Melbourne cult sensation Jericco recently released their new album, Machine Made The Animal, earlier this year and to celebrate, the four-piece are hit the highways for a huge national tour.
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.
Having cut their teeth but touring and gigging both locally and nationally, over six long years and now with two full length records under their belts we asked the guys about what it’s like being a hard rocking alt band today in Australia’s (often contentious) musical climate, and the band’s bass player Roy Amar put together the following piece.
Heavy music represents a small but important section of the Australian music scene. It seems these days that it is one of the less likely genres for making it ‘big’ in the industry, but at the same time when acts do make it big, they make it really big. Bands such as Karnivool and Dead Letter Circus are still selling out tours of multiple dates per city and people are lining up.
Everybody knows about the financial hit the music industry has taken globally. The results are speaking for themselves, and it’s becoming so much harder for up and coming bands to break through the noise and make things happen for themselves.
No one takes chances anymore, not the venues these days, promoters, festivals, management groups and definitely not the record labels. When it’s a hard rock band involved I feel like it’s even harder, you will need to sell out some serious venues, get a million hits on YouTube or a song on rotation on Triple J before anyone will take you seriously.
Australian music, like the population is such a tiny portion of the world, and the world of music, for a heavy band to be heard overseas is near impossible. With Australia being such a small playing field it seems that anyone wanting to make it needs to hit the larger global market. There is only so much you can do and make happen right here in Australia.
There has been however a long running appeal for heavy music within the Australian public. The masses flocked to AC/DC concerts and you will find the kids of today still listening to their albums and proudly brandishing their t-shirts.
All that said, in a time where pop, indie and hardcore (especially within the alt music scene) seems to be all the rage you still see the fans rocking up to the classic Australian venues to support the big and the small bands in the heavy music genre, maybe just in smaller numbers. We feel you just don’t see too many of those bands playing in the local bars and pubs that are hitting the big arenas further down their career.
I remember when we first started and the line up on our booking agent’s roster was insane. Bands such as Mammal, The Butterfly Effect, Grinspoon, Trial Kennedy, and Cog were the best of the best to tour with, though these days it is a struggle to find a big band to jump on a big tour with.
[include_post id=”445763″] It’s barely five years ago that these bands were all dominating. The exception would be the recent surge of what I call ‘pop metal’ and this is becoming more and more popular. I just find that it only seems to attract the younger crowd and that their gigs are full of kids and that’s why they get the love and national airplay.
The heavier festivals or any of our favourite festivals (those that are still running) are showcasing a trend in the genre at the moment. In my opinion we don’t see too many new, local heavy bands being featured on line ups. The heavy festivals are catering to the young and old with the new hardcore bands and reviving the ‘old favourites’ as the headliners, which down the track once these guys retire could prove problematic.
Myself and the boys in Jericco are stoked to be a part of the heavy music scene and we feel blessed to still be a part of it after six crazy years. The Melbourne scene is small enough to feel like we know most of the people filling it, though there are new up coming bands feeding through all the time.
We thrive on playing gigs amongst our friends in bands such as Sydonia, Circles, Voyager and Caligula’s Horse. These are just a few of the amazing bands that we have played with for years, if you see a gig popping up then check them out! The new enthusiasm is what we like to see from the up and coming bands and we hope some of them get to experience what we have experienced so far. Go hard and (and if you love it) support heavy rock, or go home I say!
Upcoming Tour Dates
Friday, 29th May 2015
Crowbar, Brisbane
Tickets: Oztix
Friday, 5th June 2015
The Prince Bandroom, Melbourne
Tickets: Oztix
