Reactions [connection with the listener]

Hi! What`s up? On the beginning could you tell me which subjects was the most hated in school for you and why? 🙂

Probably maths because I didn’t find a practical use for the more complex things like algebra etc in everyday life.

If you had to choose subjects from the school, which most help you to play in a band, what would it be? 🙂

I would say pretty obviously music. I did music performance and music ensemble so I did get to spend some of my time at school playing music.

You have released a great album „Soul Witness”. What are your hopes relative to this stuff?

I think our hopes are to just take it all as it comes and see what we can do and where we can go with it.

 „Soul Witness” was produced by Shane Edwards at Karma Studios. What about working in his studio?

We didn’t actually work in the studio as he’s based in Thailand. I tracked the album and he mixed/mastered it, and did an amazing job.

Your type of hardcore is full of metallic heaviness. How much metal as a genre inspires you?

Definitely a fair bit, some of us are big Metallica/old school metal fans (Megadeth/Van Halen etc) but we also mostly came from a metal/metalcore background that’s how we got into this sort of music, so some of those bands that we don’t really listen to now still give us influence in the way we go about writing heavy music.

You use in your music quite unpopular element in the hardcore – guitar solos. Do you think they are too rarely used in this genre?

Hmm, I think a solo should go in a song if it fits. If it doesn’t then no certainly not. Yes we do have a fair few solos which is mostly the thrash influence but really we put them there cause we’d hear a spot where we thought a solo would help to keep the song interesting not just for the sake of having a solo.

On the album I also pay attention to clean vocals. Could say something about what you think it adds to the music?

Again yea this is personally due to bands like Metallica/Sum 41 etc bands that I grew up listening to that were heavy but did it with singing, that’s why I thought it would work in a hardcore band too. But also bands like Cruel Hand, Phantoms (from australia), No Warning etc have shown me that you can incorporate the singing and it works well.

On „Soul Witness” you`ve a featuring of David Wood from Terror and Down To Nothing. How did this happen?

This is usually the first question everyone asks us haha, although it’s usually, „how much did you pay him??”. Anyway, we played some shows in Western Australia at the start of last year (2014) and one of the bands we were playing in were friends with a guy that worked at a venue where a sidewave show was happening (Terror/Letlive/Your Demise), so we were really lucky and got into that show. Me and our drummer (Liam) being massive fans of Down To Nothing (and Liam a Terror fan too) we thought it would be stupid not to go and say hey to him. So we waited after the show and he actually came up to us and said hey etc we said we were there for some shows and he asked the band name and for whatever reason gave us a shout out on his twitter, I guess he was stoked that people from around australia were there not just local people. Liam and I went to a fest the next week DTN was playing called The Storm, and again we saw him there and he shouted us out during the set so we figured that he knew about our band. Then I had an idea to ask my friend Pete Abordi if he happened to have his email and he did so basically we just emailed him and he said he was keen to do it. It took a while because he was on a 60 day warped tour at that time but we got it back and yea obviously we are stoked. DTN was the band that made me want to start a hardcore band so I owe a lot to David for that and also Pete for giving us the contact and allowing it to happen.

 Your lyrics are deeply pessimistic, pissed off and feeling of hopelessness. Why is just such a direction and approach to writing lyrics? What do you want the listener to get out of Reactions music and lyrics?

This is a good question and I’m not really sure I have an answer. I just wrote what I was feeling at the time, usually I write about things like death but usually convey a positive message but most hardcore that I really get into is the pissed off, not so much hopeless like me but when you can feel the pain that comes out in the songs I feel like you have acheived a connection with the listener. Most of these songs were written at a time where I was frustrated about I guess my purpose in life and what would come of it, and most people tell you that hardcore isn’t a way to have a succesful life but this is what I enjoy doing and same goes for my band mates so some of these songs are a 'fuck you’ to the people that say that and that we are going to do it anyway you know, cause it makes us happy.

When you’re not touring and playing music what do you then do for a living?

I’m an audio engineer, I work at a place called Telemall Audio recording voice overs etc, I also run a small studio Depict Studios, the other guys work at supermarkets, boost juice and our guitarist goes to uni so we all are doing stuff not just the band.

Being a part of the australian scene how do you see it? Are there any upcoming bands that people should look out for?

I see it as a constant rise and fall, one month their can be a fest somewhere and a bunch of new bands coming out and it all looks up then next month that fest gets cancelled and bands are breaking up etc so you can’t really say exactly how it is. Everyone will always say it was better 'back in the day’ which to some degree as australia in general is losing ticket sales to live music (soundwave now stopped in Perth and Adelaide, future music cancelled etc) but I think in terms of hardcore there aren’t enough people living in australia to fairly compare it to a place like America or Europe, and especially not Asia. I think that generally we do well and the festivals usually do ok if it’s bands people want to see. As for bands to check out there are a few: Imprisoned, Time Crisis, Phantoms (RIP), Ill Natured, Born Free, Survival, Outsiders Code, Concepts, World View

What do you think about Malice band? I know that some people call them posers and one of australian bands even recorded some diss „cover” of this band. Could you clear the situation?

If you’re talking about the band from Brisbane I really don’t know much about them, think I have heard one song maybe, but I do know the singer has talked to me and told me how much she relates to our song „Wicked Ways”. She had been going through some tough shit with the justice system here and I can’t say I have seen even half of what she told me so I feel stupid even writing the song haha, but she got a lot more out of it than even I did so that is really an amazing thing to hear, and she travelled to two of the shows on our last tour and sang the words in my face so A+ in my books!

If you could have anybody, living or dead, hear your music, who would it be?

Hmmm, I would say someone like one of the Beatles or something but I know that they’d hate it so that’s pointless haha. Perhaps James Hetfield or Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 that would rule! haha

It was a wide echoed in a Europe, a statement by Australian Prime Minister to Muslim immigrants. How is your view on this and how do you see problems in the assimilation of Muslims in Australia?

Personally I am not a hugely political person and I find a lot of it frustrating as you turn on the TV and hear everything that’s wrong with the world every night you know. But ofcourse we should still be aware of what’s going on around us. I don’t know much about this particular speech but I would say that I personally have no issue with Muslims or anyone of any race/culture. It is quite annoying that our Prime Minister can stand up and say „this is what our country believes, every single one of us” which is so obviously wrong, after all we are meant to be a multi-cultural country but we are constantly ruled by (mostly) a white christian figure. I am all for stopping any potential terror attacks so ofcourse if someone enters the country with a previous conviction of those sorts of things then yes don’t let them in or atleast put them through a process of background checks etc. But not letting someone into our country (which is so vastly unpopulated compared the alot of the world) because of their race/culture is definitely wrong.

Finally, have you ever happened that some venomous spider has visited your toilet or shoes haha?

hahaha we have red back spiders here that are a worry but and yea sometimes in the toilet but not my shoes! hahah