Japunga: Home Basement.

Japunga launch Beginnings at the Canberra Hotel in Lismore on Friday, the QSM Basement on Saturday, then Rose’n’Crown, Surfers Paradise on March 13 and the Coolum RSL on March 31.

Japunga guitarist Jef Carter reckons their debut disc Beginnings started life as just a demo to get some gigs. He’s into understatement, it would seem.

“Nobody would give us a gig. We did Beginnings as a demo to get gigs for the band. There was no talk of getting distribution, but by the end of it we were being offered distribution. Some of it’s a bit primitive, but we still play most of it live. These days it just seems like we’ve got so much more stuff. There’s enough now to put together an album.”

The lack of gigs being offered to the band has since been overcome. No, the band didn’t hit the road on an unparalleled arse-kissing trip. They just found a venue that was looking for something different, and created their own scene. The QSM Basement is now running local bands every Wednesday and Thursday night..

“Adam at the Basement’s been great,” he explains. “We try and put the bands on so everyone gets to play maybe twice a month. People just want to do it every week, but there’s heaps of good local bands and we don’t want to overkill it.”

“We’re getting about 150 to 170 every Wednesday. We did a show there with us, Seven 8ths Torn and Hollow and we got 350 people through over the night. That was on a Wednesday, and everything else was just dead. Considering how big the city is you’d think there’d be more people out on a Wednesday night.”

While there’s no denying Beginnings is certainly a raw and powerful sounding record, the band are finding that the songs are appealing to those outside the straight up metal crowd.

“We get a funny reaction from audiences,” Jef notes. “Audiences that aren’t really into metal seem to dig it. The songs are only like three minutes, it’s pretty basic. Verse chorus verse chorus. Straight to the point with lots of hook lines so you can remember the songs. A lot of metal bands, you can’t really make out where the songs are.”

Perhaps some of the bands appeal comes from the their approach to song writing. Rather than show off as individual musicians, Japunga come together in an almighty groove. Jef’s approach to the guitar has much to do with the cohesiveness of the bands sound.

“I’m a drummer. I’ve been a drummer for years. I’ve always played some guitar, but I never really got serious about it. People come to gigs to see the band thinking I’m the drummers and it’s what the fuck are you doing?”

“We try and make the guitars and the drums really groove well, because I’m always thinking of the beat in my head. I basically write the songs and bring them in to our drummer and tell him the beat.”

The EP is already gaining airplay for the band on Triple J’s Three Hours Of Power.

“They played a song the other night,” Jef enthuses. “I didn’t hear it, but some of the other guys did. It’s good, because now that Costa isn’t doing the show there’s not a lot of bands from Brisbane that get on any more.”

“I think the EP’s decent. It’s just raw, so what you hear on the CD is what you’ll hear live. It’s a raw three piece doing what they do, and the good thing is that when you come and see us live, this is what you’ll get.”