Even those of us that were permanently pissed during the heady days of Sydney thrash circa late-eighties/early-nineties can still remember Frozen Doberman.

“We are the frozen few / Gonna have fun with you!
We are the frozen few / Gonna mosh it up with you tonight!
Frozen, frozen to the core / Frozen, frozen once more!”

A fun-loving mosh crew from up Central Coast way, Frozen Doberman became regulars on the Sydney scene around the time of their first demo, 1990’s Beer Can. In addition to sharing local bills with Mortal Sin, Massappeal, Armoured Angel, Massive Appendage, Hard-Ons, etc. at places like Seven Hills Hotel, ‘Haunted Castle’ at Lewisham and ‘Cobra Club’ at Parramatta (where Rob Halford allegedly propositioned their drummer), they toured around the country several times, supported Motörhead and Sepultura, and enjoyed a memorable two-night stand in the foyer of the Entertainment Centre during Metallica’s 1993 visit!

After releasing two EPs – 1991’s Dying Phase and 1995’s Beautiful Day – and one album – 1994’s Bonsai – they split around ‘97 citing “musical indifferences”.

Thirteen years later, which is 66 in dog years, the original frozen few – Adam Marsh (vocals), Red Fortune (guitar), Tim West (bass) and Shaun Barry (drums) – are making a comeback for the Monster Session 2 benefit.

Monster Session is an annual Sydney-based event that raises money for sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis by resuscitating a bunch of long-forgotten acts from the eighties and nineties alternative scene.

Coming up at the Manning Bar on March 13th, this year’s stellar line-up will feature a fully thawed-out Frozen Doberman alongside Depression, The Meanies, The Hellmen, Hard-Ons, Happy Hate Me Nots, Lime Spiders, Nunbait and heaps more.

In honour of the occasion, UB.com’s Danger Coolidge took a mosh down memory lane with Frozen Doberman bassist Tim ‘Westy’ West…

Metal is serious business. Were Frozen Doberman taken seriously with a name like Frozen Doberman? Ever cop complaints from animal lovers?
I don’t know how ‘serious’ we were. The name was a drunken pisstake, a joke that stuck and we really didn’t give too much of a shit about it. We were teenagers heavily into US thrash metal and lots of the skate/punk metal as well. When we played shows all we wanted to do was just play tight and fast, we were definitely serious about that. We were obsessed by it. The name didn’t matter too much to us, people thought Frozen Doberman was funny, so we never thought to change it. It’s kind of grey how the name actually came up. It was after a rehearsal one night, a couple of car loads of us were drinking and shit and somehow it involved John Farnham, a dog and some weird… well… you know how those drunken conversations go… it ended with Frozen Doberman. We never copped any shit from any animal welfare groups. In fact, when we did a press release about our reformation a Doberman lovers blog kindly posted a link to the press release on metalunderground.com. I don’t think they really had any idea what they were posting. Too funny.

What was the best gig you ever played?
No doubt the Sepultura show in ‘92 at the Hordern, Sydney. The crowd was just so pumped to see them that we went on first before Massappeal who were the other support and copped 4000 fucking enthusiastic metal heads completely primed. It was awesome. We came out and played one of our best shows, we were all pretty fuckin’ nervous beforehand and Seps stood side stage and watched it, which didn’t help our nerves, but after the first crowd burst we were off. Pure adrenalin. It was a blast to hear a crowd roar that big. Good times. We hung out with them the following weekend and had Max [Cavalera] at the helm of an Aussie BBQ, stubby in hand. They were straight out of Brazil and completely down to earth. We are first and foremost fans so it was a memorable week. The Hordern has a lot of history, it was great to play there. I also remember us laughing at the size of the PA system in a venue like that, the drum/side fill on stage was the size of PA at the Iron Duke, we had never played through something like that. Never will forget the shit-eating grins on our faces when we heard ourselves through the PA that big during the 40-second soundcheck were generously provided. It didn’t matter, we are a straight up three-piece, you can mix that shit quick, it ain’t brain surgery!! Sepultura were outstanding and in complete form. They were top of the heap at the time. Massappeal got given some shit by the crowd, but it just made them play a more possessed set. Awesome gig all round.

You once supported Motorhead – got any cool Lemmy stories?
Another pretty memorable gig for us, the Playroom on the Gold Coast. They were pretty cool to us. We chatted to them all at soundcheck and Filthy [Phil Taylor] gave us all Motorhead tees. They must have looked at us young blokes and thought we were so green, which we were. We were stoked. In the dressing rooms before the show they were all super relaxed before they played which kind of surprised us. Lemmy was actually reading a novel ten minutes before they went on. As we went to start our set Red lost his guitar sound and Phil Campbell offered us his guitar rig which was cool of him, we got Red’s going with 30 secs to spare and played to a full biker crowd which preferred their metal a bit straighter. We won a few in the end, we didn’t get heckled and survived. Was a pretty full and primed crowd, it’s a bit of blur. Motorhead only played four or five songs before some dickheads kept hurling cans at them and Lemmy warned ‘em do it again and they will walk off. Next song, dickhead throws a can, Lemmy stops mid-song, tells the crowd to fuck off and the band walks. We were like, “What the fuck? Did they just walk off?” We raced backstage to check what was going on and they were off their nuts, Lemmy was recalling how they copped shit like that in Europe years ago at some festivals where they threw coins with blades glued between them. He had this scar on his wrist as a legacy. He was just like fuck ‘em! I don’t put up with that shit. We were like, awesome! They took off to their motel and the promoter was nervous. I think he refunded portions of the ticket price. The crowd was pissed. Motorhead left us with all their beer and food rider. We hadn’t eaten much for the last day so it was welcomed even though it was under shit circumstances. We proceeded to get completely off our nuts on booze, trashed the dressing room with an all-in food fight, got busted and ejected from the venue and then a phone call with veiled threats from ‘connected’ management seeking a damages refund. We paid. Promptly scampered back to the relative safety of the Western Suburbs of Sydney and went, “Did that just fucking happen?”

We’ve been looking for a copy of the Dying Phase EP (1991) on vinyl – know where we can get one? Are any of the old Frozen Dobes recordings still available?
Dying Phase EP is long out of press, it appears on a few metal collector want lists, but rarely is one around for sale, there only 500 or so pressed, we sold a ton of cassettes. The tracks “Dying Phase” and “Scrubber” off the Dying Phase EP will be on a CD collection we are releasing called Frozen Once More which will have about 17 tracks including a couple from our first 1989 demo as well as other demos, compilation and previous released tracks. We might one day re-press Dying Phase on vinyl. We have no hidden stashes of any of our releases anywhere. We hope to have Frozen Once More out this month in time for the Monster Session and shows we have planned for mid-year.

What were the reasons behind the band splitting in ‘97?
Musical indifferences. After a drummer change in ‘95, the band was a disillusioned, broke bunch of fellas. After years of having patchy and in the end no label or agent support and the constant grind of doing the band, funding it and having to spend more energy on things other than music to keep it going, it simply broke us. We faded off into the sunset. With probably some of the best stuff we had written never seeing the light of day. (Cue: lights and violins). The sad tale of woe, many bands can tell.

What did you do after the band split?
Packed up the lights and violins.

Frozen Doberman are coming back after 15 years to play the MS benefit Monster Session 2 – how did all the members make contact again/settle old differences? Any arm-twisting required?
We have loosely and closely stayed in touch over the years in varying degrees… a lot of shit happened in those 15 years. It wasn’t until we were all in the same room for the first time together last year at a friend, [Nazxul guitarist] Greg Morelli’s funeral. Greg as well as being in bands we played and were good friends with, he on occasion was our guitar tech, stage hand… just a real nice dude and an incredible musician. His death was tragic. It was sobering. Life is too short. I guess us getting together kinda stemmed from that day, we all spoke about it and then Glen [Koek] from Monster Session got in touch and told us about the second one this year, and it all just felt right. There had been a few aborted attempts over the years to get the dog back but never a time when all four were keen at the same time. I am glad we waited till now. In the end no twisting of anyone’s arms, we are keen to smash it up.

How much preparation will you need for Monster Session? Started rehearsals yet?
Probably more rehearsing than we will admit… ha ha. Generally remembering the songs was OK, it was the execution that has near killed us. The first few rehearsals were; play a song, play it loosely, finish and spent five minutes doing laps of the rehearsal room shaking the cramps from limbs. At first it took us two hours to play a 40-minute set!! It’s coming together now, we hope we stand up and do alright, at least the 40 set is down to 45 now! After playing some of those songs for ten years during the course of FD, after 15 years they are surprisingly refreshing to play and we have had some fun tweaking bits ‘n’ pieces!!

When I think of Frozen Doberman I can’t help but think of the leather and spikes. Will you be getting them out of storage for the gig?
Adam loves his armbands… he will probably dig them out at some point!

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Frozen Doberman MySpace: www.myspace.com/frozendoberman

Monster Session 2 happens on March 13th at the Manning Bar, Sydney Uni. Doors open 1:30pm.
Line-up as follows:
Daredevil                           1:50 – 2:15
Lunarcide                           2:30 – 5:55
Throwdown                        3:10 – 3:35
Tweezer                              3:50 – 4:20
Celibate Rifles                   4:35 – 5:05
Happy Hate Me Nots       5:20 – 5:50
Frozen Doberman            6:10 – 6:40
Lime Spiders                     7:00 – 7:30
Nunbait                               7:50 – 8:20
Depression                         8:40 – 9:10
Hard-Ons                           9:30 – 10:00
Hellmenn                           10:20 – 11:00
Meanies                              11:20 – 12:00

Monster Session MySpace: www.myspace.com/monstersession

For the past two and a half years Sydney has been a relatively peaceful place, full of brotherly love, free from violence and disorder… But all that’s set to change this Friday when Pure Evil returns from wherever it is that Pure Evil goes when it decides it needs a break.

Following an extended period of inactivity during which they contemplated whether to commit hara-kiri or just go part-time/casual, Pure Evil Trio have decided to grace us with their odorous noise once more.

This Friday at the Sando, Aaron (vocals/guitar), Abe (bass/vocals) and John (drums) will be thrashing up a hellstorm, playing not-so-easy listening hits from their 2004 LP, This Is Our Music, as well as selections from the as-yet-unreleased follow-up, Cognitive Dissonance.

They’ll be joined by Newcastle’s favourite hardcore/grind fiddlers Conation (who’ve also been MIA for a long time but have re-united to launch their final EP, The Clouds Are Gathering), as well as highly active local punk threesome Lungs.

With tears of joy flowing freely, UB.com’s Danger Coolidge enjoyed a quick WTF session with guitarist/vocalist Aaron…

Why break up an incredible band for no goodly reason?!
You should try being in a band with me. I am a dick. I’m surprised those other guys didn’t tar and feather me and run me outta town on a rail long before our ill-fated record launch (i.e. the last time we played live). But never fear, wipe those tears cuz we are back from the land of the dead bringing good tidings; we’re all gonna die, so band break-ups don’t matter!

Has Pure Evil been on a hiatus or did you break up? Why can’t the band continue to exist but only play occasionally?
There was a time when it was uncertain whether this was hiatus or break up, but as it stands now, hiatus is the go. It is likely that we will exist in some form similar to your suggestion. We’re not that keen to play as often as we used to (we were pretty busy over those six or so years!), but we will reappear from time to time to wreak general and occasionally specific havoc. It looks like we already have some Melbourne shows shaping up in early May…

Looking back at the life and work of Pure Evil Trio – what are some of the achievements you are most proud of?
I’m pretty proud of the fact that we played shows (many shows!) over the years on our own terms and never compromised our sound or ethics. I’m proud that a half-baked idea to make a bunch of noise could take us so many places and introduce us to so many people, and that some people would actually enjoy it!

If people want to buy This Is Our Music, is it still available?
I still see copies kicking around shops and distros from time to time, but if anyone is desperate for a copy of either the LP or the CD, you could certainly do worse than dropping me an email (spincontrol @ mindless dot com) and taking some off my hands. They are clogging up my office, help a brother out!

The band had written a bunch of material post-This Is Our Music. What will happen to all that now?
Well, we have a new record coming out soon, entitled Cognitive Dissonance. It is made up of three songs we recorded around the time of our last gig, as well as an extensive noise collage culled from a bunch of live recordings. I hope we can record some of our other stuff that remains unrecorded, and I have a bunch of new songs up my sleeve that I hope to get cranking too.

I only just passed Year 10 so big words confuse me. What does Cognitive Dissonance mean? Sounds like uni homework.
Hehehe, yeah. Uni homework seems likely. It’s a phrase I was introduced to by science fiction author Bruce Sterling. It relates to the mental noise that appears when a mind tries to hold two conflicting ideas at the same time. I am of the opinion that it is an all-too-common experience when we live in a society and culture as schizoid and hostile as ours.

What was the most memorable gig Pure Evil did?
I’m sure we played some memorable gigs, but I can’t seem to remember… Ha! Nah, but seriously, one does spring to mind. It was Reclaim The Streets in Erskineville several years ago. We had a generator on the village green and played, as did Conation. Well, it got pretty hectic with the pigs starting to beat people up and arrest them, and generally play the role of funstopping fuckwits. They tried to shut us down mid-set, but all the people watching surrounded us and our gear and stopped the cops from unplugging us, allowing us to finish our set! It was fucking ace, seeing coppers stopped by people power and it remains one of my all-time favourite shows.

Gig this Friday, first in 2.666 years. Is this a comeback and a farewell all in one? What you got in store? Any choice covers up yer wizard sleeves? Will you be treating it like a celebration or more like a funeral?
Don’t call it a comeback, we’ve been here for years! We’re rockin’ our peers, putting suckas in fear! And so on. On the other hand, it ain’t a farewell neither. All we have in store is to bash ears and break hearts, just like always. I’m thinking we will treat it like a celebratory funeral, an electric funeral… a funeral for the death of the death or our band. As for covers, we may have a secret secreted in our cloak of secrecy, but that would be telling.

Conation will be playing too. Everyone is on the reunion bandwagon, huh? Did you coax them out of retirement for the gig or was it just good timing that you were both ready to reform at the same time.
Actually, Jamie from Conation hit us up about playing, but there had already been talk in our camp of coming out of retirement, so I guess good timing was definitely a factor. Conation are an ace band, and our good buddies (our friendships go back to pre-Pure Evil bands), so it is fucken tops to be playing with them for their last hurrah (for real this time!).

Had many rehearsals yet? Still remember all the old songs?
We’ve had a few rehearsals. It’s been surprisingly smooth actually! Just thrashing it out like always. It seems that the hardest thing is playing as fast as we used to, now that we’re old men and past it and all that shit.

What other projects are the members of Pure Evil Trio pursuing now?
Abel plays in 3 of Millions and Trio Apoplectic, as well as being a musical gun for hire around the traps. John was playing in Crus and Scum System Kill, both fairly recently defunct. He also has a new band coming soon featuring members of Lawnsmell, Frenzal Rhomb and The Optionals [the new band is called Chinese Burns Unit – DC]. Total mid-90’s core I suspect. I don’t know what else he has up his sleeve, but he plays a mean accordion and I suspect this will be demonstrated to the world at large… As for me, I’m playing guitar in a band called Ether Rag, as well as making noises on my own as Turds Of Prey and in a duo with Eli (Heil Spirits, Stockholm Syndrome) called Grimm Tongue. We all love making noise of various kinds, and will always continue to do it, together or alone!

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See Pure Evil Trio this Friday 26th February at the Sandringham Hotel, Newtown. Also starring Conation and Lungs.

Spin Control Records MySpace: www.myspace.com/spincontrolheavyindustries

Who started the label and what were your general aspirations?
Swerve: Lucas did to release his A Kombi album (Music To Drive-By), I joined when I got back from O/S and wanted to go on the dole so needed to put the money I had in the bank somewhere so I could get the dole. General aspirations were to release different non-genre specific music at a decent price.
Lucas: The label started in 1995, I was having a hard time finding a home for my Kombi album, it was recorded in 1994 and the only experimental music labels in the country at the time were in Melbourne and seemingly uninterested. Good friends HISS were having the same problem and decided to self release so I thought if these stoners can do it so should I. The disc didn’t come out til 1996 and was strangely successful, becoming a minor cult hit abroad. I didn’t want the label to be a vanity concern so I teamed up with Swerve and started looking for other music in Sydney that desperately needed a home starting with drone disco outfit Alternahunk as our second release.

Where is the label’s homebase?
Swerve: Sydney, Australia. I have a workspace in my house at the moment. We have offices in Chinatown but have someone living there at the moment to cover the rent.
Lucas: We were operating out of sort of Squat in the city but more recently as Swerve is a father are working independently from home.

What kind of distribution do you have?
Swerve: Ask Lucas, this is his bag.
Lucas: I trade a lot and consider it the best way to get wide ranging international distribution for DIY product, I also self distribute to stores here in Australia so trading gives me the opportunity to distribute a wide range of shit from all over the shop, instead of having 500 CDs of one title under your bed you have a shitload of different titles on shelves at Repressed and Red Eye which collectively will sell better than locally than your own titles which you’ve now spread across the globe.

How can a band get signed?
Swerve: No talent scouting. People contact us saying they have album we might be interested in or friends recommend people. Or you know, you read about someone who sounds interesting, or hear an mp3 on a blog. We are a small part of a bigger thing I think a lot of the time. And the fact that we run a CD manufacturing business means I get to hear a lot of stuff from cool labels and artists.
Lucas: Stand out and we might notice you. I think that’s the way we have come across most artist we have released, they all are different to the norm in some way.

What are the biggest challenges you face as a record label owner right now?
Swerve: No money, disinterested public, etc. – same old shit. Independents are always in a better position, I am all for small business models, as they are more flexible and create something altogether more human than big faceless entities. Bleak commercial times are always going to impact on businesses that are set up to try and rake as much cash as possible out of the punters. Although, the whole thing is starting to change shape. mp3 is a more widely accepted format and pirating music is having less of an impact as I think people started realising they were killing their favourite artists ability to make a living. Most of the majors have their back catalogues and licensing deals for all sorts of stuff. Music is not just sold in shops anymore, it’s online, in movies, in commercials – music is used more now in all points of media so things like album sales are not the biggest earner. Also there is more music around than ever before so people tend to have this whole throwaway ideal with music now. Someone said to me they used to play albums many times, now most albums are lucky to get a second play.
Lucas: The glut of bad music coming out from the myriad of bad labels that have sprung up over the last decade as CD burning and cheap CD manufacturing became widespread is a bigger challenge than anything the majors can throw at us. Independent music has always lived in a separate world anyway but now there is too much of it, and as a result it’s simply to overwhelming to keep up with. The expense of pressing a disc used to be a good filter for labels really had to consider what they pressed (although the international tape underground was a great predecessor to the CDR revolution it at least was more a tape swapping phenomenon). Don’t get me wrong I love that this has happened but on the downside getting your releases good or bad noticed in this environment can be tricky, if you’re a good live band you have a chance as the majority of independently released music is moved at shows, the rest need luck or some style masters to champion it or something, people tend to follow the opinions of blogs and music sites than individual labels these days.

Why do you do it?
Swerve: All the hot girls, cocaine and good times (I really mean men who live with their parents with an encyclopaedic knowledge of obscure ‘80s Jap noise bands and the odd Serapax to be brutally honest). Seriously, because I love music, especially anything out of the ordinary.
Lucas: Sharing the music you love with others.

What else do you do?
Swerve: I work three days a week as an art director for some porno mags. I also run a creative company Cardboard Robot which has a lot of my self published stuff, zines and shit. I write music under the moniker Bambi & the Bambis and play in a band called Winner occasionally. I also have started up another couple of musical projects, Wizard Bong, which is super primitive black metal inspired by lots of Australian black metal and Super Blues which is simple 12 bar blues with stupid vocal effects. Neither of the new projects may see the light of day but who knows. I also have a son Gene who is 10 months old, we have a band called the Black Skull Band and we rock!
Lucas: You can occasionally see me glass myself for the amusement of backpackers at Scruffy Murphy’s for beer money.

Favourite holiday destination?
Swerve: Holiday???? Ha ha ha ha. Well, if I actually had a holiday it would be either Tahiti or somewhere in the south pacific or Indonesia. I would like to go to Japan too one day but I will settle for some sun, sand and a low fuckwit count.
Lucas: Binalong Bay.

What’s your most recent release and what’s on for the short-term future?
Swerve: We have Zoo almost ready for release, an Indonesian Naked City type band. Dokaka, who is a Jap beatboxer but not in the hip-hop sense (all instruments are multi-tracked). Rice Corpse, which was Lucas’ album, and The Purple Duck, who is awesome.
Lucas: We just released a fucking gem of a band from Yogyakarta, Indonesia called Zoo. Think a more primitive version of the Ruins (Jap 90’s not Tas nows).

Long-term future?
Swerve: I dunno really. This has been going for 14 years now and I didn’t expect that! I think I wanna publish more stuff maybe put some of my own stuff out and probably keep working towards a decent mp3 download site which is just minority music – same as independent record shops but more tailored to people who care about music that a faceless iTunes type shop.
Lucas: We are going to press more vinyl as the digital revolution buries its first success story. The masses don’t want physical copies anymore and the rest (well those who can afford) want the tangible experience of an LP record. I think it’s a shame although CDs aren’t cool they certainly aren’t bourgeois in the way Vinyl is now. CD’s are cheap to produce and distribute I can make 500 CDs or 100 7” records for the same amount of money, but for some reason the kids think its cool to pay $10+ for a 7” but wont fork out the same amount for an album on CD. Is it the music or the format you love?

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dualpLOVER site: www.dualplover.com

dualpLOVER MySpace: www.myspace.com/dualplover

Matt Pike plays guitar like a demon, drinks like a fish and swears like a trooper. He’s our kinda human.

Former guitarist for San Jose doom gods Sleep, now frontman for Oakland metal force High On Fire, Pike is a 20-year veteran who wears his scars like badges of honour and his jeans with more than a hint of arse-crack showing.

Snakes For The Divine is High On Fire’s all-new fifth album. Recorded in Los Angeles with producer Greg Fidelman (Metallica, Slayer), it’s released next week through the band’s new label, E1 Music/Shock.

UB.com’s Danger Coolidge called up Matt Pike for a chat. No surprise he was at a bar…

Nice work on the new album. We’d give it a 9 out of 10, which is basically as high as we go these days.
Who would get a 10 out of 10? You’d have to re-create Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden or some shit?

Pretty much.
Well 9 out of 10 is good for me, man, I’m stoked, thank you.

It’s out next week – got any good or bad feedback yet?
Good feedback, everybody loves the songs and that shit. The only bad feedback, and I knew it would come, is ‘cos [Greg] Fidelman’s a big producer guy. So there’s been disputes about the production on it, and it’s been either really really good or really really bad, so I guess different people have particular ears. Ultimately it boils down to what our band is and not the way it was recorded. It does matter some the way it was recorded but I don’t think that should take away from the compositions, which I thought were really good. But that’s my opinion. Opinions are like arseholes, everybody fuckin’ has one. I can’t talk everybody into every fuckin’ thing. I just do what I do and hopefully they like it. It’s for your enjoyment, so if you don’t enjoy it, don’t listen to it, I don’t give a fuck.

There was a lot of debate about Fidelman’s work on the last Metallica record too.
If Metallica sucks at all then it’s not ‘cos of Fidelman, it’s ‘cos Metallica sucks. Sorry, you’ve seen the fuckin’ movie, what else do you need to know? You’re either a good band and you have good material, or… I thought Metallica’s new album was better than the last fuckin’ crap they did with Bob Cock. They actually tried to make something good but, y’know, if you’re heart’s not in it… They already lived the fuckin’ dream, they’ve already done everything they need to do, fuck, let some other motherfuckers have it because it’s gonna happen anyway. I think Evander Hollyfield and Larry Holmes are some of the oldest boxers to ever make it that far but there comes a time when you have to hang up your gloves, bro. You ain’t gonna knock someone out. That’s not Metallica’s fault, it’s not Fidelman’s fault, it’s about how good the music is, how inspired someone is. Not everyone is like BB King or Lemmy and can just keep doing it for the rest of their life, because that means you’re going to be the underdog for the rest of your life too.

So how is Fidelman to work with, I know Slayer said good things about him?
Greg rules. He’s got a really good ear. At first he would make suggestions and I was like, “Hell no, dude.” But then I’d listen to him and try it his way and find that he usually had a point, whether we took the point or not. Usually whenever he made a point, or said, “Why don’t you guys try this?” we’d try it and we’d be like, “Dude, he’s fucking right.”

Albini would never be that organisational, obviously.
Albini is really hands-offish. Albini would read a book, or he’d read the stock market or something, something boring, and if you make him look up from the book, you know you fucked up. That’s how Albini operates. Fuckin’ weird dude. He’s fuckin’ awesome. [Jack] Endino is a little bit the same way. They are similar in their practices. With Greg, he pushes, and he helped us organise all the material. We must have had about four hours of material written that we had to compact into a 40 or 50-minute record so we had to cut the fat on all the shit, re-arrange it. We had a couple more songs that aren’t going on this record because we had too much material. We might use those down the road for some single releases or a picture disc or whatever. We did not have the budget he is used to working with – he is used to million-dollar budgets. But then he flew up and heard us practice and he was like, “I’m gonna make this happen. I’ve gotta record you guys.” So we did.

Are you really a bartender when you’re not touring?
Yep, I work at a shitty sleazy blues dive bar that’s kind of the best one in Oakland.

Ever had to break up a bar fight?
So many times. I was a door guy before this and I’d beat people up and throw ‘em out on the street. I don’t fuck around. I might not be the biggest guy but I know how to fight.

What is the best drug and alcohol combo to be on when you hit the stage?
I like to have a Vicodin or some kind of painkiller, for my hands, and I like to have a few whiskey and Cokes. Nothing major.

Old band Sleep is reforming for more shows?
Yeah, we’re doing some more touring. We did those shows in England last year and they went over fucking awesome. There were big bearded men covered in tattoos crying and shit, it was totally amazing.

Why did you agree to do it?
[All Tomorrow’s Parties] just kept offering us more and more money to get back together. Finally it was like, “We’ll give you $50,000 and all your expenses paid.” I was like, “Fuck! Earn fifteen grand in two days, sure I’ll do it.” We played with Jesus Lizard and Devo, which totally stoked me. After it was done I went to Amsterdam and got fucking loaded and had a blast.

How was it coming back together again?
We had six practices and we were spot on. It was like riding a bike. Sleep’s a little easier than High On Fire stuff. Not “Jerusalem”, actually, “Jerusalem” is pretty difficult. We had to run through it a couple of times. There’s a lot to remember and there’s a lot of waiting. I do a lot of waiting and listening to drums during that song.

When was the last time you stole something?
Yesterday I stole an electric skateboard from out of my girlfriend’s garage. I needed to move some couches because I’m moving house and I saw this electric skateboard and I asked her, “How long has this thing been here?” And she’s all, “I don’t know, like, years.” I’m all, “Fuck it, it’s mine.”

You working on getting HoF back for another Australian tour soon?
Fuck yeah, I want to come back and slap all your faces. I’m gonna make sure I got better equipment this time. God, it was like they’d fished some amps out of the harbour last time, what pieces of shit. I don’t think everybody got the real idea of High On Fire. I might have to bring all my own shit over there or something, man. I don’t like to perform like that. It’s like wearing someone else’s used sweatpants when you’re working out.

Thanks for the interview, Matt, see you next time you get down here.
Yeah, we’ll have another beer together. Love you to death man, see you Down Under.

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Snakes For The Divine is out February 26th through E1 Music/Shock

High On Fire MySpace: www.myspace.com/highonfire

When Mark Nelson of The Stabs isn’t being a Stab (or playing with the gazillion other Melbourne bands he’s involved with) he is Miniature Submarines.

A solo studio project that expands to a full band for live situations, Miniature Submarines is Nelson’s outlet for exploring poppier realms and for realising his nineties alternarock fantasies.

Released through Sydney label Rice Is Nice, Miniature Submarines’ debut two-song 7”, “The Little Room Under The Stairs” and “I Heard That You Turned Into A Loser, Baby”, can be got from good shops (like Re-Pressed Records) or the Rice Is Nice webstore.

UB.com’s Danger Coolidge interviewed the Mini Sub himself…

Is Miniature Submarines a solo project, a duo, a band or a Transformer?
Yes. Primarily it’s a solo recording project which other people may play on from time to time and from that it’s also become a live band.

What can Miniature Submarines do that The Stabs can’t?
Miniature Submarines allows me to get in touch with my sensitive side. The Stabs is my rock band, this is my pop band.

Folks have said the sound is “very nineties”. Are you more flattered than insulted by such comments?
I’m totally down with that. Flattered, in total agreement and stoked. The nineties is when I learned all about music, of course it’s going to come out in my writing.

What is your favourite celebrity gossip magazine?
New Weekly. I love the way they throw the term “Love Rat” around.

First release was “The Little Room Under The Stairs” b/w “I Heard That You Turned Into A Loser, Baby” 7”. Why release those two first – were they just the best songs you had at the time or did they seem to fit together conceptually?
I’ve got lots of songs demoed but those two seemed the most appropriate to start with. I think they sit well together on a 7″ and the other songs I have are more suited to a 10″ and then an album. I think the releases will get progressively more mellow. Sort of.

Rice Is Nice in Sydney put it out. That was nice of them. How did the offer come about?
Huh. They wrote to me offering to release The Stabs and I pretended I thought they were talking about Miniature Submarines. Since then we’ve all become good friends and they’ve done many wonderful things for me. They really are good people and they run a really good label and are very helpful and supportive to their friends.

What’s your favourite sport to watch on tele?
I really like watching cricket on television. I’ve been to many matches but I prefer to watch it from the couch. I like the replays, the close ups, the commentary.  The sound of the cricket is very relaxing. My other sport is basketball – I once spent a month in San Francisco that revolved around being home every day at 5pm for the NBA playoffs.

What do you plan to record/release next under the Miniature Submarines banner?
I’m half way through recording a three song 10″ at Birdland but I owe them money and can’t finish it until I cough up. It will be out by the middle of this year and then I’ll record an album. Like I said I’ve already done demos for all of the songs. In the next couple of weeks the live band is going to record a song for a split 7″ with Bleach – another Melbourne solo/band/transformer thing.

Besides Mini Subs and The Stabs, what other projects are you involved with right now?
Love of Diagrams, Parading, The Breadmakers, Alex Jarvis, Das Butcher, Southern Comfort and in April I’m doing a one off gig as the bass player in a Nirvana cover band – it’s gonna be sick.

What is your ultimate holiday destination?
As much as I’d love to see all that highbrow shit like pyramids and jungles and lions and tigers and bears right now I’d most like to go to some tropical island paradise and sit on a beach drinking rum out of coconuts.

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“The Little Room Under The Stairs” b/w “I Heard That You Turned Into A Loser, Baby” 7” is out through Rice Is Nice

Miniature Submarines MySpace: www.myspace.com/miniaturesubmarines

If there is one band on this planet you should get into sooner rather than later, it’s Monotonix.

A madcap rock trio from Tel Aviv, Israel, their live shows are the stuff of legend, as YouTube will readily attest. Their songs ain’t bad either.

With Monotonix’s debut long-player Where Were You When It Happened? released locally through Popfrenzy, and the band headed to Australia for the first time in a few weeks (see dates below), UB.com’s Danger Coolidge figured an interview with guitarist Yonotan Gat would be a good way to spread the love…

Where Were You When It Happened? is the follow-up to Body Language EP. What’s the story?
We wrote it in New Orleans over two months and recorded it in San Francisco. We worked with Tim Green, the same guy that did the last EP. Not a long time passed since it came out, but almost a year since it was recorded and we’re starting to get deeper into the new record so it’s funny to talk about Where Were You as the recent one. I’m happy with it, I think it’s special sounding and has its own atmosphere. I wouldn’t change anything, I love it. I think the songs we’re working on now are different though, much more loose and free. We talk a lot less and just play, letting everyone be free and make the music really spontaneous. I think it makes the new songs less tight sounding, it’s not like one person sorted everything out like a lot of the songs on Body Language and Where Were You, it’s more free and weird sounding, at least to my ears. I don’t know if it’s better or something I would have improved in the last record, but I’m definitely more into that right now. In Where Were You When It Happened, the songs, as spontaneous and fun as they are, are very planned. Now we try to make less plans and kinda take things as they come along, like the show.

The cover art for the album is fantastic – who had the idea and who was the artist that helped bring it to life?
The guy that conceived it is the guy who drew it, our friend Nat Damm from Seattle. We sent him the music and he sent us this idea for us coming out of a pair of jeans. The first version was very “classic rock” looking. Even more like a homage to Sticky Fingers than it is now, but it went through a few changes. People seem to like it. I think it’s funny and definitely captures part of the album’s atmosphere.

Is it hard to capture the live energy of Monotonix in the studio? So many people talk about the brilliance of live show, does that translate to the recordings?
I think that no recorded rock music in 2010 can affect people the same way a show does. I think in recorded rock ‘n’ roll, so much was done, that music doesn’t hit people that way anymore. Some things are great, but it doesn’t leave you saying: “I’ve never heard anything like that before”, it doesn’t change you, cuz a lot of it was already done. When it comes to playing shows, I think you can still catch people off guard, a show is such an intimate energetic thing between performer and audience, and for some weird reason, almost everything all rock bands did for 50 years was stand on stage and play their songs. I don’t think you can compare the impact of the show to that of the music, and I also think we’re still improving in the music. We only spent a couple of months in the studio accumulated since the band started, but we’ve played over 700 shows, we’re a live band and we’re still learning to capture that in the studio, but I feel we’re getting better and better, and I think our fans can see that. I’m really excited about the music we’re working on right now, I think we’re gonna get to the point where the music effects people the same way the show does soon.

Has anyone been injured at one of your shows? Looks like it can get pretty crazy.
A couple of weeks ago in Palm Beach, Florida, Ami [Shalev, vocals] had a bad landing on his leg, it’s an injury he’s been carrying for 2 years. We’re not sure what it is yet, something in the knee, and we had to stop the show. That was the first time in 700 shows we had to stop in the middle. In the past we all got hit in the head with different objects (trash cans, disco balls), bled, Ami broke two shoulders, we all almost broke our noses, I almost got decapitated by a ceiling ventilator. A lot of things have happened, but we’ve been lucky so far. We’re also lucky that our audience are usually not a bunch of drunk zombies, and they know to get crazy, but still kinda safe.

September 1st Monotonix opened up for the reunited Faith No More (as well as Dinosaur Jr.) in Tel Aviv. How was that?
That was great. First time I’ve seen Dinosaur Jr. and I’ve been a fan for years. Lou Barlow was wearing a Monotonix T-shirt. We met Patton as well. The show was great, we played in front of 6000 people. Some of these kids were such die hard FNM fans that the minute the doors opened they ran to the stage to get to stand in the first rows. When we started playing (on the floor), we were behind them, and some of the diehard FNM kids didn’t even turn around to watch us cuz they were making sure they still have their spot in the front rows. I had to climb on people’s shoulders to get to the stage after the show cuz half of them had their backs to me. People are nuts.

Popfrenzy have licensed Where Were You When It Happened? for Australia. How did you hook up with those guys?
They saw us play at SXSW in Austin, Texas. I talked to Chris [Wu] on the phone a couple of times and met Julia [Wilson] in NY. They seem like great people, and I know they’ve been working with K Records who are friends of ours, and many bands of other friends, everything we heard was great. We’re happy to be on their catalogue in Australia.

First Australian tour for Monotonix coming up – what are you expecting?
We’re horribly excited. None of us has ever been to Australia before and we barely know anything about it. Looking forward to finding out, we’ve been wanting to do this for a while and we’re glad that it finally worked out.

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DATES:
Wednesday March 3rd – Annandale, Sydney
Thursday March 4th – Ding Dong, Melbourne
Friday March 5th – National Hotel, Geelong
Saturday March 6th – Golden Plains Festival, Meredith
Sunday March 7th – The Lost Weekend, Ivory Rocks

Where Were You When It Happened? is out now on Drag City / Popfrenzy

Monotonix MySpace: www.myspace.com/monotonix

Lemme tell you about Joe Gideon & The Shark… They are a London-based brother/sister duo, both former members of Bikini Atoll, who like to make noise and tell wicked tales.

Joe (real name Gideon Joel Seifert) plays guitar and paints mind pictures with his words. His corkboard is chock-a-block with faded photos of Nick Cave and Jeffrey Lee Pierce, and reams of classic modern literature.

Sister Viva, aka The Shark, is multi-talented. She hits drums, plonks a piano, fiddles with various effects and chimes in on backing vocals. She’s also a former Olympic gymnast.

Joe Gideon & The Shark’s debut album, Harum Scarum, was recently released locally by Sydney-based label Longtime Listener in anticipation of the band’s first Australian tour later this month (see dates below).

UB.com’s Danger Coolidge exchanged pleasantries with Joe…

First Australian tour coming up… What are you expecting to get out this first trip – new fans, cuddle a Koala, decent suntan, etc.?
We’re going to go down to Bondi Beach and remark often to ourselves about how we’re not going to reveal our winter bodies to any poor, unsuspecting summer locals. Then we’ll just gawp at the blue sky in wonderment.

Harum Scarum was an Elvis flick and also a fine Melbourne rock band from the eighties. Which was the greater influence on your debut album?
I’m appalled to say I was unaware of the band until now. If I’d known of them before I know they would’ve been an influence. As it is, we’re under the shadow of the Elvis flick’s mighty wingspan.

What bands/writers influence your lyrics?
I love Bill Callahan, Hank Williams, Nick Cave, Tom Waits. They’re the gold standard to me for lyrics. As for authors, I just steal great chunks out of their books, so best not to say their names out loud.

What is the greatest lyric ever penned?
“Two walls, closing in, They’re all trapped in the middle. The walls separate, There I am, on a pedalo, Made from their bones.”

What’s your relationship with the Archie Bronson Outfit?
The Shark is married to their drummer, Arp.

Viva Cleveland is such a cool name! Ever won a trophy or been given an award for excellence?
The Shark received a bronze medal for both Hoop and Ribbon in modern rhythmic gymnastics at the Commonwealth Games.

What is the UK equivalent of Texas, or at least the closest there is? From experience we’d guess at Glasgow.
If Texas is the Wild West, then you should try Nottingham town centre on a Saturday night.

Do you read much? Can you recommend anything for the bookworms among us?
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins is a good place to start. Another good place could be Siddhartha by Herman Hesse or Vernon ‘god’ Little by DBC Pierre.

Who’s your favourite cartoon character?
Bugs Bunny. Seriously underrated. They should bring him back. Along with the Tasmanian Devil.

Final thoughts?
You should keep an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out.

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DATES:
Thursday February 18th – The Sando, Sydney
Friday February 19th – East Brunswick Club, Melbourne
Saturday February 20th – Ric’s, Brisbane

Harum Scarum is out now through Longtime Listener/Fuse

Joe Gideon & The Shark MySpace: www.myspace.com/joegideonandtheshark