SEPARATIST

WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/separatist
COUNTRY: Australia STYLE: Death Metal / Metal / Progressive

EVERYTHING ON YOUR MYSPACE LOOKS GOOD; FROM YOUR BAND PHOTOS TO THE BAND LOGO REALLY CONVINCED ME TO HAVE A LISTEN TO YOUR SONGS. HOW BIG OF A ROLE DOES “IMAGE” PLAY IN MUSIC TODAY IN YOUR OPINION?

JAMES: Thanks a lot! We think that image plays too much of a role on music today, we’ve seen a lot more bands these days that use it their music across. Music should be about the people behind it, not so much about what their hair/make-up looks like. As a band we don’t really believe too strongly in the use of any get-up, we hope to entertain people enough without needing a costume.

YOU RELEASED YOUR DEBUT ALBUM “THE MOTIONLESS APOCALYPSE” AFTER THE BAND HAS BEEN GOING FOR FIVE YEARS ALREADY. I GUESS THE QUESTION IS WHAT TOOK SO LONG?

SAM: We basically didn’t have any ambition or drive to push for an album with the band’s older line-up. We were just a band that got together and played gigs for fun, it’s amazing to reflect on what we’ve done over the last year with that in mind!

“THE MOTIONLESS APOCALYPSE” HAS BEEN RECEIVING GREAT REVIEWS SO FAR, ARE YOU PROUD WITH WHAT YOU HAVE ACHIEVED MUSICALLY WITH THE ALBUM?

SAM: Yeah, definitely. It’s awesome to be getting so many positive reviews from recognised sources and we’re still being contacted a year after its release to be interviewed! It’s amazing how much support we’ve been getting, it’s really motivated us to work harder as a band.

DID THE BAND FACE ANY “CHALLENGES” DURING THE RECORDING PROCESS?

SAM: Learning how to record the instruments and getting the sound right was tough, though the main challenge came when I realised I had to record the whole thing myself.

A BIG PIECE OF THE METAL PUZZLE SEEMS TO HAVE ALWAYS BEEN TO TAKE THE “METAL” SOUND AND MAKE IT YOUR OWN, HOW WOULD YOU SAY SEPARATIST HAS DONE THAT WITH “THE MOTIONLESS APOCALYPSE”?

SAM: I listen to a lot of different bands from varying genres, so I guess I wasn’t as bound to the strict metal way or writing when I was making the material. I just wrote what sounded good to me.

YOUR SONGS HAVE A VERY “EPIC” SOUND TO IT. WHEN YOU GUYS WRITE NEW SONGS DO YOU USUALLY HAVE A GOOD IDEA WHAT DIRECTION YOU WANT TO TAKE WITH THEM OR DO YOU JUST LET THEM DEVELOP INTO SOMETHING AND THEN WAIT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS?

JAMES: Before we started writing the second album, Sam and I came up with a “library” of riff ideas with different feels and techniques, trying to find what we thought would be a good sound.

SAM: When I’m putting together the songs I’ll pick up riffs from the collection, or even pull apart old songs that I’ve written and not released. Often I’ll have an idea of what I want the song to sound like but it’ll always change as the process goes along.

I MUST ASK WHAT GUITAR TUNINGS AND GEAR YOU GUYS USE TO GET YOUR SOUND?

GILBO: We play in Drop C tuning; we use ESP guitars, Ernie Ball strings and Line 6 pedals for both recording and live.

DOES THE SETUP OF YOUR GEAR CHANGE MUCH BETWEEN RECORDING AND GOING ON THE ROAD?

GILBO: Not really, when we record we go through the same pedals, only with the addition of PODfarm, which rules.

READING YOUR BAND BIO I SEE YOU’VE PLAYED WITH SOME REALLY GREAT BANDS, WHAT ELEMENT OF LIVE PERFORMANCES DO YOU LOVE AND HATE THE MOST?

JAMES: The stage presence that a band holds is really key to keeping my interest in them live, and I don’t mean a gimmick, seeing bands like Dismember and Malevolent Creation slam out on stage was awesome, they were more active than most of the bands we’ve played with – it’s how metal is supposed to be played!

IS THERE A LIVE SHOW THAT YOU WILL PROBABLY NEVER FORGET FOR A PARTICULAR REASON?

GILBO: There are far too many memorable gigs, at each one we’ve had something go wrong, James has missed about 3 planes so far, we almost lost our money box from a gig in Brisbane when we were on tour... there’s heaps, things just never seem to go our way – which is hilarious! But the crowds and the people who have taken us in and looked after us usually make up for all our fuckups haha

JAMES: We’ve met a lot of cool people through all of our gigs, there’s no way any one stands out from another, we just love to play the music and drink beer!

HOW HARD IS IT TO ALWAYS GET OUT TO AS MANY VENUES AS POSSIBLE TO INCREASE YOUR FAN BASE WHILE KEEPING YOUR EXISTING FAN BASE HAPPY AT THE SAME TIME?

SAM: It’s not very hard for us at the moment, since the furthest venue from where we are is a massive 3 hours drive away. We’ll do interstate gigs maybe once every 2 months or so, just playing here and there to familiarize ourselves with the scene.

NOW THAT THE WEIGHT OF RELEASING A DEBUT ALBUM IS OF YOUR SHOULDERS, WHERE WILL YOUR ATTENTION BE MOVING TO NEXT?

JAMES: Complete the second album and then straight onto touring, we really hope to sign to a good label and tour internationally, assuming that the new material goes as well as we hope!

ANY COMMENTS/ADVISE OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

JAMES: Welkin Entertainment, Truth Inc. Records and the guys at CMI! I’d like to thank everyone that’s come to a show, helped us take the next steps in our journey and especially to those of you who are reading this now [check us out!].

The harder you work, the luckier you get.

GILBO: My advice would be to play what you wanna play and what you wanna listen to, to do it harder than everyone else and dedicate yourself to it a hundred percent. I’d like to thank all the people who have let us into their homes and helped us out while we’ve been touring. I’d also like to thank all the people who paid to see a bunch of sweaty smelly dudes windmill and those that had a beer with us afterwards. And a massive shout out to Nath and the Internal Nightmare guys for being the kindest badasses I’ve ever met.

Thank you beer, your influence has made me the musician I am today.

SAM: Well the other guys have pretty well summed it up, I just want to say a huge thanks to anyone who has helped us out and looked out for us, especially in the last year or so, those guys have been integral to us getting where we are today, and will undoubtedly play a part in us hopefully taking this thing to new levels with the release of the next album too! Thanks heaps guys, we really, really appreciate it!