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Good evening, chaps. Relocating overseas is a huge step. It must have taken one hell of an amount of planning? Brad – “Well, we sold everything that we owned, so for me that was a couple of pairs of shoes, Brendan (Forward – lead guitarist) sold a speaker box, and that’s about it. We didn’t own much to sell anyway, so it was pretty easy packing shit up!” Jarrod – “You’d think that there was a lot to organize, but we actually did fuck all… and now we’re paying for it!” Brad – “We landed in Berlin airport, and sat there for an hour thinking… what do we do now? Where are we going to stay tonight!” Are you prepared for the shit weather, and crap beer? Brad – “We’re from Melbourne, so we know shit weather, and trust me, every beer is beer, it doesn’t matter as long as it gets the job done and gets you drunk… and I’ve got to say that the rider tonight is pretty decent (points to a fridge full of cans of cider and lager)” Carrot sticks and hummus? Brad – “Yeah, they’re unopened, mate!” Haha! The “Aussie Wrecking Crew” tour… how has it been going so far? Brad – “Well, we all looked a bit younger seven days ago, that’s for sure… and we were all a bit happier seven days ago. Now we’re all grumpy ladies and men! We’ve changed the name to the “Aussie Train Wreck” tour” Jarrod – “It’s actually been a blast. The shows have been great, but everything in between has gone so wrong. We bought a van at Heathrow Airport, and five days later it broke down, and now we have to push start it everywhere. We were nearly late for a gig the other night, as we were in the van for nine hours straight, as the starter motor broke, and we couldn’t turn the fucker off!” Bloody hell!.. but it does segue into… “Destination Somewhere” has been out now for some months. Looking back, how do you feel about it? Brad – “Even though it came out a little while ago, we wrote it almost a year and a half ago. It’s been a long process. We finished it in October 2015, took six months for it to come out, and now we’re touring it, so it actually feels old to us. We’re happy with it, it’s kind of the first real Massive album, as the debut album was just me and Jarrod writing in an attic, but this album was the first for all of us to put our thoughts and ideas into” So the album the sound of a band evolving through constant gigging? Brad – “You talk about evolving. It’s been four years since we wrote the debut. You write your first songs ever, then you tour for three years, head overseas to do all this stuff, get some new members in the band, so yeah, naturally you’re going to evolve. “Destination Somewhere” is the album that sounds like Massive. That’s what we are. We’re going to Italy soon, as our manager has a villa there. The aim is to do some writing, and although it’s cliched, being in a different country and environment will perhaps affect our sound… we might come out sounding like U2!” Dear God, no! As well as the raucous rock ‘n’ roll that we expect from you guys, there were also some new grooves on the album. For instance, “Beaten Dog” is my favourite on the album. The slide guitar is immense. Lead guitarist, Brendan Forward stands up and yells, “Yessssssss! Fuck yeah” (he sings lead on this one). Brad – “Well, I guess we’ll have to add that to the set tonight!” (they didn’t…) Don’t type ‘Massive – Beaten Dog’ in YouTube though, as you get some really horrible videos! Jarrod – “I’m very much against animal violence, and I think that they should have laws that whatever you did to the animal then people can do to you. Sick, twisted fuckers” “Blood Money Blues” has a drink and drug-fuelled, fucked up video. Is that just an average night for Massive? Jarrod – “That’s a Monday night !” Brad – “We had all these grand plans about making superhero action clips. Then we realised that we can’t actually act. The way we did it, it’s all sped up, every extra in that video is acting like crazy. They had to drink in slow motion and we just had to run around drunk, so there was no real acting required. It was all done in one take and guess how many it took us to get it right?” One? First take? Brad – “Fuck off! Two! It took two. Nailed it! Done! Thank you very much” Aussie rock bands will always be compared to AC/DC, but Massive don’t actually sound like them. Is that allowed? Brad – “If you’ve got two guitars and a big loud singer, then you will get the comparisons. If you’re an Aussie rock band, then you’ll also get the comparisons. We’re both Australian, and that’s about it really. We cop it all the time, but none of us would say AC/DC were on of our influences. Jarrod is Zeppelin, I’m Gunners. Fuck knows about the other two!” You are making a return visit to Hard Rock Hell Festival later this year. With it’s healthy mix of heritage bands and new blood, will you get the chance to check other bands out? Jarrod – “Yeah I cannot wait for that. There’s about seven Aussie bands on there too, which is cool. Hail Mary, Cherry Grind, as well as the guys on tour with us now… we’re planning to raid the stage in this big group of Aussies, so it should be crazy.” Brad – “We’re trying to arrange it so that we can stay there for a few days, as there are so many bands that we want to see.” Jarrod – “Glenn Hughes, man! Fucking Glenn Hughes. I heard his new track with Chad Smith, “Heavy”… and I fucking love it” You are also playing some shows around that time with Bad Touch. How did that one come about? Brad – “We just met them in person the other night for the first time! We’ve been speaking to them for a while. When we said we were moving over here, we put out some feelers to all the bands we know about doing something” Bands like The Treatment? Brad – “Yeah, we’re doing some shows with The Treatment, as well as Bad Touch. We haven’t actually announced those yet, so that’s an exclusive! They’re doing some Christmas shows, so we’re jumping on those” When you were last over in Europe, you opened for labelmates Blackberry Smoke, and joined them for an encore of ‘Highway To Hell’ on the last night. That must have been a blast? Brad – “That was a real highlight, as they actually came to us and asked if we wanted to do it… so we picked the song, and rushed back to our dressing rooms to practice. We knew the song, obviously, but you don’t want to fuck that one up onstage. Funny thing was, that we could hear Blackberry Smoke in the other room doing the exact same thing! It was very cool, and that was a great tour” Okay… last question. Is Rock N’ Roll still dangerous, or has the genre been overrun by abstaining wimps? Brad – “It’s become easier in some ways. Back in the day, you had to go out and hand out flyers to promote your band. These days, people go on Facebook and send out their EPK’s etc. We still rough it. I’ve slept in the van most nights so far, just sleeping sideways on a seat. We went to casinos for a sleep, as they’re open 24 hours, and the only place that was open and warm” Jarrod – “I don’t know if it’s still dangerous, but it’s certainly ridiculous!” Brad – “It’s not dangerous, in that someone is going to die doing it, but the bands that have to have a hotel room, have to have a day off, or need a driver… then they will struggle to survive. We don’t need a hotel room if we’ve got floor space at someone’s house. We’ll sleep on the floor, if it means we can get to the next gig, pay off our debts, and do this for the rest of our lives” Love that attitude! Thanks for your time guys, and enjoy your trek around Europe! Jarrod – “Cheers, mate. See you at King Tuts with The Treatment” Yes, you will! Interview: Dave Stott Follow Massive: Website | Facebook]]>
