Issue 3 by Letfus Magazine

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facebook.com/letfusmagazine letfusmagazine.com youtube.com/user/letfusmagazine facebook.com/letfusdesign letfusmagazine@gmail.com Letfus Magazine is a brand new bi-monthly publication based in Hamilton, New Zealand. Aiming to bring you up to date interviews and photos of some of the rising stars in the media industry, both local and abroad.

Madeline Bradley is one of the very few talented New Zealanders who made it into the top 24 in 2013s X-Factor competition. She stole the votes and hearts of many before leaving the show. But it’s definitely not the last you’ll be seeing of her. Follow her career at the following links: facebook.com/MadelineBradleysMusic youtube.com/user/MadelineBradley/videos soundcloud.com/madelinebradley13 madelinebradleymusicofficial@gmail.com

If you had to classify yourself into a genre, what would you be? Oh that’s a hard one. I’m so sort of random with what I like to play sometimes. It can change but for my original stuff I would say an acoustic, individual genre I guess. How long have you been playing music? Been playing guitar for about four or five years and I’ve been singing since I was very young. I don’t know, probably like two or three. What inspired you to start playing music? Probably my family. My family’s not very musical, like my mum, my dad and my sister but my grandma and my aunty are very musical so I guess they sort of inspired me to give it a go.

What are your musical influences? I’d have to say Bon Iver and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I just love them so much. I got to go to their concert beginning of 2013 and it was incredible. Literally changed my life that year. So definitely they’re a huge influence. Not really a musical influence but probably my mum is a huge influence on what I do and what I write. They’re probably my main ones I guess. Oh Ben Howard! There’s a few.

What was it like being in the top 20 on X Factor NZ? It was really fun. It was really interesting. I didn’t really learn much about music or anything that I thought I was gonna learn when I went into it because I genuinely thought it was just about the songs and your voice and your portrayal of you as a musician. But I didn’t really learn any of that, it was more to do with the crew, getting to know the crew, they were such awesome people, meeting the other contestants. Just building some really cool friendships with them, that was more of the fun side to be honest, rather than the actual doing the show. You got selected to go to Japan for a couple months, how did you get involved in that? So there’s an incredible youth singer/ songwriter competition in New Zealand called Play It Strange. And I’ve entered it for the past couple years ‘cause it’s incredible. Just so much fun and gives everyone a chance to just write a few songs and enter and see how you go, and get professional opinions on what they feel about it. I entered the Peace song which is run by the Lions Foundation which runs Play It Strange and I won the New Zealand division. They selected me to go to Japan for seven weeks to just be an exchange student at an international school. It was awesome. What was it like to play on Japanese TV? That was also so interesting. The way that their film crew work in Japan is so different to how they work in New Zealand so that was so cool to see the contrast. And it was really crazy because we got there and they were just so interested, ‘cause I was with another Kiwi girl that won the Auckland division and we got there and they were so interested in knowing about our songs, what the lyrics were about, why we were songwriters. And I don’t think they really get that in Japan, like not many students our age really branch out and do that sort of thing. So they were really interested so I think that’s why we got on the TV and newspapers and stuff.

So you have an endless list of achievements in your music career, which would you say has been your biggest? My biggest achievement musically, that’s a hard one. My biggest achievement last year was receiving the woman’s musicianship award at the Rockquest in Hawkes Bay. It was such an incredible moment. It was such a huge goal and such an honour to get it because there were so many other incredible female musicians in the whole show so it was really great to receive that. What has been your best performance experience? Probably my most recent one at The Cabana. I just love The Cabana. The Cabana is a bar in Hawkes Bay that if you’re a musician you want to go there and play, it’s such a cool venue. I go there as much as I can and Music Machine supports all the musicians in Hawkes Bay, they’re an incredible shop. And they put on a night on a Thursday, every third week of each month, and musicians from around the Bay get to play their music, and that’s what I did on Thursday and it was so fun. I just loved it. It’s just cool getting up there with your mates or other musicians and playing and just having a blast.

What has been your worst performance experience? That’s a hard one ‘cause I’ve had so many! Off the top of my head my worst one would be my last performance on X-Factor, I was lucky they actually cut out most of it. But I forgot my lyrics, but I didn’t make it seem like I forgotten, I just made them up and then I was shaking so much. I think at that point I knew I wasn’t going through and that just made my nerves worse, I was like “Why am I doing this? I know I’m not gonna go through.” But I think in a way that was my worst but my best performance because I learnt so much from it afterwards. Like “OK I’m not doing that again. I can’t think about that and I can’t do this. Blah, blah, blah.” So it was actually good and it came across well but I know in myself it definitely wasn’t, my best performance. Do you prefer to do your acoustic individual music, or prefer the theatre aspect of music? I love writing for other people and I love writing for plays like the Shakespeare plays, that is incredible. And it stretches me a lot further than it does when I’m writing for myself. Because when I write for myself it’s out of the blue, random and if something comes to mind I just sorta write it and sing it. But definitely writing for the Shakespeare plays and for anything else besides myself really is such a stretch, so different. And so I think at the moment, this year, I would say I’m enjoying writing for the Shakespeare plays a bit more than writing for myself. ‘cause it’s just, it’s not as selfish.

for me, for other mates as well. What’s next? This year, my next step is starting university. It’s gonna be very scary. I’m really excited though. Be living in an apartment with four other girls that I haven’t met yet so that should be lots of fun. I’m really excited for this year, it’s a new year, a new start to things and this year I think it will just be moving away from home and moving into the big city. So this year will definitely be university and Shakespeare globe centre new Zealand Shakespeare company.

Do you see yourself as a performer or a composer in the future? They’re both so different and they’re both so fun in different ways. I think as a career I’d much rather be a composer. I’d much rather write for other people or write for plays and different things. Write for anything really, just for the sake of it. Doing what you love. Performance can always go a bit wrong sometimes and you can always not feel up to it. Career wise I would much rather be a composer than a performer but I’m hoping I can just get the best of both worlds.

Thank you? There’s many, many, many personal thank yous that I’ll probably miss out because It’s impossible to name everybody. But the overall thank you would just be anyone that’s ever supported me or given me some good advice. Just thank you basically. It’s great to get some advice and it’s great to have the support. Anyone who’s ever clicked on a YouTube video and watched 30 seconds of it, thank you. It’s all worth it.

What have you found to be the hardest thing about being a musician in this day and age? I haven’t had many really bad criticisms online and things but I guess that is probably the hardest. It does hit you hard when you get some negative comments that are just not negative, they are pretty bad. So that’s probably the hardest thing because everyone can so easily comment on everything you do and judge you straight away rather than working through it. And looking deep into what you’re doing rather than just seeing the surface of it. So probably the online criticism. It’s not too bad and I know it could always get worse. and it’s not just Photos courtesy of Letfus facebook.com/letfusdesign 11

Paint the Sand acoustic // surf & summer sounds

check them out! f a c e b o o k .com/PainttheSand

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new single

“Take a Chance” OUT NOW! ”

New Zealand’s oldest pure rock’n’roll venue has a history dating all the way back to the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake and a live music legacy that goes back to the 1950s. In 1955 the Empire Hotel became Hotel Cabana and in the same year rock’n’roll swept through the country. Published in 2007, Lee Pritchard’s limited edition book Hotel Cabana’ chronicled the hotel’s fascinating history from its beginnings to the 2000s. Hours: 1am music deadline. Bar closes 1:30am. Kitchen: Snacks only. Accommodation: The Cabana has a deal with Toad Hall Backpackers next door. Musicians get special rates. Email ruthie.gareth@gmail.com ph 06 835 5555. Sound: Full in-house PA provided. (JBL-based.) 32-channel Crest. Big and small stage options. Artists need to bring own backline. Engineer: In-house engineers available to hire from $120 or BYO. Lighting: LED lightning system (10 lights) and 42-channel scene-setter desk. Access: Flat access through main doors. Soundcheck: Times to be arranged. Promotion assistance: Website, email outs, Facebook. The Cabana advertises on Radio Hauraki, The Edge and Bay FM. Local papers support The Cabana also with interviews and page space. The Cabana is New Zealand’s oldest pure live music venue and is steeped in musical history. The stage sound at the Cabana in renowned.

P: 06 835 1102 (bar) E: thecabana@xtra.co.nz W: www.cabana.net.nz Facebook: The Cabana

Photos courtesy of Bridie Thomson facebook.com/bridiethomsonphotography 13

Heavy-Doom-Groovers Heterodox are a three piece band straight out of the Hawkes Bay. Five track album Elixir of Lethebeing released in the coming months , with their single Imageless out already, and a rocking music video to match. With so much to offer, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be crazy to not check them out! In order to do so and get their latest single for FREE, head to one of the following links: facebook.com/HeterodoxNZ youtube.com/HeterodoxNZ heterodox.bandcamp.com soundcloud.com/heterodoxnz

What is your name and role in the band? I’m Luke, I play the guitar and I also do vocals. I’m Floyd, I play bass and do some backup vocals. I’m Jared and I play drums.

How did you come up with the name? Luke: We were in high school and we needed a name really quick and I looked in a dictionary and I thought it sounded cool and it kinda worked with what we believed in at the time.

What genre would you classify yourself as? Jared: Stoner Rock Floyd: Sludge Metal Luke: Alternative sludgy metal, bit of doom, psychedelic put in the mix I suppose.

What are your musical influences? Luke: Probably a lot of the old school stuff. A lot of Sabbath, progressive bands from the seventies. Like King Crimson, Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd. And then the later heavier s*** like Sleep, Electric Wizard, Mastodon. And then some of the New Zealand stuff as well that works in the same sorta field. Like Arc of Ascent, Osmium, local s***, Horusset, Come to Dolly, whatever. Floyd: A lot of Mastodon influence. When we started it was like thrash metal, and Megadeth and Slayer and all that. But nowadays it’s just kinda the Mastodon vibe. Pretty much what Luke said. Luke: Deftones-y. Jared: My personal influences are Chris Adler, Brann Dailor from Mastodon. Alfredo Hernandez and Brant Bjork. That’s about it.

How long have you been a band? Floyd: We started way back in high school with different members. Me and Luke formed the band with two other guys, but back then it was like a completely different band, different style and all that. So that was 2010. How long with this line-up? Jared: Year and a half. Luke: Nearly two years.

What inspired you to start a band? Floyd: Me and Luke have always been in a band. This one wasn’t the first one me and Luke were together. So it just started as another project. Luke: Yeah, like 14 or 15, wanting to be rock stars. Just wanting to play music really What has been your best performance? Jared: Probably Palmerston North at the Royal. Floyd: The one before we did in Palmerston at the Royal and it was our first time playing there and we just got real wasted. It was like a real good performance though Luke: That and probably Sanctuary of Sounds. That was pretty sweet. What has been your worst performance experience? Jared: For me it would be Medusa in Wellington. Starting a song off in the wrong time signature. Floyd: There was this one time at the Cabana where Jared’s cymbal fell off the thing and it cut off all the power. So all the lights went off, it was funny. Jared: I always play sober but they always play wasted so I don’t know how I still make mistakes.

What has been your biggest achievement? Luke: For me it would probably be just landing a gig. Obviously it’s expanded from there, but also getting a really well produced album. What can you tell us about your upcoming album release? Is there a release date? Luke: Na not really. Probably a couple of months I’d say. But it’s kind of a concept album, but it’s kinda not, it wasn’t written like that but it all just kinda works together. There’s the same underlying atmosphere/concept to it. The lyrics are all kind of directed at the same sort of… area. But I dunno, it all just kind of goes together and it’s all progressive and old school sounding. Floyd: It sounds real massive. Luke: yeah, it’s layered A lot’s gone into it.

What has it been like being in the studio? Luke: It’s been pretty cool. Jared: A lot of long boring hours. Especially with guitar tracking. Luke: It’s been good working with Nick, the producer. He’s just really on the same kind of page when it comes to doing drum fills, “Oh Jared try this.” Or even just coming all down to tracking a lead, using ten different fuzz pedals to get a tone or something like that. Different delay or harmonise this, track this, layer this, What can you tell us about your music video? Floyd: There’s a performance side of it, which we did at the Cabana. And then we went out to Tainui Reserve in Havelock and dis some shots of Luke singing. We recorded it at 50 frames and played the song back at twice the speed. Then you slow it down by 50% and it creates a wavy kind of feel to the land. What was it like to record that? Luke: Probably the performance day, was pretty… Floyd: It was pretty hard out. So what’s next after the album and video? Luke: Probably promote that, tour, meet heaps of cool people. And then start writing again. I’ve already started writing, always writing, too much. But then we’ll start having band practices and collaborating together. What is the song writing process? Luke: I’ll just write like a riff or a song or something and I like actually writing it up for some reason. I like seeing it all done up on a score. So I’ll write that all up and I’ll send it to Floyd and he’ll either add to it or just learn it. He’ll write his own bass line. Then we’ll bring it to band practice and just start jamming it. Jared: Usually drums already written and I just follow the beat and change it a little. Or a lot.

What’s your favourite thing about being in a band? Luke: Probably playing live. Floyd: Probably have to go with performing. And recording. Jared: Playing live and meeting all our local heroes all the New Zealand bands. Luke: And also it’s like an outlet. Where I can write s*** and I have two other guys that I can work with to make it something to actually perform live or record or distribute. What’s the hardest thing about being in the media industry? All: Money. How did it feel reaching your kickstarter goal and knowing you’d be able to put out the best possible album you could? Jared: We were stoked when we got the money. Floyd: It’s just a starting block. Luke: It was awesome. We definitely celebrated. If you weren’t musicians what would you be doing? Luke: Probably focus more on painting. I like painting. Floyd: I’d just do more video stuff. Jared: I’d probably just be a hermit. If you could tour with any band, past or present, who would it be? Floyd: Mastodon. Luke: Mastodon. Either that or High on Fire. What advice would you give to someone wanting to be a musician or start a band? Luke: Practice. Practice heaps. Not just as a band but practice as a guitar player. Not only on technique but on feel, put a lot of feel into it.

Photos courtesy of Jessie Williams-Emmett 19

Five piece Auckland band The Visionary are one of the best bands to hit the New Zealand music scene this year. Whilst still quite new, they have a growing fan base and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sure to get even bigger with their debut EP coming later this month. They have an energy onstage that is unmatched by many. Get along to a show soon because this is one band you do not want to miss! facebook.com/thevisionarybandnz thevisionary1.bandcamp.com/track/the-great-traverse

“I’ve always had this really strange fantasy of becoming an ice cream man. So if I had no musical bones in my body, I would chase that. I would’ve found the only ice cream man university in the world and I would make the tastiest ice cream.” JOSH PINHO

What is your name and role in the band? I’m James, I play the guitar. It’s nice. I’m Taylor, I try and play the drums. I’m John, I play guitar as well, sadly. I’m Josh and I make disgruntled noises with my voice box. I’m Brian and I play bass. If you had to classify yourselves into a genre, what would you be? James: Cry-core. Brian: Angry bozos. Josh: The true answer is... I don’t think we actually know. Because we’ve been around for such a short time that we haven’t really decided. And so the set kind of goes from pop-punk to metalcore to hardcore to sookie clean stuff. It’s not really anywhere at the moment. James: I think because we’ve all played in so many different bands that are different styles there’s not a way to label t because everyone’s influences are so different. Like I think Josh’s band before was like a pop-punk band and my last band, well I’m still in the band, is like death metal and s***, same with Taylor. And Brian just does everything so we kinda just slam it all together and see what happens. Josh: Brian has more genius in his brain than Kanye West, and you can take that on camera. John: He’s the real Jesus. How long have you guys been a band? Or this line-up? Josh: This line-up has been about two weeks. But Brian and I started the band probably August, last year. And it was just us two for a good two months. And we got what is more or less this line-up, minus Taylor, I’d say about end of October. So a handful of months, it’s still pretty fresh.

How did you come up with the band name? John: We don’t know this story actually. Josh: It’s your first time hearing it? You guys wanna sit around and hear a story? There isn’t a story. John: Anti-climactic. Josh: I was just trying to come up with band names in my head, I was texting them to Brian at work. I don’t know. I’d like in my head that it was a big visionary idea but I’d be telling a bunch of lies. It was just a cool set of words that worked together. We (Josh and Brian) were the only ones in the band at the time so they didn’t get a say in it.

What are your musical influences and how do you bring them into the band? James: I’ve always played super angry death metal and whatnot, I’ve always been in that type of band and then just started getting into more melodic hardcore kind of stuff. It’s all just new and exciting and whatnot. So Josh actually asked me to play in the band in the original line-up and I was like “Oh I don’t have time.” Then they dropped the first track and I was like “Oh I got time!” And I try to put in some heavy stuff, it’s cool working with a bunch of different people from different backgrounds and whatnot. So I guess that’s where we all kinda fit in. Just different influences. Josh: Brian does a lot of the core writing, especially for this EP we’re about to release. So where do you come from? Brian: I don’t really know. I’ve always been a metal head, always. But when it comes to bass, a lot of it comes from hip-hop influences. I just kind of merge it together. Mainly the hip-hop part comes into the bass lines. Everything is just a big compilation of bands I really got into recently, like the past year or so. A lot of hardcore sort of stuff. Josh: I guess with the vocals I’ve got two sides of the coin. I’ve got the screams or the yells, whatever, the angsty stuff. And for me the biggest part of that is just bringing real emotion. I like to be goofy and happy when I’m not doing music, so any kind of dark, angsty bits I can draw out of my life that I won’t show in person, I really like to be able to belt that out. Even if it’s not a particular technique, it just comes out. And for clean vocals I just like to get as melodically everywhere as I can. John: My background comes from a lot of metalcore and thrashy sort of stuff. But the past few years it went towards a lot of bluesy stuff. So I do enjoy a lot of good cleans but still like a chunk to everything. And secretly I wish I was Adam Lambert. Taylor: I started back into the pop-punk bands back in my early days so I drew my influences and stuff from loads of pop-punk bands. Sort of take the older pop-punk sounds and mix it up with the heavier bass drum sort of lines. I guess I sort of work those two into my own sort of feel.

What has been your best performance experience you’ve ever had together? Brian: Last week. Josh: Hopefully tonight. John: Every night’s the best. James: I think a cool thing for me was I’d never been to Tauranga before and we went down to Tauranga for the first time and the whole way I was like “I’m sure I’ve been here before. I must have. It’s Tauranga. Everyone’s been to Tauranga.” And I was sure I’d get there and be like “Oh I’ve been here.” But I got there and I was like “I haven’t been here! This is wonderful!” It was the sunniest day, we just got there and drunk beer on the waterfront, it was amazing. That was sick and we played this show at four in the afternoon on a Sunday in a rec hall and there was this decent as turn out and it turned out everyone was super positive. Mean variety of bands playing and no one was bitching about each other like “They’re not heavy enough.” or “They’re too heavy.” That was cool. I liked that one. And then that show we played at Whammy Bar with like four people. But everybody played really supremely. That was awesome. Josh: Those four people got a treat. I’m pretty sure the four people might have been members of the other bands and some fifty year old women that my partners mum brought from work. They all bought us drinks after the show and it was awesome. John: Anytime we get free beer is good. Josh: Shout out to the Porse ladies.

What about the worst performance? Josh: We played at this one bar, I won’t go into the nitty gritty. But we played at a bar up in the North Shore and it was a beautiful, beautiful venue and it just wasn’t our night at all. We had some sound issues. It got the point where we nearly left before we played because we couldn’t hear what we were doing on stage and the drums were electric and we were all being put through the mix. It was very tense. We weren’t happy at all after getting off stage. It was just a huge mess and I think at that point we were still a very, very new band, much newer than we are now and we were all like “We’re terrible. We’re so terrible.” And then the following show was that show at the Whammy Bar to four people and everything went back up. Like “Okay, we don’t suck.” James: We’d just got in the swing of playing shows and like “Oh we actually suck.” And after that we sort of picked it back up. That show at Whammy Bar was good because the sound was perfect and everything fell in and it was tight we were like “Yes! We can actually play our instruments.”

What inspired you to start a band? Josh: We’ve all been playing in bands for a really long time. By really long time I mean seven or eight years. My math is bad. I started playing in bands when I was about fifteen. James: I think you gave me my first band my first show as well. Would’ve been way back in like 2010. John: Once upon a time Josh and I played our first show together. Josh: We did a show together and we were fifteen. We’re both coming 22 so it would be seven years. James: All of our bands played together heaps. It’s weird we’re not a death metal band because most of us were in death metal bands. All of us used to play together and it just mashed into this ball of humans. What’s your favourite thing about being in a band? Josh: Shows. Taylor: The beer and the bitches. John: I’m gonna go with Taylor on that one. James: I really enjoy doing out of town shows. Going away, meeting people. This band in particular is cool because it’s so different from what I’ve done before. Technically it’s nowhere as hard on the guitar side of things but it’s really fun to play. Upbeat and I can relax a bit more on stage, get into it a bit more rather than like “What am I doing!” So I like that part of being in this band. John: Being in a band with decent human beings. Josh: For me I guess, the generic answer, shows. But being on stage, the world isn’t so awkward for me anymore. I’m very, very happy, very, very in my comfort zone. For me there’s no better buzz than playing a sweet show. I couldn’t not do it. What has been your biggest achievement together as a band so far? James: I think finishing the EP. Josh: We just recorded our first EP and that’s over in the United States with Chris Foster who’s mixing and mastering it. It was a huge process. Even in our other band I don’t think any of us have been through such a gruelling process. But it was worth it. We’re really excited for people to hear it.

James: I’m nervous as to get it back. I think another thing that’s mean is that me and John joined the band two weeks before the first national tour started and we were just thrown into the deep end. I think that was a bit of an achievement in itself. What is the hardest thing about being in a band? James: Money. John: Being broke. James: Being broke as. The EP has just absolutely thrown my wallet on the ground and pissed on it. Josh: We’re a really young band. We don’t have any material out and we don’t have a label. We just make everything happen out of our pockets, and we don’t mind because we love doing it. But if I had to pick a worst thing, it’s expensive to fund. But I guess the final product; you spend the money to make it. James: You’ve just gotta prioritise a bit. It’s doable, you just have to sacrifice. A lot of Mi Goreng and don’t party as much as you’d like to.

If you weren’t a musician what would you be doing? Or what are you doing when not playing music? Brian: Still be doing my labour job. That’s probably what I’d be doing, just lifting boxes all day. Slaving it. James: My dad owns a scaffolding company and I scaffolded a year or something for him. And I didn’t actually realise at the time how much I hated it. I work in the office now and I’m like “F*** yeah. I’m never lifting poles again.” It sucked! And crap money so as long as I wasn’t scaffolding, then anything. John: I spend most of my life on guitar Josh: When I’m not doing music I study. I’m studying to be a teacher. Which I’m probably gonna incorporate the music anyway, I’d quite like to teach music. But I guess the most far removed thing, I’ve always had this really strange fantasy of becoming an ice cream man. So if I had no musical bones in my body, I would chase that. I would’ve found the only ice cream man university in the world and I would make the tastiest ice cream. Taylor: I guess again, ‘cause I’m a drummer, I have no friends. If I wasn’t doing this I’d probably be sitting in my room by myself.

Do you see this being your full time career? Or will it be a hobby? John: Hopefully it will be our full time career. Josh: We’d definitely love it to and I think that’s been the thing with this band. Right from the beginning it’s been “Right. Let’s not screw around.” If we’re gonna give this a shot let’s give this a shot. That’s why I don’t mind spending a bit of cash to make a good product. All or nothing. If we want people to notice let’s really give it a go. Why not? John: It’s what we love. It’s what we do. We do it for fun. Brian: It’s always the dream. Making it in music. If you’re in the music industry then that’s all you want. John: I just want free guitars. I don’t care about anything else. Josh: I always see the videos of bigger bands being like “I remember when I was in a little band. In my mirror with a hair brush” and I’m like “That’s me!” Right now when no one’s looking, springing off my couch playing every air instrument I can. And I’m like “The cats in that computer are ten thousand loving fans.” Brian: I see it every day. It’s great.

If you could tour with any musician or band, past or present, who would it be? John: I’d probably go A Day To Remember, as a band. Personally if I could tour with John Mayer, that would be sweet. James: I think Counterparts is one of mine. Yeah Meshuggah. I don’t think we fit the bill at all but Meshuggah would go off. Josh: Weird Al Yankovic. James: Oh dude, The Cause man! The Cause or Phil Collins. All: Phil Collins. Josh: That’s the answer, Phil Collins. Brian: I’d have to go Bread. Definitely, Bread’s amazing. James: What’s Bread? I’ve never heard of Bread in my life! Josh: Well, if you put flour and water in an oven… I’d probably have to agree with John though with A Day To Remember as far as this band. That would be insane.

So what’s next after the EP? Music videos? A tour? John: Pretty much everything you just said. We have a whole bunch of tour dates coming up. We’re trying to do some videos. James: Definitely tour the EP. Josh: We wanna get as many places as we can off this EP, because we’ll finally have material available. So when kids come to shows they won’t be like “The Who-inary?” They might actually know our stuff and that’d be real cool. We wanna go to the South Island this year. Just work it bit by bit. Play where we can. And at the same time we’re still consistently writing. We wanna try and do another record as well. What advice would you give to someone wanting to head into the music industry? James: Just do it. Don’t mess around. Just find some people and then make some music and just beg people for shows. Get on Facebook and if you see a show just hound them, post on the page a thousand times until they give you the show. Josh: if you can’t get a show, make your own show. James: Yeah make your own show and put other bands on it. Then hit them up and be like “Remember when we gave you that show? Give us a show.” Before you know it, you’re playing shows every weekend. John: Also networking. Going to shows, meeting people and getting every contact you can. Work hard and prepare to be very poor. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Get a job that allows you to have time off. Any thank yous? John: My mum. James: All the previous members. Been a lot of line-up changes. Josh: Line-up changes happen. And we’ve had a few in a very short time but those people have definitely been a contribution. Anyone who’s actually bothered to find out who we are and come out early to see us play first at shows. John: Friends, girlfriends, family.

Photos courtesy of Letfus facebook.com/letfusdesign 27

Five piece metalcore band from Tauranga have a lot offer the NZ music scene and with their End of the World EP dropping soon, they’re definitely one to watch! facebook.com/CastACyclone

“Find the right people. If you don’t have the right people in your band what’s the point.” Sam Clarke

What’s your name and role in the band? Anaru bass. Quinn vocals. Patrick guitar. Sam guitar. Dick drums. If you had to classify yourselves into a genre what would you be? Anaru: Pop. Sam: Jent metalcore. Richard: Mentalcore. How long have you been a band? Sam: Just a bit over a year. Richard: I joined like three months ago. Oh… a month and a half ago but thought I was joining for like three months. How’d you come up with the name? Anaru: Me and Michael. Patrick: We went through about four. Sam: Anaru saw this cloud in the sky that looked like a cyclone and he was like “Woah. Wait for a cyclone.” Then we were at band practice and someone just said “Cast a cyclone.” And after that we were just like “CAC! Yeah!” What are your individual musical influences and how do you bring them into the band? Quinn: For me it was mostly Randy Blythe from Lamb of God. Winston from Parkway (Drive) and Tim Lambesis from As I Lay Dying. Richard: Thomas Haake from Meshuggah. Sam: John Petrucci from Dream Theater and Diego form Volumes. Patrick: Mostly just Parkway (Drive) Anaru: I like Tupac. Richard: He may or may not be the token.

What has been your best performance experience to date? Patrick: It will be tonight. Sam: Hamilton. All of our gigs have been pretty mean to be honest. Anaru: I reckon that every time we jump on stage it’s a new experience for us. Sam: New venue, new people. What about the worst? Sam: That would definitely be Legionnaires Hall where we opened for Backtrack. Quinn: Na Crazy Jacks. Sam: That gig where everyone was drunk and it was terrible. But crowd wise it was Legionnaires with Backtrack.

What inspired you to start a band? Anaru: Him. (Quinn) Sam: I was in a rock band to start with and then started writing metal with this guy (Patrick) in my old band and then was like “Do you want to start a band?” Just progressed from there. What’s your favourite thing about being in a band? Quinn: The crowd reaction. Anaru: Beer. Sam: Seven strings. Seven strings are mean. Richard: Drum solos. What has been your biggest achievement so far? Sam: Opening for 8 Foot Sativa. Oh yeah we opened for Saving Grace as well. That’s probably our biggest I think.

What is the hardest thing about being in a band in this day and age? Patrick: Money. Richard: That and keeping everyone organised because we have five members and all of us are equally useless in our own way. If you weren’t musicians what would you be doing? Anaru: Maccas. Richard: I’d just be 420 blazin’.

Do you see this being your full time career or just a hobby? All: Full time. Sam: That’s the goal anyway. Richard: We want to tour and play brutal songs. If you could tour with any band past or present who would it be? Sam: Meshuggah. Patrick: Seeking Substance. Anaru: Seeking Substance would be f***ing mean to tour with.

What advice would you give to anyone wanting to start a band? Sam: Find the right people. If you don’t have the right people in your band what’s the point. Richard: Listen to music that’s way more complicated than the music you want to play.

Photos courtesy of Letfus facebook.com/letfusdesign 33

Christchurch pop-punk band Selfhood are recording new music! A release from the band can be expected around June and the exciting news for fans is that the band is “...working on a full length now.. Hopefully to be released around October.” Singer Matt Clark let us in on what the recording process is like. “I worked with Chazz, who I guess is most popular for his work in the band The Rabble.. He’s gonna be working with us on our record this year.. He’ll be mixing and co producing the record with me. It was crazy working with him.. I can’t wait to do more. “ The band are unsure whether this new release will be a standalone song or part of their upcoming record.. But “Right now that’s the big focus with (them).. Finishing this record then (they’ll) be touring over summer.” Keep up with it all here: facebook.com/selfhoodpoppunk

Photos courtesy of Scarlett Dellow Photography facebook.com/scarlettdellowphotography

DEADBEAT Records is the brain child of Haylen Mangin, who in an attempt to bring exposure to smaller artists, created the record label.. Haylen is the owner and director, as well as being the product, sales and marketing manager. Another member of the team is Callum Taylor who takes care of the design and illustration side of DEADBEAT. Richard Voss is the third member of DEADBEAT and his role is as photographer. Fourth and final is Phillip Brooks, the booking/tour manager. They really do have all bases covered!

How long has it been going? The idea of this label has been in my head for a couple of years. Things started taking off in November 2013. Do you see this becoming a full time thing in the future or is it just something fun on the side? I really hope I can make this a full time career. I would like to provide jobs for artists; that would be awesome. What are the future plans for Deadbeat? We are currently working on some merchandise ideas. We have several shows being booked at the moment and we are looking to work with more artists in the future. Im looking into ideas for an interactive website, we are also looking to work with more artists and musicians. What was the most difficult thing in starting Deadbeat and how did you/will you overcome it? The most difficult thing starting DEADBEAT Records was trying to get people engaged and interested in what we do. The only way we will overcome this is by word of mouth, and putting on quality events for fans. What has been your biggest success through Deadbeat so far? Finding the band Selfhood! You already have an amazing team of people, but is there room for more people to come on board if they were interested in becoming involved? Absolutely, there’s always room for more people. We’re always looking for designers, promoters etc,

In a nutshell what is DEADBEAT Records? DEADBEAT Records is a fresh new record label, made to promote New Zealand musicians and create quality events/ shows for artists to show their skills. What services can you provide for musicians? DEADBEAT Records provides a number of services for musicians. We can manage artists, their events, help them to release music, artwork design, promote them and provide photography services. How did it all start? DEADBEAT Records started with the idea of helping bands gain exposure. A major thing I want to bring to the industry is bringing a certain style to our shows, and make them different and stand out, too draw in crowds. So many good bands break up because they don’t have enough exposure or because no one is making an effort to go to their shows so the motivation is just not there. I want to grow with these artists I want to bring them international exposure.

What do bands have to have in order to become a part of Deadbeat? A social media platform, big enough fan base? Or are there no requirements? Just a passion for what they do. We look for artists who have potential to grow in the industry. We want to support them and bring a great vibe to the work we do. Do you hope to stick to a certain genre of bands or will you include artists of all genres? We welcome artists from all genres of music. We are not exclusionary. We are currently working with two pop punk bands (Selfhood and All the Wrong Reasons) one Deathcore band (The Rising Tide) and we have one more band to be announced. Who would be your dream signing? One artist you would love to have under Deadbeat? Dream signing? That would have to be Whitechapel haha or Stick To Your Guns. Getting an opportunity to work with them would be huge! ‘’Among Thieves’’ is one unsigned band that I would like to work with. They have so much energy on stage, and their music is really catchy. I encourage readers to listen to their latest release ‘’relentless’’.

In your opinion, what is the number one NZ artist at the moment? Signed or unsigned. Saving Grace with their new album ‘’The Urgency’’ have proved to be one of New Zealand’s top acts; as well as Depths recently releasing the new Single ‘’The Cattle of Man’’. In my opinion Benny Tipene is New Zealand’s number one artist at the moment.

facebook.com/TRTNZ

What is the biggest problem with the New Zealand music industry? Can it be overcome? There is a lack of support for all acts at live events. For some bands only friends are at their gigs. I want to see more support for all bands trying to get exposure. Also, it seems really hard to get media exposure eg. radio play, television etc. Major publications can help these bands but they make it too hard for them to get their foot in the door. What advice would you give people wanting to work in the media industry? If there is something you want to do then give it a go. Every accomplishment starts with an attempt at something great. I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big. – Donald Trump. Is there anybody you would like to thank? I would like to thank The Rising Tide, Selfhood, All the Wrong Reasons, Melody Letfus, Richard Voss Photography, and anyone that I missed who has helped us get this far. facebook.com/AllTheWrongReasonsMusic

Check them out at the following links to make sure you don’t miss out on a single thing. And get involved! facebook.com/DEADBEAT.co Richard Voss: facebook.com/RichardVossPhotography Callum Taylor: facebook.com/CallumTaylorIllustrationAndDesign

facebook.com/selfhoodpoppunk 40

When did you first become interested in the arts? I guess there never was a difinitive moment where the interest began, it was more like a gradual thing. I always liked art and drawing when I was in primary school and I guess you could say it just snowballed from there. How would you describe your illustration

style? This is a difficult question, I think it’s hard for me to say because it’s quite subjective to what media I use, the work I do organically, with pens/pencils on paper always comes out differently to digital work. I use minimal colours when I do the work by hand but when it comes to digital work it tends to be really colourful and/or bolder, with less finer details. I use pretty straight forward stuff when it comes to both digital work and work by hand. By hand I generally use pencils, ranging in hardness for shading and sketching. For line work I just use black ink pens (doesn’t really matter what kind as long as I can draw with them) ranging in size too, and I also use letraset promarkers for some shading/blackwork as they are alcohol based and blend really well. When it comes to the digital side of things I just use adobe photoshop and illustrator. Oh and I also use a wacomb intuous tablet for the digital stuff. That thing makes life alot easier. Who are your biggest inspirations? My biggest inspirations would probably be Thomas Hooper, David Tevenal (both tattoers) Grindesign and Godmachine, it’s always hard to really narrow it down because there is alot of really good artists out there who I intuitively draw inspiration from in some way or another. Music is another big inspiration, I tend to get ideas for stuff from small snippets of lyrics, Or sometimes even just the feel of a song/album Have you done any training to get you to where you are? Not really, this is one of those things where if you have enough of a passion for it you’ll get good because you’ll be constantly striving to improve and want to gain more knowledge of art and design as a whole.

What’s your favourite thing about being in your line of work? Getting to do what I love to do. It’s also pretty cool when someone comes to you with an idea you gel with well and you produce work that exceeds your own expectations, that’s always a nice surprise. What is the hardest thing about doing what you do? Trying to talk Ideas and get the skeleton for a design going without talking face to face, it’s defnitely alot harder to translate ideas over the internet than in person.

You do a lot of work for musicians, are you a musician yourself? Yes, I previously played guitar for the New zealand band Rise from the shadows and currently play guitar in a band called Precursor. What music do you listen to while creating? Top 3 songs that keep you going. This is always a hard question because I tend to go through phases with different bands, But right now I’ve been enjoying In passing through by Lesser Key, Corridors by Advocates and I’ve also been listening to alot of Jedi mind tricks and Vinnie Paz Where do you want your art to take you? I’d probably just want to be able to live comfortably off art/design work. What advice would you give to someone wanting to head in the same direction as you? That’s a hard one, I guess if you want to do it, do it. Find other artists and/or designers that inspire you alot and Immerse yourself in visual arts as much as you can. Pretty much get that fire in your belly type feeling going on for art and design and you’re pretty much half way there. Oh, and practice. Do as much drawing or whatever your medium might be, as much as you can and don’t stop doing it. That applies to anything you love doing too, I always go by the motto do what you like and you’ll like what you did. So even if your work is a bit out of the ordinary stick to it, how do you think style was invented?

Callum Taylor is sure to be one of the biggest names in design amongst musicians and many other circles. Be sure to follow his work at the following link: facebook.com/CallumTaylorIllustrationAndDesign

45 All imagery courtesy of Callum Taylor

Seeking Substance is possibly the best thing to come out of Morrinsville since... forever. All about good times and even better music, they are a band to watch in the years to come. If you haven’t seem them play, you’re missing out, but lucky for you you can find out where they’re playing next and check out their music at the following link: facebook.com/seekingsubstancenzmetal

What is your name and role in the band? I’m Zac Goodwin, I play bass guitar. My name’s Jesse Birchfield and I play guitar. And there’s David Coleman, he does vocals. Zac: Keegan Tipene plays the other guitar. And Nathan Tipene, his little brother, plays drums. If you had to classify yourselves into a genre what would you be? Jesse: We were talking about this before. What was it? I don’t even think it’s a genre… Zac: We sort of clash between jent and progressive. Jesse: The best way to describe it to people listening to it, or we try, what I hope we would sound like is a mix between Advocates and the band The Devil Wears Prada. We try and be like that. But it’s really up to the listener to be honest. How long have you been a band? Zac: So the band sort of started at school. I wasn’t in it but it was a school band and stuff. That was probably like five years? Jesse: We started it halfway through year nine so I can’t remember what age I was. It was me on guitar, David still on vocals and Liam was on bass and Phillip was on drums, and there was a lot of in and out, member wise. But we didn’t take it very seriously. Zac: Yeah it didn’t get serious until about seven months ago. That’s when Seeking Substance actually started properly. Jesse: Yeah but it’s never been serious, just making a lot of noise in the band room. But that’s what it is, but now it’s something. Zac: But yeah, seven months of Seeking Substance I’d say.

How’d you come up with the name of the band? Jesse: It was Keegan. He came and he had these two names, one was like Barry the Butcher or something like that. And then there was Seeking Substance for a song and I thought for a song it was really good. But then it hit that point for our first gig and I think a guy was making a page for it and we didn’t have a name finalised. And we’re like “We need to tell this guy what to put on there.” And we’re like “Why don’t we just do Seeking Substance.” It wasn’t like “Yes! Seeking Substance!” It wasn’t a name like that. It was just like “…Yeah.” And now… Zac: It’s just stuck. Jesse: But I like that it’s alliteration. Like that S and S. It’s a little bit catchy. What are your individual musical influences and how do you bring them into the band? Zac: Well I don’t really have any main person as an idol but I like a lot of hardcore. Like Moment of Truth and Mad Ball stuff like that. And Deez Nuts. But now I sort of follow Northlane and Parkway Drive sort of thing. Jesse: For me it would be what he said. I can get in to the hardcore but he’s more hardcore hardcore. Northlane definitely 100%, that is where it’s at. Parkway, we used to be really metalcore, Advocates. The newer age of hardcore, the technical side. The mean bands, whatever you would call them. And how we bring them into the music? I dunno, you just listen to one of their songs and say “Oh I like that part” But obviously we can’t use the exact same idea, and then wiggle around it and fiddle around with it. Get a lot of ideas and a lot of inspiration from them.

What has been your best performance experience? Zac: I’d say Hamilton. Our best show we’ve played was two weekends ago in Hamilton. We played in front of a packed venue. It was sweet. Everyone got into it. Jesse: There was like these ten guys there with huge mohawks. Zac: I guess our best experience would be out little tour thing down to Palmy. In a van, cramped up with gear in the back. That was good fun. What about the worst one? Jesse: That was Masterton. That was embarrassing. We were headlining and we were all like “Yes! Headlining!” Zac: Yeah it was our 3rd show and we headlined in Masterton. And we got to Masterton and nothing was working, drum kit was falling apart. Jesse: Guitar bunged out. I couldn’t hear because there was music playing and people talking. There was like seven or eight people watching. Not expecting a big crowd, not expecting anything but we were watching every other band, taking in their music, appreciating what they’re playing.

What’s your favourite thing about being in a band? Zac: I guess memories. I sort of look forward to the weekends and hanging out with the boys. A few beers play some music. Jesse: Those times when you’re in the band room and you’re making a song or whatever and you’re halfway through it. And it reaches a point where you get writers block, as most people do, and then you’re getting all frustrated with each other and you feel like throwing stuff. And then randomly someone in the room will improvise something and everyone will just go “Yip!” you just know. You can feel that boom and you get passed that block and you come up with this end result of this mean song and you feel real proud of it and you compare it to your old songs and, not being rude, but musicians do compare it to other songs and you think “Yeah this is mean.” So pretty much just hanging out with the boys and making mean music and having a couple of drinks and just relaxing. What has been your biggest achievement so far? Jesse: I feel that room in Hamilton when it was packed. That was mean and I looked up, ‘cause we were all setting up, and it looked a little bit dead and then we started out intro, and we had our back to the audience, and then I turn around when the drop came and see it flooded. And that made the whole band perform better, ‘cause it made the vibe feel better, nobody was feeling real stink. It worked that night. Zac: Probably the same.

What is the hardest thing about being in a band in this day and age? Zac: I guess, making everybody happy with the music that we make. Trying to fit everyone’s ideas in. ‘Cause in our band we’ve got so many different genres that people like. I like original hardcore back in the 90’s and Keegan likes death metal. Jesse: Oh not death metal, death core and stuff like that. Nathans all versatile, he’ll play whatever, reggae, all that stuff. And David, he’s got all these random pop songs on his phone, but he still loves hardcore. If you weren’t musicians what would you be doing? Or what are you doing when not playing music? Zac: I’d be working at my work Tatua. Jesse: I pretty much clean up after my dad. Just like odd jobs, but I’d like to be working, I’m not a bum or anything but I don’t really have a job like he has, five days a week type of thing. Do you have any music coming out soon that people should look out for? Zac: Yip. We are almost halfway through writing our EP. I guess we’ve had a bit of a stop in writing because of all the shows we’ve been getting. The past couple of months been playing nonstop. Jesse: When we’ve been practicing we’ve just been tightening up a set not writing anything. Zac: Yeah but we would like to hope it would come out by July. Jesse: Probably even before that. It’s only gonna be a six track EP but we recorded that demo and it was like just chuck it out there and make a statement. Which it was but it wasn’t anything spectacular and we kinda hope with this to really make an impact. Zac: I guess we’re just taking our time, perfecting everything.

If you could tour with any band past or present, who would it be? Jesse: Northlane! Northlane, definitely 100% Northlane. Or Advocates if they were still together. Devil Wears Prada. Zac: I’d be the same. Northlane or Advocates. But local, our boys from Cast A Cyclone. They’ve been there since the start. We’ve played with them four, maybe three times, and playing with them again in a couple of weeks. Jesse: I’d like to a thing with Antag. That’d be pretty mean. Zac: Yeah Antagonist AD Jesse: Any band. Even if it was to be Justin Bieber asking us to open for him, I’m really not fussed. Get our music out there and if someone needs us to play, just say time and date, we are there. If you could give any advice to someone wanting to head into the music industry, what would you say? Zac: Just do it. Get some mates or do it yourself. Jesse: Don’t care about what people say. Zac: There’s always gonna be criticism against you. You’re never gonna make everyone happy so just do it. Jesse: Obviously you’ll get frustrated, but don’t over silly stuff. But pretty much what he said, just do it. If you’re keen to make a band, find those people who can do all those other bits, or do it by yourself, people have done that before, and then just do it.

“This is who we are, we’re gonna do this no matter what.” jesse birchfield

Is there anybody you’d like to thank? Jesse: People who like us. Cast A Cyclone have helped us out a lot. Joe Steiner has helped us a lot. Zac: I’d like to thank Jesse’s dad. He lets us come out to his house on the weekend and make noise. He doesn’t really care. Jesse: I’d like to thank the other people in the band, because without them I’d be standing there with a guitar going strum, strum, strum. People who are keen to watch us, people who are keen to listen to us. Anyone who supports us. And people who hate us, because that makes me wanna go further. People that dislike our music, not being sad, but I just wanna rub it in their face. This is who we are, we’re gonna do this no matter what.

Photos courtesy of Patrick Ryan Photos courteousy of Patrick R

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