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Getting Your Head Right With JIMMY CHRISTMAS From THE D4 · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Jimmy Christmas from a rock and Roll out
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: for the D four. We are arriving on the East
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: coast of Australia pretty soon, I think about the fourteenth
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: of February. Thirteenth of February to promote our fun release
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: of our Out of My Head record and looking forward
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: to tearing up in Australia for the first time in
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: twenty years.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Fantastic brother, Thanks for joining us today.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's great to be here. Thank you.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: As you've mentioned, the D four are coming to Australia
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: for the first time in twenty years, starting in Brisbane
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: off every thirteenth, then hitting Sydney and Melbourne over consecutive nights.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Like how are you feeling?
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm feeling strong, powerful, excited, creative, adaptable, you know, reflective.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Twenty years is a long time, bro, So what's what's
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: happened with the band in that periods?
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: As you hear last.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Out of the twenty years, most of it not a lot.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: We took a hiatus and got onto a whole bunch
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: of other things that was interesting us at the time,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: went out of things in our different ways, and then
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: reconvened around twenty eighteen. For some shows in New Zealand
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: around like iconic venue called the King's Arms, which had
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: been formative for us and was important that we were
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: playing there. As it was closing, it became turning into
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: apartments like so many of our inner city venues. Do
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: picked kicks it off again in twenty twenty three. We've
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: been up to Japan last year and now we're on
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: a New Zealand Australia to twenty twenty five.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Beautiful And how do you think any go with the
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Aussie crowds made? Do you reckon they're going to remember
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: who you are. We're gonna have to win them over
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: all over again.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Well, I think the people that bought tickets presumably remember
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: who we are. We did have a lot of time
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: and a lot of good fun and a lot of
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: good friends in Australia over that period. I don't think
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: we're into winning anybody over anymore. You know, it's like,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: come out and celebrate. I would say, honestly, this is
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: probably the you know, the first time of twenty years
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: and probably the last time ever that we'll be back
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: in Australia. So if you like what we do, if
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: you've hung with us before, we'd love to see you.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: We want to come over and we want to celebrate.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: We've got no expectations. We just want to you know,
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  Speaker 1: kick it with some friends and we'll bring the best
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  Speaker 1: show that we can offer, which is going to be
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: pretty fucking good.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Haha, fantastic. Now, what can fans expect from you?
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Like, there'll be a lot of people out there, you know,
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: like the parents will be saying to their kids, like,
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: you've got to come out and see these guys.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Great when I saw them. So what can people expect?
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Well, I think the expectations should be that you're going
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: to get what you pay for, which is a kick ass,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: high energy, quality rock and roll show delivered by a
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: very tight, very professional, very experienced group of individuals who
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: value their influences, have valued what Australia is given to
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: them and want to return it in spades. So yeah,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: that's what I think Kicking to get You said.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Was some pretty good bands to play with as well.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: You've got tape Off in Brisbane, hard On in Sydney
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: and mac Pelliican Melbourne.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: So what's your history with each of those bands. I'm
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: sure you played it.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: A bit before Tape Off. We've never met before, and
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: we're very excited because we understand they're a very good
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: band and that we're interested in want to be part
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: of it. We have played Brisbane several times before, but
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: that was a bit of a blur. There's something to
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: do with Queensland. I'm sure hard Ons Goo. They don't
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: need any introduction. They're like an absolute institution, one of
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: the greatest rock and roll bands around. Mac Powlickan we
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: were kicking around at the same time they were kicking
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: around Toshi and the Boys, the fantastic young band, well
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: but older now right from Melbourne. Reconnecting with those guys
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: and that keeps the Japanese connection pretty strong. Through the
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Guitar Wolf we went up to Japan and the Faithful
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: and there's been a long lineage of connection between Australia
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: and New Zealand rock and roll scenes in Tokyo, Japan.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Toshi from mc Pelikan's booking bands bringing them down to
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Australia New Zealand currently and doing a fucking great job.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: So it's gonna be awesome to see those guys are
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: a great band.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: Alight and you're also celebrating the anniversary of the album
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Out of my Head. So does that mean you're going
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: to be playing it in full.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: No, we're going to play some of the best tracks
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: off out of my Head. We're gonna play some of
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the best trucks out of six twenty. We're going to
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: play some tunes that we had wrote we wrote around
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: that time that didn't make the album for whatever reason.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: We've wrote some tunes that were potentially for the third
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: record which haven't hasn't come to fruition. So there's some
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: fresh stuff that we'd never played live before and won't
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: have been heard before for people that care about that.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: So that's gonna be it. We're gonna there's gonna be
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: an amalgam of the best things that we can offer.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: Nice but on that album, like you would actually revisit
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: some of those songs to play on this tour.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: So have they said the test of time? Do you
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: think musically?
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I think a lot of them have. I mean looking
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: at our back catalog, because anything that we don't feel
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: as currently relevant or something that we can stand behind
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: from this point in time, then we won't play it.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: If it still feels vital and it still feels you know, authentic,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: then we will.
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: And what are some of your memories of making that
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: album made. It was in a completely different time twenty
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: years ago.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a really good time. We had an
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: extent a process making there. We did a lot of
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: writing adventures. It's just myself and Deal went up to
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Titan for a phase to write some songs. We needed
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: to just get away from New Zealand and friends and
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: family and influence. We went to the UK and we
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: lived in Squalor for a while in South London and
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: then recorded demos and stuff through that area before we
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: moved to a idyllic countryside location to actually record the
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: album itself and later it all live to tape and
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: gave it our very best. So yeah, there's a lot
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: of memory and effort and energy that went into that record,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: so it's nice to be able to revisit it. I
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: think singing on Viney we had a lot of people
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: clamoring for it to be on vinyl over the years,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: and there just hadn't been a time when that sort
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: of stars aligned. But now it seems to make a
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: lot of sense. So I was pleased to pick up
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: the records just today, So they're out there very nice.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Now you've all started in the late nineties made in
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: New Zealand.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: So what was that musical climate like back then they
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: gave birth to the band and where do you guys
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: fit in.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: I think that we were heavily influenced by American psych
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: from the sixties, heavily influenced by punk rock out of
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: New York from the seventies, English punk rock, a lot
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: of what was happening around us at the time. There's
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: a lot of bands that were sort of DIY. There's
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: an a sort of collectic called Frisbee that we were
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: part of where there was some people thinking outside the box,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: and I think ultimately we wanted to be the antithesis
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: of what was going on, say in the general music scene.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: It was pretty small place. You know, Mainstream radio wasn't
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: where we wanted to fit. Mainstream bands was and what
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: we wanted to do, so we wanted to carve our
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: own part. That we were lucky to be sort of
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: influenced by some some strong, strong colors and sounds, and
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: then you know the same as stuff coming out of
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Australia that meant stuff to us, birdman, fun things, saints,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: powder monkeys, all of that sort of stuff. And then
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: you take all of that influence and then you color
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: it and by the environment that you're in and the
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: challenges and stresses and the aspirations. I guess that you
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: have as that young band in that place which is
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: going to be different from anywhere else in the world,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: you know, purely by its location.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: You guys have been part of the music industry favues
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: twenty five years now. So what sort of thing is
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: you've learned about yourselves and about music over the journey.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's a lot to encapsulate into it. I
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: learned twenty five years. Well, I think I'll just summarize,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I guess with one thing. I think that if anyone
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: cares for any advice from someone who's you know, made
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: mistakes and made good choices and had experiences, I think
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: ultimately comes down to just be authentic and do what
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: you want to do for you and then if people
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: want to come on board, fantastic, But don't be swayed
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: by what other people think. Make music. Music is art,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: you know, Just do what you want to do.