The Demon Parade - Michael Badger
Words: Stuart Millen
Forming in Melbourne in 2009, The Demon Parade have since firmly cemented their place at the forefront of Australia’s psychedelic rock explosion. Earning significant airplay on Triple J, Rage and community radio across Australia, not to mention being handpicked for tours supporting the likes of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and Swervedriver, their live act has become one of legend.
Following the success of three singles and their debut EP God Said It’s Legal, the band have returned with their much anticipated follow up EP, Chameleon. Caught in the Mosh spoke to frontman Michael Badger about recording the new EP, touring and the challenges ahead.
You’ve been around for three or so years now. How has your sound evolved over that time?
It's hard to say how it's evolved in any one way. We're constantly trying new things to tweak our sound and find something refreshing to our own ears. Listening to feedback from people outside of the band however, I think we have been focusing on opening up the songs for melodies and hooks to really come through in the songs off this EP, whereas I think the previous EP was a big mush of wall of sound and hypnotic beats.
How did being picked as the support for the Brian Jonestown Massacre come about? How was the tour for you? Any interesting stories?
It was really about being in the right place a the right time, and having the right sound I suppose. We didn't go after it, in fact I don't think the tour had even been announced when we were asked to do it. But I had known the promoter of the tour for a few years as he'd booked my previous band for a few shows and I kept him in the loop when The Demon Parade formed. The tour was fantastic, some of the most memorable nights of my life of that 2 or 3 week period. It was quite daunting at first, having watched 'Dig'. The night before the tour kicked off I remember lying in bed anxiously thinking “what have I got myself into?” The first show was in Brisbane so we were already out of our comfort zone having never played there before but when we arrived we could hear them sound checking 'Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth' from down the street, quite appropriately as it was Matt Hollywood's first tour with them since he had rejoined. We arrived in a rather nervous state but that quickly changed as they were the most welcoming headline band we've ever toured with to this day. They offered us all of their equipment to borrow on the tour and everyone got along really well and we still keep in touch with most of them. Unfortunately there were no mental stories off the tour (that we can talk about) but it did mean that the band was fully focused playing their shows and extensive catalogue which changed from night to night and we were very privileged to witness all those shows.
Following the success of three singles and their debut EP God Said It’s Legal, the band have returned with their much anticipated follow up EP, Chameleon. Caught in the Mosh spoke to frontman Michael Badger about recording the new EP, touring and the challenges ahead.
You’ve been around for three or so years now. How has your sound evolved over that time?
It's hard to say how it's evolved in any one way. We're constantly trying new things to tweak our sound and find something refreshing to our own ears. Listening to feedback from people outside of the band however, I think we have been focusing on opening up the songs for melodies and hooks to really come through in the songs off this EP, whereas I think the previous EP was a big mush of wall of sound and hypnotic beats.
How did being picked as the support for the Brian Jonestown Massacre come about? How was the tour for you? Any interesting stories?
It was really about being in the right place a the right time, and having the right sound I suppose. We didn't go after it, in fact I don't think the tour had even been announced when we were asked to do it. But I had known the promoter of the tour for a few years as he'd booked my previous band for a few shows and I kept him in the loop when The Demon Parade formed. The tour was fantastic, some of the most memorable nights of my life of that 2 or 3 week period. It was quite daunting at first, having watched 'Dig'. The night before the tour kicked off I remember lying in bed anxiously thinking “what have I got myself into?” The first show was in Brisbane so we were already out of our comfort zone having never played there before but when we arrived we could hear them sound checking 'Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth' from down the street, quite appropriately as it was Matt Hollywood's first tour with them since he had rejoined. We arrived in a rather nervous state but that quickly changed as they were the most welcoming headline band we've ever toured with to this day. They offered us all of their equipment to borrow on the tour and everyone got along really well and we still keep in touch with most of them. Unfortunately there were no mental stories off the tour (that we can talk about) but it did mean that the band was fully focused playing their shows and extensive catalogue which changed from night to night and we were very privileged to witness all those shows.
You have your own recording studio at home and recorded and produced a majority of Chameleon yourself. How did this process compare to the other EPs you’ve released. Was DIY easier or harder?
I've actually done both our EP's myself so I can't actually compare the process to another experience. I think self producing has it's ups and downs. It's very easy to lose perspective as you have the opportunity to spend countless hours on what you're creating. It's an obvious decision for us to do it ourselves in my studio as it will free up money to be spent on other things like touring and film clips etc but it would certainly be nice to to work under someone else's guard in the future. Being a producer myself, it's hard to step away from the chair but for our album, we may look at putting someone in the box seat and see how that goes. And if it doesn't work, then back to my place!
You had Tony Lash mix some of the songs on Chameleon. It must’ve been great to have someone of his calibre working on your tracks?
Tony is actually someone I'd like to consider for producing our album. He's made a couple of my favourite albums including 'The Dandy Warhols Come Down' and Even's 'Come Again'. He added quite a bit to the post production process. I did give him a lot to work with and I just said “you choose what's best”so it really was the closest we've been to having someone “produce” us. He actually sent back a couple of songs and said try an extra verse here and another lyric there to make the song more complete so it gave us extra confidence knowing that someone of his calibre believed in what we were doing, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered making suggestions.
Again on the recording side, I read that the drums for Chameleon were recorded at Hot House Studios. Does having someone else take control enable you to focus on different elements of the process, things you may not have a chance to think about if you were doing it yourself?
Yes that’s exactly right. Jez Giddings and Craig Harnath at Hot House leave me with a lot of options to work with drum wise as they know what I'm after and I have complete faith in what sounds they will get which will allow me to focus on the rhythm tracks that are going down. If the drums aren't right then it's very hard to fix later on without sucking the life out of them so it's great to have two or three brains keeping the project moving along and avoid any disappointments later down the track. They've also got a tasty Neve desk and great mics as well as a ridiculous amount of vintage guitars and basses at your disposal so it's always a fun day in there pulling sounds.
I've actually done both our EP's myself so I can't actually compare the process to another experience. I think self producing has it's ups and downs. It's very easy to lose perspective as you have the opportunity to spend countless hours on what you're creating. It's an obvious decision for us to do it ourselves in my studio as it will free up money to be spent on other things like touring and film clips etc but it would certainly be nice to to work under someone else's guard in the future. Being a producer myself, it's hard to step away from the chair but for our album, we may look at putting someone in the box seat and see how that goes. And if it doesn't work, then back to my place!
You had Tony Lash mix some of the songs on Chameleon. It must’ve been great to have someone of his calibre working on your tracks?
Tony is actually someone I'd like to consider for producing our album. He's made a couple of my favourite albums including 'The Dandy Warhols Come Down' and Even's 'Come Again'. He added quite a bit to the post production process. I did give him a lot to work with and I just said “you choose what's best”so it really was the closest we've been to having someone “produce” us. He actually sent back a couple of songs and said try an extra verse here and another lyric there to make the song more complete so it gave us extra confidence knowing that someone of his calibre believed in what we were doing, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered making suggestions.
Again on the recording side, I read that the drums for Chameleon were recorded at Hot House Studios. Does having someone else take control enable you to focus on different elements of the process, things you may not have a chance to think about if you were doing it yourself?
Yes that’s exactly right. Jez Giddings and Craig Harnath at Hot House leave me with a lot of options to work with drum wise as they know what I'm after and I have complete faith in what sounds they will get which will allow me to focus on the rhythm tracks that are going down. If the drums aren't right then it's very hard to fix later on without sucking the life out of them so it's great to have two or three brains keeping the project moving along and avoid any disappointments later down the track. They've also got a tasty Neve desk and great mics as well as a ridiculous amount of vintage guitars and basses at your disposal so it's always a fun day in there pulling sounds.
As an independent artist, what challenges have you found in gaining exposure?
I've had the experience of being in a band signed to a major and also now obviously, a completely independent band. In my previous band I never thought about where the money would come from for advertisements and publicists, but now that's all changed! You strategically need to structure your touring schedule so you can afford to keep the band going if you're independent and be mindful to not overplay. One big bender of a night out on the town is probably the equivalent of placing an ad in street press and securing interviews so you've got to balance it out nicely. If you stayed home all the time you'd have nothing to write about but if you spend all your money on booze and drugs then you mightn't be able to afford your plane ticket to the next show in Sydney!
What are your thoughts on file sharing and the digital methods in which music is distributed these days? Does this affect you now? Do you think it will affect you in the future?
It's not ideal. It's far too easy to obtain a bands songs – but that's the way it is these days. Even though I make records for a living, unlike many others, I don't actually have a problem with the fact that mp3's are now the most popular source of audio. I have far too many CD's and vinyl's in boxes stored in my roof so for convenience sakes I think digital is great. The fact that it is so easy to obtain without the artist being rewarded is definitely an issue though and the music industry will keep undergoing change to try and fix the issues at hand. I'd love the excitement to return of going to a record store to buy your favourite bands new album on the day of release and rushing home to play it, but I'm not sure if that will ever happen again or not. It seems to be the way the world is going, in more ways than one, and we just adapt to it.
You’ve no doubt played plenty of live shows over the years, with many great bands. Do you have any favourite live moments, either as a performer or fan?
We've done some great memorable Demon Parade shows and a few come to mind but in 2009 my first band (your typical high school band) reformed to play a special tribute show at the Hi-Fi bar here in Melbourne for a very close friend of ours that passed away tragically in an accident overseas. We were rather prolific for an underage high school band, doing the rounds of Melbourne venues like The Espy, The Evelyn, The Greyhound and The Armadale. On this night we played to a sold out Hi-Fi Bar, with our friends and acquaintances screaming back the youthful lyrics at us which I thought would be long forgotten. I felt like we hadn't changed a bit. It put a lot of things in perspective playing that night. It made me realize how powerful effect music can have on people and how it brings people together. These things are far more important than a lot of the issues the music industry and media fuss over these days. It's a great feeling playing music in a way that music was originally meant to be played - to bring people together and share emotions.
The Demon Parade's EP Chameleon was released on Fri 2nd November. Catch the band at the following shows
Fri 23rd Nov - St Kilda, Vic, The Esplanade Hotel - w/ Snow Droppers and Lurch & Chief
Fri 30th Nov - Coburg, Vic, The Spotted Mallard
Frid 7th Dec - Sydney, NSW, The Velvet Cave @ Club 77 (EP Launch) - w/ Sister Jane
Sat 8th Dec - Manly NSW, Old Manly Boat Sheds
Fri 21st Dec - Melbourne, Vic, Can't Say
I've had the experience of being in a band signed to a major and also now obviously, a completely independent band. In my previous band I never thought about where the money would come from for advertisements and publicists, but now that's all changed! You strategically need to structure your touring schedule so you can afford to keep the band going if you're independent and be mindful to not overplay. One big bender of a night out on the town is probably the equivalent of placing an ad in street press and securing interviews so you've got to balance it out nicely. If you stayed home all the time you'd have nothing to write about but if you spend all your money on booze and drugs then you mightn't be able to afford your plane ticket to the next show in Sydney!
What are your thoughts on file sharing and the digital methods in which music is distributed these days? Does this affect you now? Do you think it will affect you in the future?
It's not ideal. It's far too easy to obtain a bands songs – but that's the way it is these days. Even though I make records for a living, unlike many others, I don't actually have a problem with the fact that mp3's are now the most popular source of audio. I have far too many CD's and vinyl's in boxes stored in my roof so for convenience sakes I think digital is great. The fact that it is so easy to obtain without the artist being rewarded is definitely an issue though and the music industry will keep undergoing change to try and fix the issues at hand. I'd love the excitement to return of going to a record store to buy your favourite bands new album on the day of release and rushing home to play it, but I'm not sure if that will ever happen again or not. It seems to be the way the world is going, in more ways than one, and we just adapt to it.
You’ve no doubt played plenty of live shows over the years, with many great bands. Do you have any favourite live moments, either as a performer or fan?
We've done some great memorable Demon Parade shows and a few come to mind but in 2009 my first band (your typical high school band) reformed to play a special tribute show at the Hi-Fi bar here in Melbourne for a very close friend of ours that passed away tragically in an accident overseas. We were rather prolific for an underage high school band, doing the rounds of Melbourne venues like The Espy, The Evelyn, The Greyhound and The Armadale. On this night we played to a sold out Hi-Fi Bar, with our friends and acquaintances screaming back the youthful lyrics at us which I thought would be long forgotten. I felt like we hadn't changed a bit. It put a lot of things in perspective playing that night. It made me realize how powerful effect music can have on people and how it brings people together. These things are far more important than a lot of the issues the music industry and media fuss over these days. It's a great feeling playing music in a way that music was originally meant to be played - to bring people together and share emotions.
The Demon Parade's EP Chameleon was released on Fri 2nd November. Catch the band at the following shows
Fri 23rd Nov - St Kilda, Vic, The Esplanade Hotel - w/ Snow Droppers and Lurch & Chief
Fri 30th Nov - Coburg, Vic, The Spotted Mallard
Frid 7th Dec - Sydney, NSW, The Velvet Cave @ Club 77 (EP Launch) - w/ Sister Jane
Sat 8th Dec - Manly NSW, Old Manly Boat Sheds
Fri 21st Dec - Melbourne, Vic, Can't Say