Idylls and Night Hag have a short, but close history. First meeting in Brisbane with a former band about a year ago at a hole in the wall industrial district venue-come-jam space-come-home, the now defunct Sun Distortion Studios, we came to develop a tigh bond on the other side of the country with a similar approach to running DIY venues and recording. Brisbane and Adelaide are similar cities in terms of size and geography relevant to Australia’s major hubs and ‘scenes’, with both bands are involved in running DIY/home venues/jam spaces that have developed into the major AA venues in their cities. The relationship between Night Hag and Idylls has now developed into that of label-mates on Brisbane-based label Monolith.
Hey mate, how’s the LP coming along? Why the decision to track drums rather than record live like on the 7”?
The 7” wasn’t tracked live, it was just all tracked (whilst still writing) in one day and mixed that night so it kinda felt live. The rush was due to pushing a vinyl release in time for the Comadre Australian tour, in which we were under the tyranny of Zenith. In terms of tracking drums down at Capital in your town, we felt like doing something different. Tracking on an epic console in a pro studio isn’t really our thing, but it worked well. We actually booked 4 days but Tristan pretty much did the record in one day. Jimmy is a lord with drum tracking too. I found an aluminium guitar at Capital and ended up tracking mostly all the guitar there aswell. The process of this LP has been facile, we needed it to be!
How did the Night Hag 7” turn out? Can’t wait to hear it, was the Boys Next Door cover stemmed from Autoluminescent or is this a coincidence? Backing it hard.
Thanks man, the 7” is nearly done, we just have to track the vocals next week. Jimmy has engineered it all again. It’s funny recording with Jimmy because the process is always a compromise between him and the band about how it should be done, because of the bands unrelenting insistence to record all instruments live. I think with each recording we get closer to what everyone is happy with. I think so far the 7” songs are as close to what I think we sound like. So I guess I’m happy with it at this stage. Carl Saff will be mastering it again and we’re expecting it back by mid-April for the Monolith release. We also recorded a cover of Boys Next Door’s After a Fashion. That is really Dave’s thing. He really likes doing covers that are a bit of a stretch for the band stylistically and making them into our own. Like we did with the Syd Barrett cover on the EP and the Twin Peaks theme that we have played around with a couple of times live. None of us had seen or heard of Autoluminescent (The Rowland Howard doco) at time of recording. I still haven’t watched it. Dave watched it on the plane on the way back from Singapore. He said it was good. I don’t know if we’ll ever play it live though.
So what happened with Sun Distortion? How did a venue like that fit in the Brisbane punk/hc music community. I’ve noticed a bit of a divide in Adelaide in response to AA DIY warehouse space venues and how comfortable bands and crowds feel at these places. Is there a bit of a gap now?
Sun D started as my escape from listless living, a studio for me to run as I never wanted to work for someone again and that still remains. I was never aware it was going to have such an impact on aggressive music in Brisbane. After a few shows I approached Lochlan Watt to help run it as he is a booker/promoter lord and I needed to concentrate more on the studio side of things. With this it took off. After a year of unflinching punishment ( 2-3 shows a weekend) the UFC gym owner next door made us shut it down. Understandably haha, his bedroom was a couple metres from the stage, separated by a wall. I think we had a good run, though I wish badly shows still existed.
AA venues are imperative in any Australian city, whether it is realised or not. The problem with 18+ venues in this whole DIY thing is that they are generally clubs / pubs, with the primary concern of management being the bar and entry takings. Its a business that exists to profit from bands, alot of the time with no interest in the artist at all. Places like Sun Distortion live for bands only. The requirement of the space is to get the band a show that anyone at any age can experience. Pretty much at the end of every month we had just enough rent from shows to scrape by. The studio was the only thing that was feeding me. A lot of people saw this as a ‘fruitless business’, to us its just life and will continue to be.
When I was down in Adelaide Animal House and other AA shows actually seemed to be a unanimous collective. Is this normally the case? It’s definitely a small town vibe in Bris and Sun D had its regulars.
I guess it can vary with bands and gigs. AA venues (so shows as well) are relatively rare in Adelaide and Animal House is really the only decent venue for that sort of gig, so they get a lot of different people there, especially for bigger bills. 8 people live there (including NH guitarist Joey) and I’ve heard from a few isolated people that they ‘wont frequent/play AH because the cover charge just pays their rent’. I think some people has certain misunderstandings and unfounded expectations of AH and its organisers, and the way a DIY gig/scene needs to function in order to be sustainable. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have different expectations of bands/audience/venue at a DIY venue compared to a bar or club. There was recently a vandalism incident at AH which bought some of this division to the surface.
The Idylls 7” is a great release. I really can’t wait for the LP. How much thought goes into the character or aesthetic of the band and the releases? Being the primary songwriter and lyricist do you try to create a cohesive image for the band that all fits together? Personally I get a sense of ambiguity about the band, from things like a name that has multiple meanings & pronunciations and cryptic lyrics. Was this deliberate?
Cheers! I think at this point not much thought at all goes into the direction of the band. There seems to be an unspoken concurrence about song directions, which is strange because besides Tristan (drums), none of us really listen to heavy music on a casual level at all.
On the lyrical side I’ve never been influenced by any sort of modern hardcore/punk/crust whatever. I know the 7” and the LP was loosely based off Henry Miller’s ‘Black Spring’, anyone that has read that will see parallels. Having said that though the new record has a rural Australian extant. Like you said, ambiguous but still an aggressive to-the-point body of writing. Most of the songs were written when I lived at the cemetery, constant burials.
How was SE Asia? I know you guys had over 12 dates, was it a complicated process pulling it all together? What sort of shows were they and what kind of demographic were at shows? Any amazing clandestine bands you guys played with that our ears need to be punished by?
SE Asia tour went great. We played 13 gigs in total (1 in Singapore, 2 in Malaysia and the rest in Indonesia). On a fundamental level, it generally went smoothly and we all got along without running into any serious issues. In regard to the people we met, the bands we played with and those involved in organising gigs, we were overwhelmed by the hospitality that we were welcomed with. We all agreed that we got a real lesson in how to treat touring bands. Honestly, for us it was an easy process. All we had to do was initiate it and be in contact with the booking organisation and everything was handled from the other end. We are truly grateful to 7x0x7 and a tonne of other local promoters who booked it, and looked after us while we were in each city.
In Indonesia particularly we were really impressed and humbled by the effort that went into putting on DIY shows and maintaining a strong DIY scene. Bar venues are unheard of and to avoid having to ‘give in’ to corporate sponsorship most gigs would be of 12 or more bands who all chipped in to cover costs of venue and backline. Then there is issue of police intervention and extortion who mill amount looking for bribes, often resulting in change of venues a number of times. It is truly a credit to those involved in the scene that it functions so well. The demographic was predominantly younger than what we have coming to our shows in Australia. Especially in smaller towns.
In terms of bands, Tools of the Trade and Daighila both from Kuala Lumpur both knocked me on my arse. And a band called Sloth from Bandung were really great too!
Do you guys have any tour plans in the pipeline to coincide with the LP? Do you actually enjoy touring or do you see it as something you have to do? What do you hope to get out of a tour as a band (and personally) when you undertake it?
That sounds amazing. I’ve been to Malaysia almost 8 times and feel like I’m missing out majorly, having not been to any punk shows. Speaking of that, there is talk of us heading there mid year but we’ll see. We’ve only really toured once down the east coast of Australia. Playing shows in general is pretty important for us as we are a live band. Even more so in our circles of abrasive music, the recordings are just specific versions of songs. At shows it is a more organic, raw and unpredictable version of them. It is how I think most people would first want to experience a musical project like us.
We definitely love touring though. We’ve got one lined up mid year, enough interstate people give a fuck, which is epic.
Gotta ask what bands have influenced / are currently influencing Night Hag. Most metallic hardcore / punk bands in Australia patently have narrow influence from other continents (almost predominantly the states), from the conventional aggressive styles to pv and crust etc.
I am not one of the music writers, so it is difficult for me to claim influence. You would really have to talk to Joey and Dave. It seems like they are more of an influence on each others song writing than anything, and end up with something quite cohesive. I definitely don’t think there is a regional logic behind it. The trem picking is something the guys have played around with a lot. It came through a little on the first recording and really embraced by the time the album came out. The new 7” has a lot more d-beat in there, but I see that as trying something different rather than a direction thing. Lyrically, I’m not really that conscious about my musical influences. A lot of influence and inspiration comes from non-musical and even non-literary references.
What is your involvement in Monolith Records and how do you see the role of vinyl in punk/hardcore music today. What do you say to those who would rather see the death of physical music?
Monolith was an existing entity of some sort that my friend Lochlan used to book tours with etc. Shortly after the struggle of his former band Ironhide’s full length with a quasi-existing label, he approached me to set up a label together to release our own bands. This was around the same time he was moving in and booking shows so it was convenient being based at the same premises. I think we’re up to our 8th or 9th release at this point and almost all of them have been vinyl. It was almost an unspoken agreement to be releasing predominantly on vinyl, just because it has more soul and feeling than a download. Most people prefer it because it lets you be creative and more extensive with art, but I think its more than that. I never get too involved in the politics of the industry in terms of music distribution. I think I exist in my own world of music haha. I sometimes get reminded when I’m recording a band for awhile, they put in so much effort and money and then when I ask them what they’re doing with it they just say ‘oh we’ll just chuck it up free, I know a web designer who is quite good’. That seems so weird and disassociated from me. We definitely do downloads for Monolith releases but I don’t think they happen much as the demographic of people who are into the labels releases are mainly interested in vinyl.
Night Hag Confidence Man 7” out this month on Monlith
Preorders at nighthag.bandcamp.com
Idylls LP out soon on Monolith
idylls.bandcamp.com
NIGHT HAG Australian Tour Dates:
Fri April 27 @ Fat Louie’s, Brisbane, QLD
w/ Palisades (Melb)
Idylls
Fvck Mountain
Free-7pm
Sat April 28 @ The Roxbury Hotel, Glebe, NSW
w/ At Dark
Valiant Jones (SA)
Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt
The Brave
$10-8pm
Sun April 29 @ Blackwire Records, Annandale, NSW
w/ Spoonfed
Obat Batuk
Dark Horse
$5- 3pm
Mon April 30 @ Yours & Owls, Wollongong, NSW
Rev. Jesse Custer
Endeavours
+more
$10- 8pm
Tues May 1 @ The Pharmacy, Newcastle, NSW
w/ Tired Minds
Obat Batuk
+more
Donation- 8pm
Wed May 2 @ Bar 32, Canberra, ACT
w/ Rev. Jesse Custer
Venom Eyes
Wretch
Throat of Dirt
$10- 8pm
Fri May 4 @ Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood, VIC
w/ Palisades
Urns
Old Skin
$10- 9pm
Sat May 5 @ Enigma Bar (Bar 3), Adelaide, SA
w/ Stolen Youth
Craterface
Host
$10- 9pm
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