Mind Noise Network
Interview with Massive
Massive are the latest in a long line of Australian rock bands and you can hear the inspiration in their music. We had a chat with vocalist Brad for a chat about how life has been for Massive. You can read our live review of their Wolverhampton show here.
We always start our interviews with this kind of question: Who are Massive and what do you do?
Massive are a dirty, sleazy, sexy, sweaty, beer drinking rock n’ roll band from Melbourne, Australia. I’m Brad the lead singer and we play rock n’ roll music and that’s pretty much it in a nutshell.
Have The Treatment and Buffalo Summer helped you settle in to the UK way of life so far?
Oh they’re great guys. They took us in straight away and once we’d got all the Australian clichés out of the way in the first gig we feel like best of friends. We’re stoked to be part of the team and they’re really cool guys to hang out with and have a beer with after a show.
You’re a few dates in to the tour now, how has it been so far and have people been coming out early to see you?
It’s been unbelievable. The first night we rocked up and the crowd were like a metre away, but you could see they had Massive shirts on. The first song I could see people singing the words to and by the end people had pushed up front. We had no idea we were going to get that sort of reception, so we’re blown away.
I’ve been told you actually had a go at the crowd at one point for standing too far away?
I gave them a little pep talk. We’ve travelled from the other side of the planet to be on stage and all they had to do was travel one metre to be in front of the stage, so I thought that was a fair deal. By the end they were all going crazy so it was alright.
Your debut album ‘Full Throttle’ came out a few months ago and you gave it away on the cover of Classic Rock, what has the reception to it been like?
Again, it’s been unbelievable. We’re just stoked that people are getting it into their homes and listening to it and the reviews, even though you don’t always take too much from them, have all been positive. It’s hard not to get excited when you see things like ‘album of the month’ or 9/10 reviews.
Who’s idea was it to have the giant billboards advertising the album around London?
That would be the lovely people at our record label, Earache Records, who are doing a great job and putting a lot of faith in us. They all came out last night and had a few beers and enjoyed the show. It was great to meet everyone at Earache and we’re looking forward to being part of the team for many albums to come.
How did you feel when you found out and saw the pictures of this huge billboard?
It’s one thing to say you’re on a billboard, but it’s another thing to see on the way to Heathrow. It was huge.
You guys are in good company with bands like RIvals Sons and Blackberry Smoke on Earache Records, have they helped you push on at all?
Well we're touring with Blackberry Smoke straight after this tour with The Treatment and Buffalo Summer so it'll be great to meet some of the other guys. We've got Rival Sons in our stereo's at home, we've been listening to them for years. So it's good to know we're part of that whole team. They're great bands that we can learn a lot from in the future.
You guys have been around now for a couple of years, what's been the highlight so far?
This tour I reckon because this is something we've never experienced before. To be pushing into completely new territories is something we want to be doing for the rest of our lives. We're living at the moment and we're having a lot of fun.
So comparing this to what you usually do in Australia, tour wise, how does it differ?
It differs because Australia is so vast. To do a tour in Australia you drive a day to get to your next gig and it's a thousand miles to the next city. We do the small towns in the middle which breaks it up a little, but it's just not viable to be on the road for three or four weeks at a time. You end up doing a few shows in a city, then having a few days off before you go to the next city, just because it's so far apart. Here you're in the van for two or three hours and you're in the next city, ready to rock. It's a completely different experience for us, different city, different experiences. We're loving it and we're loving being on the road.
We've all heard of the likes of AC/DC and Airbourne, but how is the more local scene in Australia?
Well we come from Melbourne which is the rock capital. Anyone in Australia will tell you you've got to go to Australia to watch bands and for live music. There is a pub on every street corner and they all play live music, which is great. The local scene is definitely Melbourne orientated. There are a lot of great bands over there and that are coming over here doing what we're doing, so it's healthy definitely.
With Soundwave Festival getting some of the planet's best lineups, that must be a big inspiration for young bands?
Ahh yeah, it's the first real rock orientated festival we're had. We used to have Big Day Out which was a lot more varied. Soundwave is the first real opportunity for heavy metal and rock n' roll to shine in Australia. Bands you would never see coming to Australia are now coming over to tour with Soundwave and it's great.
Why should people buy Full Throttle and come and see you live?
Well I think we're one of those bands that gives 110% rain, hail or shine, whether we're tired, whether we're sick, it doesn't matter. We get up on stage and literally give it all until we're completely exhausted, beer soaked and sweaty. That's what we do and we love what we do. We think that if we're willing to do all that, you should come down and see what you think. If you like it then great, if not then we tried.
Who from back home deserves a listen that we may not have heard of?
There's a few. There's a band called Electric Mary that are touring the UK and Europe, they've been here a few times. A couple of others you might not have heard of are Dead City Ruins who are good friends of ours, they toured with Skid Row and Ugly Kid Joe last year. The Deep End, they're real dirty, sleazy pub rock. Dirt River Radio, they're a real soulful blues, Rolling Stones kinda band with a bit of Australiana in there too. Black Aces toured UK earlier this year. Tequila Mockinbird are rocking. They're three girls that go hard and do really well. They're new on the scene but they're pushing really hard.
Do you guys have any plans for 2015 so far?
Well we're road dogs, we don't like stopping so we're already planning a tour of Australia when we get back. But then we want to get straight back on the road over here. So 2015, we'll definitely be back in the UK and we'll definitely be back in Europe. Hopefully some other territories too, but one thing we can guarantee is that we're gonna be touring as much as we can, so look out for that.
Brilliant, we look forward to seeing you again and good luck with the rest of the tour.
Check out Massive here:
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