Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Shut Up And Smile With BENJI WEBB From SKINDRED

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Shut Up And Smile With BENJI WEBB From SKINDRED · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:10
  Yeah, fac you've left this Darlin Barlin in Darlin all over the well.
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  It seems like it's palin See beautiful days that we'll recommend. My name is
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  Benji web By singing for a bank called Skin Dread from South Wales and the
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  United Kingdom. Newport Beautiful, Benjy, thanks for joining us today. Not
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  So bro Kindred returned to this side of the world for Not First Australia over
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  March twenty first, twenty third and twenty four, which also will feature your
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  first ever show in New Zealand on March of twenty eighth. Mate, So
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  what's your excuse for the neglecting New Zealand made on parts visits? Do you
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  know? I mean you gotta book us. That's the way it goes.
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  You know, we don't. We don't put we don't put a pin in
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  the map and say we're going there. People put you know, fact,
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  if New New Zealand and booklers, then we're not going to be there that
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  we're looking forward. We're very excited about going there, man, you know,
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  we we know we've got a few fans over there and it's something a
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  country we haven't been doing yet and we're liching to get there for sure.
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  And the gig is at the Brewery Company in Auckland Made, which sounds like
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  the perfect venue for me. Planning at a brewery. What can get wrong?
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  A lot of things, But you know what, it doesn't matter about
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  the size this is, you know, it's about the size of the vibe
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  in the place. You know we're looking forward to we are, We're definitely
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  looking forward to it. Like when you guys have toured all around the world,
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  so there's probably not many places you haven't been. But when visiting somewhere
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  like New Zealand for the first time, do you do your homework and research
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  what do you expect? Or do you just turn up? And I don't.
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  I never do that. I don't google, I don't google nothing.
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  I just go there and vibe up and see what's there. Always I always
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  will. I like to turn up to be surprised, you know what I
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  mean. It's the best way to do it in it I think. So.
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  Yeah, A couple of the guys in the bandy like the Google all
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  that ship, but not me. I just like to turn up and see
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  what's around me. Hell yeah, and they've got the awesome chaosis supporting you.
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  For that show mate, I much do you know about them? Not
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  a thing? Not a thing? You are after I've spoke with you a
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  couple of times now and I've heard your music, and I reckon you are
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  going to love these guys there. That's what that's what we want. We're
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  glad we've got a good support over there for sure, dubstep new metal type
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  stuff like they just I don't like that reason. I like it mixed up.
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  I like it mixed up, So that's great. I'm going to predict
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  by the third song you'll be out there dancing, mates, So let's see
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  how I gave I like a dance. There you go. So before going
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  to New Zealand, of course you play at all three Not Fast shows in
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  Australia which features Lamb of God, Disturbed, Panceia or the Huge Arsking Alexandria
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  day Out, his Murder, Hailstorm and more. It's a pretty impressive line
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  I made. Is anyone there that you haven't played with before? I think
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  we've seen most of the bands you just mentioned on summer festivals in and Europe.
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  You know for sure you know some guys if from Disturbed, the beautiful
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  people in those guys yeah, I think we do some side shows in the
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  hell storm. Actually you are. Actually I'll talk about that down for a
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  bit later on, But bit things like gon fast Right, Like you guys
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  all travel the world, you just all know each other pretty well. So
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  when he's get to get the backstay, it's to be like a family reunion
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  sort of thing. Sometimes. Yeah, it's definitely a school reunion. We're
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  all catching up talking about ship. We haven't talking for a while, seeing
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  the guys. I mean, what it is you see with this Instagram Facebook,
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  that's all we ever see each other on. You know, when you
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  get in the room to rekindle the vibe and it's all good man, it's
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  it's gonna be. I'm excited, I really Now I'll see her on a
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  try. You know what to expect from skin Drin because the last time you're
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  out here, I think you played at Eaton's Hill in Brisbane. It was
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  a fantastic show, right, But for the benefit of those in New Zealand
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  that mark that haven't seen you before, what can I expect from a skindred
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  Shire. You know what we bring a vibe which no other band brings.
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  You know, I look at it, I look at Skindred like we are
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  a heavy metal reggae sound system, you know, I mean, don't expect
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  don't expect nothing, you know, I mean we got to select that we
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  play music, we'll play other people's music. We'll do what we basically do
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  what we want. We got that freedom and I'm glad we got that freedom.
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  You know. We just want to bring people together, have a good
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  time forget about the bullshit in the world, you know. Oh yeah,
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  Mat And do you like what do you expect from your crowds? Is there
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  anything the crowds can do to make it a special show? Just ba You
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  know what, bro, I take every crowd as they come. I never
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  go this crowd to got to do this. They got to do that,
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  you know, it's odd, you know. So you just got to work
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  out what you got and as a front man, I always do that.
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  Yeah. So you mentioned before Bright You've got the two side shows with Holstorm
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  and Relica on March twentieth and Sydney and March twenty sixth in Brisbane. Mate,
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  So how do those shows differ from a not fest share of like a
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  festival show? Well, first of all, I've never done a knot Fest
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  before, So I don't know how the not fest thing works, you know,
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  but if there's people there and there's a PA and there's a microphone,
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  we'll have some fun and just say, like with fit festivals in general,
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  like when you're doing a set list up for a festival there, you tell
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  that to say the fact, I guess that there might be people there that
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  aren't used to your band and your music. But I don't, you know
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  what, I'll be honest with you. I don't let people dictate to what
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  we do. We dictate to you what we're gonna play, and you're gonna
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  dance. You know. We never take to the set, I would.
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  I think that's that's such a cop out that Katie, your set. You
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  just gotta do what you do. Listen, if we're playing for the ten
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  thousand people and seven people dig us, that's the start, you know,
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  And that's the way I look at it. That's the way I've looked at
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  it for the last twenty three years, you know. I remember we've had
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  the same line up for twenty three years and we've been doing it for that
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  long, you know. So we don't let people dictate to us. We
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  dictate to them. We tell them what they're gonna dance to. I can
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  actually they don't dig it. If they don't dig it later take it or
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  leave it, make we're gonna carry on regardless. As simple as that,
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  I can actually confirm that comment by because I think the last time I interviewed
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  you, I hadn't heard much of Skindrid before, so I came to the
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  concert not really knowing one song. And there's just something infectious about what you
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  like. I don't. I've danced twice in my life. I didn't even
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  dance at my wedding. I got my dad to do. I hate dancing.
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  But watching you and I'm looking down on my body and it's moving,
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  and I'm like, fucking stop it moving. That's that's the magic where we
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  bring that's the magic. And then I don't want to be like any other
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  band. I don't want to be a I don't want to be a reggae
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  band. I don't want to be a metal band. I don't. I
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  just want to be someone who brings something which is different for people to rock
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  to, you know, and just bring people together with that with their heart
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  and soul, you know. I think music is a beautiful thing. That
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  too many genres, too many you know, too many rules. You know,
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  why are we making rules when it comes to music? I mean,
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  really, you know, that's the way I look at it. That's the
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  word. That's why skin Dread has been the band for the last twenty three
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  years because we don't do what you expect, you know, and I think
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  that's that's what music should do. There's another thing, I know, just
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  when you're out of here. Last night, you were out in the crowd
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  and you were taking photos with people, and you were chatting with them like
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  they didn't seem to be any of that, Like you say, none of
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  that bullshit. You weren't hiding backstage waiting for people to fuck off. You're
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  out there and you were with them, and you were genuine, bri like
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  I had a bit of a yar with you too, and you weren't you
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  didn't like, you were actually happy to be out there talking to people.
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  Bro. I mean, look, rock and roll is starting in clubs with
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  people like me and you, and that's where it's going to end. And
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  I've never been the one to hide away. I get in trouble all the
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  time with my band because I like to go to the merchandise, and when
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  I go to the merchandise, especially in the UK where we known most,
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  it just shuts the the whole place down. You know, it's like lying
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  down the street for photographs and all. Like I'm cool with it, man,
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  I just you know, I do this because it's a passion and I
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  love that I enjoy you know. Yeah. Cool. So it was twenty
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  twenty last time are out here in a drive? Right? So what's changed
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  with the band in that four year period. Nothing. We're just better.
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  We're better than we ever been, and we delivered a greatest show than we
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  ever have. I mean, I can honestly say that Skin Dread is the
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  ultimate party rock and roll band for sure. And you relased your last album
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  Small just last year. Might say, how was that received? Brilliant?
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  I mean it got the number two in the charts. Yeah, number two
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  in the British chots. We've never done that before. I was expecting to
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  get the like fifteen or something like that, but it went to number one
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  for like four days and we were pipped at the post. I don't think
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  we were really pipped at the post, but you know it is. But
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  yeah, we got the number two and I'm quite happy with that. That's
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  a great result. I wasn't expecting number two. I was expecting at the
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  top twenty and we got to so Bruce, well Don brother and I have
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  watched that album that you can be bied while you're everyer. We pried to
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  play as much as possible, but we're playing a lot of the songs from
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  this album because I think during the pandemic we had a lot of time to
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  write. And normally when you write an album, you get six months in
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  the record company going like that in your ear all the time, you know,
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  But this time we had like three years working on it, developing it.
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  So we're playing a lot of songs from the new album because they're going
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  down so well. Yeah, that's might be a bit of a difficult question
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  for you to answer, Brian, because Skindren's got so many different styles of
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  music that you draw on. But how much is your music change from me
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  since the two thousand and two debut, Babbylon too smile haven't changed that I'm
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  changed, but we've been doing exactly what we do, reggae, heavy metal,
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  punk rock. We've been doing that from from nineteen ninety nine when I
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  met the bass player Damn Punksley. We've been doing that and it haven't changed
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  at all. I think people's changed. People's mindsets have changed because the Internet
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  have made people listen to a lot more different music, a lot more different
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  genres, so they can handle it. You know, well, we an't
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  change. We're still a punk rock, every male souce system. That's what
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  we've been doing from way back then and that's why we're doing now. The
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  writting process probably like if you just say those words like reggae, heavy metal
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  and punk, they don't sound like they'd go together easily. Like in the
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  writing process, how do you how do you find the balance? I guess
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  how did I not know? What do you know? What do you know?
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  What goes together easily? Rebellion and every one of the music we mentioned
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  has got that spirit, and that's what draws them all together. That's what
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  the passion is. Have you metaled screaming about freedom? Punk rock screen about
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  freedom, reggae music screening the same thing, So that's what holds That's what
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  holds it all together, for sure. You're very inspirational, man made.
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  I wish the whole fucking world just go one skindered. They could learn that
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  well. I mean, look, you know, well take it or leave
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  it, we're gonna carry on regardless, as simple as that. So what's
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  next to the band after you hit Austrayer in the zeal And the Not Fast
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  Pray, Well, we got a bunch of good festivals in the summer.
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  I'm really excited about that. You know. I just love playing, whether
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  it's whether it's it a pub with twenty five people or ten thousand people in
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  the stadium. Bro, I'm just happy to play music, honestly. God,
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  that's all I can say. And I don't I don't go, oh
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  my god, there's only fifteen people out there. I go, oh my
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  god, there's only fifteen people out there. I'm going to fuck these people
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  up, you know. And that's what That's been my attitude from the day
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  I worked on the stage as a kid to this day. You know.
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  Yeah, well Heavy is going to be doing our backstage interviews at the Melbourne.
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  I'm not Fast, so hopefully we get to catch up and have a
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  chat. Then yeah, hung at me. I'll be there, bro,
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  beautiful man. All right, brother, all In the meantime, you're over
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  here for Not Fast stopping over in New Zealand for the very first time as
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  well on March of twenty eighth. So get behind this bend, guys,
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  because if you haven't heard it before, I guarantee they're going to do something
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  for you. Amen, brother, I'm down. Do you say, my
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  man, you've left us callin balin and name calling alver the well, it
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  seems like it's golling. I see a beautiful day stuck and said, I
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  said, we'll recognized get away. We all love having enough. We made
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  it out. So Nat cannot think no, ma, let me go,
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  me me the ng In every way you were mean, it's not okay.
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  In every way you're sound. You think you're so bad, but you're in
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  no good rag Yeah we fuck I got you so so missing the I want
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  to raise with Fackle tell things you can Recently I gotta say to him back,
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  Oh I can't check out tree y in piecing houts are breaking everysing you
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  affers taking everything ain't the right right. You're trying to think I would lie,
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  you lie. You missed that Papa phi Sy. You're goin out like
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  a team and he never away. You grow. It's not okay walk In
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  every way you're so you think you're so bad, But shall you know?
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  I would range shell f I got you so wrong? Some missing the stoo,
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  I would raise fick if I could up, should I would have should,
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  I would have could up? Should I would have could up? Should
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  I would have could? I should learned to watch her listening. It was
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  a should I would have could. I should love to watch trying to short
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  I my simon. They got sid he won't get the name I take you
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  to about that. If you want, you want to know, I'm gonna
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  make your heart, I'm gonna make your host stop. You think yourself but
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  you're you're no good God, raise yeah with fuckor I got your so some
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  missing the stand would raise yo fucker gifer. You'll say yourself mad, But
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  yet you know I want to raise hell with facer. I got your soul.
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  No, so miss understand I want to raise yell with fucker. Agreement
• 15:05
  Trees still coolgreement came from the recas