From South Africa to Bloodstock: Temples on Mars Explore the Meaning of Metal Community

0:04 Hi, you have done to censure for see wow for you your. This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four C Y Radio, and I'm here. With symbols on Mars. Nice. Let's hope we don't ruin Mars like we ruin the Earth. Do you want to go that deep straight away? I just want to go to Mars and get the fuck off this planet. But seriously, though, we're here at Bloodstock, Man, it have you been to Bloodstock before? Or is this first time?

0:49 Man, it's the first time? Man, pleasantly surprised. I know. It's I fucking love this festival, you know. It's I got here this morning and I was like, man, or yesterday morning, I was like, yeah, I'm home. Yeah. Man. That's the thing with festivals like this, Man, it exactly like you said, it feels like you're home. Yeah, You're with your people, with my family, you know, and and it is family run, which is what gives that vibe to it, you know, because like there's so many festivals out there, but there's only one like Bloodstuck, where there are no assholes here to be blunt. I think that can be generally said for all like metal heads. Man, that's true.

1:29 They come across. Do you know what I think? Man, it's like metal heads come across as really scary people. Yeah, the fucking reason to keep the assholes out exactly. But you get into tents, man, just everything is so till. I've talked about that with ourists, where they're like, yeah, let's keep thinking we're scary. Exactly, and the general populace thing like oh man, you got leather jackets and change you guys in nutcases. It's like, yeah, you keep thinking that. Yeah exactly. Inside, man, we're the nicest people once they exactly. But that's why too. There's some festivals that like kind of mix it up, and that's where the assholes come in, you know, and that's coming. And like the assholes, you're looking for fights and negresses exactly.

2:11 You know. It was talked about in one of my other interviews, and like I do download and I love download. Now it's great, man. But Architects played this year and they had to get stopped like five times because there were people going in on purpose to punch people in the pit. I mean, you don't have to look at like Woodstock ninety nine, right, Yeah, that's exactly what happened with like the metal industry, you know, exactly, suburban asshole kids come in. And it's never the metal heads. Never the metal heads, man, you know, it's always the one I found a lot too when I was younger. It's like these big dudes who just go in to hurt and mame people. They're not into metal. They just think, oh, this is a good opportunity for me to fight.

2:54 That's it. Man. I think they confused like heavy music with like with with violence and testosterone. And it's not like no music. It's therapy. It's therapy. Like the way I look at is that's where I get all my shit out. So I am not getting into fights in. The other but it's a safe place. Exactly. Pick somebody faults, you pick them up. You know. Everybody watches out for everybody, and then when the song's over, everybody's given a group hug. Exactly, know, and even as heavy mesa just slamming your head as hard as you can into your chest. Yeah, that's great. It's such a rush. It's the best drug there is in my opinion.

3:35 Go home, hug your mom, man, tell her. There you go. So, so, how did you guys start? We started probably about eight years ago, twenty eighteen. We released our first record Pretty Quick and then another EP. We've been doing lots of tours. You know. We played as far as South Africa. That's pretty or it was very cool. Very cool. Different vibe to the UK obviously. And what's it like in South Africa to play? I thought it was great. I mean it was great, Like the people were very welcoming the culture. Like I'm from New. Zealand originally, so lots of parallels with what I'm used to.

4:18 I call it a barbecue. They call it a brie. Am I saying that right? Just almost almost? Yeah, they abused me and then yeah, we dropped a new record last year called The Last Ship. Pretty much our set today was mainly Last Ship tracks and yeah, it's just it keeps evolving. We've had the same line up for eight years, so that. Kind's unheard of sometimes. Yeah, I mean like we're like bros, you know, like yes, love here, Yes, there's like there's a lot of love. You know, not everyone gets on twenty four seven, but like everyone's it's because we care. Yeah that the direction is the same and like there was a little love and it's good times.

5:03 There you go, and and so tell me about besides you and besides alien weaponry. What's the metal scene like in New Zealand. Oh, actually has quite a few middlemands in New Zealand. I before obviously I moved up to UK, I was playing quite a bit. It's like in Wellington on one of the towns. They w I know what's funny? Want I know what's funny about that? I live in Florida in my studio has been in Wellington, Florida for twenty years. Oh small old, small, old brow. Yeah, yeah, it's wild. Like I was actually a trustee in the chamber and they had me do stuff so that every time people looked up Wellington that didn't pull up your Wellington.

5:55 Well yeah, I mean, what are the chances that I know, right, it's wile some singicity that was meant to be absolutely no doubt. So tell me more about it. I'm trying to trying to think, Uh, what makes it different to you know, metal scenes worldwide. I guess it's quite close knit, like everyone pretty much knows everyone. You've got you know, this is quite a well where my hometown there was quite a lot of death metal going on a lot of punk stuff, which obviously is not straight up bloodstock, but you know, combiners. To tell similar cool. Yeah, but I haven't been back there for a while.

6:37 I've been like obviously living in UK, like and why haven't been home for eight years to be honest. So wow, uh yeah, well to me, like the reason I asked as like to let the audience know that the metal community is not particular to a geographic limitation. Metal heads are metal heads all over the world exactly, and we have this synchronousity wherever you are in the world, you know, And that's the cool thing about the metal community is that's evil scary people are actually the nicest people that get along with everybody in the world.

7:18 Simple, Yes, very caring community that looks out for each other. Yes. So tell the listeners a little bit about your music. Not necessarily a genre, but how you the artists describe your music? I think what did I what I describe it? Some article recently it was like warm, accessible, heavy hooks with some electronic jinqua. Nice. That's cool, that's a good that's a nice description, right, would you say that's accurate? Yeah? I mean, like you listen to the new record and you know, different moments. I feel those five little descriptions when I listened back to it.

8:08 Not that I sit at home and listen to my own music, but that's that's normal because you're probably your own worst critic, so it's kind of hard to listen because then you're going to be like being critical of your own music. Oh that's why I don't edit my own interviews, because it would take me fucking two weeks to edit one interview. Doing different takes of the same word. Yeah, yeah, and like, oh oh, I need to fix that. I need to things that people probably wouldn't even notice. And that's usually the case. So what was it for both of you? What moment in life did you realize music was what you needed to do. I'll let you take this one first.

8:54 I think it goes so way back when I grew and I grew up in a real conservative society, post aparty South Africa. Just and super conservative. And yeah, as a young kid, you know, twelve thirteen, you don't know the fuck to think, and then yeah, you just suddenly people Luckily, you know, I meet someone who puts a band like Nirvana in my ears and puts a band like Rage Against Machine in my ears, and it just suddenly the world makes sense. Suddenly, it just makes sense. You have direction, you have everything's you don't even understand the lyrics to the extent that you understand them now, but there's yeah, I guess it's it's just sort of I don't know, Yeah, it's it's and it's yeah, it just there we go. And then and then within that, you suddenly find a family, You find other alternative kids who are wayward, and suddenly that's your connection to them, and they feel the same way. And you're like, man, I'm not alone in this fucking world.

10:00 You know, I'm going out to be fucking weird. It's fine. And we're all insiders that are out. We're inside here and we're outsiders, are all on the inside. Yeah, that's the way I can't put it, you know. And and these bands, these bands bring it out of people and then they give kids a direction. I think that's important and I hope bands still do that today. You know, I personally know of kids who are you know, not in a great position now, and and metal is given them a way out. You know, it's the best therapy for you, the artists, and for me the listener. You get to get your stuff out in your music and we get to receive it and relate to it. And however we need to relate to it. And it does help.

10:48 Understand, you know. And it's I like the way that metal is not just entertainment, you know, it's it helps people. I think it helps people. How many times have you heard some you say, oh, this band saved my life? Yeah I can, yeah, exactly. I don't. I don't hear pop people. No man with that Britney spears. I don't know how many lives he saved. But you know, Lama God or Navana or Ragio Machine or whoever tool exactly, people still living go to that band also, you know, call it to day. What else would you guys like the audience to know about your band and upcoming stuff?

11:35 Upcoming stuff. So we've got some shows, be kind announcement. Yet we're going to new music. Go listen to the album if you haven't heard it. Where would they find them? All the usual places Spotify online, just yeah, search us band camp and then give us money there, buy some coffee. Yeah, because otherwise they don't get to the next gig. They can't let unless say, buy your murder. They can't listen to my show. People don't realize how hard you guys work, and they think you're living a dream life because you're traveling all over the world. And I'd like to clarify that because part of it's the dream life.

12:16 The other part is, yeah, you're traveling all around the world seeing a festival and not much else until you have to go to the next stop. And the only way you get to that next stop is if you sell merch because you don't make crap from Spotify or or any of those other things. So that's why I tell people they need to support bands they want to keep iticking around. Do you have any final words for the listeners. Thank you for listening to us. Well, thank you for being here at Bloodstock, and thanks for being on the Adventures the Pipe Man. Thank you anytime. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipelin. I'm dove U for CUI Radio.