Mental Cavity is a new band out of Canberra that is basically a side project for three of the members of I Exist along with their friend Rohan on guitar. The band has already released a self titled 8 song EP for their first release, so we caught with guitarist and now co-frontman Aaron Osbourne for a chat.
At what point did the Mental Cavity form and how did it all come together?
Probably around mid-2016, I’d had the ideas for the songs and I wanted to do a band with Alex and I singing for a while, but just hadn’t really pulled the trigger on it. Our other band I Exist has members with a bunch of real life stuff on at the moment and the three of us who have less than that happening just wanted to keep doing stuff haha.
Would readers recognize the members from any other bands?
¾ of us are from I Exist haha, so that and all our other side bands and previous Canberra projects! Our guitar player Rohan used to play in Dead Kings and currently is in a band called Loss of Self as well.
In your own words how would you describe the sound of Mental Cavity?
A mash of Sludgey/Doom stuff, messy crusty hardcore and slow dumb death metal maybe? Basically an even mix of all the band shirts that I wear haha – Tragedy hi fiving Death Breath in a car listening to Hatebreed wearing Bolt Thrower shirts.
What bands are influencing the sound of your Mental Cavity?
As previously mentioned, my shirt collection – Bolt Thrower, Autopsy, Martyrdod, Tragedy, Eyehategod, Iron Monkey, Hatebreed, Mindsnare etc
What would be a dream line up of bands to play with?
Any of the bands in the last question, being from Australia and playing shows with Mindsnare is really the benchmark for sick stuff though. We’re keen to play with anyone, we love playing live and if we can do it with mates or icons we’re stoked.
How does an interstate band work with yourself based in Melbourne and the rest of the band in Canberra?
It costs a lot of money in petrol/plane tickets haha, but pretty easily – I go there all the time and am more than happy to, we demo stuff every time I’m up, and I record stuff by myself – so we send stuff back and forth and just chip away at it that way. The internet has really made life easy for this kinda stuff!
When writing new songs how do you determine what will be an I Exist riff and what is a Mental Cavity track?
I guess Mental Cavity is kinda taking things in a direction that I Exist may have headed years ago, but instead IE went in a more bluesy-riffy direction, and this is just heavy and simple. Being that I write both I hear really distinct differences that not everyone might hear, but I would say an absence of blues-stoner riffing is probably the key difference.
You've released your self-titled EP recorded at both Black Lodge and MTD Studios? How did it all come together and what was done at each studio?
Basically the four of us just jammed a bunch in Canberra, demoed some stuff and wanted to get it recorded properly so Alex and I could crack into the singing properly – as that is pretty new for the pair of us. We did all the ‘music’ at Black Lodge with Mike Deslandes, and then I did some vocals at his home studio, MTD Studios, where he mixed the recording as well. Was really quick and easy and came out great, we’re stoked on how Mike got it sounding!
What else is in store in the foreseeable future for your band?
We’re writing songs for an album which we will record in a few months time, but first trying to just get the feel of playing this stuff live. We’re playing at The Tote in Melbourne as part of Filthfest on the 25th of February and then in Canberra with Agency, Panic Burst and Slave Birth at The Basement on the 3rd of March. Then looking to play as much as we can live after that too!
How can people get in touch or keep up with what’s happening in the band?
Facebook is probably the best bet for that stuff, www.facebook.com/mentalcavity - all our music is Bandcamp, Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music and other streaming sites now too, so if you get a chance check it out!