“GRIST” is the second in a new series of 30 song double albums, following up “IN ALL MY NIGHTMARES I AM ALONE”, which was itself just released on June 30th. Fans of Swans, 90’s and ‘blackstar’-era David Bowie, Sonic Youth, Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Nick Cave, Portishead, Chelsea Wolfe, The Stooges, Faith No More, Tom Waits and PJ Harvey should enjoy this strange yet cohesive collection. 

“GRIST”  hunts, laughs, mourns, challenges and inspires others to step into their true selves without fear. The themes are wide but related, with philosophy, mental illness, death of loved ones, addiction, spirituality, surrealism and dream language all playing strong roles. With themes like rallying baby bees for the swarm, the artist positions himself as the Queen, ready to move through chaos, come what may.

“Ram Dass famously stated that all life experience, trauma, transcendence, joy, suffering, is all just “grist for the mill of awakening”. That being said, here is the GRIST.”

GRIST stands as a beat-heavy, noise heavy riot crackling through the heart of the city, while also a testament to life, survival from nothing, a celebration, and statement for those abused or undermined, yet who posess an inner power that none can reach.

“This is a pure offering to my baby bees, my ones who know code red, my cubs who climb the mount, my bears who hold their post, my hyenas who crawl under dark of dark. This is for you, who face the weaponry, the cheap bravado, the false while grinding your teeth. Sharpening. This is GRIST. What we are is GRIST. OMEN.“

 

How did the collaboration with the Industrial Rock icon Chris Dubrow push the narrative of the song forward?

We provided Chris with music only, to see how it inspired him or moved him. The music was aggressive and angry, and his lyrics and vocals definitely reflected this with what he created.

Your theory about how music should defy genres and classifications hit home for us. How do you manage to transmit this message through your tracks?
It is extremely difficult to do this because of how we have all been conditioned over time. When on of our songs was released (Not My Style) I sent it around to so many different blogs and radio programs and each time was told “it’s not metal” then “it’s not industrial” then “it’s not punk” then all these sub-genres kept bouncing us around to other areas and it was so annoying! A good song is a good song, if it makes you feel emotion or just makes you smile and want to dance, it doesn’t need genre and sub-genre (although you can’t put music onto Spotify without putting each song into these, which is very difficult as if deemed incorrect then the people who love that genre will dismiss you not because of the song but because of what classification it should have).
We released a few months ago a single called FUN4EVRY1 which is basically saying that all these labels / genres / classifications have ruined music, as now many people will never hear their next favourite song because it may not be in a genre they think they can only listen to. I believe this message that music is for everyone is so basic that I got my 8yo daughter to sing on the song, as even a child can understand it.

What can you tell us about your prior EP release in March?
The EP was great, was cool to get those songs out as they aren’t as full on aggressive as Become or our first release (Fire) but are still heavy and get you moving. We sort of have two Karoshis’ – serious Karoshi and fun Karoshi – and the EP captures both sides and we certainly will continue pushing ourselves in both directions because we want to.

Art is a healthy way of expressing anger. How did that come to mind while creating “Become”?
The music came about quite organically – we weren’t planning on creating a super-heavy angry track, it just came about from a riff that Mark then worked on and added his magic to it then it grew to what was released.

Using songwriting is certainly a release for me after a hard day, you do need that outlet and it might be different for everyone (go to the gym, Xbox, whatever) but for Become there was no specific event that drove the music that would become the song, it was just from a riff I came up with one day.

Your music has an extra emphasis on the heavy, which was harder to achieve heavy lyrics or heavy riffs?

The music has always come a lot easier than the lyrics, mostly because we are both musicians and have written / performed in that arena, never having to worry much about the vocals (as there was always someone to do that part). Now we have to work hard on that for each song, and usually have multiple versions and re-writes and edits before we settle on something that works for the song.

Faith No More is a band that David mentioned wanting to tour with, their experimental metal sound is unique beyond description. We can see similar genre-defying sounds through some of your earlier tracks. Do you plan on taking your future music to different territories?

Absolutely! Angel Dust (FNM album) was a gamechanger for me, they just took typical songs and took them right outside the box, such an inspiration not just on creativity but dedication as anyone who gets success could easily follow their previous patterns but they certainly did not. I would never compare ourselves with FNM, but the courage to write and release the songs we love the way we want them is certainly from them.

How does COVID interfere with your future tour plans? After the raging success of “Become”, what are your next steps?
I actually have COVID at time of writing, picked up at a punk show in Brisbane a week ago (along with about 20 other people at the gig too) so our next gig is being postponed, and we were also due to record this week but as I am quarantined we have had to push that back as well.
We are recording a few new tracks which again are a bit genre-defying – it’s not like we do it on purpose, it’s just the music we create

Thanks heaps – cheers
Dave