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Spread The ASHES : Five Albums Deep TUNGSTEN Headline Europe Tour · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Finally.
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  Speaker 2: I'm fine.
• 0:03
  Speaker 3: And you? I'm good.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: It's Friday evening here, so I'm getting sorted to head
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: out for some drinks very soon.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: You're in Australia, right?
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: That's right, yes.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: It's still not even lunch yet. It's 11.40 a.m. here,
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  Speaker 3: so I still have to wait a few hours before
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: time is a beer o'clock.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: It's always five o'clock somewhere. Wasn't that Slash? Who had
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  Speaker 1: that album, Five O'Clock Somewhere? Slash the Snake Pit? Slash
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  Speaker 1: the Snake Pit, the band.
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  Speaker 2: He was in a band and he had an album
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  Speaker 2: called Five O'Clock Somewhere. It was great.
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  Speaker 3: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: So welcome to Heavy Mag. You are Mike from Tungsten.
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  Speaker 1: So you guys have, yeah, had some exciting stuff happen recently.
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  Speaker 1: Do you want to tell the good listeners here in
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  Speaker 1: Heavy a little bit about what's been happening for yourselves?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, we have a new album coming out in October,
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  Speaker 3: so we are really excited to– released the whole thing,
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  Speaker 3: so to speak. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Nice. Nice. And so what, um, number album is this
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  Speaker 2: for yourselves?
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  Speaker 3: Uh, the fifth.
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  Speaker 2: Fifth.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Nice. Nice. And, um, would you, how do you describe it?
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  Speaker 1: I guess, musically compared to previous albums that Thompson have done,
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  Speaker 1: is it similar or something different direction you've taken?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's a natural progression and continuation from
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  Speaker 3: the grand Inferno. I mean, uh, Ever since the first
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  Speaker 3: album back in 2019, We Will Rise, we have tried
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  Speaker 3: to broaden our musical limits, but still keeping one foot
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  Speaker 3: left in this folk power metal-ish style. But we like
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  Speaker 3: to evolve, but still keep the tungsten sound, so to speak.
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  Speaker 3: So I think Ashes is yet another album where we
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  Speaker 3: push the boundaries a little bit more. It might be
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  Speaker 3: a little bit more industrial this time, but still not.
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  Speaker 3: Maybe it's still modern power metal, melodic, but lots of
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  Speaker 3: variations in there in the way that I think we
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  Speaker 3: have established the last years.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. And that's how you would describe yourselves, is
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  Speaker 2: like power metal, more.
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  Speaker 3: Anthemic metal. I think Anders, our drummer, came up with
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  Speaker 3: that name, anthemic metal. Yeah. I think... But, I mean,
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  Speaker 3: we have industrial metal, there's modern power metal, melodic metal,
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  Speaker 3: even hard rock. So, Tungsten is quite musically broad, in
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  Speaker 3: my opinion. Yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And I guess that keeps it, you know, always interesting
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  Speaker 1: when you can experiment with new sound and different sounds
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  Speaker 1: and you can play scientists with your own music, so
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  Speaker 1: to speak. We can cut bits and pieces off and experiment.
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  Speaker 1: It's where the good stuff comes from.
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  Speaker 2: So, you guys... Sorry, go on.
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  Speaker 3: No, no, it's like, I mean, if you stick to
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  Speaker 3: one kind of sound, it will get boring in time.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I think it will be harder to survive
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  Speaker 3: as a band when you release the same kind of album.
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  Speaker 3: Even if the albums are good, at some point people
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  Speaker 3: might get bored. I don't think... So that's why we
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  Speaker 3: try not abandoning previous styles, because tungsten is tungsten. But yeah,
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  Speaker 3: broadening the... musical views it's never a bad.
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  Speaker 1: Thing i think no i absolutely agree and i guess
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  Speaker 1: your fans are you know enjoy that sort of stuff
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  Speaker 1: if it is received well they um keep wanting to
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  Speaker 1: do more so um so yeah with the album that
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  Speaker 1: comes out um you know almost gonna say next month
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  Speaker 1: but it's in a couple of days we're in october
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: isn't it it's come around so quick yeah yeah summer
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  Speaker 1: yeah oh so we're about to add into our summer
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  Speaker 1: so Yeah, it's warming up here and it's about to
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  Speaker 1: kick off. So are you guys doing a tour with
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  Speaker 1: the album that you've got out?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're actually heading out for our first headlining tour
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  Speaker 3: in our career.
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  Speaker 2: Nice.
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  Speaker 3: So in Europe, we have a two-week tour together, co-headline
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  Speaker 3: tour together with Induction. Nice. Mostly Germany, but also Switzerland
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  Speaker 3: and Austria in that tour. And after that tour, we
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  Speaker 3: continue ourselves in Sweden and Norway as well before we're
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  Speaker 3: done for this year, so to speak. So we're really
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  Speaker 3: looking forward to it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, last minute rehearsals, all that kind of stuff, logistics.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we have a rehearsal on Sunday and then next
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  Speaker 3: week we will have a production rehearsal just to check
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  Speaker 3: everything is in place.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so what would you say would be one of
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  Speaker 1: the most memorable things on tour for yourself that you
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  Speaker 1: can recall?
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  Speaker 3: There's so many memories, it's a really difficult question to
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  Speaker 3: answer because, yeah, I don't know, it's seeing a satisfied
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  Speaker 3: crowd is always heartwarming, I mean. Yeah. If you play
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  Speaker 3: in Spain, the audience are always wild from the very
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  Speaker 3: start of the show. I mean, that's a Latin vibe.
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  Speaker 3: I never played in Latin America, but I'm sure it's
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  Speaker 3: absolutely the same there from what I've seen. Well, other
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  Speaker 3: countries like Sweden, for example, even Germany, it's more you
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  Speaker 3: need to wake them up. When you are at the
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  Speaker 3: end of the show and the crowd is wild, And
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  Speaker 3: when they were like this in the beginning, then it's
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  Speaker 3: a good reward because you feel you did something right.
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  Speaker 3: And that's, I think, tungsten. I mean, we always deliver
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  Speaker 3: energy and heartfelt passion on stage. We really love to
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  Speaker 3: do what we do. And I think our fans can
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  Speaker 3: feel that. It's no pretendings or anything. We go there
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  Speaker 3: and do our shit, you know.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. Genuine and authentic. Definitely the crowd certainly does
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  Speaker 1: feel it. If you guys are having fun as well,
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  Speaker 1: it's infectious almost.
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  Speaker 2: It's hard to resist.
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  Speaker 1: There's nothing better than being at a live gig and
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  Speaker 1: having a shit ton of fun and seeing the band
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  Speaker 1: doing the same. It's a little bit disappointing when you
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  Speaker 1: see bands sometimes and they just look bored on stage.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I've seen your concerts and I've seen guitar players that
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  Speaker 3: you ask yourself, do you really want to stand there?
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  Speaker 3: I mean.
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  Speaker 1: I know, they've just got no energy or they stand
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  Speaker 1: still and look down.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it is.
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  Speaker 1: I think they forget, you know, they make great music, but,
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  Speaker 1: you know, when you're doing it on stage live, it's
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  Speaker 1: a performance. You know, you need to be entertaining to watch,
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  Speaker 1: not just to hear. So it's good to know that
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  Speaker 1: you guys have got that in mind and make it
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  Speaker 1: happen to its full extent. You know, it doesn't have
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  Speaker 1: to always be pyrotechnics and costumes, although that is really cool.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, no.
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  Speaker 2: Who doesn't love dressing up? Let's face it. It's fabulous.
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  Speaker 1: So are there any plans to come down under to Australia?
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  Speaker 2: Have you guys been out here before?
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  Speaker 3: We've never been there before. Maybe Anders have been there
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  Speaker 3: in the past when he played in Hammerfall maybe or Malmsteen. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Many years, many eons ago.
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  Speaker 2: Eons. No one's counting.
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  Speaker 3: I don't have no plans, but of course hope so.
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  Speaker 3: I mean.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. We haven't got any offers. If we do, of course,
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  Speaker 3: we will consider it. We would love to come down
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  Speaker 3: to Down Under and play live. As far as I understand,
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  Speaker 3: I think the metal community is growing constantly.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. It really is.
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  Speaker 1: It's growing exponentially down here with the metal scene, which
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  Speaker 1: is always really cool because it's such a nice crowd,
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  Speaker 1: such a nice vibe and a lot of shit.
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  Speaker 2: It's very therapeutic in a lot of ways.
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  Speaker 3: A very good friend to Björn Strid, the singer in
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  Speaker 3: Soilwork and Night Flight Orchestra. And I think he was
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  Speaker 3: with the Night Flight Orchestra not long ago on tour.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think so.
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  Speaker 3: Yes. We'll see. Keep our fingers crossed.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, there's more and more festivals that are happening and
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  Speaker 1: popping up too, which is always really good. And there
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  Speaker 1: is a lot of Australian metal bands that are, you know,
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  Speaker 1: we're not exporting them as such like we had been
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  Speaker 1: on stage. So we're keeping them at home, but we
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  Speaker 1: need to entice some of you guys to come down
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  Speaker 1: under and join the festival vibes and, yeah, saving our
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  Speaker 1: Black and Festival, which is threatened to be cancelled and
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  Speaker 1: no more. They're fighting very hard to save that, which
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  Speaker 1: is a huge metal festival in the middle of Australia
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  Speaker 1: in Alice Springs, which is, yeah, it's a mission to
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  Speaker 1: get to on its own.
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  Speaker 2: But a great festival, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: But, yeah, no, definitely it's thriving and, you know, bands
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  Speaker 1: like yourselves and obviously, you know, you've got listeners that
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  Speaker 1: are international and, I imagine that you would have a
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  Speaker 1: fair few Australian followers and listeners and fans. Do you
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  Speaker 1: guys track that sort of stuff much or do you
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  Speaker 1: just sort of not really pay much attention to it?
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  Speaker 3: We actually don't really know how to track. I don't
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  Speaker 3: know if we get the information our record label could do,
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  Speaker 3: but we know streaming and such, Spotify.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so if you're streaming that sort of stuff, it
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  Speaker 1: gives you the stats of where your listeners are.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. I know Germany in general and Scandinavia is a
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  Speaker 3: big territory for Tungsten. But I never checked Australia to
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  Speaker 3: be honest.
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  Speaker 1: It's always interesting to say when you go through all
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  Speaker 1: these stats.
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  Speaker 3: We were talking about these things about the tour. We
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  Speaker 3: were talking about these things, how to follow and see.
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  Speaker 3: So we will possibly look into it because it's always
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  Speaker 3: interesting to see.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. definitely like i said it's more.
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  Speaker 3: In general with the social.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah true yeah i know it's the way things have
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  Speaker 1: gone you know it's the the the beast that you
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  Speaker 1: know you have to you can't beat it you just
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  Speaker 1: got to make it work as best for yourself and
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  Speaker 1: your social media can be really good for that for
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  Speaker 1: artists to see and to gauge their audience and fans,
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  Speaker 1: which is kind of cool. You know, not that we
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  Speaker 1: all like to give Zuckerberg a thumbs up, maybe a
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  Speaker 1: big finger. But it can be good stuff for stuff
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  Speaker 1: like that.
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  Speaker 2: So, yeah, well, that's good.
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  Speaker 1: Hopefully next time we talk you'll have figured it out
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  Speaker 1: and you'll be able to give me some dates on
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  Speaker 1: where your biggest fans are, if there's many in Australia. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: which I imagine there is because, you know, when you
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  Speaker 1: find yourselves on those sort of, playlists, we always love
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  Speaker 1: to listen to the new stuff. And so with the
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  Speaker 1: new album coming out, you know, push the algorithm.
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  Speaker 3: But in Australia, what streaming service is the most common there?
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  Speaker 3: Is it Spotify or Apple Music?
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  Speaker 1: Well, Spotify, none of mine, but it is Spotify, Apple
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  Speaker 1: Music and YouTube Music, I think, and Google Music are
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  Speaker 1: the main ones that people use.
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  Speaker 3: I listen to vinyls.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. And vinyl too, like surprisingly enough. Yeah, that's awesome.
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  Speaker 1: The vinyl resurgence, it's great. There is rarely an artist
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  Speaker 1: that you see now that do shows that aren't doing
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  Speaker 1: vinyl because it's become a thing.
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  Speaker 2: It's something to hold on to and it's physical. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: which is cool.
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  Speaker 3: As a streaming customer, I personally use Apple Music.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. At home, it's.
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  Speaker 3: Always listening to vinyls, but in the car, it's Apple
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  Speaker 3: Music for a while.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's probably one of the least popular
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  Speaker 1: ones you have to pay a lease for and you.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Get the most, you can literally do whatever the fuck
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  Speaker 2: you want.
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes I read when they compare everything. Spotify is by
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  Speaker 3: far the biggest one, but I think Apple Music many
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  Speaker 3: times win because of the functions and stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and probably because Apple too has dominated the tech
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: side of phones and laptops and devices, I guess.
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  Speaker 2: But, yeah, it won me out.
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  Speaker 1: Although I have all that bubble stuff, it's not all congruent,
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  Speaker 1: so it doesn't all line up and function together as
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: it claims to or as you think it would. We
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: struggle and we just suffer in silence sometimes. But, yeah, no,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: it is interesting. And I love, as I said, the
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  Speaker 1: vinyl resurgence and bands that are doing that.
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  Speaker 2: It's the best thing.
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  Speaker 1: It's keeping alive something that we remember once upon a time.
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  Speaker 3: It's like many times when I explain the difference, when
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  Speaker 3: I put on a vinyl, I listen to the music.
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  Speaker 3: What you say, I'm doing a thing. When I stream
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  Speaker 3: the music, I hear the music.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, true. And it's very clean.
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  Speaker 1: Like it's a very, you know, vinyl is a distinct
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  Speaker 1: sound and on a good sound system, I actually think
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  Speaker 1: it sounds way better because you can hear everything. It's
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: more detailed, I think, rather than cleaned up on a
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  Speaker 1: digital platform.
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  Speaker 2: That's just my opinion. But I think there's a few
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: people who agree. Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you so much
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: for coming and having a chat with us today.