Sydney band IDLE THREAT are set to release their debut album "Rope Burn" in August. If you enjoy the more technical bands of the EpiFat genre, then these guys should definitely be on your radar. We caught up with guitarist Tommy for the lowdown.
At what point did IDLE THREAT form and how did it all come together?
Josh (Drums) and Tommy (Guitar) have been playing around Sydney in some lesser-known punk bands for a bit over a decade and when we both got back from our separate overseas jaunts a few years ago, we had no real band activity going on. We reached out on the "Make a Band" Reddit with something along the lines of "Who wants to start a Propagandhi appreciation (read: rip off) band?" That's when local legend and curator of Marrickville's Monster Mouse Studios, Jason (Bass), came into the picture. His arrival was shortly followed by Scott (Guitar). The four of us had a good little thing going under the name Ill Capone for a while but following some technical difficulties with the microphone, we were left dead in the water shortly after the release of our first EP.
After floating about in un-fronted uncertainty for a couple months, Josh and I went to see Descendents at the Enmore in February 2017 where we plied our good mate Tom (Vocals) with liquor and peer pressured him into joining the band. He was a bit skeptical at first but then his girlfriend overheard us and, desperate to get his annoying (albeit cute) arse out of the house a few nights a week, she made him join. That's the most abridged version you're gonna get.
Would readers recognise the members from any other bands?
Tom McEwen used to front Unbranded Animals and Burlap, Jason drums for Crêam Söda and Vex Machina before that, Tommy and Josh used to play in Chambers and Mutual Exclusion and Scotty used to play in Sniperival. Oh, and Josh is also 1/28th of The Bottlers.
In your own words, how would you describe the sound of IDLE THREAT?
If the more weedily-deedily bands from the 90's EpiFat years got drunk and hooked up with the thrashy bits off of Megadeth's "Countdown to Extinction", we'd be the red-headed lovechild.
What bands are influencing the sound of IDLE THREAT?
The usual suspects for anyone playing our genre: Propagandhi, A Wilhelm Scream, Comeback Kid, Lagwagon, No Trigger and Only Crime.
What would be a dream line up of bands to play with?
See above.
You guys hail from Sydney. How is the local music scene there currently? What sort of local bands do you play with and any you’d recommend people check out?
Despite the fact that every scene, be it punk or hip hop, metal or pop, has had every hurdle thrown in their way by some pretty piss-poor governmental decishwons over the last couple of years, it's still thriving. People will always want to go out and see a live act, so they'll find ways to do it no matter how many iconic venues end up six feet under. The amount of times I've heard bands from out of town (and even bands from here) talk shit about our scene, it's still something we're incredibly proud of.
As for bands, our main dudes in The Phosphorous Bombs just released a killer new EP called "Blank Slates", Canberra trio-of-talent Sketch Method launched their debut full length, "Is It a Bird? Who Cares!", a couple months back and it slays! And Ess-Em's new one "Plan B" kicks almost as much arse as an album as she does as a human.
You’re about to release your debut LP “Rope Burn” soon, where and how did the recording come together?
We went back to old faithful and one of the band's favourite dudes, Mr Clayton "Do It Again" Segelov at the Brain Studios in St Peters. We knocked over the music portion in a few weekends in November 2017 and finished up vocals in early February. Because we had a few songs still in the works at the time our old band dissolved and with a newfound liveliness and positive energy from McEwen joining the band, the whole thing came together pretty seamlessly. It's something we're immensely proud of and can't wait to unleash it into the world. (Fun Fact: The release date of August 10 will be 9 months to the day since we started recording so we're okay with calling it our firstborn.)
This is going to be self released by the band. How did this all come to fruition and how much of a learning process has it been?
When we realised that no label wants to touch a little known band releasing a full length as their first release (who woulda thought?), we just said "Fuck it! Let's go full punk rock and DIY it." That and the art work is so fucking good because Rohan Carter is Sydney's Chief Wizard of the Dark Arts, putting it on vinyl was a vanity-project that we couldn't pass up. As for the learning process... what learning? To be completely honest, we're all horrible organisers and even worse at the business side of things (see: "self released vanity-project") so we're just hoping that the music does the talking for us. And then all those label fat cats will see! "Idle Threat showed you all! SUCK IT, LOSERS! HAHAHA!" is what we'll be shouting from the sunroof of our limousines when this thing goes quadruple platinum!.... But seriously, this cost us so much money, please buy it.
What else is in store in the foreseeable future for IDLE THREAT?
We've got a mini-tour coming together with The Phosphorous Bombs for October that will see us hit Brissy, Melbourne and Sydney in one weekend. But, as previously mentioned, we're horrible organisers so if anyone wants to chuck us on a bill....
How can people get in touch or keep up with what’s happening with IDLE THREAT?
All the usual socials:
Insta: @idlethreatsyd
FB/idlethreatsyd
Booking: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.