Lord Tim – LORD

LORD are arguably one of the most well known and respected bands in the Australian metal scene. And deservedly so. Staking claim to just over a decade long career, their ever-evolving sound continues to encompass the bold, shifting spirit of music in Australia. And at the helm of the band is its founder, vocalist, guitarist, and all-round great fellow, Lord Tim. Known to not take himself at all too seriously, on this same token, few people come across in conversation as being as dedicated and passionate towards their craft as this one. Throughout his career, LT has also served at the vanguard of one of Australia’s strongest exports of the mid ‘90s: Dungeon. A band that once served as support overseas with Megadeth, and, during the tail-end of Dungeon’s career, was given one of the most “emotional” and “touching” send-offs for a band LT has been a part of. Now, LORD are proud to present ‘LORD: The Dungeon Era’ box set. With ‘The Dungeon Era’, LORD have travelled back to deliver us a box set that not only pays homage to the old days and the original band members, but also gives nod and reverence to a band still fondly remembered by fans today.

So, with all of that being said, it was my recent honour and pleasure to speak with the one and only Lord Tim. Speaking to him from the recording studio in Cringila, New South Wales, an area I’m told – quote for quote – “sucks the chode!” LT says with a good-humoured laugh. 1950’s infrastructure and an old steel mill, folks. It’s safe to say the connection wasn’t the best, but we made it through!

We went on to speak about the 25^th anniversary of Dungeon, the releasing of the ‘Dungeon Era’ boxset, and the process involved in recreating these classic gems of Australian metal. “What we wanted to originally do before this whole massive thing took off was just remix the originals. Just as a way to mark the 25^th anniversary. But we went back and I managed to dig out the archives of the files that we had for a ‘Rise to Power’, ‘One Step Beyond’, and ‘The Final Chapter’ and even went so far as to get the original 2” multi-track master tapes from the ‘Resurrection’ sessions and had those digitised. Listening back to it, I realised there was no way this was going to come up to 2014 standards. So I had a good look at what needed to be fixed on there. And it was generally all of the drums and the guitars. The way they were recorded was problematic to do anything useful with it. I bit the bullet and made the decision that we should re-record the base elements of that and try and bring as much stuff in from those original recordings to try and keep a bit of a link to the past. But then it felt like we were kind of betraying the guys from Dungeon, because there were some great performances on those original records. So we thought, ‘well, why not have both?’ And so we went back and did the best we could to remix the old stuff, as well as doing the new LORD take. It worked out to be something like 8 albums or something on this set, which is quite insane!” [laughs]

And as LT later stressed when concerning the releasing of this anniversary box set, “We wanted to mark the occasion and there was a lot of respect given to the previous writers and members of Dungeon that appeared on those albums. We really wanted to make this more about them than about LORD.”

Mentioning myself how it was neat to be able to see the contrast between the old material and the new, LT replied, “Absolutely. What’s really interesting about it as well is that you can hear the progression as it goes along. As a good example, with the Resurrection album, if you listen to the stuff that was on the original demo tape from Resurrection in 1997, how it turned up on the 1999 official release, then with Dungeon doing a refreshed version of that in 2005, you can hear how, for instance, Steve-o [Moore] had changed the drumming over the years he was in the band. And that just really became part of the song. And since then, [after] Steve-o had left and Tim Yatras took over on the drums, you can hear all the stuff that TY brought into it, as well. So you can definitely hear how the songs have organically grown in the live arena [and] translated onto the recording. It’s actually kind of fascinating.”

Noting how returning to these years and looking over the Dungeon archives must have brought back nostalgia for him, I asked LT what he remembered most from those early days. “Digging through that and just sitting there and forcing yourself to remember all of those parts: the very early days and the innocence of it all. [It was] a bunch of dumb kids in a high school hall using the stage on a Sunday afternoon. I don’t know how the hell we got the permission to do that, but we did! [Back then] we had no clue what we were doing. We [weren’t] particularly great musicians, or even good musicians! [laughs] And just trying to find out what the hell we were trying to achieve. And then the first step to Sydney where we recorded our first demo tape: our first proper, real demo tape. All that kind of stuff was all really magical.

“One moment that really kind of sticks in my mind [though] is when we were doing the farewell shows for the name of Dungeon. And we did the Melbourne show. Normally after the shows, I’m dead. I go outside somewhere just to clear my head and get some air. And I just remember standing there next to the venue in the shadows, and people pouring out of the venue singing Dungeon songs and chanting the name. It was actually kind of emotional – that something I’d done had touched these people in such a way where they actually did give a fuck!” LT laughs in a heartfelt manner. “When you’re in a band, you get used to a certain level of people saying things to your face, like, ‘Oh, mate, that was the best thing I ever heard!’ And you don’t kind of buy it a lot of the times because it’s people trying to be nice to you. But nobody saw me there at all. It was genuine emotion and it was really touching.”

‘Digital Lies’ out now via Dominus Records

Speaking about LORD for a moment, one of the fascinating things about LORD as a band is the consistent evolution of their music; as well as the ever expanding list of sounds and styles that feature across their albums. Going on to discuss a few of LT’s own influences, he stressed the point early, “I want to point out that the sound of the band has evolved. And as new guys come into it, they bring their own sort of blends. As a good example, when Steve-o joined the band in the mid ‘90s, he brought a lot of his Bay Area thrash influences into the band. And that was incorporated. By the time we got up to ‘One Step Beyond’ melodic death was starting to come along and do pretty well. And there were a lot of Soilwork influences creeping into the sound. Naturally, that all ends up as the big melting pot that becomes LORD’s sound.” Continuing with, “So for me, as the main arranger, I take all of those ideas and channel it through stuff that I listen to – everything from ‘80s pop, to orchestral film scores, and glam to black metal – and it ends up sounding like LORD. And I have no doubt on the next album – we’re between drummers right now – that if we have a drummer that comes in with a set of influences that we find really exciting, that’s probably going to find its way into the melting pot and become the continuation of what the sound is. So I think it’s really exciting getting new members through!”

Taking risks and using styles not commonly the norm of the genre is something not unfamiliar to LORD. As has been proven time again with their selection of cover songs, for example. Noting the example of Kylie Minogue and “On A Night Like This” (from 2009’s ‘Set in Stone’) specifically, LT laughed initially at the mention of this. “It’s funny actually because that’s not a new thing for what we’ve done. Back in Dungeon, around the first ‘Resurrection’ album, we did a cover of “Call Me” by Blondie. Our first Sydney show that we did, we walked out on stage sandwiched between two of the heaviest death metal bands you ever heard in your entire life, and we played our first song and the crowd wasn’t doing too much. And then we started to break into “Call Me”, and just as I was announcing it, I turned around and Steve-o was freaking out saying, ‘Don’t announce it! You’re gonna get us killed!’ [laughs] But that song, I think because it was so different and so quirky and unexpected, it actually got the crowd paying attention to us.” He went on to note, “It wasn’t pre-mediated when we did the Kylie song, but songs like that can really make a big difference to your fan base and how people pay attention to you. But the Kylie thing was purely by accident. Coming off our Nightwish support in 2008, we stopped by to get hamburgers at McDonald’s or something, and it was playing on the P.A. Some cog started grinding in my mind and I just went, ‘You know what would be really stupid if we covered that?’ And I told the guys expecting them to say, ‘No, absolutely not’, but everybody was on board with it so we did it. And it turned out really great!”

“I think even with the original songs,” LT states thereafter, “we are taking risks and we know some people are not going to enjoy them, but then some people might. There is an extra bit of care there [with the original songs] where we do want to make sure what we do put on the record is our best. We don’t do what some bands do and write like thirty-five songs and pick the best ten. We write ten or eleven songs and they are the songs. They are our best work. Where covers, it’s kind of like, ‘well, let’s try it. Let’s see what happens.’ And yeah, sometimes it bombs. Sometimes what you think is going to be a good song turns out to be a complete, steaming pile of shit. I’ve had a few of those over the career!” [laughs]

Ending the interview on a high note, LT teased some exciting things in store for LORD: “If what I want to do comes off, then it’s going to be another unexpected twist. Not anything that’s going to alienate anyone, but no one will see it coming. I’ll leave you with that nugget!”

‘LORD: The Dungeon Era’ is available now for pre-order via LORD’s official website with box set bundles selling quite quickly. Secure yours now!

Catch LORD at Steel Assassins, Australia’s only 2 day metal festival dedicated to Traditional, Speed, Thrash and Power Metal. Steel Assassins is held at The Bald Faced Stag in Sydney from October 31 to November 1st. Tickets available from www.gobookem.com.

Steel Assassins 2014

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