Take Us To Vegas

Brisbane/Sunshine Coast's Take Us To Vegas are ending their year strongly, having recently played with the likes of Senses Fail, Northlane and The Getaway Plan, as well as shooting a music video and releasing their new EP "Bloodwolves". We caught up with the band's bassist Nick to discuss the new EP.

Start off by stating your name, your role in Take Us To Vegas, and the first record you bought as a child?

I’m Nick, I play bass and do a bit of emo vocals. I can’t remember exactly but it probably would have been something heinously poppy like Hanson or Savage Garden. Zero punx cred hashtagsoznotsoz.

Your new EP “Bloodwolves” is set to be released in mid October. Are you looking forward to getting these new tracks out there?

Absolutely. We’ve been working our asses off for nearly a year trying to figure out what we’re about and basically re-inventing this band.

What was the writing and recording process like for the new EP?

We wrote a HEAP of songs and kept picking out the strongest ones, recording them at our rehearsal space, reworking them, taking them to pre-production, bouncing them off our mates in other bands and just fine tuning them right up until final tracking.

How would you compare the tracks on the EP to your previous releases?

It’s darker, heavier and more pissed off. It’s still got catchy/pop choruses but it’s way more honest than anything we’ve done previously. Before this I guess the band had a bit of a ‘cock rock’ vibe, this time around it’s more focused and definitely sits more within a punk/metal sub-genre than anything else. Whatever the fuck that means. The main thing is, this time we have a release with a message and a purpose, and we’re really proud of it.

Do you have a favourite song from the EP? If so, why that song?

Probably ‘Vital Signs’. I might be biased because I wrote the lyrics for that song with some input from Ryan (singer). But it’s an anti-suicide song which is something that hits close to home for every member of this band. It’s heartfelt but it’s also a total ass-kicker. Easily the heaviest song on the record.

Have you had the chance to test much of the material in your live sets so far?

Yeah we have! The last four or five shows have been big supports for Senses Fail, Getaway Plan, Northlane or big headline’s for us, so we really wanted to play those shows with our best foot forward. We’ve been working on improving our live show and it seems to have paid off. Even though the EP isn’t out people seem to really be responding to the new jams.

Recently you shot a music video for the song “Vital Signs”. What can we expect from the video?

FIRE! And art, man.

What have you found to be the biggest obstacle you have had to overcome as a band?

Haha well all of us have very big personalities, so probably finding a way to work together without punching on and without anyone feeling obsolete if their ideas get shot down.

Do you have any goals that you would like to achieve with this band?

Keep putting out honest records and play shows everywhere we can. Hopefully tour with some cool bands and meet a bunch of good people. And never be snobs. That shit sucks.

What would you consider to be the fondest moment you’ve had with the band?

That’s hard, we’re a really tight group and we make the most out of the opportunities we get. So we make a lot of memories together. It’s a blast being in this band. Maybe hearing the final master of ‘Bloodwolves’ just because it was such a defining and validating moment for all of us.

What are your thoughts on the current scene in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast?

With the exception of your Amities and Northlanes etc the scene around here can be pretty lame if you’re not a hyped international band. I guess that’s just part of being a young nobody band anywhere in the world though. And we certainly aren’t a big band. I really don’t mean to sound ungrateful, because we still have amazing shows and there are already total diehards that come to every show we play. But it would be nice to see local bands (not just us) getting a bit more love.

Where is your favourite place in Australia to play?

Anywhere and everywhere. We have mates in so many towns and cities that playing away from home always rules. Little rural towns are killer though cause the kids seem to appreciate it a hell of a lot more.

Who are some bands that you have been enjoying lately that we should be checking out? 

Deadlights, Stone Hearts, The Brave and Awaken I Am are all Brissie boys that are putting out some next level jams. I think all of them are going to do very, very well if they stick out the next few years.

What are the band’s plans for the rest of 2013 once the EP has been released?

We’re working on a release show in Brisbane as well as tour of rural North Queensland. I think we’ll be saving heading south for early in the New Year just because there’s a heap of big tours happening around the end of this year that we simply cannot compete with. But we will be touring hard as often as we can and hoping to get some supports.

Thanks for doing the interview, any last words or shout outs?

Thanks for having us, we hope you dig the EP! Shout outs to everyone who has helped us with this record. You can pre-order it now on our Bigcartel!

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