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MUDHONEY: STEVE TURNER On Surviving Seattle Without Losing The Plot · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: For joining me here today at Heavy Mag.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Where are you based out of?
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I'm based on Gold Coast, northern New South Wales.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Okay, nice.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a beautiful part of the world. And what
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: about for yourself? Whereabouts are you at the moment?
• 0:17
  Speaker 4: I moved to Boise, Idaho about a year ago. But
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: I've spent the last almost 20 years in Portland, Oregon.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: And obviously before that, Seattle. Yeah.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Yes, and you are a member of the amazing, infamous,
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: epic band Mudhoney, who I'm very blessed to be chatting
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: with today. So it's a bit of an honor for me.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: I am a big grunge fan from back in the day.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: And as the good listeners here at Heavy know, you
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: guys are considered the OGs, the grandfathers of grunge, as
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: they call it.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Well, we might have been the first grunge band to
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: come to Australia, I think.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: We got there in 1990. So, yeah, but we still
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: think of ourselves as a punk band.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: So do you want to tell us a little bit
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: about the days, um, you know, back in, back in
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: the scene and in the hype of it all when
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: grunge hit and, you know, yourselves and Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: Well, you know, we started in 1988 and we got
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: records out, you know, before Nirvana or Pearl Jam and
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: we went on tour.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: So we were doing all right.
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: Already, you know, um, uh, you know, Nirvana was already
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: playing and you know by 89 they were playing shows
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: and we did shows together with nirvana you know we
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: all love nirvana you know yeah um when you know
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: their first record came out and that was great uh
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: in particular i love the song about a girl because
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: that's a poppier song like not as heavy sorry no.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: It's a beautiful song and i i'm a huge nirvana
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: fan and And as we know, Kurt was a massive
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: fan of you guys as well, which is a legacy.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: You know, Pearl Jam came out of the tragedy of
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: Mother Love Bone. But before that, me and Mark were
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: in the Green River with them, of course, with Stone
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: and Jeff.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: And, you know, I wasn't a huge fan of Pearl
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Jam when they started. I didn't understand what they were
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: trying to do. And, you know, I now love them.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: My girlfriend loves them and kind of made me pay
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: a little bit more attention to them. I mean, you know,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Stone's one of my oldest friends. You know, I love them.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: We have a funny relationship, me, Jeff, and Stone, where
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: we just agree to disagree about music for the most part.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: I think that's part of the maturity, isn't it? You
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: get a bit older and a bit wiser.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I text Stone all the time,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: I haven't seen Jeff for a little while just because I'm... Well,
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: I stopped skateboarding, so I don't see Jeff as much anymore.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Fair enough.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: But.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: Um, you know, I love those guys and, you know,
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: it was just so amazing to see your friends get
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: that successful, like kind of overnight.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, it was fast. It happened very fast. We
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: were doing fine.
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: You know, we were, you know, touring and, you know,
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: paying our bills, playing music, which was, you know, unheard
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: of for.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: A Seattle band.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: We were doing great. We had, we had no problems. And,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: but then they went just ballistic. And it just got
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: so comical in Seattle for a while. And, you know,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: I was like, I'm.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: Happy where I'm at. You know, I don't want to
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: be a rock star. I never wanted to be a
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: rock star or anything, you know. I just want to
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: play some music. And seeing my friends become that.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Kind of mega rock star thing, I was like, I
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: definitely don't want that. I want one paycheck. Just give
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: me one of your paychecks and I'll be happy.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Just a little bit. Shuffle up.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Just a little bit. But, you know, it was surreal
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: and ridiculous. And, you know, it was, I can't imagine
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: what it was like for them to go through that stuff. Yeah. Yeah.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Vedder had like that stalker that finally killed herself at
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: his gate.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: That was crazy.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: It was insanity. Yeah. Yeah. And so, I mean, obviously
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: there were some tragic things that happened through that time too,
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: you know? But I think that's just life, you know?
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: It is, it is, yeah.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: So, you know, we just kept doing our thing and
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: watching our friends and, you know, it was just, it
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: was surreal. And, you know, I think when Kurt died,
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: that was kind of the end of it, right?
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I think it's psychically, the world was
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: just like done with it.
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: So we kept going, but we had a harder time
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: to keep going at that point because people get sick
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: of Seattle.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: There's a great Smithereen song called Sick of Seattle.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I've heard that one.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the world was kind of sick of Seattle.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: And fair, you know, the next bands out of Seattle
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: that got popular were Harvey Danger and the Presidents of
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: the United States of America.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Oh, that was huge, wasn't it?
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Happier sound and we're friends of ours too you know
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: so it wasn't a problem you know but you know
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: we yeah the presence of united states of america got
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: together as a band at the house i lived in
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: at the time because i lived in a place in
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: finn and it was just a party we were jamming
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: and that's when the band formed this one night late
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: night you know drunkenly exactly i was like i was
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: there when that band formed yeah exactly um.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: But, you know, it was just a weird time, and
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: I kind of ignored most of it. You know, the
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: music I listen to is not, you know, that stuff necessarily.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: And Seattle had, in the mid-' 90s.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Seattle had such a great underground rock scene. Oh, it
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: was huge, wasn't it? It was massive. I was really
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: into it.
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and so, you know, I had a record label
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: at the time. I was putting out smaller bands, and,
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: you know, that was kind of my world. I didn't
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: see Soundgarden in the 90s, for example. I didn't see
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: Soundgarden again.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: I saw them in the 80s, and I saw them
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: when they reformed 15 years ago or whenever it was.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Did you see them as Audioslave or Temple of Dog
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: or just Soundgarden?
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: I never saw Temple of Dog. I never saw Audioslave.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: I saw Soundgarden. I mean, I was there at the beginning.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: So I saw Soundgarden when they were still a three-piece
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: with Chris on the drums and singing and Hero singing
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: a bunch of the songs. And that was great.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Because that was something that came about a bit later,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: didn't they?
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: Like from the first Surgeons.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: And I'm not sure if there's recordings from that early,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: early period of Soundgarden or not. You know, I haven't
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: thought of that.
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: Because they were sort of a post-punk band, like heavy
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: bass and really effective guitar and stuff. And Hero's voice
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: was great. You know, he sang like half the songs
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: from my memory. I could be wrong there, you know.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: But I think you're going to react correctly yeah.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah I don't know I mean I did a book
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: and I had to go back and read old fanzines
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: interviews with myself to remind myself what I was thinking back.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: In those days.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: Oh that's uh that's delightful but yeah it's it's kind
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: of I you know obviously for yourselves you know being
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: in the heart and the scene of it right there
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: I think you know for Australia with like that little
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: bit of delay soon after you know tragedy had struck
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: and what had happened, we were still reeling on that.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: You know, huge, massive Nirvana, you know, burst that came through.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: And, and, and then I think, you know, it was
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: really the birth of a, you know, so many different
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: angles out of like that, you know, core grunge scene. And,
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: you know, you had the whole, you know, female surgeons
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: as well, like Babes in Toyland, your breeders and all that,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, really stemmed from that too. And
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: of course, you know, Courtney, I'm a massive whole fan.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: I think she's absolutely, I think she's very underrated woman.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: You know, from the outside as a musician.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: I'm a huge Bikini Kill fan.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Yes, Bikini Kill. I love Bikini Kill.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: Because Bikini Kill, they became, they reformed into another band.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Am I thinking that correctly?
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: Some of those bands, like some of those members have
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: been in all sorts of other bands.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: They got back together a few years ago, you know. Yeah.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: The singer Kathleen is married to the Beastie Boy guy.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: Yes yes i'd love to see those guys play that
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: would be cool yeah.
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah yeah that you know we started coming to australia
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: in 1990 yeah and we were hugely influenced by a
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: lot of australian music okay you know 70s punk bands
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: from down there radio birdman the.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Saints yes of course yes yeah and 80s stuff uh.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: You know, the scientists are always, you know, we always
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: name check them as a huge influence, Kim Salmon.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I actually saw Kim play on the weekend, actually.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: It was very cool. It was really, it was definitely nostalgic. So, yeah,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: it was really cool.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: But we, you know, we became pals with, we were
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: big into Lubricated Goat and Feed Time, all these weird
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: underground things in Australia that, like, we were like, this
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: stuff is crazy.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: And when we first got down there in 1990, we met, like,
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: a lot of these people. Yeah.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: We're just like, we're hanging out with Kim Salmon.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: What?
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah. It's, um, it was wild to think that, you know,
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: someone of Kim's status and, you know, everything that he's
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: achieved was playing at the local bowls club here where
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: I live on a little beach side town.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: It was on a Sunday afternoon. My grandkids do it.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: It was very cool.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: So it was, they're working musicians, you know, all those things.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: We became really good friends, all the Beast of Bourbons members,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: you know, most of them.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: But, uh, Those were kind of our people, which is
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: funny because that is not my lifestyle that they lived.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: You know, but.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: I love Brian Henry Hooper, you know, like, yeah.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, we had some really, really out there. And
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: it was, you know, we say that that pub culture,
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: that pub rock is really, it was the birthplace of
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: a lot of that here. And it's, you know, you
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: guys are coming out to celebrate Z51.
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: With us later in October, which is coming up so quickly.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: But as you probably know, like the day before, Paul
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: was on range, you know, Sunny Boys and Spy vs.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: Spy and a whole bunch of other bands playing on
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: just a showcase day before.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: So that's very cool.
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: Sorry.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Well, Mark's been singing with the Saints, obviously. Yeah, yeah.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: He sang last year with them, which was very cool.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: And the Sunny Boys bass player is in the Saints
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: right now, right? I met him.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: But yeah, you know, the Saints were a huge influence
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: on us for sure.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: It's so sweet to think that we have someone's influence
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: in such an epic band as Mudhoney and yourselves.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: It's just, it's kind of nice. We like that. Yeah. So,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: so what's been happening, obviously you guys.
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: Have got, you know, your, your originals that you'll be
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: doing is you guys been working on some new music
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: as well, or is that just been by the, We.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Haven't come up with anything new lately.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: You know, our bass player is Australian guy and he's
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: moved back to Melbourne three years ago, maybe something like that.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: So we haven't made a record since, you know, right
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: after COVID we made a record that came out. And
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: I've been saying in my interviews today that my fantasy
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: is that we all just fly down to Melbourne and
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: record a record at some other point down the line
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: and do it down there with, you know, because I
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: want to spend three weeks in Melbourne.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: A nice excuse to spend some time.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: I love Melbourne. It's one of my favorite cities in
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: the world. Oh, nice. Why don't we just record down there?
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: There's some great studios and there's some great venues in Melbourne.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, he's pals with guys, you know, he's a
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: heavy hitter down there. He's pals with all the big
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: wigs and music like Mick Turner and stuff.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, nice.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: He could find a good studio for us to record it. Yeah.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: But that might not happen. You might just have to
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: go do it in Seattle again.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't know.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: I want to make another record. Yeah. And I'm feeling
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: itchy to like do another Mudhoney record.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: I live in Boise. Mark and Dan live in Seattle.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: The guy lives in Melbourne. So I wouldn't recommend we
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: come here to record a record to Boise. You know,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: I don't know anything about recording studios here.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: So. Yeah.
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: And well, the good thing about technology is that it
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: makes the world a very small place.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: And you see a lot of bands doing it.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: We're not the kind of people that like, you know,
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: email demos to each other and things like that.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: We have to be in the room together.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: We do music old school ways where we need the
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: four of us to be in the room together for
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: the most part.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: And I think, you know, that, you know, cause they
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: are two, as you know, two very different ways to,
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: go about recording music. And when you've got your band
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: members there, it's, you feed off that. And so it's
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: more representative of, you know, trying to kill it and
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: just be a bass solo.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: And it's just like, it's really hard without everyone else
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: doing it. Yeah.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: It's definitely, I have to agree. So, so that's exciting.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: So some new music potentially recording down in Australia.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: We, we want to, I know we want to do
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: another record and we can do a record. It's like,
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: is this the last one?
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Who's going to bow out first? No, because we're not young.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: I know, but you're not allowed to say ever.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: Like, Ozzy was a great, you know, example of, like,
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: how long you can do it until you can't no more.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: I'm too scared to go see ACDC play anymore because
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: I swear he's just going to drop dead in front
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: of me.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: I don't want to be a witness to that.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: I thought Brian Johnson had quit. I thought he had
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: had to retire.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: Angus, like he's so tiny and he's so frail now.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, he's going to die in front of me.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: And I don't want to see that.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: He's going to go out.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: That's a good way for, that's a good way for
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: him to go out.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely. It would be perfect.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: But yeah, he's, they're getting on, but they're still doing it. It's,
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: you know, I love, I really do. I really love
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: seeing that. And then, you know, I talked to some artists,
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: you know, in Europe, particularly where metal is just lifestyle
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: and they're like 80 year old and they're still going hard.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, okay, this is really cool. Cape Tamale?
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Sorry. Yeah, do it as long as you can. Like,
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Charlie Harper from the UK Subs, you know, legendary UK
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: punk band, he's 82. Wow. And he won't go on
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: tour anymore, but he'll still do shows occasionally. Okay, okay.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: And he's quite a healthy older.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: Man, you know, but, you know, he's just like, that
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: can't do a full tour anymore, you know, like, fair.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's fair, absolutely.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: Like, I seen Dead Kennedys last year, and I'm like,
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: East Bay's right, like, he's even getting on, but he's
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: still up there doing it, and then It's amazing. It's
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: just like, when do you guys stop?
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: Most of us in Mudhoney have hearing aids at this point.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: I don't.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: I wore earplugs.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: You wore earplugs there.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: So you're proofing to the old adage that it does
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: save your ears.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: It's not just our parents yelling at us, turn it down. No,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: there are times that it's definitely needed.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: And it's even with sometimes I've been to gigs with
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: them in and it's just like, ah, it's still too much.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: But yeah.
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: Well, if you're talking heavy, Sleep is one of those
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: bands that I saw live that I had earplugs in,
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: and I couldn't be in the same room with them.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: That was pretty much like the other weekend, yeah.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: I walked outside to the lobby and was trying to
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: talk to a couple of friends of mine. I was like, nope,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: it's too loud out here. I went outside of the building,
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: and it was still too loud, so I gave up
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: and rode my bike home. Absolutely.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: Sometimes it is too much it's um like this we
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: was at necro sonic festival and rivers of nile played
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: and the venue is great like it didn't like condense
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: it in so it was just like too much muffled
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: it would actually reverberate it's that full body body vibration
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: but it was very loud and um yeah my ears
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: were had a good assault on them for a few
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: days that we're recovering but that was with um my
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: loops in too so but yeah yeah it's hard It is,
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: but what an amazing show.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: It was great.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to lie. Like I do like it,
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: but I can't listen to it. I got to see
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: it live and experience that. So, um, but yeah, the, um,
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: you'll be happy to know that, uh, the Parklands where
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: you guys will be kicking off your tour is, uh,
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: it's an amphitheater and it is super loud.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: It is nice.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Which one? The Thornbury?
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Uh, no, no. In, um, Brisbane.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: So the, the Parklands where Z51 is going to be.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: I see that. Yeah. We're doing shows before that.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Sorry.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: That's not our first show.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so you're playing, is it just before Z51, or
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: are you, because it's part of your tour, or is
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: that the first one?
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're doing Melbourne, Torquay, Castleton, Ballarat, Manly, Sydney, Newcastle,
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: and then Z51.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: Oh, okay.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: So you're doing it all before. We're at the last
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: of the stop. I thought it was the other way around.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: That's my bad.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: I actually printed this out today for these interviews so
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: I knew what I was doing.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: And I got it wrong. Paul will kick my butt. No,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: that's cool.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: What a nice way to finish. It's definitely a great venue.
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: As I said, it's an amphitheatre outdoor and it's great sound.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Great sound. I'm doing Byron Bay. Oh, yeah, you are.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: That's near me. That's near my stomping ground.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Northern.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the northern back room.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: I saw Helmet play there earlier in the year, and
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: that was so.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Feral in all the right ways.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: There's so much testosterone in one room, I'm like, oh, wow.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: But it was great.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: I'm happy to see that they got the band back together.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: We used to play shows with them back in the
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: early 90s. Yeah, it was so cool. Yeah, that crowd.
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: Helmet is the band that, this will be funny, hopefully
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: they will laugh at this.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah. They're the band that I saw live, and I said,
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: that's it. We can never wear shorts on stage again.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: They still wear shorts.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: I know. But I was like, that's it. Rock and
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: rollers wear long pants.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: It's so funny.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: What's even funnier is when you see, like, these full
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: hardcore metal bands in shorts, and they look like they're
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: going to the gym. I'm like, they've just got control
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: over that old-fashioned. It's quite funny because it's not just
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: one or two. It seems to be definitely a theme
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: in fashion with those guys.
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: You know, when we started, you know, it gets bloody hard.
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: I was like, ah, can't, we can't wear shorts on stage.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: The drummer can wear shorts.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: That's the rule. The drummer is a lot harder, so
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: he can wear shorts.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: It was intense.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: I feel like our crowd is a little more mixed.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Like we have a lot of women that come to
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: our shows and when it was the first time A
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: woman came up to me and said that she was
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: a grandmother and she was younger than me. I'm like, oh, fuck.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: I'm a nana. I've got two grandbabies.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: I know. Yeah, see? Yeah. And that's awesome. I've got kids.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: I'm all for it. But I was like, oh, okay.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: We've entered a different area, a different space.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Oh, I know.
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: I planned it to have the midlife crisis over and
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: done with because I can ride a motorbike and play
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: in a band and all that stuff.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: My kid was born when I was 39.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: My first was born when I was 20. So yeah.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: He's 21 now. He's got a bright red mohawk.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah. That's cool. You raised him well.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: And my baby's 20. So yeah. But they're, I don't
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: understand them. They're just different. They vibrate on a different level.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: That's for sure. But they are good kids. But yeah,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: I know that some, that's why it's just unpleasant.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: Music as well he yeah he sings in a punk
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: band oh so cool i think he might sing in
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: two punk bands right now you know he still lives
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: in portland you know i haven't seen for a couple
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: of months so you know things change fast with kids
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: that age so i'm not sure if he still has
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: two bands or one band.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's so true. Everything is just such a
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: fast pace for them these days, for sure. And so
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: do you find with yourselves, though, that your fans, obviously
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: you've got your OG fans, but the younger fan base
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: is coming through?
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Oh, definitely. Yeah.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: Because that's been happening since the 90s because, you know,
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: our connection to Nirvana and Pearl Jam and stuff.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Of course, yeah.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: You know, we always had curious kids coming to our
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: shows that were dressed just like Kurt Cobain.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: I was one of them.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: What we called them all the time, we just called
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: them the sad Cobain's because they would.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Like, Flannel had a comeback.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: Flannel had a massive comeback and Doc Martens. And, and yeah, see,
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: there you go. And cargo pants. So, you know, the
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: grunge era has got a lot to, and it's stayed tradition.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: It hasn't really changed.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Like the metal, you know, I dressed like I was
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: living in the sixties back in the eighties.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: It was a bit, I think that was a weird
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: thing that we did too. When we were teenagers, we
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: just like tied out hippies and, you know, peace, love.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: And mung beans.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: I don't know if it was a teenage thing, which
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: is part of, it was very Northern rivers, put it
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: that way.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: It's like, you know, things are in 20 year cycles.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: You know?
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's true.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: A little bit late. Maybe, you know, I don't know
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: what's going on.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: There, but, uh, And I think the 90s are sort
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: of on their, they're still, they're having that comeback, which
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: is sort of, you know, it's come and gone, I think,
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: you know. And I guess, you know, in different areas too,
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: like music, fashion, you know, they have their, I don't
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: cycle on the same rotation, I don't think.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: But, yeah, no, I'm.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: Feeling like, you know, things that, and just kids discovering
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: 90s music, like on Spotify and thinking that it's brand
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: new is hilarious.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: And it's like, it's, you know, that's so well, I'm
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: loving it. It's great. It's, yeah.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: You know, that's one of the few things that that
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: kind of technology has been really good for.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: You find yourself on a random playlist. Yeah.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: It's really cool. Cause like my son is just, I mean,
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: you know, he's my son. So, you know, I, I
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: raised my boys by myself basically.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: And you know, cause he was in the house with
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: me all the time and listening to my music and
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: he was a skateboarder and stuff. And so he got
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: really into like that old punk rock from the eighties
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: and he's kind of stayed there for a while, but
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: he got really into folk punk. last few years like
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: kind of folk punk bands like that i think are
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: terrible you know but it's just fine like i'm not
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: supposed to like your music dude.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: That's funny your music is.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: Supposed to offend me i'm your dad but uh you
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: know but he's so knowledgeable and it's i swear it's youtube.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah yes yes i'll throw weird obscure names of stuff
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: to him and he's like, oh yeah, I watched a
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: documentary about that guy.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: I'm like, how? It's like a YouTube. I'm like, oh, okay.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: No, you're right. It's quite interesting.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: It's like these, they're, they're so, you know, young and,
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: you know, untouched in a lot of ways, but so
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: old and wise than others because they have that knowledge base.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's, it is quite a bizarre mix, isn't it?
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: The music thing, because I'm a record collector, obviously.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: I can see. The resurgence of vinyl, how wonderful.
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: But, you know, they view music differently, you know, my kids,
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: where it's song by song and they just find it online.
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: And so it's not album-oriented or anything like that, you know.
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: It's just like, I like that song, so I will
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: listen to that song. And it's a different point of view.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: And it's totally valid to me. I'm like, okay, that
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: makes sense, you know.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've never heard of it like that.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: But that's true.
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: Like, you know, we had to wait until CDs come
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: out before we could have an instant song because, was like,
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: you know, play the tape or the cassette or the
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: vinyl until it got to a certain part of that,
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: you know, everything went in an order.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: And so you knew what would come next.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: And, yeah, that's interesting.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's totally valid the way young people
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: listen to music.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Oh, definitely.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: They find a song they.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: Like and, like, they're not as encumbered by genres and
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: things like that.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: It's just whatever they like. That sounds good. I like that.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: Cause I guess, you know, with like an album as
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: such for a band, like it's got a certain sound, like,
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: you know, predominant throughout and there might be one song
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: that's a little bit different than they go and they
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: lock in on that, which, you know, really explain, yeah,
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: definitely coming from it for fresh years, not ever heard
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: anything before.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: And they get that hit straight away, which is really cool.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Right. But, um, as a musician, you know, we spent
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: a lot of time thinking about the order of the
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: songs on the record and the flow of the record
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: and that kind of thing. And that's just not very
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: important to the kids anymore. It doesn't matter. You know,
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: it's not album, you know, so it's just a different
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: way of looking at it and it's different technologies. So
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: it's like, okay.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: But I, I definitely love the, their comeback of vinyl. It's, um,
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: it's been very, most, I knew you guys, I'm obviously
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: putting out vinyl.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Um, always.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I, when I was living in Portland,
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: I worked at a record pressing plant for three years.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Wow. That would be fun.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: I have a radio show here in Boise on Radio
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: Boise that I only play vinyl on.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's cool.
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: One of my dear friends, um, catch from the band,
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: the resin dogs, he's a vinyl only DJ and his
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: house looks very similar to yours.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: He's got everywhere, just wall to wall.
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: And, um, so when you get, he's like, it's heavy.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: He's got his crate of like vinyls that he has
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: to date with him. Cause it's, you know, I, ultimate respect.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've always been a vinyl guy.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: I love 7-inch records, which I don't have any in
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: this room.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're very popular.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's usually what I was only playing.
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: And then that gets too hard because the songs are
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: like two minutes long and you've got to queue up
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: the next one and it's a.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Lot of work.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: Well, they're quite popular because, I mean, obviously they're cheaper
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: to press. But, you know, you can have the four
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: tracks that you can just put out a 7-inch and,
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: you know, that can be the start rather than having,
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: you know, a 10 for a full EP. You see
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: a lot of bands doing the 7-inch, which is very cool.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, actually, we're doing an Australian tour of Seven Inch. Oh, nice.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Yes, I did see that. Yes.
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: It's only available online, isn't it? And what songs that
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: you are going to have that on there?
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: We have a Billy Childish song called Sally Sensation on
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: one side.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: Nice. And an old Texas punk band song called Really Red.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: But the song is called, what is it? I guess
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Had It. It's from Really Red. Aim Tastes Good. That's
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: what it is. Aim Tastes Good. Aim was an old
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: toothpaste brand.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Yes, Aim. Yeah, the Aim toothpaste with the stripes. I
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: do remember.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, those are the two songs on the 7-inch that
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: we're doing.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's funny. And where did that name come from?
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: It's going to be available down in Australia. And if
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: we have any left, we'll take them to New Zealand too.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: So they're going to be available for gigs on your
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: tour around.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: Nice, nice, nice. Hopefully you'll still have some left by Z50.
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: I imagine they will be very popular and they will
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: no doubt be a sell.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: Well, look, thank you so much for coming and having
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: a chat with us today at Heavy Steak. It has
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: been an absolute genuine pleasure. And I feel very blessed
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: to have met yourself and have a chat. And we'll
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: definitely be seeing you at Z51. And we'll catch up
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: and hang out and see what all the other goodness
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: the bands will bring.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: It's going to be a great day. So looking forward
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: to it. It's going to be awesome.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Excellent.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: So good luck with your tour when it kicks off
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: and you come out here and enjoy the rest of
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: your evening.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: I think it is over there, is it?
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: It's becoming evening. What time is it? It's 5.32. It's
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: becoming dinner time.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: There we go. It's 9.32. I need another coffee at
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: the start of the day.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: You take care and we will chat soon. Thank you
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: so kindly.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: Bye.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: Yep. Bye.