BIGSOUND Artist Profile: Hadal Maw

Band Name: Hadal Maw

Member/Role: Drummer

Hometown: Melbourne

Short description of your band and your music: We're essentially a metal band that's working to try and do something we haven't heard yet.

Has the party side of the music industry been all you were hoping for so far in your career? Haha, nah we're all old and jaded enough to know there's more to it than that, someone's gotta pack the van.

What is the best thing that's happened to you/your band so far? That's a tough one but I think whenever we hear that we've directly influenced someone in some way, that's pretty huge. Other than that I think successfully getting our first album out is tops.

Are your ambitions mainly artistic or commercial? I'd say both. We've never made artistic decisions based on commerce, but playing music is certainly a lot more fulfilling when you've got a lot of people to play to and you're not starving.

Is your music best rendered in the studio or the live realm? That's a really tough one. You can take in our songs a lot better off a recording considering how detailed it is but our reputation has been built off our live show for sure.

If you could have any act past or present join you on your next tour who would you tap? Maybe Frank Zappa so he could tell us how crap we are. But I guess you gotta keep it metal so probably Gojira or Mastodon, they seem like good value to tour with. Otherwise, Pixies.

What industry lessons would you like to take away from the BIGSOUND conference? I'm not too sure and that's what we're hoping to find out. If we don't learn anything then that probably means we're on the right track but I'll be very surprised if that happens.

What acts are you looking forward to checking out at the BIGSOUND showcase? We're really stoked to be sharing the bill with Jack the Stripper, but we're also glad that we're not playing directly after them. I'm also hoping I can catch Dorsal Fins.

Why should people come and see you from amongst the many cool bands at BIGSOUND? Who doesn't love 8 string guitars? We're easily the heaviest latin folk band out of the whole conference so surely that's worth something.