RAGE is a new Central Coast band that recently shifted from a side project into something much more. The band are set to release their debut 7inch "Feel The Burn" soon through Resist Records, so we caught up with guitarist Jarrod Birch for a chat.
At what point did Rage form and how did it all come together?
Mark and I had previously talked a couple times about doing a band together but nothing ever really came of it. Eventually when a few of our other bands were slowing down or falling apart I asked the guys if they wanted to piece something together with some riffs that I had written and we got to work. We started jamming around mid-2016 and played our first show in September as part of the Rebirth/Unravel tour. Initially the band was just going to be a fun little jam band but it’s now developed into a full band, playing often and releasing records.
Would readers recognize the members from any other bands?
Nathan and I both played in Choke, Mark played in Civil War/Hurt Unit/Game On/ Barriers et al and Will and Jordan have played in Central Coast bands like Blush, Brainfreeze and Blind Sight.
With members based in both Newcastle and the Central Coast, where does practice take place and who decides?
Practice is on the Central Coast and probably always will be ha ha. When we started the band, William was living in Sydney and the rest of us were on the Central Coast so jamming at ECP on the Coast was ideal. Now Mark has moved back to Newcastle so it’s a little bit challenging to get together but we make it work.
In your own words, how would you describe the sound of Rage?
Punk hardcore with riffs made for slamming.
What bands are influencing the sound of Rage?
When we started we wanted to write stuff like Violent Reaction, The Flex and other Lockin’ Out style bands. I’m not quite sure how well we really did that but as we’ve been writing for our next record I think we’re developing a more unique style which is more of us finding our own grooves rather than just lifting riffs.
What would be a dream line up of bands to play with?
Would be very down to jam with No Tolerance or The Flex.
You’ve just announced you debut 7inch "Feel The Burn" on Resist Records. How did that all come together and where did you record the songs?
I’ve known Graham now for a few years through Choke so I kept him updated with Rage as we started doing things. After we got the masters back for our record we sat on the songs for a while talking to a few different people but things didn’t really materialise release wise, so I sent Graham the songs, he liked them and offered to put out the record. Graham is willing to take a risk on releasing a record that won’t sell crazy numbers so we’re very appreciative.
We started writing the 7” after like our third show I think and it was done by the end of 2016. We recorded it right at the start of this year at ECP Studios in Blake’s little space. Blake played in Choke and recorded all our stuff as well as the Homesick LP. It took us 2 or 3 days to get the entire record done and then we sent it off to Chris Corry in Boston to mix it. Chris had worked on a bunch of records we really admire so he was our man. He did an excellent job on it; the vinyl sounds incredible.
Preorders available here.
In your opinion how is the hardcore scene on the Central Coast / Newcastle at the moment? Any other bands people should check out?
Honestly, it’s almost non-existent. The Central Coast finally has a functioning D.I.Y space for shows which is great but there aren’t enough bands to keep a hardcore scene functioning. Bands don’t really want to come here anymore and I can’t blame them. Most Coast hardcore bands right now have members from Choke in them but hopefully some other people start bands soon. Right now, on the Coast though we have Stone Age, Blush, Fatalist (first show this weekend) and Shut Out. The rest of us have broken up or faded away in the past year or so (Choke, Mindshank, Cold Grip).
Newcastle has been relatively quiet lately too as venues have been dropping off but still has bands like Ill Natured, The Hard Word, Young Wolf, Burdened, Rort Menace, Paper Thin, Staunch (who are about to break up) and Sentimental Abuse who are about to start playing shows. I’m just hoping new bands start popping up soon.
What else is in store in the foreseeable future for Rage?
We’ve booked a few shows for our record releases:
- - Valve Bar, Sydney October 6th
- - Hamilton Station, Newcastle October 13th
- - Brisbane, TBA October 14th
- - ECP Studios, Central Coast October 27th
Before these shows we have a few local shows coming up and we’re slowly working away at writing an LP. We’re about 6 or 7 songs into that so far and I’m very happy with it. We might do a music video or something too, who knows?
How can people get in touch or keep up with what’s happening with Rage?
Our Facebook is super hard to find because of the German death metal band Rage who are much bigger and probably better than us but we can be found at www.facebook.com/rageahc and on Instagram at @rageahc