Awesome powerviolence from the land downunder. Guitar player Chip interviewed sometimes around 2008. Originally featured in Perro Maldito#6
Perro: You're quite a young band so I guess the best way to start is with a hystory lesson: you know, the classic how did you started, who does what blablabla....
Chip: Yes we have only being doing W.M.D for a bit over 2 years but we have all been playing in bands since 93! Murray is on drums, Luke is on vocals & Chad is on bass & I am on the guitar! The way we formed was quite spontaneous, it was all just a case of friends catching up & talking about music, life, Ronnie James Dio &shit & then in conversation someone says something like I'd love to do a band that covers this song & that song, then it was a case of me too & hey we should have a jam & then the next thing you know we had 2 jams & got our first show with The Dead Walk, Jaws & Extortion a week after forming & we even recorded our 2nd band practice on a cassette player & sold it off at the show as our demo!
Perro: I've heard that you changed some members after the demo. How this influenced your sound?
Chip: We changed members because of geographical differences which had permitted us not to jam for over six months, which is also the case right at this moment we cannot jam or play because our drummer Murray had pretty serious motorcycle accident in which he broke both his shoulders, elbow & motorcycle! Its kinda odd that we have been together for 2 years but for over 10 months of that time we have been in hiatus because me & Luke both went to to Europe for 3 months each on 2 different occasions!
I don't think our sound has changed just because of a new drummer, I think we write songs that identify with what we are feeling at that point & time, I write all the riffs & the truth is I am not a person who sits around playing guitar everyday, I only ever pick it up when I am angry or inspired, sometimes I won't touch my guitar for over a month, most of the songs in W.M.D. are rage driven but now & then we have a few songs that are comical & tongue in cheek, I am more than happy with acquiring Monsoon Murray on drums because he is a freak of nature on drums, he is so precise, his drumming style is like a one inch punch, he can kick your ass with his drumming without moving a muscle! Our old bass player Nic has moved to Melbourne which on a good day without bad traffic is a 12 hour drive away, so that made things difficult, so we have had no choice but to get our new bass player
Chad!
Perro: How did you end up choosing this name for the band? I haven't heard any BGK influence so far...
Chip: The name is taken from BGK of course but there is no deliberate BGK influence in our music at all, I liked that the acronym is W.M.D. (Which is the same acronym as Weapons of blah blah) We chose the name because at the time it was quite fitting to what was happening in Australia, such as the cronulla riots & in general in Australia there is lots white Aryan Australian pride, Which makes my blood boil & confuses me to what they are fucking proud of, genocide, rape, theft, torture, dehumanization, crimes against humanity etc etc etc!
I am part aboriginal & I was born with a brain, soul & conscience so I am not exactly a lover of white supremacy! I think the name is open to interpretation, I guess anybody can make
up their own meaning behind White Male Dumbinance.
Perro: The few WMD songs I've heard could be subdivided into two categories: straight to the point powerviolence tunes a la Crossed Out/Infest and longer ones with more mosh parts/ heavy breakdown mixed with the blast beats. Something quite similar to what Arms Reach did. I know your singer was in A.R., do you think there's any other connection with them?
Chip: We have a few songs that are a blatant ode to Infest & Crossed Out, Murray our drummer filled in for Arms Reach for a tour & thats about the only other connection, I agree with you, that a few of the songs structure & the mood of the songs could very well be compared to Arms Reach but its not a deliberate thing at all!
Perro: Talking about Arms Reach, I clearly remember that when I met you in Melbourne you told me that you could easily help me to get their records, but since then nothing. Do I have to send down under some dodgy mafiamen to get them quicker?
Chip: Please there is no need to get the Mafia involved ha ha, The mafia in Australia are just fruit shop owners, but in saying that I don't wanna fuck with no fruiterer either, they lift big ass crates all day & shit, they could probably punch on pretty good! Luke will tell you himself that its nearly impossible to get them these days, within the past 2 years alot of new kids have starting collecting records & bought up all the AR records the little bastards!
Perro: You should already have released a full lenght ep, but you told me you got some problem with a record label. What happened exactly? Is it going to be on Missing Link Records now? How long do I have to wait for it?
Chip: Yes we did have problems but I will not divulge why we decided to trust our instincts not release it with the initial label! Yes its coming out on Missing Link, The recordings have been sent off to press & should be back very soon!
Perro: You told me there's also a split 7" with Mass Trauma planned. Who's going to relase it? When it'll be out?
Chip: Yes we have a split with those gang bangers, its also coming out on Missing Link & should be released at the exact same time!
Perro: Which kind of equipment are you using to get that awesome fat and heavy sound? I remember once Haymaker mentioned they had a "the older, the better" rule when choosing equipment...
Chip: Yep, I agree the older the better, I use some old school silver marshall beast from the 70's, I don't even know what the model is & I play straight through the amp without any distortion pedals, I believe in the old Minor Threat & Fugazi rule, no pedals, no theatrics just go for a natural sound! My guitar is just a epiphone gibson without any modifications & its at least 15 years old, its not fancy but its nice to play & sounds good enough to me!
Perro: Why are you playing gigs so rarely? Also, you recently played with an amazing line up that include Extortion, A.V.O. and few more. How was that gig?
Chip: We try to have a steady diet of gigs, I think when you play all the time, it becomes routine & less spontaneous, I prefer to play very rarely, you gotta let the pot boil & pent up all
your rage & when its reaching boiling point then its time to play a gig & try to tear peoples skin off with your music! The Empire show that we played with all the bands you mentioned above was an awesome gig, I think every band played awesome!It was funny the band that played before us "Thrush" did a cover of Siege "Drop Dead" which we learned for the show too & when it came time for us to play it we had to say it was a "Thrush cover", it was a crazy night, there was a dude in a wheelchair stage diving & stalking the dancefloor like a man possessed, it was fucking rad!
Perro: Lets talk about NCHC. Please make a "must have" list with all the essential Newcastle records.
Chip: In My opinion, pretty much anything that comes out of Newy is half decent because its all the same dudes, we all just swap instruments ha ha.
Arms Reach (Anything by A.R. is gold)
F.M.D. Before Their Time 7" & Path remains Ep"
Disengage Demo
No Reason 7"
Conation / Fat Human Filth Split 7"
Jabiluka "Anit - Uranuim Mining Comp Cd (w/ Arms Reach, X Claim, Conation etc)
Conation (Everything)
Pitfall Discography
Creeping Jesus
Elbow Deep (Everything)
Angry Earth Mutha
Anomie Demo
Nihilist (Everything)
Life.Love.Regret "Sick Of Goodbyes"
X Claim Demo
NC Wolfpack Demo's
Bare Knuckle Fight (Cd Ep)
Straightforward/ Personal Choice Split Demo
Etc Etc Etc
There are too many too mention, we have been a pretty damn active music scene!
Chip: Yes we have only being doing W.M.D for a bit over 2 years but we have all been playing in bands since 93! Murray is on drums, Luke is on vocals & Chad is on bass & I am on the guitar! The way we formed was quite spontaneous, it was all just a case of friends catching up & talking about music, life, Ronnie James Dio &shit & then in conversation someone says something like I'd love to do a band that covers this song & that song, then it was a case of me too & hey we should have a jam & then the next thing you know we had 2 jams & got our first show with The Dead Walk, Jaws & Extortion a week after forming & we even recorded our 2nd band practice on a cassette player & sold it off at the show as our demo!
Perro: I've heard that you changed some members after the demo. How this influenced your sound?
Chip: We changed members because of geographical differences which had permitted us not to jam for over six months, which is also the case right at this moment we cannot jam or play because our drummer Murray had pretty serious motorcycle accident in which he broke both his shoulders, elbow & motorcycle! Its kinda odd that we have been together for 2 years but for over 10 months of that time we have been in hiatus because me & Luke both went to to Europe for 3 months each on 2 different occasions!
I don't think our sound has changed just because of a new drummer, I think we write songs that identify with what we are feeling at that point & time, I write all the riffs & the truth is I am not a person who sits around playing guitar everyday, I only ever pick it up when I am angry or inspired, sometimes I won't touch my guitar for over a month, most of the songs in W.M.D. are rage driven but now & then we have a few songs that are comical & tongue in cheek, I am more than happy with acquiring Monsoon Murray on drums because he is a freak of nature on drums, he is so precise, his drumming style is like a one inch punch, he can kick your ass with his drumming without moving a muscle! Our old bass player Nic has moved to Melbourne which on a good day without bad traffic is a 12 hour drive away, so that made things difficult, so we have had no choice but to get our new bass player
Chad!
Perro: How did you end up choosing this name for the band? I haven't heard any BGK influence so far...
Chip: The name is taken from BGK of course but there is no deliberate BGK influence in our music at all, I liked that the acronym is W.M.D. (Which is the same acronym as Weapons of blah blah) We chose the name because at the time it was quite fitting to what was happening in Australia, such as the cronulla riots & in general in Australia there is lots white Aryan Australian pride, Which makes my blood boil & confuses me to what they are fucking proud of, genocide, rape, theft, torture, dehumanization, crimes against humanity etc etc etc!
I am part aboriginal & I was born with a brain, soul & conscience so I am not exactly a lover of white supremacy! I think the name is open to interpretation, I guess anybody can make
up their own meaning behind White Male Dumbinance.
Perro: The few WMD songs I've heard could be subdivided into two categories: straight to the point powerviolence tunes a la Crossed Out/Infest and longer ones with more mosh parts/ heavy breakdown mixed with the blast beats. Something quite similar to what Arms Reach did. I know your singer was in A.R., do you think there's any other connection with them?
Chip: We have a few songs that are a blatant ode to Infest & Crossed Out, Murray our drummer filled in for Arms Reach for a tour & thats about the only other connection, I agree with you, that a few of the songs structure & the mood of the songs could very well be compared to Arms Reach but its not a deliberate thing at all!
Perro: Talking about Arms Reach, I clearly remember that when I met you in Melbourne you told me that you could easily help me to get their records, but since then nothing. Do I have to send down under some dodgy mafiamen to get them quicker?
Chip: Please there is no need to get the Mafia involved ha ha, The mafia in Australia are just fruit shop owners, but in saying that I don't wanna fuck with no fruiterer either, they lift big ass crates all day & shit, they could probably punch on pretty good! Luke will tell you himself that its nearly impossible to get them these days, within the past 2 years alot of new kids have starting collecting records & bought up all the AR records the little bastards!
Chip: Yes we did have problems but I will not divulge why we decided to trust our instincts not release it with the initial label! Yes its coming out on Missing Link, The recordings have been sent off to press & should be back very soon!
Perro: You told me there's also a split 7" with Mass Trauma planned. Who's going to relase it? When it'll be out?
Chip: Yes we have a split with those gang bangers, its also coming out on Missing Link & should be released at the exact same time!
Perro: Which kind of equipment are you using to get that awesome fat and heavy sound? I remember once Haymaker mentioned they had a "the older, the better" rule when choosing equipment...
Chip: Yep, I agree the older the better, I use some old school silver marshall beast from the 70's, I don't even know what the model is & I play straight through the amp without any distortion pedals, I believe in the old Minor Threat & Fugazi rule, no pedals, no theatrics just go for a natural sound! My guitar is just a epiphone gibson without any modifications & its at least 15 years old, its not fancy but its nice to play & sounds good enough to me!
Perro: Why are you playing gigs so rarely? Also, you recently played with an amazing line up that include Extortion, A.V.O. and few more. How was that gig?
Chip: We try to have a steady diet of gigs, I think when you play all the time, it becomes routine & less spontaneous, I prefer to play very rarely, you gotta let the pot boil & pent up all
your rage & when its reaching boiling point then its time to play a gig & try to tear peoples skin off with your music! The Empire show that we played with all the bands you mentioned above was an awesome gig, I think every band played awesome!It was funny the band that played before us "Thrush" did a cover of Siege "Drop Dead" which we learned for the show too & when it came time for us to play it we had to say it was a "Thrush cover", it was a crazy night, there was a dude in a wheelchair stage diving & stalking the dancefloor like a man possessed, it was fucking rad!
Perro: Lets talk about NCHC. Please make a "must have" list with all the essential Newcastle records.
Chip: In My opinion, pretty much anything that comes out of Newy is half decent because its all the same dudes, we all just swap instruments ha ha.
Arms Reach (Anything by A.R. is gold)
F.M.D. Before Their Time 7" & Path remains Ep"
Disengage Demo
No Reason 7"
Conation / Fat Human Filth Split 7"
Jabiluka "Anit - Uranuim Mining Comp Cd (w/ Arms Reach, X Claim, Conation etc)
Conation (Everything)
Pitfall Discography
Creeping Jesus
Elbow Deep (Everything)
Angry Earth Mutha
Anomie Demo
Nihilist (Everything)
Life.Love.Regret "Sick Of Goodbyes"
X Claim Demo
NC Wolfpack Demo's
Bare Knuckle Fight (Cd Ep)
Straightforward/ Personal Choice Split Demo
Etc Etc Etc
There are too many too mention, we have been a pretty damn active music scene!
Perro: I've also heard rumors about this band where you were involved called NC Wolfpack...tell us something more about it...
Chip: NC Wolfpack has so much stigma about it & I have no idea why, It was fun, but we sucked, That band was a really fun project, there was one gig we played in which a huge guy, decided he wanted to beat up everyone with a chain, no-one was hurt as far as I know, I don't even know why he went mental with the chain.
Perro: Civil Dissent "first blood" or Death Sentence "Ryan"? Which one is best aussie records ever?
Chip: I'd call it a tie, they are both awesome in their own right!
Perro: I'm quite obsessed with Rupture and I think "righteous fuck" could be easily included in the previous question. But I've noticed that even now, while not PC bands like Out With a Bang or Warkrime are quite popular downunder, Rupture are still hated/ignored by a lot of people...
Chip: Yeah You are quite right, I don't know too many people personally who are diehard fans of them!
Perro: Still talking about australian HC, what are some unknown gems from the past and the present?
Chip: There is a Melbourne compilation called "Eat Your Head" which had Civil Dissident, Vicious Circle etc which isn't too common, Most stuff I can think of, off the top of my head isn't super rare or anything but I recommend them, just stuff like
Razar "Stamp out Disco" & "Here Is The News" (1978)
The Victims (77-79)
Subversion "Pignation"
Minuteminder 7"
Heist
Magnacite
The Scientists
S.I.C. (Screaming In Churches) (80's)
Space Juniors (80's Skate Thrash)
Vicious Circle "Search For Solution"
Price Of Silence
Heads Kicked Off
Etc Etc Etc
Perro: With few exceptions, aussie HC seems to be a lot "americanized"and less influenced by european or japanese stuff. How could you explain that? Also, is DX/Distort zine the responsible for making cleveland bands so popular down there?
Chip: I think most Australians can identify with America & their culture more than Japan & Europe, I guess its more so a cultural thing, Australians are of the same fleet of white british inbred pieces of imperial dogshit! I don't think DX/Distort Zine had anything to do with the popularity of anything ha ha I didn't realise we had such a huge crush on the Cleveland but I guess alot of people do, I know I do & for good reason, I love Clevo bands such as The Electric Eels, Zero Defects, Agitated, Starvation Army, Iggy & The Stooges,The Dead Boys, Devo etc etc, its a fucking raging city for creating amazing bands!
Perro: Is Bill Shankly just a side project or something more serious?
Chip: I would say its a side project because we don't take it too seriously, It was never premeditated to be a band or anything, we never had any plans or aspirations to make a raging hardcore band & get popular or anything crazy like that, the creation of Bill Shankly just happened, we were at Pete's house & were sitting around bored out of our minds & I got on guitar & was fucking around with a riff & Pete got on drums & played along & talked Danny into singing along & then an hour had passed & before we knew it we had written & recorded a full length demo. We wrote all the songs as we went along, everything song was written right there & then, Pete hooked up a mic to his 4 track so we could keep it for memories sake & then I added added bass to it later, then Pete mixed it & said it actually sounded pretty good for a bunch of dudes who were just plain having fun & not trying to be anything, some people say it sounds like early DC & Touch & Go stuff, which I thought was kinda cool, all the Lyrics Danny wrote were all a joke, he was writing lyrics about how much he hates Manchester United & all kinds of other stupid lyrics to make us laugh, Pete started selling the demo at Missing Link & Dave (Straightjacket, Piss Christ) said he liked the demo & wanted to play bass for us, The next time I went down we recorded again & we played a couple of shows! We might be putting out a 7''
Perro: Any funny untold stories related to your bands that you wanna share with us?
Chip: There are lots of funny moments but the moments I remember the most, are the out of the ordinary moments!
A Nazi Skinhead was thrown through a very small window at a gig we played at
Luke broke a male models face with a microphone stand accidentally
I accidentally split someones head open with my instrument in Life.Love.Regret, I did a huge stage kick once which landed on someones nose causing itto break quite badly.
I chipped my teeth from Luke jumping on my back when I was singing,
Luke split his head open on the ceiling of a harbor ferry when he was in Arms Reach.
I played a gig that turned into a riot & the police kicked everybody out of the venue & ordered everybody outside & one dude decided to stand on the police car roof & pull out his dick & started yelling to the cops whilst waving his dick, "Suck Puss Ya Cunts.
Disengage played illegally on a bicycle velodrome in which I almost got arrested & got held responsible for organising a public event without a license or permission & obstructing the peace.
I was playing an outdoor gig in my old band Disengage & the police instructed me to stop playing or I will get arrested for profanity.
Me & Luke were banned from his radio show for swearing & other scenario's such as broadcasting a phone call in which a friend (Metal Stalker) of mine advertised that he will fight any challenger who will come down to the city park & we were encouraging people to go down there & fight The Metal Stalker, it was a total fictional event that we orchestrated, it was all a hoax, it was just a joke but we were receiving phone calls like crazy, people were calling up & saying "We're down at the park to fight this cunt, so where is he?"
My old band Disengage was banned from a particular pub that Luke later got banned from a pub for breaking shit whilst playing,
I almost got arrested after a show for a having a flick knife which was only actually a hair comb, that was designed to look like a flick knife.
Perro: Ok, it's time to conclude. Thanx for your time, Chip. Feel free to add whatever you want!
Chip: Thanx Raffa for keeping in touch & agreeing to pay for our bands airfares to do a W.M.D tour of Italy ha ha ha, I wish! Seriously though I love Italy, its an amazing country!
I will add that any Italian who doesn't know the Italian band Terminals from 1978, should really check them out, they were quite influenced by early Australian punk, they are an awesome band.
Chip: NC Wolfpack has so much stigma about it & I have no idea why, It was fun, but we sucked, That band was a really fun project, there was one gig we played in which a huge guy, decided he wanted to beat up everyone with a chain, no-one was hurt as far as I know, I don't even know why he went mental with the chain.
Perro: Civil Dissent "first blood" or Death Sentence "Ryan"? Which one is best aussie records ever?
Chip: I'd call it a tie, they are both awesome in their own right!
Perro: I'm quite obsessed with Rupture and I think "righteous fuck" could be easily included in the previous question. But I've noticed that even now, while not PC bands like Out With a Bang or Warkrime are quite popular downunder, Rupture are still hated/ignored by a lot of people...
Chip: Yeah You are quite right, I don't know too many people personally who are diehard fans of them!
Perro: Still talking about australian HC, what are some unknown gems from the past and the present?
Chip: There is a Melbourne compilation called "Eat Your Head" which had Civil Dissident, Vicious Circle etc which isn't too common, Most stuff I can think of, off the top of my head isn't super rare or anything but I recommend them, just stuff like
Razar "Stamp out Disco" & "Here Is The News" (1978)
The Victims (77-79)
Subversion "Pignation"
Minuteminder 7"
Heist
Magnacite
The Scientists
S.I.C. (Screaming In Churches) (80's)
Space Juniors (80's Skate Thrash)
Vicious Circle "Search For Solution"
Price Of Silence
Heads Kicked Off
Etc Etc Etc
Perro: With few exceptions, aussie HC seems to be a lot "americanized"and less influenced by european or japanese stuff. How could you explain that? Also, is DX/Distort zine the responsible for making cleveland bands so popular down there?
Chip: I think most Australians can identify with America & their culture more than Japan & Europe, I guess its more so a cultural thing, Australians are of the same fleet of white british inbred pieces of imperial dogshit! I don't think DX/Distort Zine had anything to do with the popularity of anything ha ha I didn't realise we had such a huge crush on the Cleveland but I guess alot of people do, I know I do & for good reason, I love Clevo bands such as The Electric Eels, Zero Defects, Agitated, Starvation Army, Iggy & The Stooges,The Dead Boys, Devo etc etc, its a fucking raging city for creating amazing bands!
Perro: Is Bill Shankly just a side project or something more serious?
Chip: I would say its a side project because we don't take it too seriously, It was never premeditated to be a band or anything, we never had any plans or aspirations to make a raging hardcore band & get popular or anything crazy like that, the creation of Bill Shankly just happened, we were at Pete's house & were sitting around bored out of our minds & I got on guitar & was fucking around with a riff & Pete got on drums & played along & talked Danny into singing along & then an hour had passed & before we knew it we had written & recorded a full length demo. We wrote all the songs as we went along, everything song was written right there & then, Pete hooked up a mic to his 4 track so we could keep it for memories sake & then I added added bass to it later, then Pete mixed it & said it actually sounded pretty good for a bunch of dudes who were just plain having fun & not trying to be anything, some people say it sounds like early DC & Touch & Go stuff, which I thought was kinda cool, all the Lyrics Danny wrote were all a joke, he was writing lyrics about how much he hates Manchester United & all kinds of other stupid lyrics to make us laugh, Pete started selling the demo at Missing Link & Dave (Straightjacket, Piss Christ) said he liked the demo & wanted to play bass for us, The next time I went down we recorded again & we played a couple of shows! We might be putting out a 7''
Perro: Any funny untold stories related to your bands that you wanna share with us?
Chip: There are lots of funny moments but the moments I remember the most, are the out of the ordinary moments!
A Nazi Skinhead was thrown through a very small window at a gig we played at
Luke broke a male models face with a microphone stand accidentally
I accidentally split someones head open with my instrument in Life.Love.Regret, I did a huge stage kick once which landed on someones nose causing itto break quite badly.
I chipped my teeth from Luke jumping on my back when I was singing,
Luke split his head open on the ceiling of a harbor ferry when he was in Arms Reach.
I played a gig that turned into a riot & the police kicked everybody out of the venue & ordered everybody outside & one dude decided to stand on the police car roof & pull out his dick & started yelling to the cops whilst waving his dick, "Suck Puss Ya Cunts.
Disengage played illegally on a bicycle velodrome in which I almost got arrested & got held responsible for organising a public event without a license or permission & obstructing the peace.
I was playing an outdoor gig in my old band Disengage & the police instructed me to stop playing or I will get arrested for profanity.
Me & Luke were banned from his radio show for swearing & other scenario's such as broadcasting a phone call in which a friend (Metal Stalker) of mine advertised that he will fight any challenger who will come down to the city park & we were encouraging people to go down there & fight The Metal Stalker, it was a total fictional event that we orchestrated, it was all a hoax, it was just a joke but we were receiving phone calls like crazy, people were calling up & saying "We're down at the park to fight this cunt, so where is he?"
My old band Disengage was banned from a particular pub that Luke later got banned from a pub for breaking shit whilst playing,
I almost got arrested after a show for a having a flick knife which was only actually a hair comb, that was designed to look like a flick knife.
Perro: Ok, it's time to conclude. Thanx for your time, Chip. Feel free to add whatever you want!
Chip: Thanx Raffa for keeping in touch & agreeing to pay for our bands airfares to do a W.M.D tour of Italy ha ha ha, I wish! Seriously though I love Italy, its an amazing country!
I will add that any Italian who doesn't know the Italian band Terminals from 1978, should really check them out, they were quite influenced by early Australian punk, they are an awesome band.
