Melbourne cult sensation Jericco are back and in the biggest way possible. Their new album, Machine Made The Animal, dropped on the 13th March and to celebrate the eagerly anticipated effort, the four-piece are hitting the highways for a huge national tour.
Hitting you with their signature driving bass lines, melodic vocals, with the release of Machine Made The Animal the powerhouse Melbourne rock act have given the local scene one of the most exciting LPs of the year.
Stylistically, Jericco stands out from other local alt rock acts with great pride and power. The prominent Middle Eastern influence throughout the band’s thundering live performances is completely authentic, and resonates at the core of their fan bedrock.
Ahead of their national tour, we chatted with the band’s vocalist Brent McCormick about writing their ‘difficult second album’ and how their incredible fan base helped them raise over $10,000 to complete the process.
Tone Deaf: You’ve just put out your new album, Machine Made The Animal. What was it like going into your second album, considering the large cult success of your debut, Beautiful In Danger?
Brent: It’s really hard when you try to please everyone and there is pressure to release an amazing album that will take over the world. The reality is to please yourselves and it will shine through in the music.
We loved Beautiful In Danger but it was a difficult time. We struggled with the line up, we had no clear path, Roy and I were writing and just seemed to be in a different frame of mind. We were trying to impress and trying to write songs that we thought wanted to be heard. Despite all that it does have some cracking tracks on it. MMTA was different, Kris Vidak, our guitarist at the time joined the writing team for this album.
We had a plan: eight weeks writing the album and sic weeks recording the album. The songs came easy to us and everything fell into place. We knew what worked and what didn’t and having that time frame pushed the limits and we all think that magic certainly happened.
The band had a bit of a lineup change, with the introduction of a new guitarist. How much did this shake things up?
It obviously affects the band and the demographic amongst us. We have had multiple people come in and out of the band for many different reasons but we have always remained strong. It’s life and we don’t hold grudges. I believe the band at the moment is the most stable it has ever been. Roy, Aiden and I have been a solid team for a while now and Anthony, our new guitarist is a perfect fit. The perfect amount of weird. Did I mention his van has wifi?
How did you approach the record this time around? Was there anything in particular you wanted to get across, or say?
We just honestly wrote what we wanted to hear. We kept the writing honest and true and I think you can hear that on the record. We wanted big drums, big songs and big hooks and we all think we got there.
Of course, the new album was largely made possible thanks to a successful crowd funding campaign, which saw fans throwing in a massive $10,500 towards the release. What was it like getting this kind of reaction?
This blows my mind. We wrote three songs for three different people who spent $600 for us to write them a brand new Jericco song. That is just phenomenal and something we will never forget and also had a blast doing!
The amount of money some of our die hard fans spent is insane and we just couldn’t thank them enough. I do say this a lot but I honestly believe that without our fans and without people banding together like this we wouldn’t still be around. The money was a massive assistance as an independent band considering we do everything ourselves. Knowing that people care that much to donate over $10,500 is what keeps the fire burning and what reminds us why we do what we do.
Does it add any pressure to the process, knowing that people have invested their money in anticipation for the final product?
Yes big time. Musicians will always battle with the question: will they or wont they like it? It’s tough. We constantly second guess ourselves thinking if you just keep working on a track you can make it better. I felt confident in myself and we all felt confident in the songs. At the end of the day its just you left alone with your thoughts and I think the happiness that we all shared for the album shines through and who knows if people can tell that by listening… but we know its there.
You’re about to play your biggest hometown show to date, at The Prince, which is a considerable achievement. What have been some of your most memorable sets so far?
Yeah, it’s a big room to fill for us. We are nervous but massively excited. Its funny to think that we can sell 1000’s copies of the new record, get over 14k hits in two weeks on YouTube for our new clip, Animal, but not know whether we can pack out the joint! We just hope that all who have listened to the album love it enough to buy a ticket and come and hear it live.
[include_post id=”436060″] My most memorable show I can remember is the first time we played Come Together festival. It was a huge buzz for us, the band was on fire and we had our first big stage with a very big crowd. Another one that I’ll never forget is when we played in Armidale NSW a while back. We played in what looked like a doctor’s surgery. It was a small club house for the locals which was basically a house with a liquor license. We played to a living room full of locals and it’s one I wont forget!
What are your feelings ahead of the upcoming tour – have you been able to road test much of the album prior to the kick off?
I’m just looking forward to seeing how the album is going to be received. We wanted to give people some time to digest it first before we went on the road, give them a chance to fall in love with it. This will give us a fair indication of how we did. We played at a small club last week and we tried some of the new stuff and it worked. It’s hard because the rehearsal studio is so very different from the stage. It’s a totally different beast. We did have a few lads down the front shouting play ‘nice to see you’, so if that’s any indication we might have to play a few old tunes as well.
What advice would you have for younger bands out there still cutting their teeth, trying to build towards that first headline tour?
Be prepared to put your rent on the line or max all of your credit card’s! As much as it sucks, money is the key to getting your name out there. Whether it’s publicity, street press, posters, paid advertising or anything online. If you put everything you have into peoples faces it’s hard not to see it right? It’s also about the timing. Make sure other bands in your genre are not playing in the venue next door to you on the same night as you. Do your homework. If Karnivool are playing the same night as you in the same city either get on the bill or change the date!
There are a lot of great bands coming out of Melbourne right now, and it seems like there’s great comradery between bands. How would you describe the local scene?
Honestly it’s really quite tough. There are heaps of amazing bands and loads of talent in Melbourne. It’s hard being a rock band in Australia these days however we had a lucky start. We got a golden ticket with Mammal when they were taking off. They took us on the road and showed us how its done, we cut our teeth with those guys and we owe them a lot. We rode the wave with them and I feel that when they broke up rock died a little in this country. Your big acts like Grinspoon, Silverchair, The Living end, The Butterfly Effect, Powderfinger, etc aren’t making rock records anymore. Those days seem to be gone. Its all indie dance pop now.
We find these is little to no support from the big radio stations and bands in our genre need to spend more and more money and just be in the right place at the right time or know the right people. Our scene is small but strong with some dedicated fans but even for them it’s a big ask to come out week after week. Without the fans we don’t have an audience but we are still out there and loving the experience, our fans and the passion for playing.
What’s the plan for the rest of the year once this big tour wraps up?
Hopefully fingers crossed we can get to tour overseas. That would be a dream for us. We will do a follow up tour later in the year, release another single and another film clip. If all goes up the s$#t we will just start all over again. We are in this for the long haul.
JERICCO NATIONAL TOUR
Sunday, 26th April 2015
The Rosemount Hotel, Perth
Tickets: Oztix
Thursday, 14th May 2015
Rad Bar, Wollongong
Tickets: Oztix
Friday, 15th May 2015
Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle
Tickets: Oztix
Saturday, 16th May 2015
The Bald Faced Stag, Sydney
Tickets: Oztix
Saturday, 23rd May 2015
Enigma Bar, Adelaide
Tickets: Oztix
Friday, 29th May 2015
Crowbar, Brisbane
Tickets: Oztix
Friday, 5th June 2015
The Prince Bandroom, Melbourne
Tickets: Oztix
For more info visit the band’s Facebook page.
