A Wilhelm Scream

Fri 26th Feb, 2010 in Features

A Wilhelm Scream have come a long way from the days when their band was named after a metaphor for masturbation. No band called Smackin’ Isaiah would have been able to keep the punk-metal torch lit.

In 2010, Smackin’ Isaiah is the hard-working, driven and fiery A Wilhelm Scream. Following in the footsteps of heavyweights Strung Out and Propaghandi they’re keeping punk’s technical brand alive.

The band is constantly on tour, forcing their sound into our ear holes and their bringing it back to Australia for the Soundwave juggernaut. Guitarist Trevor Reilly tells me it’s humbling to be named in the same sentence as such punk icons as Strung Out and Propagandhi.

“Propaghandi are one of the best bands in the world and Strung Out have been around for so long keeping it alive, keeping it real. It’s pretty humbling…it’s pretty cool. There isn’t a lot of us left.”

Reilly is the band’s nucleus. All variations of the band have revolved around him. He’s chatting to me from his home office in Bedford, Massachusetts. Like most people do in conversations with strangers, we break the ice by chatting about the weather. “It’s freezing outside. Oh my god, it’s like 18 degrees [Fahrenheit]. It’s very, very cold,” he says.

It turns out to be the perfect segue for me to chat about their upcoming Soundwave tour. In contrast to Reilly’s current climate, we’re in the middle of a heatwave (in Perth at least). I ask him if he’s looking forward to coming down here and thawing out. “Oh man, I’m looking forward to it. It’s gonna be awesome. We always have a blast when we play there. People come and represent that’s for sure.

“We’re currently in practice mode; me, Brian [bass] and Nick [drums] have been jamming for the past three days. Brian flew in from Toronto; we’re trying to put together a set-list right now. We’ve been jamming with some songs we’ve never played live before and they’re coming out good. We’ll be stoked to play some of these. We’re kinda like scratching our heads right now, putting together our set list…any suggestions?”

Feeling the weight of the entire Wilhelm Aussie fan-base on my shoulders, the pressure is on. The only track that comes to mind in that instant is Skid Rock from their latest EP. This opens with a cracking technical bassline, which channels Pink Floyd’s On The Run, before smashing into perilous punk riffage that culminates in a high-end minor scale.

It’s the sort of track you’d love to see played live but would expect to see safely left out of a set because of its difficulty to pull off. I tell Reilly I think it’s an awesome track. “Oh thanks man. We’ll definitely play that one. I’ll tell Brian you said that he’ll be really pleased.”

The Skid Rock EP was mixed by Matt Bayles, who was a one-time member of Minus the Bear and has a production CV which includes Mastodon’s first three albums, Pearl Jam’s Binaural, Fall of Troy’s Manipulator and most recently Polar Bear Club’s Chasing Hamburg.

Not much more needs to be said about this man’s ear or experience. Wilhelm handed the EP to him after they had recorded and produced it themselves. Reilly says it was an interesting experience working with someone who wasn’t there during the recording process.

“He did a great job on it; he’s a really talented man. He used analogue gear. He didn’t do it all in a box on the computer and I think it sounds pretty warm for that. It was recorded on analogue gear, we didn’t use Pro Tools and stuff; we’re really proud of it, it’s something we can call our own.”

Aussie fans of the band will have no doubt been debating the meaning of the EP’s opening track Australias. Reilly sets the record straight. “We started writing that song in Australia; I think we did it on the Less Than Jake tour actually. Australia is one of my favourite places to be in the world, I’m sure it’s like that for a lot of people; being in a band and the type of music fans that Australians are. It’s just so awesome for a band like us to play there, so the song is about trying to find your Australia in your mundane life. Trying to find my Australia. We started writing it in Brisbane but I thought Australias would be a better name than Brisbanes.”

Reilly says the keen to have some fun when they’re not playing or watching shows on the Soundwave tour. “We’re just looking forward to seeing some of the bars and hanging out and getting to see the outback hopefully. I’m just gonna try and take it all in. There’s gonna be a lot of great bands to see, we’re going to be running all over the place trying to see everybody.”

I tell him they play the same time as the incredible RX Bandits and he sounds disappointed. “Oh really? Man I’d really like to see them play, they’re like crazy musicians. I look at the line-up of this thing and it’s like whoa – this is the best. There’s not a bad band there, you know?”

A Wilhelm Scream continues its Soundwave run this weekend.