the get up kids — synthetic breed
TALKING SHOP Profiling music industry professionals
Swimming with Sharks Having called it a day in 2005, Kansas City alt-rockers The Get Up Kids announced, in 2008, that they had unfinished business. Reunion tours followed, culminating in the release of their Simple Science EP in 2010 and the band’s fifth full-length studio album, There Are Rules, earlier this year. As the Kids prepare to return to Australia this August, CAROLINE RUSSO caught up with bassist Rob Pope. Tell us bit about the title and what the album cover represents? The title came from a saying we used while on tour in Europe a couple years ago. It seemed like a very appropriate album title for the batch of songs we had written. I love the album cover… it’s meant to be mysterious and strange. What is it like to be reunited and touring? Is there a bigger future now for the band? It’s been great to be playing as The Get Up Kids again. All of us have been doing other music projects at the same time, so being able to come together and write songs as a group again felt great. I have no idea what the future holds for the band… It has been seven years since you visited Australia. What memories do you have and what are you looking forward to on returning? A few of us nearly drowned in Byron Bay. That was a bit dodgy… and we were told there are a lot of sharks in that area. I’m looking forward to the coffee… and staying out of shark-infested waters. How long did it take to get the new album together? We worked on it for over a year. It was difficult to schedule since we don’t all live in the same city anymore. What is the main focus for this tour? We are looking forward to playing a handful of songs from our new record and a bunch of really old ones, too. We go on tour to have a great time… hopefully, everyone at the show will, too. As a band that has been through a lot of changes what advice do you give up-andcoming bands? Turn off the internet and pick up an instrument! The Get Up Kids perform at the Metro Theatre, Sydney, on Saturday August 6.
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Name? Matthew Watters For whom do you work? North Coast Institute of TAFE, NSW
Machine In Motion Synthetic Breed is a ridiculously talented (but just as under-appreciated) Melbourne tech-industrial metal band. Their music is intense, complex, brutal and melodic all at once. It’s also of a world class standard but line-up and management difficulties have impeded the band’s progress over the years. However, after a lengthy break, the band recently released the follow up to their debut album, Catatonic, with the scorching Perpetual Motion Machine, a highly appropriate name for an album chock-full of intricate but powerhouse grooves, demonic vocals and epic song structures. Adding juice to their comeback is the return of renowned drummer Daniel Luttick, who, along with guitarist and main songwriter Vincent Zylstra, spoke to ROD WHITFIELD.
“Man, it’s something I’ve been trying to get together for over 10 years,” Zylstra starts. “It started coming together, and we got close to playing live I think in ’99. But it was actually very difficult to find a bass player and a drummer, and a vocalist as well. Getting musicians to play this sort of music was very difficult. We started off using a drum machine… but it was really around 2004 that we started to get going. We found Daniel (Luttick, drums) and once Cal (Hughes, former vocalist) came on board, it pretty much started taking off. We released an EP and blah blah blah.” Since those early days, the band has seen the best and the worst that the unforgiving music industry has to offer, from playing in front of 15,000 people at the prestigious German rock and metal festival With Full Force, in 2006, to the extreme difficulties with management which almost split the band asunder, to seemingly endless line-up changes (including Luttick taking an extended hiatus from the band), to releasing their debut album in 2007 to widespread critical acclaim. But the band have put those ups and downs behind them and are ready to move forward with a new album and a (hopefully) rock solid new line-up. “In a way you could almost argue that the break has not only done us, as people and musicians, the world of good,” Luttick muses. “But that now we’re back, hanging out and playing together again, it’s really done the band a lot of good too, and the band name. It’s almost like it’s
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there, and people take it for granted, but then you take it away from them, and people are getting hungry for it. “So, since we rekindled the relationship and word got out there that we were… rehearsing and stuff, things have been going really well for us. We’ve got some good people behind us, willing to support our music and get our name out there. We’ve got a very diligent booking agent, and we’re starting a national tour in July that’s basically taking us all over the country, except Perth.” The band really feel they have something to prove when they hit the road again, especially to the fans who’ve stuck with them through the highs, lows and hiatuses. And they have a very destructive set planned for the punters who come to check them out on the current tour. “Our aim on this tour is to give people the opportunity to just lose it and have a good time,” Luttick enthuses. “And to not have that up and down element to the show. It’s going to be allout, here we are! And I think on this tour we’re doing a 50-minute headline set… we’re going to give people value for money.” “This tour is just about getting the name out there, obviously,” Zylstra adds. “But also backing up what we’re about. A lot of people haven’t seen us live, they’ve just heard about us, so it’s about bringing us to that audience.”
Current position title? IT teacher/ video producer How long have you been in this position? 11 years What are your main responsibilities? Teaching multimedia/ computers, specialising in students with disabilities; producing short documentaries for NCI TAFE; project work with NCI Library Hub. How did you get involved in the video production industry? I studied acting at James Cook uni, and drifted into the production side after making TV commercials for my business. Proudest moment? Birth of my son, Zar. Best live show you’ve been to? U2 or Leonard Cohen Favourite venue? The Basement, Sydney Favourite musical instrument? Electric cello To whom should we be listening? Rargo, a Port Macquarie band unearthed on Triple J What would be on your ultimate rider? Grolsch beer, camembert, pepperoni, Greek olives and rice crackers Anyone you’d really like to meet (alive or dead)? Orson Welles Best way to spend a Sunday morning? Making special scrambled eggs and relaxing on my deck in the rainforest watching the wallabies and brush turkeys. Any advice for people trying to break into the industry? Get an education first, the rest will follow…
Synthetic Breed performs at the Hamilton Station Hotel, Newcastle, on Saturday, August 20.
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reverb magazine issue #061 — August 2011 31