Saturday 6 October 2012

Interview with Inside Reality


Inside Reailty, they've been going at it strong and have almost got to the point where they are making an impact on the local scene. They consider themselves a hard rock/alternative rock with a large melting pot of influences. You have Sam on lead vocals and guitar, Corey on guitar and backing vocals, Damiean (aka Dutchy) on bass and Zac on drums. When I sat down to have a chat to these guys they wanted to keep it casual, first name basis.

So this must be exciting for you, recently getting announced as opening the main stage at Rocktober, how did this band start?

Dutchy (Damiean): Well, the band, for me, started by an invite from the drummer. When they were looking for a bassist I put my hand up. Since then I've been having a lot of fun. We've all put our bit in for travel, looking for gigs and opportunities and other stuff.

Corey: Well I always wanted to be in a band for ages but could never find other players, I knew Sam and so we decided to start something and see how it went. Soon after deciding to be in a band we met Zac, then it just progressed from there.

Dutchy: We all got along well and have fun, that's where we are now.

Sam: Well me and Corey thought we had too much expensive gear sitting in our rooms and was doing nothing with them. So we decided to do something and set out to find a drummer. By luck we met some weird dude with crazy hair called Zac, then we went about writing some pretty cool, and very loud music. Before getting a big gig at Spenser's Live a few months ago in desperate measures we found Dutchy as a bass player. The first guy didn't even turn up to practice, twice, without even telling us. So now we are having the time of our lives writing some awesome music together.

Zac: Well I had been in and out of bands for about three years, playing with people whom never showed and were completely uninterested. They didn't have the same mentality as me, so when one day I was randomly asked out of class to go do some questions which were asked by my future band mates Corey and Sam.  Soon we began to chat about music and how we wanted to be in a band, complained about past incompetency of old band mates.Finally one of us proposed a jam instantly we knew exactly what wanted from the sound which didn't take long to get sounding good. The last dilemma hadn't been met just yet we still needed a bloody bassist (who knew it could be so hard?). After months of advertising it finally reached Dutchy who we were so thankful for when he came to the band, instantly we felt a lot more confident and we knew that this was gonna last. Months down the track things are great and I couldn't ask for better band mates!

I know the feeling, having guys that don't turn up to practice isn't a good feeling.

Sam: Yeah we thought we'd never find a bass player, untill we found Dutchy and we instantly knew he was the one.

Dutchy: Booyah!



What was your first gig like?

Sam: For me it went terrible, I stuffed up too much and felt like shit afterwards. I felt depressed all day and never wanted to play again, until some little kids came up to me in their high pitched voices and said 'You where totally awesome" then I felt great about it.

Corey: Yeah it was horrible, I used the crappy school amp and it didn't sound too flash (laughs) and the teachers kept cracking it at us cos it was "too loud".



Dutchy: Well, as you know, i came in later, so my first gig was at Spensers, and the nerves killed, seeing it was 100+ crowd and id never played in front of anyone,and i only just remembered all the chords. after al, the nerves killed, but it was an excellent performance, even though the "professional" sound man was a paraplegic who lost his wife the week before. the sound of my bass was very little, even though i had the biggest amp. a little frustrating if you ask me

It's the back bone of the band, its gotta have presence.

Sam: Spenser's was a 300 person gig by the way!

Oh, watch out, we got a badass over here (laughs)

Sam: Who's the badass we are all whimps (laughs).

Dutchy: I'm the badass. I wear the sunnies on stage as a trademark or my dominance.



So as far influences go, what was your main inspiration or drive to start playing?

Dutchy: My main inspirations for music are Nirvana, Rise Against, The Offspring, A Day to Remember, Green Day, Linkin Park, Kaiser Chiefs and many more. For bass inspiration my mains are Rise Against, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana.

Bit of slappin' the bass?

Dutchy: For sure. (laughs)

Sam: Well, I think we all have different tastes in music which influence what we bring to the band. I'd say my main influences are Green Day, Blink 182, All Time Low, Linkin Park, You Me At Six and Paramore. In my performance I try to model my vocal parts to a punky style in the likes of Green Day and Blink. My guitar style is a mixture of punk, alternative and hard rock stuff, like Guns N' Roses and AC/DC style, but maybe not as good (laughs).

Zac: My drumming influences are Ben Harclerode of Whitechapel, James Cassells of Asking Alexandria and Matt Greiner of August Burns Red.

I hear a bit of M. Shadows, do you take any influence from bands like Avenged Sevenfold?

Corey: (laughs) Don't even know them, I kind of have a more old 80's style rock influence, such as bon jovi, warrant, and also Guns N' Roses. That sort of stuff, kinda an oldy then (laughs)
and yeah Dutchy's the master at slappin' shit (laughs)

Sam: M. Shadows is an awesome singer, I'd say I was influenced more by his melodic lines than his screaming though.


Avenged Sevenfold are sort of a modern day's equvalent bands like Guns N Roses, it's subjective though.

Sam: I like them, but I wouldn't say they are my biggest influence.

Are you guys working towards releasing any material?

Corey: Yeah, we always are. We started with just going ahead and writing our own stuff, stuff covers! (laughs) .Nah, but yeah were always eager to see what other people think of our own stuff and therefore play them at any oppurtunity we can get. We're wanting to get into the studio ASAP so we can release an EP, just gotta find the time at the moment, especially with exams right now, but yeah soon hopefully!

Sam: We will release some music soon no doubt about it, just hope its sooner rather than later (laughs)


Sooooo, Rocktober!

Sam: Are you pumped! Because we are, main stage baby!

Tell me more about it, and the other band's you'll be playing with.

Sam: Well there is Closure in Moscow who are huge on the melbourne scene and make us look like tiny ants and Summerset Avenue who I have become a huge fan of after hearing we were playing with them, I think they have such a unique sound, which is awesome.

Tell me more.

Sam: They are like an Aussie Paramore, they sound great. I can't wait to share the stage with them.

Oh... is the singer... um... attractive?
Joking once again, wont put that part in.

Corey: Ok, don't put it in... But yeah she's a fricken fantastic singer, like such a unique voice, works well with the Australian accent. Yeah shes not bad.. lol jokes f***ing hot as! (laughs)

Have you had the chance to share the stage with any other local bands you have something to say about?

Sam: Yeah, we have played 2 gigs with a pretty cool punk pop band from around the same parts as us. They are called Eight Days of Autumn, they are pretty awesome and they write some sick stuff and I hope we get to share the stage again with them soon.

Do you know some of the guys from Acrasia, I saw you had liked their page?
I saw those guys in Warrandyte at Epic Youth Fest, which was organised by Lachlan Mac.

Sam: Yeah, our drummer Zac is mates with a now former member I believe, who I also believe we will be recording with soon.

Does he work at a studio?

Sam: I believe he owns his own, Zac is probably the best to ask about that

Wow, that's quite impressive




Have you considered approaching someone about possibly playing as a opening act at Doncaster Epic Youth this year?

Sam: Haven't even heard about it but sounds like fun, we will have to look into that.

So I was talking to someone and they said it's hard to interview a band such as yours, because they have so much to say, yet its hard to come up with the questions. So I might go back to the music?
What was the thing that inspired you to start playing your instrument?

Sam: Sweet child o mine, that song changed my life, made me wanna play rock guitar.

Dutchy: Well, I had a lot of spare time as a young'n, so my entire holidays I spent working and bought myself a bass, cause i always loved the feeling and I'm really relaxed and chilled. After a year of playing it went into the cupboard for two years. When I stopped playing video games and got bored dad reminded me to play it or sell it, so I started playing it again and that was 8-9 months before I joined the band.

Corey: My dad, he was just like, he used to play it and I picked it up and tried what he played. From there I looked at other guitarists, like Slash. I even have an insane looking rabbit hair high hat, exactly like Slash.

Any funny stories from practice or gigs?

Dutchy: Well, we always get pizza during late/long practices, and we found out Sam is the slowest eater ever! We usually make up hilarious things to say on stage, and we just laughed our asses off everytime, so it'll be a hit. There have been many stuff ups and hilarious things happening, but probably the funniest thing that stuffs us up is the faces Corey and Sam pull while they play (chuckles) and Zac just plays with his head down, insane he is.

Is he one of those "drummers", the crazy ones?

Sam: Yeah, crazy (winks)


You know, drummers, they're all secretly insane.

Dutchy: We are all crazy (winks), Sam is crazy in general, Corey's fingers are insane! Zac just likes to hit everything that moves!, and everything that doesn't move too.

Has he ever used any of you as a drum before?

Sam: Yeah,  all of us.

So you must have a pretty cool rehearsal space if you can practice late.

Sam: He' got a bungalow separated from the house, its pretty secluded to, no volume limit.

Awesome.

Dutchy: Otherwise we've got my joint, in the shed.

It's hard to find time to practice when you have neighbours..

Sam: (laughs) I bet, thank god we live such a long way out from neighbours.

Pick a song that isn't very well known, slightly older or a classic from a long time ago to do in your own style?

Zac: I would like to interpret would be Edison's Medicine by Tesla

Sam: Well, since the other guys have gone I'll answer this. I think I'd love to do our version of Sweet Child O Mine, we tried on the spot it at soundcheck 2 gigs ago and I think Corey loved it playing it as a band. I thought it was good fun so I'd love to do that more often if we could make it our own, and not just trying to be a carbon Guns N Roses copy.

A punk cover, or something more your own style?

Sam: Maybe more of an alternative rock cover

Well cool thanks for the talk, we'll wrap up the interview.