We catch up with Josh Campiao from Sydney band SECRET WORLD to talk about their debut 7inch "Guilt Is Good." Live photos by Mitch Strangman and Jack Rudder.
At what point did Secret World form and how did it all come together?
Songs for Secret World started in 2020 but the idea of a band was something Pondy and I had kicked around for years but never actually did anything about it (much more fun to talk about doing something than to do it, right). When covid hit I thought it would be a good way to pass the time and a way to still be able connect with my friend while we couldn’t physically hang out.
From there once we had a few songs and lockdowns got lifted we got some friends together to see if these songs would actually work with a full band and not just bedroom demos. To our surprise it did work but that first line up sort of fizzled out and we thought it might have ended there. After a little while we still wanted to give it a crack so we asked if Maddo wanted to play guitar and he was the one that pushed us to make the demo. From there everything else just fell into place.
How did what started as a three piece evolve into a six piece with 3 guitars?
It started out as a 3 piece purely because we couldn’t really find anyone that had time to commit to a band and I also think people didn’t trust that Pondy and I were actually capable of putting it together (as I said, it took Maddo joining to kick us up the ass to make the demo). So the 3 of us recorded the demo with Elliott at Chameleon studios and our mate Chas (Justice for the Damned, Migraine, all round hectic bloke) played drums on it. Once we had something to show people Dennis was the first to say he would play but he originally wanted to play bass. A few weeks later Pondy and I were talking to Kelly at a show, the band got brought up, he demanded we play it for him off our phone. On the spot he said he was now playing bass and that he’d bring a drummer with him (Cheddar, who plays in his other band Beerwolf) because we had told him we needed one. Dennis was also in the room while this was all going down, so I suggested that he plays guitar because all the songs already had 3 guitar parts in them at times and also playing with 3 guitars would be fun as fuck.
How does the song writing process happen with three guitars, does everyone contribute riffs and ideas or is one person mainly behind the song writing?
I will come up with a general idea and structure for a whole song. Once I have that I’ll bring it to the rest of the band and a few things will happen;
Pondy will write the vocals
Cheddar will fix the drums so that they make sense (I’ve been told I write drums like a guitarist not a drummer, understandable) and so he can add his ideas and spin on things.
Kelly, Dennis and Maddo will have suggestions for structure, riffs, bass lines, leads etc as well.
From there we keep making revisions until it’s in a spot that we’d be happy to take to the studio to record
It’s easy to get stuck in thinking the song can only sound one way during the writing process especially in the early stages when I’m just on my own, I can miss out on ideas for parts or just not even think that the song could go a any other way than how it sits at that present time. So it’s good to have fresh ears/perspective on the music once I’m done with it.
It’s a very collaborative effort which I really enjoy, this band is truely a sum of its parts.
In your own words how would you describe the sound of Secret World?
Hardcore Rock and Roll
Personally I hear a lot of Drug Church when I listen to Secret World. What bands would you say are influencing the sound of your band?
With the aim of this band to lean way more to the ‘rock’ side of things inspiration comes from all across all genres and bands. As much as I love hardcore I’ve also always been a big fan of bands like Arctic Monkeys, Interpol, The Strokes, Queens Of The Stone Age etc. I know Pondy and Maddo listen to bands like Jawbreaker, Seaweed, Quicksand.
We for sure listen to all our contemporaries and love all those bands too but we look at us fitting in to the same style of music that they play more so than them bands we are trying to emulate.
What would be a dream line up of bands to play with?
I’ll go a still active 3 band line up in these two answers because 3 - 4 bands is kind of the perfect amount of bands for a show.
If we can go any bands at all it would be:
Us, Arctic Monkeys and Slipknot
If it’s bands in our world then I would go:
Us, Trash Talk and Have Heart (they were active last year so I'll sneak them in to count as active).
You recently toured the country with Koyo. How was the response to the new songs and the full tour experience?
It was a lot of fun, Koyo were so nice and made us feel welcome from the jump. It made our first time touring extremely easy and an experience we will cherish. We didn’t know what to expect but were very pleasantly surprised with how well the new tracks were received as well as the demo which had been around for a while. Now the 7” is actually out we hope to get back to those cities in the new year to play again.
Does the driver have control of what gets played on the stereo in the Secret World tour van or the passenger or someone else?
The driver always has control of what’s being played but a queue can be opened up at any time if requested. However the driver will always have the last say and has the power to veto anything they don’t want. I feel like that’s the general rule in all vans
You recently released your debut 7inch “Guilt is Good”, where was it recorded and how was the recording process?
It was recorded in Glebe in Sydney with Fletcher Matthews.
I’d say it was pretty standard as far as recording goes. We brought him fully completed demos, picked them apart in the studio, changed structures, removed parts that weren’t working, added new parts on the fly. We used a bunch of different guitars and amps/tones to get that rocky sound we wanted.
Fletch also really helped us to expand what we had learned with Elliott on the demo as far as vocals go so we could push ourselves further in that aspect.
That was pretty much everything that got them to how you’re hearing them now.
Tell us about the interesting image on the cover? Where was that shot?
I believe what was shot somewhere in Italy by Oscar Pantalone. When we were looking for the photo we wanted on the cover we knew the emotion and feeling that we wanted the photo to conjure in people but didn’t know what the image would be. We basically said “we’ll know it when we see it”. So Pondy went through countless archives with that in mind, once we found that he showed it to us and we knew that was it.
The new EP also received an international release through Sunday Drive Records. How did this partnership come about?
When we discussing what we wanted to do with the record Maddo floated the idea of releasing it overseas and he suggested that we approach Jonathan at Sunday Drive to see if he’d be interested in putting it out. So he messaged him, sent him the tracks and fortunately for us he was keen straight away so, it went from there. We never thought that it was a possibility to have it released overseas, Jonathan has been extremely supportive and helpful with everything so we can’t thank him enough for taking a chance on us.
Any plans to talk Squint into an Australian tour with Secret World in support or heading over to the US?
None as yet but they’re our label mates so who knows what could happen!
What else is in store in the foreseeable future for Secret World?
More shows and more music. So far we’re playing the New Bloom fest in Sydney in March but we are working on some other shows for the new year at the moment as well.
How can people get in touch or keep up with what’s happening with Secret World?
You can keep up to date with all things Secret World via our instagramn @secretworldworld or website secretworld.world
@secretworldwrld on Twitter if you’re still using that
You can listen to everything we’ve ever done (all 8 songs) on whatever streaming service you use, we’re on them all.
Copies of the 7 inch are available here: https://lastriderecords.com/products/secret-world-guilt-is-good-7