SURVIVAL Interview with guitarist Bob.

In your own words how would you describe the sound of Survival?

I guess you could say we are a modern heavy hardcore band with a bit of metallic influence and some attempts at groove thrown in. Ha-ha, shocking description we know, download our free demo and see for yourself!

How did the band come together and what prompted the formation?

It’s the typical story really…Bluey and Elmzy had talked about starting a band for ages, and finally got together and jammed a couple of songs on guitars with Jono drumming. Initially Elmzy was going to play second guitar, but decided to give frontman duties a shot and thankfully it paid off. Once that was sorted, Bob and Greg were called in on second guitar and bass respectively. We’ve all known each other for years and have experience playing together in previous bands so it was a pretty natural formation. There was also a distinct lack of bands on the coast at the time so we wanted to try to breathe a bit of life back into local hardcore.

What sort of bands influenced the sound of Survival?

Heaps, but the main ones would be Metallica, Madball, Terror, Bitter End.

Would readers recognize members from any other bands?

Amongst our collective history of filthy bands, there are a couple that people may know. Elmzy plays in 50 Lions, and was an original member of Third Strike. Jono is currently drumming in the Toy Boats band. Bob, Bluey and Greg have all been a bunch of bands, the last of which was Spray that they all played together in, and of course Bluey was the riff doctor in the legendary Street Youth!

You guys have been really thrown in the deep end for a new band, playing shows with Parkway Drive and most recently Hardcore 2012. Must be a bit strange to suddenly find yourself in larger rooms playing to bigger crowds all of a sudden?

It’s definitely a bit strange, but we’ve all done the hard yards in previous bands of starting at the very bottom and working our way up, so we’re very appreciative to be given the shows and opportunities we have as a relatively new band. Playing to big crowds with Parkway is always a lot of fun, last time we played Toowoomba with them the crowd starting chanting “Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi” for some reason…we were just stoked they weren’t booing us off. Nothing beats a real hardcore show in some little venue with 100 kids going mental.

Dream lineup of bands to play with? Past or present?

We’ve all got a pretty diverse music taste so it would have to be some sort of festival or superbowl featuring (but not limited to)-Metallica, Knuckledust, Killswitch Engage, Hatebreed and Guido Hatzis.

How is the hardcore scene in the Goldy at present? Given the proximity to Byron Bay and Brisbane do you think this affects crowds at shows etc..? Any other bands from the Gold Coast area people should know about?

To be honest its hardly existent. A few years ago it was massive, with regular shows and heaps of kids active in the scene. Nowadays, there are definitely some hardcore kids on the coast and a few are starting up bands etc, but it’s limited by the total lack of any local venues. Everyone basically heads to Brisbane and Byron for shows, which is cool as both of those places have great bands/venues/scenes in general. One band from just down the road are our mates Shackles from Byron Bay. They’ve got a sort of powerviolencey vibe and put on an intense live show. Easily one of the best bands in Australia right now so check them out.

You recently made it down to Melbourne with Brisbane’s Thick Skin. How was the response to the band down south?

Both shows were actually a lot of fun! We were expecting the standard quiet response of a first show in a different city, but we were blown away by how into it people were. The Melbourne scene is huge right now, due to awesome local bands like Warbrain, Iron Mind and Outsiders Code keeping kids syked, and legends like our friend Nath Garland putting on shows. In particular its great to see kids of all ages and genders really getting into it at shows, we need to see more of that nation wide!

Any plans for a debut release in the near future? More touring?

We’ll be recording very soon for a 7” to be released this summer, and will hopefully tour with that and hit most of the capital cities before the end of the year.

How can people find out more about Survival or get a hold of your demo?

Well for a while we had our own hashtag on instagram, but that seems to have died out so now you can head to our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/survivalhc for info on upcoming shows etc.. and download our free demo at http://www.mediafire.com/?atrcealzf8e42v9

Thanks!

Survival live at the Hordern Pavillion on the Parkway Drive tour.

Check out a short snippet of Survival live at Hardcore 2012. (Camera's memory card skitzed out, apologies for cutting short.)