On tour with Mammal Part 2

Sat 11th Apr, 2009 in Features

Tour diary part two
Back in Perth for a show at the Rosemount Hotel, Mammalians Nick Adams (bass), Zeke Ox (vocals), Zane Rosanoski (drums) and Pete Williamson (guitar) are feeling fresh after a morning of mini-golf and extreme trampolining in Mandurah. They’re looking forward to a hard-rocking late Saturday gig. What follows is a sampler of what goes on behind the scenes.

To read part one of the Mammal tour diary, click HERE
To read Fasterlouder’s gig review of the Rosemount, click HERE

Gig 2: Saturday 28/3/09. Rosemount Hotel, Perth.

Soundcheck – 6.10pm Zane thinks he needs a new skin on his kick drum. Unimpressed with the response he’s getting from it, he and sound tech Jarrad Hearman debate the merits of tight-versus-loose and set to work on fixing the glitch. Zeke enters. “We’re getting pizza,” he announces. “Anything in particular?” he asks the guys. Zane suggests vegetarian.

6.20pm Pete is searching the stage for his gaffa tape, with a hunch that Zane and Jarrad have lifted it. They cunningly deny all charges. Nick (the band’s lord of gaffa) steps into the breach with a crisp new roll, just as Zane and Jarrad nail the kick-drum problem and mic it up. Thus begins several minutes of an increasingly room-shaking thump-thump-thump as the volume levels are set. Jarrad adds some reverb; the result is massive. Nods of approval. “Does it make you want to poo?” asks Zane. I ask if that’s the effect he’s looking for. “Hell yeah,” he grins.

6.42pm With the guys in position onstage, lighting tech Danny K runs a smoke machine test and tries out some lighting moves during the – œ1-2-check-1-2’s. With levels set, Pete plays a few licks and Zeke tries out a handful of full-tilt vocal phrases from Tempo and the Groove. Seconds later, Zane and Nick begin the heavily funkified intro of Mr Devil and Pete falls into line with some loose-wristed wah chords. “We got the funk, motherfucker,” states Zeke through the front-of-house speakers. They follow with The Majority and two full run-throughs of Tempo and the Groove.

7.16pm Fasterlouder is chauffeuring Zane and Zeke to the Regal Theatre in Subiaco to catch a performance of Shane Warne: The Musical. In between mouthfuls of pizza, Zeke reticently reveals more info on the band’s upcoming U.S. release of The Majority. “We’re in the process of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s,” he says. “It’s in the hands of the lawyers.” Zeke doesn’t go into specifics, saying only that things are looking promising. “The guy we’re talking to said he likes the band’s aggression; that take-no-prisoners attitude is the thing he wants to push. I can appreciate that, it’s a good starting point for us … hey how good is this pizza, Zane?” he asks rhetorically. “It’s fuckin beautiful, man,” replies Zane in a garbled tone. He swallows and reaches back to where Zeke is sitting for another slice. “It’s up there with the best pizza I’ve tried in my life,” he adds with lip-smacking sincerity. It’s another triumph for Perth pub cuisine.

7.21pm Zeke tells the story behind his free tickets to the Warney musical: “Eddie Perfect, who wrote it [and stars in it], is my best friend,” he explains. It turns out that he and Eddie met a decade ago at the WA Academy of Performing Arts (whose alumni also include Hugh Jackman and Tim Minchin). “He was in second year when I was in third year,” says Zeke. “Is he from Perth?” asks Zane. “No, he’s from Mentone [Vic]. Everyone moves to Perth to get into that course, Zane, because it’s impossible to get into and it creates awesome performers. Like me and Eddie,” says Zeke with a sly laugh. He goes on to suggest that Mr. Perfect may join them on stage later tonight…

7.50pm Back at the Rosemount, local openers Hailmary are finishing their soundcheck. Pete sits nearby on a low bench with a laptop on his knees and a mobile phone in hand, wrapping up his managerial duties; replying to emails and making callbacks – not only for Mammal, but for other clients he has commitments to. “After this I’ll sort out the stuff for the door and then head back to the hotel for a shower.”

8.05pm With doors about to open to the main venue, the Rosemount alfresco area is doing strong business; punters are sipping pints and shooting pool on the outdoor tables; wall-mounted plasma screens show the Brisbane Lions celebrating after defeating the West Coast Eagles (95 to 86). Mike Sukys, vocalist from Mammal’s tour-buddies The Meaning Of is chatting up the merch table crew and supplying them with discs. It’s unlikely that anyone out here is tuned in to the guitar solo in the Pete Murray track coming from the DJ booth – a solo played by Mammal guitarist Pete Williamson. The DJ himself doesn’t know what the track is called (or its relevance) when pressed on the subject.

10.39pm The Meaning Of are coming to the end of a brutally triumphant set that – as the punters confirm with their blood, sweat and cheers – has been headliner-quality. Despite having laid out a performance that’d be hard for a lot of bands to follow, TMO know they’re likely about to get owned.
“For those who haven’t seen Mammal, you’re in for a real fucking treat,” Mike Sukys tells the crowd, “If you have seen Mammal you know what you’re in for, man. Absolutely awesome.”

11.15pm Mammal opens with The Aural Underground. A look at the set list reveals that Slaves has been replaced by Mr Devil.

11.31pm Zeke has been out in the crowd again – parading on the bar, climbing over fixtures – and is pushing his way back to the stage, once again having copped his share of uninvited crotch-grabbing. “Hey that’s the second time I’ve been grabbed on the nuts in three nights,” Zeke counts. “They’re my nuts okay? Good. As long as we’ve established whose testicles they are.”

12.42am The Rosemount’s upstairs green room has a lot of battle-scars. There are jagged gaps in the wall and plenty of interesting scrawls on what remains. FL discovers a happy Zeke on a post-gig high, talking with lighting tech Danny K about the crowd reaction. “It was good,” he says. “It’s the shit like that I love, it’s why I do it. It’s just fun being alive to what the audience is doing in that exact moment.” Zeke wipes himself down with a towel and puts on a fresh shirt. “That’s why they come out and don’t sit at home listening to CDs; they want to see something NOW.” He exhales sharply, relaxing for a second. “It was good. A fucking massive win.”

12.46pm Nick makes his way onto the balcony to cool down. Standing shirtless with lit cigarette in hand, he looks out over the Fitzgerald Street traffic, also pleased with the high-energy Rosemount crowd, despite some close calls with shoved stage monitors and near-damage to their gear. Such are the hazards of releasing pent up aggression. “It’s good to just go with the vibe,” he says. “It’s – œup’ music; it’s supposed to be like – œyeah, punk music ’, not like – œfucking yeah, I’m gonna smash someone’. Once those guys at the front calmed down a bit everyone was grooving and it felt heaps better.”

12.50pm Eddie Perfect is in the house, drinking Mammal’s rider. His voice cuts through the room not thanks to volume, but a tone so croaky it makes his alter-ego Shane Warne sound like a smooth soprano. That could explain why he didn’t get up and rap for Mammal during the gig – the dude needs to preserve those pipes. Good thing he’s given up smoking.

12.55pm Zane and Pete are still packing up; the penalty of having the most gear. Nick is yet to start his.

12.58pm Nick is chatting to a fan about the origins of the band. “Pete knows Zeke from years back,” he explains. “Just met him on a plane. And me and Pete had been doing band shit for years man; me and him were just writing shit and he said – œI’ve got this dude, Zeke, you might’ve heard of him’ – I’d never fucking heard of him. He came in and sang and I thought – œyeah that sounds alright’,” continues Nick. “We auditioned about 10 drummers. Zane walked in, we started playing a song and we all just went – œfuck’; Zane was all over it and the chemistry was good, so we just rolled from there.” Nick is interrupted a summons. “Sorry man, I’ve gotta go and load up gear,” he says, and takes his leave.

The final part of the Mammal tour diary is coming soon.

Check out the candid tour pics at the gallery HERE

EXCLUSIVE TO FASTERLOUDER: Enjoy this teaser clip of Mammal’s unreleased new song Tempo and the Groove, filmed live at soundcheck in WA. [
MAMMAL – teaser clip ‘Tempo and the Groove’ from Jeifer Walker on Vimeo.]