Anchors

Anchors are back! After having a break from the stench of each other's sweat in a van, the band is ready to tour, write and wreak havoc like the contemporary punks they are. Playing The Australia Day Weekend Fundraiser, Killyourstereo.com sat down with the group to talk about the show, the band's future and Taylor Swift!  

Hey, it's Matty from killyourstereo, how are you going Brett?

Not too bad mate, yourself?

Yeah good, just trying to be beat the Melbourne heat wave. It's forty-four degrees where I am!

Yeah it's fucking ridiculous! I'm down at the beach, it's been pretty solid. (Laughs)

(Laughs) Lucky. Anyway, we'll kick things off; how were your holidays?

Yeah going pretty cool. I work at a school so I get five weeks off, which is pretty awesome. Been hitting the beach and finding things to jump off, just been staying in the water. It's been pretty good. (laughs)

Beating the heat the Australian way. So you played on the UnFun Fest nearly exactly a month ago in Sydney, how was that?

That was insane. We had such a fun time and it's been a fair while since we've actually played a gig and so we were a bit worried people had forgotten about us and shit like that. You get all your weird nerves kicking in and we basically got up there and it was a bunch of dudes who were stoked to see us and we were stoked to see them. We got to play with our good mates in Paper Arms. It was an awesome festival.

You now have another big thing coming up, the Australia Day Weekend Fundraiser, are you excited for that?

Oh dude, yes! I mean it's just such a good time. So many friends, [it's] so rad to play and it's so rad to watch bands. It's almost just a by-product of hanging out with your friends. The fact we can all get together and play and raise some money for something worthwhile, it's pretty awesome

It's got a pretty hefty line-up, who are you most excited to play with?

Luca Brasi is a standard go to but they are so good and so much fun. And Tigers have just been added and they're awesome. But Outright is my pick in the end.

Can fans expect any newer songs on the set? 

We're actually going with a set of classics; if you can call four year old sings classic? And we are writing some new stuff but that won't make an appearance. Basically we're going to be pretty hot and pretty drunk so we want to play stuff we know inside out and don't have to worry. 

On the idea of new stuff,  which direction is it heading, is it going to be a classic Anchors' punk album or are tapping your toes into some new waters.

We always try and change it up a little bit , we're pretty simple dudes. We have like one style that we do, we try and go as fast as we can, and fit as much in as we can and hope for the best!  But [what] we did on our last album ['Lost at the Bottom of the World'] we experimented with some groovier and slower riffs and people seemed to like it. Maybe they did, maybe were just deluding ourselves? But there may be some of that more slower stuff, more groove more melody. But for the most part, the meat will just be our classic sound.

Any other upcoming tours you guys have planned? 

Like I said, we had some time off because the last few years we had some big tours and we were getting a bit burnt out. Bit sick of touring with each other, sick of sweating in a van and smelling bad so we played our last show in March and [now are] getting back into it. We're booking some tours and there's some stuff we're talking about. But at the moment were pretty open. I find if that things are booked too far in advanced then you get sick of them by the time they come around.   So we're just going to wing it, which is what we do best.  

I look forward to those for sure. Now I have a bit more of serious question. I'd like you to answer as honestly and as in as much detail as possible.

(Laughs) Alrighty!

What's your opinion the local Australian, music scene? There are so many bands popping up sounding the same and just want to play in a 'big band' and do big tours and albums by week two. What's your take on it?

It's the kind of thing where, and I don't want to sound like I'm writing off new bands as I have a habit of doing that and not getting my point across, and I sound like a dick. So I'll choose my words carefully. But it's just like you said, they'll [new bands] hear a band that's gotten big recently and they decide they want to sound like [that] whether changing their current style or starting a new band. Like one band will get big but they'll have taken years and years or ridiculous amounts of work to get that sound right and yet these new bands don't realise that and try and jump on the boat. I think it's awesome that people want to get their mates together and write music they enjoy playing, it's just a matter of doing it for the right reasons. If they want to do it to get big then it's probably not the best thing but if they do it to have fun then yeah, go for it.

Thanks for that. That seems to be the general answer I normally get, which is always good and hopefully young bands will take from that. 

Favourite album of 2013?

I'd probably say 'The Greatest Generation' by The Wonder Years.

Yes - that was a killer!

Yeah, an absolute banger wasn't it?! I'd also say maybe 'Red' by Taylor Swift or was that 2012?

That was 2012 but I wish I could give that album of the year every year.

What a cracker?! I mean it's funny when it came out I was like, 'Oh my God, am I actually liking this?! What's wrong with me?!' But then I spoke with a few people and they were all saying album of the year too.

Did you catch her live performance?

No! I have a bit of a shitty habit when a big band comes out and I won't pay that much for tickets then on the night I just hate myself. Did the same with Springsteen, and Swift and Beyoncé.

It was incredible! But no one seems to get it, they all look at you like, 'What, you like Swift, you're a freak!"

Yeah, they kind of think you're doing it ironically to be funny, 'On I like Taylor Swift, ha ha!' But you're not. She's genuinely awesome.

Exactly. And she's one of those rare few who are a solo artist and writes her own songs.

Yeah, she's out there by herself and she's doing it by herself mainly and getting big too. That's exactly what I was saying before. She's doing it for the right reasons and look at her, she's leading music.

(Laughs) Oh that's about it. Thanks so much for your time, Brett it's been awesome. Have a good one and the best of luck for the show.

Thanks mate.

Anchors play The Reverence Hotel in Melbourne on Saturday, January 25 with Luca Brasi, Outright and more - tickets are available here.