Eclipse Records Our Last Enemy Interview
Answered by (Oliver)
1. So your a brand new band to my listeners
tell us a bit on how the band came to be?
We have been around for
7 years actually, but we are definitely a new band to the US! Most of
us come from other bands that had some success locally, so the
experience between us is even longer. I was in band that was about to
really peak here, and it all fell apart. I was put in touch with Matt
(Bass) and Jeff (Keys) who where in band that just lost a singer, and
it came together like that. We spent a good 6months working in the
studio before we played a show to ensure we really came out of the
gates at full speed. The show was sold out and we have been on the up
here ever since!
2. Listening to
Pariah I hear elements of Fear Factory, Strapping young lad, Prong
and Rammstein.. Where did the Industrial extreme metal idea come
from?
That’s awesome you say that, as we like all those bands
and thy certainly have had an influence on us! The bands we were
previously in where quite similar and I guess we wanted to make Our
Last Enemy the best version of that. I know I personally was going to
a lot of industrial clubs at the time and that type of harsh
electronic music has always inspired me to incorporate those
elements.
3. What is the live
show vs the studio like for Our Last Enemy. Which do you enjoy more
or what make each special?
I certainly think we are an entirely
different beast in the live arena! We are known locally as a powerful
live act and we have toured non stop since our inception, so the
machine is well oiled! The experience of an Our Last Enemy live show
is a visceral one, with band member and injuries and crowd
participation quite common. The studio on the other hand is more
clinical and less spontaneous. While I usually grow to enjoy the
results im never happy at first with what I hear back and the
experience is always a taxing one.
4. How did you come
to work with Eclipse as you half a world away from them?
It
started with our involvement with Street Cult who were running our
street team in the US. We had a really good response to our tracks we
were putting out on compilations in the states and David Spaur at
Street Cult got us in touch with Chris Poland at Eclipse as he was
doing some A&R for him at the time. We then got a track picked up
fro Rock Band 3 on Xbox and that got some more attention, meanwhile
our press kit at Eclipse was getting really positive feed back so it
all came together.
5. Whats you
thoughts on the digital age for Musician and Promotion? DO you like
it or does it make it too easy or any basement band to get there much
to flood the market?
It certainly has its
place and if you ignore that you are just shooting yourself in the
foot. If you have the goods you will rise above the sea of crap!
6. Is there a story
behind Pariah or just a collection of Powerful tracks?
The majority of the
songs are centred around the character 'Pariah' who is an unlucky
soul trapped in times of conflict and crisis. The 2 part 'Pariah BC'
and 'Pariah AD' really focus's on this originally was one really
long song. It second song actually ends with the riff that opens the
first, so its a circular narrative if you will. You can can jump in
any time!
7. Do the members
of Our last enemy have other musical projects or is everything
focused to this band?
Our drummer plays is a drum and bass DJ and
has played some big music festivals here. Its great to have someone
in the band with knowledge and experience with electronic music and
to have that at hand for when we want to experiment with stuff.
8. In 2014 what is
the Australian underground scene like now. I followed many bands from
there over the yrs Halo, Bestial warlust, Alchemist , Gospel of horn
etc.
Some great bands they were! I think Gospel does the
occasional gig still and I know Adam from Alchemist has a new
band. We have a great scene and some close friends who we tour and
work with. We did a remix record and got all our favourite local
bands involved which was awesome. Some such as Viral Millenium,
As Angels Bleed, Witchgrinder, Noveaux, Voltera, Tensions Arise,
Deprivation are all killing it here.
9. Where do
you see the sound of Our Last Enemy heading more experimentation or
something new all in its own?
Definitely more experimentation! We
want to incorporate the electronic elements but keep things nice and
dark and heavy. We all have such varied music tastes that the music
we write is often an experiment in it self by default.
10. I was wondering
what are the members listening currently . What impressing you
musically these days?
Ahhh this relates to
what I said above, we have many and wide varied tastes! Im really
into experimental and noise music, Bizz our guitarist is really into
Visual K and lost of weird Asian stuff. Our drummer Zot is a Dj
on the side so he has lots of electronic interest. It really makes
for a great melting pot! The last records i bought that impressed me
a lot was Grimes and Future of The Left. Not metal but awesome!
11. If you could
cover any one song and make it your own what would it be and why?
We
have been working on one for a long time, Never Tear Us Apart by
INXS. As well as being one of the biggest Australian bands of all
time, the song is nice and dark and has a killer break that we can
make our own.
12. Do you feel
social media is the best way to promote a band in 2014 or does
touring and indie radio the best way to break a band to the worked
today?
I think you need a
combination of both to really nail it! You can have a million fans on
FB but if you arnt out there hitting the people who don't have it
(and believe it or not some people don't!) or at least who don't use
it obsessively every day than you are missing a market. Also with the
new 'pay to get noticed' trend on FB, if you arnt willing to pay you
may get lost.
13. Thanks for the
interview any closing thoughts here.
Thanks so much for your time
and interest, we really appreciate all the support as we enter this
new territory and look forward to speaking with you in the future!
\m/
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