Velociraptor

2 February 2013 | 4:00 pm | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

With twelve members rocking out onstage at any given time, Brisbane’s Velociraptor are one hell of a menacing rock & roll beast. The ensembles’ 2012 mini album The World Warriors is crammed full of blissed-out melodies, scuzzy ‘60s garage punk, and plenty of sugary sweet sing-along choruses. Before they clamber onstage for what’s sure to be a rowdy set at this year’s Push Over festival, Killyourstereo.com asked Velociraptor’s Jeremy Neale about what really happened to the dinosaurs, supporting OFF! and organising a Phil Collins-themed festival.

With twelve members rocking out onstage at any given time, Brisbane’s Velociraptor are one hell of a menacing rock & roll beast. The ensembles’ 2012 mini album The World Warriors is crammed full of blissed-out melodies, scuzzy ‘60s garage punk, and plenty of sugary sweet sing-along choruses. Before they clamber onstage for what’s sure to be a rowdy set at this year’s Push Over festival, Killyourstereo.com asked Velociraptor’s Jeremy Neale about what really happened to the dinosaurs, supporting OFF! and organising a Phil Collins-themed festival.

Hey! It’s Jack from Killyourstereo.com. What’s your name, your role in Velociraptor and the stupidest thing you’ve stuck up your nose?


Jeremy Neale, SNAG (Sensitive New Age Guy) and the entire box set of Sex and The City. What was I thinking!? I don’t even rate the series, except for that Charlotte chick.

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Scientists try to tell us it had something to do with an ice age, meteor or some jazz, but what do you think really happened to the dinosaurs?


It’s a commonly known fact that during the great Dino Wars technology got pretty intense. At some point, some dinosaur was like, “I’ve got an ice cannon that can destroy the whole planet, sending us into an endless winter” and then another dinosaur was like, “Yeah that’s cool man, but I’mma use this spaceship I invented to fly the rest of my dino-people to safety”. So a lot of dinosaurs died due to the ice cannon but a whole bunch of other dinosaurs went and colonised other planets and one day they’ll be back.




What was it like supporting OFF! the other night? Did the crazy hardcore fans dig your feel good vibes?


OFF! Were total boss and the best dudes. The response was better than we thought. Some guy even shook my hand and said we were good. He didn’t even head butt me, so that was awesome.


If Velociraptor’s music were a smoothie, what would its ingredients be and why?


Scotch and Spirulina. It’s good to party but also good to make sure you’re not depleting yourself of essential vitamins and minerals.


We’ve survived the Mayan apocalypse, now the big question is: will we hear new Velociraptor music this year?


You Will! I've already written a club-banging, comeback single that will potentially change the game forever. It’s due late 2013.


There are 12 people in your band. Considering some trios struggle to organise band practice, how on earth do you manage with 12?


The key to a successful band practice is not to have them. Sometimes we meet up before a show and run through the set at the back of the venue, but most of the stuff is pretty easy to do. We share demos in an internal group on Facebook, learn from those and then kind of evolve them whilst we’re playing live.


Those two ratbags in DZ Deathrays are doing pretty well for themselves. Do the two bands ever get double booked? Do the DZ boys sit out of tours quite a bit these days?


The main obstacle hasn’t really been conflicting schedules, it’s more their insistence on travelling to venues via battle elephant. Ever since they won that ARIA, their lives have become a lot more like the villain from 300, except with more fighting and a larger entourage of women.


That Push Over festival lineup ain’t bad, ey? Looking forward to chilling with many of the other bands?


The Push Over lineup rules and there’s a pretty strong Brisbane presence, so that’s always good for party doggin’ outside of our hometown.


If you were going to steal another band’s rider at Push Over, which band do you think would be the biggest pushovers?


Well, they wouldn’t be pushovers but Amity Affliction would have the biggest rider, being the headline act. So like any good heist movie we’re gonna have to go Oceans 12 style on this beast - get disguises, cut the power, hit on Julia Roberts, steal the booze.


While Push Over is an all-ages gig, did you sneak into many 18 + shows when you were underage?


I was too busy playing video games to even think about breaking the law. However, it was substantially easier back then. The best 18+ show I saw whilst underage featured the legendary Brisbane band Dollar Bar.


We’re looking at the Jungle Giants, Hungry Kids of Hungry, Ball Park Music, Last Dinosaurs and Dune Rats and we’re liking what we’re hearing. How come there’s so many killer bands coming out of Brissy at the moment? Is there something in the water up there?


When they said they were adding fluoride to our water, I’m pretty sure it was actually caffeine. Now instead of sleeping, we just stay awake writing songs.




Any other Brissy bands, or local bands in general, you think we should check out?


Keep On Dancin’s, Occults, Go Violets, The Good Sports, Johnny and The Fembots, Major Leagues, Woodboot.


If you could organise your own music festival anywhere in the world, where would it be, what would it be called and whom would you invite to play?


It would be called Phil Collins Fest and it would be on whatever island Phil Collins owns and Phil Collins would play eight sets a day with his only break being to drum for Genesis, who are also playing the festival. And he’s not allowed to play any songs from his last covers album.


What are five songs or bands all 12 Velociraptor members agree on?


Given road trip listening experience: The Kinks, The Beach Boys, The Sulphur Lights, Some bubble gum pop compilation we bought from a service station and Kiss’ God Gave Rock & Roll To You.


What’s on for the rest of the year?


We’re heading to the UK and Europe in May and June and then we’re going to start working on a follow up to 2012’s The World Warriors.


Any parting words of advice or things you’d like to share with us?


A friend showed me the Cracked article ‘6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person’ and I found it to be pretty true. A highly recommended read.


Cheers, Jeremy.


Thanks heaps!