Interviews : “We had to move the venue twice that day due to local police wanting to extort cash…” – an interview with Night Hag

Night Hag’s Gilded Age full length is still on constant play for me, months and months after its release. Their adrenaline-filled style of harsh hardcore (meets black metal, with tinges of doom and just about everything else) is utterly addictive. After a tour of South East Asia, the band have released their latest 7″ Confidence Man, and it’s certainly no disappointment. With an Australian tour getting closer (dates are right at the bottom), we thought we’d have a chat with guitarist Joey about a bit of everything.

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First (obvious) things first, can you give us a rundown on how Night Hag came about in the first place? I know the members are in a bunch of other bands as well; the amazing Space Bong included. 

We got together in 2010. Nathan and I knew each other from playing on the same bills with our hardcore bands at the time. Nathan, Mark and I also studied together at Adelaide Uni. I think we were all mates with Dale from different circles; Adelaide is a pretty small place. Dale and Mark first schemed up starting the band, and it was more of a social coincidence that we all got in on it together. Everyone but Nathan knew Dave, he got on board around this point. We all hung out at Dale’s place not long after, drank dark ale, talked a lot of crap, and eventually settled on the idea of making something dark and melodic. I suppose it was in more of a melodic hardcore punk direction at that point. We also agreed on a demo, then an EP so we could take time to be more precise whatever sound came out.

As Adelaide is a small place we had all known or at least seen each other around for years before we started the band. Dave and Mark used to play in a band called The Rivalry. Dave also plays in Space Bong, God God Dammit Dammit, Death Cult Jock and about a dozen more bands. Mark also plays in a sludge band called Sex Wizard. Dale used to sing for an awesome band called Laser Death Ray, he also played trumpet for a while in God God Dammit Dammit. Nathan used to play in The Weight (still going strong with a different line up). I play in Hydromedusa, Prisonbitch and occasionally Space Bong. We’ve been around each others bands for years prior to Night Hag I suppose.

A quick Google search has brought up the fact that you’ve apparently done things somewhat quickly and rushed in the past, with regards to recording and such. Was “Confidence Man” the same? What was the writing/recording process like? 

From the beginning we’ve been pretty motivated with this band. Dale really serves as the organizational brains in the band while the rest of us try to keep up with the writing. As a result, there have been times where we’ve had a really tight time frame for recording and practicing. We recorded Confidence Man before we did our SE Asia trip in January; this meant we were running a strict time-frame to get shit done before we went away. We also needed to leave ourselves enough time to practice sets and prepare for the tour. I wouldn’t say it was rushed, but there was no time for fucking around- there was a strict deadline that we had to adhere to. We’ve always been like this however, I think it stems from the fact that we record live. We can’t afford to take days tracking in a studio so it just motivates us to get it right and to not waste excessive time. Generally we practice in a productive way, it still serves as a relaxing release rocking up to band practice but we try to get shit done each time. It seems there’s always something around the corner we need to get ready for or new songs to do. This tour we will be taking our new friend Byron along to play bass as Mark’s studies clash. Teaching him the material has been very much a speedy process also but something that we feel we’re all more than capable of. Busy is really the name of the game with this band.

“After A Fashion” by Boys Next Door is an interesting choice of song to cover. Why that one?

Dave likes to transpose some pretty different sounding songs into the style of Night Hag. He did Syd Barret’s “Baby Lemonade” on the New Tourists EP and wanted After A Fashion to be for the 7” release. We all like a lot of music other than the style we play – to be honest the style we play is pretty irrelevant to the musical tastes that some of us have. With that, Dave likes Nick Cave a whole lot so he thought it was worth a go.

You guys are a pretty active band with what, four releases under your belt already? As well as a whole heap of touring. Does this mean we should expect another release some time this year?

I hope so. I’d say we’ve definitely got another one in us before the year is done. Ideally I’d like to see us do another album sometime in the near future. Dave and I have a lot of ideas for NH, plus it’s always so much fun to write with everyone else in the band. I still think we’ve got plenty of juice left, but it may soon be a question of geography. A few of us have moved states- certain members aren’t as close by anymore. I enjoy writing the basic structure or skeleton of a song by myself but when there’s less of an opportunity to get together and jam some ideas don’t go anywhere for a while. I think the writing will definitely continue even if we take it easy from touring for a little while.

It was an unequivocal experience. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same. I saw a really beautiful side of the world, met amazing people and was privileged to have the most unhindered view of real-life in Malaysia and Indonesia. It was fun more than anything, I couldn’t get the grin off my face most of the time. We played in a lot of industrial towns that aren’t jumping off the map; they’re not full of tourism infrastructure. Some of which were really developing places that generally aren’t romanticized or peered on by the rest of Australia. We were taken into people’s homes- invited into their lives for a brief time where we could see every-day life in the most natural way. We saw and played to music circles that were persevering through almost constant adversity. It was humbling to say the least. We played some crazy shows that I know I am lucky to play and will remember for the rest of my life. We felt such warmth (both metaphorically and psychically) in every city we played throughout Singapore, Malaysia and Java Indonesia. We were treated so well by our tour managers Cher, Glenn, Ayuma and Anca – special thanks to 7x0x7 collective as well as HCS of Sidoarjo. I’d recommend the experience to anyone. It’s probably the coolest thing I’ve done with my life so far, it’s certainly helped me reconcile the sustain DIY culture gives me.

All time favourite gig?

Definitely our show in Blitar, Java. We had to move the venue twice that day due to local police wanting to extort cash from the show (a common example of Indonesian police corruption). We eventually played on a massive stage in a grass field attached to a gigantic swimming centre. When we played to what felt like 500 people I remember orchestrating one of the biggest circle pits I’ve ever seen. It was like the 17-year-old bogan metalhead inside me had tears of joy. After the show I had a great time hearing stories, learning lingo, and hanging out with some really awesome people. All the while drinking Ciu – a local drink that’s mostly methanol – and heavily enjoying life before waking up in a cramped tour van with “scum world” tattooed on my leg in Indonesian. It’s a night I hardly remember but will never forget.

How’s the live scene over in Adelaide at the moment? Is there much of a DIY/hardcore/etc scene happening?

It’s a bit of a sparse community for a city as small as ours. People have segregated themselves into a lot of different clicks. I suppose it’s good to give people lots of options with live music and to not just have mixed bills, though sometimes it can be so particular it makes people a little too exclusive with who they associate with and ‘what defines them’. When this happens generally turn-outs diminish. I suppose it’s a pretty trivial issue. I think too much existential ‘self-identity’ amongst punters makes for an ego divide in who goes where. I run a DIY warehouse venue called Animal House with a few friends. There is a lot of love for our space but it’s still always a struggle to keep it running. It’s a varied crowd that frequents our place and we’ve been getting a lot more attention as a venue. People are generally into DIY culture but it’s something that needs a lot of patience, sacrifice and support. Club-culture live music definitely stands as a bit of a divide that few people straddle.

What is the venue situation like?

We have a few, but not many. You could probably count them on one hand. It’s always been an issue for Adelaide. I think it’s why DIY venues, alleyways shows, and house shows can be quite successful here- because you can’t hang out at the same few pubs all the time watching bands. A few live music places in Adelaide have changed management over the years, this has proven good and bad as some have welcomed more bookings while others have seen it as a waste of time. With a lot of heavy music, particularly punk music, this has always been a problem. You have to switch up venues for shows but there are only so many that’ll have you.

Who’s your favorite Australian band at this very moment, and why.

It’s very hard to say, probably Looking Glass from Canberra. They are seriously one of the greatest live acts to watch in the country. Stoner 3-piece, insanely talented and super stylish musicians. I’m also a huge fan of Perth’s Suffer, as well as sister-band Drowning Horse. Idylls from Brisbane are also really worth checking out, especially their live show.

Give us one final word to finish this…

Chips

You can purchase and find out more information about their new release Confidence Man over at their Bandcamp page and their other material and merch over at Bigcartel. And while you’re at it, go and follow them on Facebook and Tumblr.