Fuck that shit.
Photos by Trip Up Stace.
So, this is your last New Zealand show. Where abouts are you guys playing overseas?
Sam: Start in France, and go anti-clockwise around Europe. So, France, Italy - which is the only unconfirmed shows at the moment, apart from I think Poland, who knows geography?
Dan: Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia...
Sam: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and the France again.
Fuck, that's a big tour.
Sam: Yeah, if all goes to plan it'll all be eleven countries in twenty-one days, with one day off. That's how it's set anyway. It's gonna be mental.
Who's idea was it to start the band? It was [Sam] and Dan eh?
Dan: Basically, Workshy was coming to an end 'cause Dan Brady was leaving, and I was losing my mind working full-time and doing a hospo course, and fuckin hated the shit I was doing. So, basically any excuse to take a day off, we decided to start a band... [others laugh] Fuck you guys! I just stopped going to school and started Shortlived with Sam instead. And French Alex was meant to sing and then he didn't, which is why we're called Shortlived because we were going to play one show with him and then have a different line-up, and then that never happened, so we just kept the name.
Sam: 'Cause he piked out eh, and one practice with us he got all pissy because we wanted to do, like, Dropdead, well y'know, not Dropdead but we wanted to be harsh, abrasive, and he wanted pop punk eh. So he tried to sing hard-out and he got all fucked up with his voice. He's like [imitating a French accent] 'I don't want to do it.'
Dan: Fuck, the one practice that he had was fuckin awesome.
Sam: Oh, it was good it was good fun eh, but then couldn't speak for two days afterwards. He's like 'I don't think is gonna work', but that's how it is with me every fuckin show! But then, y'know, his stay in New Zealand came to a more-than-abrupt end so, he was meant to stay longer but for unforseen factors he left earlier. And I had all those songs written for a band that I was meant to be in with Robbie, Ryan, Gwilym.... oh, I don't know, some fuckin shit.
Dan: Blunt Objective?
Sam: Yeah, Blunt Objective. I had a whole bunch of riffs written that were all just simple as shit, just super fast, and I was like 'Fuck, gotta use this shit'. So, yeah, Shortlived came around. We needed extra members and then it was like 'Yeah, sweet, James can play guitar...
Dan: It was mean, I got real drunk when Sarsha first moved back to town and met her at Indigo... well I guess it's, whatever that place is called now, fuck that place. Anyway, I saw her there and I was like 'Me and you have to start a band together! Me and you have to start a band together!' and she was like 'Yeah, I'm keen, I'm keen!' And the I was like 'Ah, that's never gonna happen', and then Sam talked to her a little bit later and then got in touch with me and was like 'Sarsha's keen to play bass' and I was was like 'Fuckin sick'. And James was just like... we just forced him into it, pretty much. We just forced him. And it was awesome.
Are you guys happy with the 12"?
Sam: Yeah.
Sarshha: Yeah.
James: Yeah.
Dan Fuck yeah.
It came out pretty good. It sounds fuckin good.
Sam: There's different elements to how we sound and play and shit. But with the 12", 'cause we recorded it in Australia and I even bought a second guitar, and whatever, we had to play with their instruments, 'cause it's a more cleaner recording which we're not used to and shit. Because me and James [in Scab] have our guitars set up for a lower tuning, that's what Shortlived plays in arbitrarily. So we tend to be a lot heavier live but with that recording, because they have their guitars at the studio, we couldn't de-tune the fuck out of their guitars - 'cause they'd just go out of tune all the time. We had to kind of find a middle ground. So the 12" is a little bit more... like, you can hear the riffs, maybe?
Dan: Instead of just [makes hardout guitar sounds interspersed with a drum roll].
Sam: I kinda like how it came out because, 'cause we like a bunch of different shit, the 12" covers a lot of the cleaner influences that we have, the demo covers a lot of the rawer influences we have, and the new 7" which is coming out for our Europe tour cover a lot of the, sort of, last influences we have, which we recorded on an 8-track. Blair Jones' 8-track.
Dan: Blair Jones'.
Sam: I'd like to give thanks to Blair Jones.
Dan: Blair Jones.
Sam: Blair Jones.
Dan: Blair Jones.
Sam: 'Nuff said. It's good 'cause if you like our more blasty beats, fuckin noise, fuckin heavy shit, then maybe you'll like the demo and the new 7" more, but if you like more clean, kinda melodic, more '80s sort of shit then y'know.
Dan: And on the 7" as well, it comes partly after seeing Ben Clancy play the fuckin drums and going 'I'm playing slow shit!' and trying to pick my game up a little bit. I don't think I come close but y'know.
James: Smoke more weed or something.
[At this point Ben Knight comes up and interrupts the interview crapping on about cell-phones and cymbal stands or some shit. He either doesn't realize what we're doing or thinks he's such a fucking star he should somehow be included here.]
Do you guys find the songs physically challenging to play?
[All laugh.]
Sam: Every single one of us is like absolutely shattered after we play. Europe's gonna be good. The tour of Australia and then the 12" release when we did a small tour of New Zealand and shit, it was all good practice and shit but fuck, I dunno.
Dan: I'm really psyched about the fact that the tour's so many days in a row with only a little bit of time off, 'cause in Australia, when we had four days off, I spent the first night of that getting as hammered as I possibly could, which led to me coma'ing out and having many pranks played on me and basically being shamed out for about the next four days. Just like, clinically fuckin shamed out. It's nice to have all the shows in a row 'cause I have a tendency to party too hard and to lose my shit a little bit. When I've got shit to do I'm not drinking too much, hopefully.
Sasha: We'll see how it goes eh.
Dan: Cocaine!
Sam: Yeah, cheap drugs! European cheap drugs! Oh my god, it's gonna be bad-arse. Next question.
Did you guys have fun playing tonight?
Dan: Fuck yeah!
Sarsha: Fuck yeah, it was awesome.
Dan: We were all so tired after it and after the last couple of nights.
No Angry Samoans though? ['Lights Out' cover]
Sam: Nah.
Oh, hold-outs.
Sam: We would've fuckin butchered it badly so, y'know.
Dan: We don't practice it or anything, just me and Sam were talking about playing it for ages and then we finally did it with bass and we decided to put it on the next 7". We never really had any plans to play it live, the fact that you called it out that one time kind of convinced us to do it more.
[Ben is still lingering around and trying to get in on the interview.]
I haven't seen you guys butcher it.
Dan: We played it with Face as well, at PunkFest. It was a little bit slower that time though.
Sam: It was way slower. It was more like the original version, it wasn't like [makes hardout drum beat sound]. You're way faster than Face. [everyone is shocked] Y'know, I love Face. Face is my hero.
What are some of you guys' favourite local bands at the moment?
Sam: Wasteland.
Any good bands from Wellington starting up at the moment?
Dan: Fuck yeah, heaps man. Fuckin Rogernomix, fuckin Malparido, fuckin Cult of the Cobra fuckin rules. Pretty much all the bands I'm not in! Adam Smith Assassination is surprisingly good [cough] Blair Jones.
Sam: Blair Jones!
Sasha: Blair Jones.
James: Ferndale Stranglers are pretty mean.
Dan: Ferndale Stranglers are fuckin sweet.
Sam: 'DIY... doesagreatjob!'
Dan: All the South Island bands fuckin rule man. Hatewanx, Yeti Smasher, Bazura Blanka, Conniption, Black Forest, Uncut Blanks.
So you guys drove up today?
James: Yup.
Dan: Yeah.
You like State Highway 1?
Sam: Na, we went State Highway 2 eh. We turned off at Ohakune.
Dan: And then the forgotten highway to Stratford.
James: Oh, you went right?
Sam: How did you go?
James: We turned off before Taupo.
Sam: Nah, we turned of at Waiouru, and then Ohakune.
Do you guys have any favourite spots between here and Wellington that are good for bands to stop off at?
Dan: Some of the jump off spots.
Sam: Neilly's Landing. Every punk should try jump off the cliff at Neilly's Landing. It's just south of Cambridge on Karipiro.
Dan: It's the one that warns you you're gonna die.
Sam: Yeah, it's got a cross that says 'Jude Esselbrook died here' then is says 'He is the fourth to have have died jumping off these rocks. Will you be next?' If you're driving towards Hamilton on Karipiro, y'know, the river's right next to you, it's like the second rest area. You'll see it because you go down and then if you look out there's a fence and then there's a signs that says 'Do not jump off'. Jump over the fence, there's a big cross. Basically what happened was: he jumped off after he went to Big Day Out, some long-haired bogan dude from Hamilton, probably Chrizzo, obviously 'cause of the cross, and he was on his way back and there's been a big storm and obviously a big fuckin tree had fallen under the water and got lodged under the rocks, and he didn't see 'cause it was all muddy and all stormy, so he just jumped off.... Impaled. Metal styles. And they were all like 'Hey, why hasn't he come up? Where the fuck is Jude?' or 'Jay' as they called him, I don't know, 'Where's Jay Man?!' Such a cool fuckin Tool fan, or whatever the fuck played that Big Day Out, and then yeah, got impaled on that shit. So, we haven't actually been able to jump off there since then but every time we go past we're like, y'know 'Fuck, we gotta jump off there.'
Dan: The waterfall, where the fuck is that?
James: Desert Road.
Sam: It's called Treetrunk Gorge Road, and two people have have died there kayaking.
Dan: But then there's also that chasm that we down last time with the big dam.
James: That's alright.
Dan: It's not as good as the other place, but it's a nice place to stop if you're not keen on actually going for a swim.
James: Also, Taupo skatepark.
Sam: Yeah, Spa Road, y'know 'cause you go to the skatepark and you got the natural springs there that are free hot springs.
Dan: A friend of mine actually fell into those hot springs when he was a kid and fuckin, like, burnt up his whole body eh.
Sam: That's not that dude from Palmy?
Dan: Yeah.
Sam: No, he said he got burnt up in Rotorua.
Dan: Was it Rotorua?
Sam: Yeah.
James: You gotta go to Rotorua to get burnt eh.
Sam: Yeah, Rotorua's the way to get burnt.
You guys ever stopped at Levin playground?
Sam: With the double wheels?
Yeah, that place is good.
Sam: I love that shit.
Dan: Oh, yeah.
Sam: Human rat-wheels are the best.
Dan: At the same time, we try to avoid stopping in Levin.
James: ...we stopped and we saw a guy crash his Caravan twice in a space of about twenty metres.
If each of you guys could put on a show, like an ideal lineup of three or four bands, current bands, here or overseas, what bands would you choose?
James: Limp Wrist in France.
Sam: Yeah, Limp Wrist, Shortlived... [all laugh] I'd say Seein' Red, Totalitar, Dropdead and Limp Wrist. That'd be my fuckin show. Maybe Pisschrist, but I've seen them a million times.
Dan: Propagandhi, Chlorox Girls... Other than that I just listen to Frank Zappa and Sparks - fuckin Sparks! I'd wanna see Sparks. Sparks, Propagandhi, Nomeansno and Chlorox Girls. I'd go to that show, it'd be mean.
Sarsha: I'd like to see the Assassinators and Lost World but I'm not sure about the rest...
Dan: ...and Assassinators as well.
Sarsha: ...and that's all I got.
James: Tradgedy, some stoner shit like that band from San Fran, Brainoil.
Dan: Fuck yeah!
Sam: Eyehategod's still going.
James: Are they?
Sam: Yeah.
James: Eyehategod, and definitely Dropdead.
What sucks about Auckland?
Sam: It's too spread out, there's not enough good bands, and there's not enough good venues I suppose.
Dan: Well, Wellington's the same really.
Sacha: Yeah.
Sam: It is but it's easier to put on shows in Wellington. We got Lorne St, we got places that are easy to book like Adelaide, Hole in the Wall, even shit-holes like Happy and shit, y'know, whatever but they're still easy to book.
Dan: And we're a tiny little crew in Wellington as well. Everyone knows each other and we may have different tastes and shit, but everyone meets in the middle somewhere at some point. Whereas, up here it seems, this is an outsider's perspective and it's not necessarily a negative criticism, but it seems really easy for things to be fractured and be split apart. Like, shows ups at Fox Den where you've got this crew of really enthusiastic kids, but then if you go along to a Ferndale Stranglers house party you're not gonna see a single one of those kids. And there's obviously more crews than that even, because then you've got more of the INDIE KID sort of crew like JOE, and GRANT SHERIDAN and shit, who will turn up to anything and everything but then at the same time the shows they put on are a bit different as well.
Sam: I feel like, with Wellington, everyone's sort of in that boat, whereas everyone will turn up to anything as long as there's something to do and it's sort of generally in a punk vibe or whatever. But here it seems like it's a bit more splintered.
Dan: Yeah, you turn up the shows the you already know the you're gonna like, essentially.
Sam: Like tonight's a classic example, maybe? People could show up to this show earlier because nothing's gonna start at the King's Arms until definitely after all this shit's finished. [There was a show with The Business that night.] But you know, it's maybe just not quite that sort of thing and whatever, but, fuck, if it was in Wellington we'd be like...
Dan: 'Fuck, we'll go to that show first! And then we'll all go to that show and then...'
Sam: 'And then we'll all go to that show, we'll be able to to see so many bands in one night! And who gives a fuck if we don't like half of them' or whatever, y'know.
1 May 2009
By the way, I got a copy of the Mindrot EP at PunkFest in Wellington last month and it's fucking excellent. All different songs from the 12" and demo. Buy this shit.
Shortlived page at El Paso Records (includes some sample MP3s from the 12")
Download the 2007 demo here.
