: It was a challenge, not so much for me, but
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: for Andy Andy Lynne on guitar, he's our main songwriter now.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Fortunately for him, he grew up in the environment. His
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: family actually runs a temple in Nanto in central Taiwan,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: way up in the mountains, so he was born into this.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: He was surrounded by all of this music and all
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: of this culture since birth, so he's very well steeped
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: in the knowledge and the history and also the musical
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: traditions of Buddhism and Taoism. So it was at least
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: somewhat natural for him to take death metal, which he
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: got into later, maybe his early preteen years or teenage years,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: and to try and bring these two things together. It
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: was still daunting because you're looking to maintain the traditions
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: but also do something in entirely new, and to do
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: those two things at the same time, it's antithetical, it's
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: it's anathema. It's it's it's hard. It's really it's really
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: hard to do. In short, so I think it was
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: daunting for him. But as we've been rolling along, it's
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: slowly becoming something more natural, as we find our sound
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: and fine tune it and try to find a way
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: to kind of make it fifty to fifty, you know,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: like you've got the tradition, but you're also trying to
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: do something entirely new with it. Neither of those things
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: are easy, but we're slowly slowly getting the hang of
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: this thing.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: I sort of to sub down with it, Ossius person,
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: because that I wanted to come across the wrong way.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Bry.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: But did do you find that the traditionalists get upset
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: by what you're doing?
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: No? And then I don't mind that question at all.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: It's so far we've found the traditionalists. Are you talking
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: about like traditionalists in the metal sense or in the
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: this sense of the faith? Since? No, Actually they've they've
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: actually been very welcoming and open minded Buddhism in general.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: It's not so much of a closed minded, fundamentalist sort
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: of sort of vibe within some of the sutras. There's
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: even lines where if you translate them. It says you
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: can sing the praises of the Buddha in many ways.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: So and this is something that this is a tradition
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: that goes back thousands of years. It's something that's bred
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: into the dna of Buddhism. And even when I first
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: started in the band, of course we have a nun
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: in the band. It doesn't get much more traditional than
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: that when it comes to Buddhism. And when I first joined,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: I was not yet a Buddhist practitioner, and I was
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: still kind of steeped in the old ways of well,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: just my lifestyle, like I was a drinker, I was
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: a partier. I was looking for a change to that,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: but I was still very much doing all that. And
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: I just asked her straight up, does that matter? Does
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: that bother you? And she told me what matters most
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: is what is in your heart, your intention. Everything else
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: will follow from that. And I think that's sort of
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: the attitude that has prevailed everywhere else as well among
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: people who might con consider themselves more traditional, more for
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: lack of a better word, like fundamentalists. They see what
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: our intention is. It's not something we're doing for attention.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: It's not something we're doing because we think it's, for
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: lack of a better word, it's just something that's going
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: to just draw attention to ourselves. It's not attention seeking behavior.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: It's something that comes from a place of purity. It
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: comes from pure motivation. So I think they can see that.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: I think that comes through and what we do and
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: how we conduct ourselves. So the backlash so far, thanks
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: has been minimal. There are other acts out there who
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: have combined, like DJing and Buddhism and pop music and Buddhism,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: there has been backlash here and there against them for
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: some reason. The Weird death metal band has escaped that
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: for some reason. I'm just I'm not going to question it.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I'm going to knock on I'm going to knock on
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: my wooden desk here right beside me, just in case.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: But so far, so good.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: While I was doing a bit of research, but I
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: came across the story that said, you've had people at
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: your shows crowdsurfing in the lotus position.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Is that actually yeah.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that like this is not something that we
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: told people to do, Like, we didn't know how people
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: were going to react at first from the get go,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: from the jump, we had no idea. But the very
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: first show that one we did with Marduk this this
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: guy jumped up and the crowdsurfing as normal, and then
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: he just sprung into the lotus position and it became
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: a thing. It just became something that people do at
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: our shows. It became like our version of like a
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: at am on a Marth show, like people like jump
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: down and start rowing the boat, which is awesome. It
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: became like our kind of smaller scale version of that.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: So now pretty much every show, without fail, we'll see
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: like a number of people. If that happens in Australia,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: I'm going to just lose it. Like it's gonna like, please,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: if anybody's hearing this and you're wondering if you should, yes,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: you definitely should jump up there in the lotus position. Uh.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: It makes us feel at home, It makes us, it
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: gives it. It puts a smile on our face and
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: you know, hopefully on the faces of everybody else as well.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: It's it's a fun thing, you know, it's it's our
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: own thing. It's it's been really nice to see that.
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: Wait have before, like you guy started a new segment
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: of Bomb and basically I just troll three social media.
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: Before I talk to you, not picking out a couple
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: of fight eys and I ask you talk about him
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: like no Waly the funniest sort of one spent off
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: time across the free from you guys that I reckon
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: have some really cool stories with him to say, let's
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: start on this one.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: What's happening today?
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: This was a show. Actually I didn't play this show.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: I had. I had come back from Canada. This is
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: a New Year's Eve show. We played it at Temple
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: way up in the mountains, and I had gone home
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: for Christmas to Canada and I got COVID, so I
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: came back and I was just kind of all still
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: messed up. My throat was bad. I had trouble breathing.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: So a friend of mine from a band called dark Ribadus,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: who you can see in the middle there. He's all
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: black in darkness and shadow, but his name is Kenneth.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: He's a he's a sick vocalist, and he saved the show.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: He jumped in short notice and he played the show.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: So they went up there to the mountain to the temple,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: played the show to a few hundred people, and then
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: it being New Year's Eve, there was a massive traffic
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: jam down the mountain, so it was about a twenty
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: minute trip up in about a four hour trip down.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: So COVID saved me from a traffic nightmare that night
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: that New Year's Eve while I sat at home and
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: struggled to breathe.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: Very cool, all right. Next one I've got is that
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: one what's got on night?
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: That's our drummer. That's Jack starting off this show. That
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: looks like when we played a big festival down in
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Galashan called Megaport. Now this was at a not quite
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: an arena, but at like this huge concert hall where
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: you can get about five thousand people in there, and
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: we had no idea how many people were going to
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: show up. So we were standing outside by the bay
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: doors outside before some of the guys were having a smoke.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: We're just chilling out, getting ready. Let me see people
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: walking towards the entrance, just kind of streaming towards it.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: And it was an outdoor festival mostly, so we thought, okay,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: maybe people are just going inside for some see they
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: just want to cool off, and then we'll go to
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: the other outdoor stages. And then when we went on
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: this is Jack going out there first to start off
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: the ceremony by playing some beats on the wooden frog.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: It's called if he translated into English, and he's lighting
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: the incense there beside him. You can see as well,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: which we light before our performance. The place was packed.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Five thousand people came to see us on that stage.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: So he's got his back to the audience. Here he's
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: prostrating himself before. You can't really see it, but the
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: visuals there are an image of the gotta tell about Buddha,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: which we pray to before our performance. So this is
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: just before what to date, hopefully before for Off and
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Fury is our largest performance ever.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: Very cool, and I've got one more for you. This
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: one is beautiful fighter I trust going on.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: This is Jack's mother ship of a drum set that
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: he lugs around everywhere with him. This is the bane
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: of our overweight charges for overseas shows. This is this
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: is why we're paying those overweight fees, because that's a
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: that's a huge gong that he strikes before usually the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: song that is first in our set list. I think
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: he actually he hits that thing once, so we carry
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: this thing all over the world. Now it's massive weighs.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: I don't even know how many kilograms. I just know
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the airlines love us because we end up having to
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: pay more for it. But you know, it's it's an
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: important part of the visuals of the performance, and it
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: kicks off the show. Once you hear that gong, you
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: know we're not messing around. It resonates it. You feel
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: it rattling in your skull, and it's kind of like
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the it's kind of like the starter's gun for me personally,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Like it's it's almost like it flips a switch in
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: my head that says it's it's go time. Let's let's
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: level this place. Let's let's go out there and if
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: it's a new audience, let's win these people over, let's
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: leave them one more. So that's uh, you're gonna see
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: it when we're down there in Adelaide and Melbourne. We're
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: gonna lug it all the way down there. We're gonna
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: carry it all the way back. So it's uh, come
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: come check it out. It's a sight to see, I'll
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: tell you that much.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Right all right, jer Well, thanks very much for your time, mate.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: It's been an absolutely pleasure getting to know you, brodam
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: of all be in Australia two dates only, November, the
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: night that Brother and Fury and Adelaide following nights supporting
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: pestilence in Melbourne. So hopefully it goes well for you, mate,
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: and you come back here soon and come visit the
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: rest of us Shia.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Thanks man. We look forward to it and we'll see
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: you all down there