Tim Yatras is an Australian musician best known for his past work in Austere, Woods of Desolation, Nazxul and Lord. Earlier this year, Tim released Wish, the first album from his solo project Germ. It combines a unique mix of hard-hitting electronica and atmospheric black metal. A major player in the Australian metal scence, we asked Tim about the many different projects he’s worked with over the years and how they culminated in this fascinatingly unique endeavor.
Your resume is quite expansive, but with the recent-ish dissolution of Austere, Grey Waters and you leaving Lord, it looks like you’ve had a bit more time to focus on your own projects. Did this help expedite the release of Wish?
Yeah, I guess it did in a way. I’ve always kinda had my focus elsewhere, with Germ in the background. I guess it only made sense that once those other projects were gone, that Germ would finally move forward! It took a long time, but I’m glad to finally have the material completed and available.
How has the response been to the full-length, both at home and overseas?
At home I really would have no idea. I’ve had a few emails from people in Australia saying they’re into it, and I’ve sold quite a few copies here, but really, it’s impossible to say, because Germ is still very much an unknown and underground band here. Even Austere is still not known by many Australians, and many of those who do like Austere, think it’s a European band. I guess if I went out and played live around the country like most bands do that would change, but I don’t really see that happening any time soon.
Overseas the response has been far greater. I’ve been sent heaps of reviews, and done quite a few interviews, and just generally seen a small buzz around the place for the album. Of course not everything is positive. I knew that a lot of people, those into more traditional black metal and heavy metal styles, would be turned off by the inclusion of certain elements on the album, but hey, I don’t make music to try to please as many people as possible. If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it. That said, the response has for the most part been incredibly positive, and I’m actually quite surprised at some of the great reviews I’ve seen.
You’ve already begun work on more Germ material, is this project going to be your main musical focus for the foreseeable future?
Yeah, I have a new EP called Loss coming out sometime soon. It’s made up of material written and recorded over the years 2009 – 2012, so there’s not really a great deal of new material on there, but these are mostly songs I’ve had sitting around incomplete for a long time, and always thought they deserved to see a release one day. Actually, I prefer this new EP to the album…
Aside from that, I’m slowly working on songs that will make up the next full length album. I’ve got demos for 6 songs completed, and a few others in various unfinished stages. The plan is to take my time with the songs, to make them the best I can, and then head into the studio sometime early – mid next year to begin recording. I’ve really got no idea if everything will go to plan, but we’ll see…
Actually, I still wouldn’t say Germ is my “main” musical focus right now, as I’m still composing a lot for other artists, which takes up a lot of time, but of my own projects it’s definitely the one I’m spending the most time on. I do have a couple of other things in early stages I’ve been working on, one is quite an exciting collaboration with some well known musicians, but I’m not gonna say anything about that yet, cos it’s still very early stages.
Rumor has it you’ve been writing songs for Asian pop artists. How did this come about, and how does it compare to making heavier music?
I compose demos of songs and send them over to various producers, labels and companies over there. It’s an amazing opportunity I was given, and I enjoy the challenge of creating a pop song that will appeal to a wide audience, but it’s not something I want to talk about too much when it comes to the other side of my music. I guess I can put it this way, the sense of achievement is composing and demoing a song to a specific guideline in a day or two is great, but it’s completely different to something you spend months, even years developing into a final product!
On most of the projects you’ve been involved with you’ve contributed drums and vocals, but Germ shows you can handle much more than that with ease. Where does your training stem from, and what do you consider your “main” instrument?
The first instrument I began to focus on seriously was the drums, many years ago when I was around 11 – 12 years old. I studied with a teacher for a year or two, then moved on to study music theory. As for guitar and piano, I guess you could say I’m semi-self taught, haha. I’ve had a lot of tips from people along the way, but no actual formal training.
I suppose my “main” instrument would be the drums, as I’m a better drummer than a guitarist for example, however I do play a lot more piano and guitar than drums nowadays.
Many of the bands you work with fall under the blanket umbrella of Black Metal, Germ included. What draws you to this style and what inspires your experimentation with it?
I’ve listened to black metal since I was very young, and began playing in BM bands when I was in my teens. I guess I don’t really listen to much in that style of music anymore, but there’s something about it that speaks to me. I’m not really fussed about doing a more “traditional” style of BM anymore, as I’ve done that with early Austere, Nazxul, Woods of Desolation, DTL, etc, but I do want to continue to include elements of BM in my music, as it will always remain a big part of who I am. I write a lot of other styles of music these days, which I guess comes from my head, but when I write for Germ, it comes from my heart.
It seems there’s been an explosion of good Australian bands in recent years. What’s the scene like there, and who of your countrymen should the rest of the world pay more attention to? Metal and otherwise.
The Metal scene is pretty much garbage. There are a few ok bands here and there, but I think everyone who reads this will already be aware of the bands worth looking into from the Australian Metal scene!
As for non-metal, there’s a guy called Matt Corby who was on “Australian Idol” a few years ago, but has this year come out with an EP completely different to what he was like back then, and it’s actually quite good. Aside from that, a band called Gypsy and the Cat released a pretty good debut album last year, and I’m waiting to see what they come up with next.
What does the future hold for Tim Yatras?
I guess the main thing I want to do is to make a really good second Germ full length. The songs demoed so far sound promising, and it sounds like a good album in my head haha, but we’ll see what happens over the next 12 months with it…
Wish was released on March 12th. Check out our review, and pick up the album here.
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