Australian rockers Massive are one of the new wave of Aussie rock and metal bands that have emerged in the last few years. With their second album Destination Somewhere winning rave reviews in their homeland, the UK, America and virtually everywhere else, we caught up with Massive’s singer Brad Marr to see just what is next for the band, how they view the current Australian music scene and many other things. Let’s get started…
Thanks for sparing some time to talk to us! How do we find things in the Massive camp at the moment?
Things are going great at the minute. We’re halfway through an Aus tour with the Screaming Jets, living out of the tour van, the albums just been released and people everywhere are loving it! Life’s good!
It’s now about two months since your brand new album, Destination Somewhere, has been released to the world. Has the reaction been what you hoped for?
The reaction has been nothing but positive from everyone we’ve spoken to and every review I’ve seen so far. People are really getting into the album and feeling a part of the whole thing with us which is really cool.
The title of Destination Somewhere is a very clever one that could evoke very strong feelings in a lot of different people – is it a nod to life on the road, or does it have other / additional meanings as well?
It is certainly a nod to life on the road. When we tour we do so with very little planning, no crew, no accomodation, no idea where we’re sleeping that night. So in that regard the title is quite literal. But it also goes a little deeper. We know we want to do this forever and we know it takes years of hard work to succeed on any level in this business. All we want to do is play music and we don’t know how long it’ll last or where we’ll end up… I think that’s all part of the thrill is not knowing where the hell you might end up tomorrow, next week, or in 20 years! I think a lot of people can relate to that notion. Not just as musicians, but also for life in general.
You’ve just played a couple of shows on home turf since the release of the album, was that good way to ease yourselves back in before getting back up to Full Throttle? (I’ll go punch myself for that pun now, I am VERY sorry….)
You should punch yourself haha that was terrible! We did the album launch show, which was killer! Now we’re about halfway through the Jets tour. It’s great being back out playing again. It’s not like these jets shows are exactly ‘easing’ back into it though , we’re playing in front of anywhere between 500-1,000 people a night. But it feels great playing the new stuff live and seeing people loving it!
In your opinions, has the live rock and metal scene in Australia been affected this year by what happened with the Soundwave Festival?
In my opinion, no. Not really. There’s a phenomenal heavy music scene here in Australia, particularly Melbourne, that your mainstream commercial radio listeners probably wouldn’t even know about. Whenever we’re not playing we’re usually out seeing any one of the dozens and dozens of world class acts in this city! It’s been like that ever since I’ve been going to gigs and will continue to thrive, whether Soundwave is around or not…
Recently, you were named by Kerrang Magazine as one of five bands who could be the next Guns N’Roses. How do you feel when you get that kind of praise? Is it a good thing or does it make you think “we’re not the next anyone, we’re Massive!”?
It is cool to be mentioned in the same sentence as gunners. They’re one of our favourite bands. I can see where the comparisons come from. We have a bit of that 80’s LA hard rock thing about us, but we’re also a lot more modern and Aussie too haha but yeah it was a cool thing to read. I just hope we last more than 3 or 4 years before we break up!
The next time the UK will be seeing you will be the Hard Rock Hell festival in November, can we expect a full UK tour around then or just the festival appearance?
There will be full tour dates announced in the coming weeks and months. Just locking a few things in so we can announce everything all at once. But yeah definitely looking forward to getting back to Wales for Hard Rock Hell. We had a ball last time
Following on from the last question – is there much else in the diary yet for the rest of the year?
Finish off this jets tour, then maybe another run of headline shows around oz in the next couple of months, then we get on a plane and leave our lives here for the foreseeable future. Could be gone for 3 months, could be 2 years. That’s about it!
Lastly, as fine ambassadors for all things Australian, if you can recommend only one Australian beverage for the rest of the world, what would it be?
Carlton Draught.
Massive’s new album Destination Somewhere is out now on Earache Records. You can find out more about them at their official website https://www.massiveoz.com/.
