Crown St gets Livid
I had so much fun two weeks ago (April 26th) at Society City in the Wollongong CBD watching live performances from locals Skarmekal and L.O.W, the Canberra-based Facecutter and Wisconsin legends Livid. All of them were friendly enough to talk to me after their sets for some quick q’s. Here’s how it went…
Skarmekal
L to R: Noah (vocals), Cooper (bass), Jamie (drums) & Ethan (guitar)
Who is Skarmekal and why should we listen to them?
Cooper: We’re a local deathcore, beatdown band. We're all pretty much from around the area. Except for [Ethan], he’s from Ulladulla. It started because I put an ad on Facebook, ‘anyone looking for a vocalist?’, Cooper hit me up. We produced an EP that's out now called Death is not the end. And then we found these fellas [Jamie and Ethan], started practicing and became a 4-piece.
If your band was a movie, what would it be?
Cooper: Fury.
Noah: Fury? I was gonna say Saw III.
Cooper: Actually I change my answer, Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Noah: I gotta change mine now, Friday the 13th.
Who would you most like to perform with?
Noah: DIESECT from Queensland. Absolutely fucking love them. Saw them at Dicey Riley’s, fell in love with them. Now I'm their number one fan.
Cooper: I would like to play with Paleface Swiss. They're another beatdown, deathcore band from Switzerland.
Jamie: I'm aiming big because we’re allowed, I'm going with Slipknot.
Ethan: I reckon it would be cool to work with Ghost.
Who is the most organised and who is the laziest in the band and why?
They all point to Noah.
Noah: (laughs) I reckon Jamie is the most organised.
Jamie: I’ll take that, I’m an old bastard! [But] all together, we gel well.
Do you guys have a preshow ritual? Actually, this is your first show! Did you have a ritual?
Ethan: Beers, maybe?
Cooper: I had a beer and two cigarettes.
And what's the on the agenda now that you're done?
Jamie: Watch these wicked bands and thank these guys for letting us play with them.
My favourite Skarmekal tracks (because I couldn’t pick one sorry and you can’t make me):
Stream Skarmekal on Spotify or Apple Music and you can follow them on Instagram @skarmekal and keep your eyes peeled for a potential album release (!!!)
Facecutter
L to R: Andrew (drums), Ryan (vocals and noise), their friend Mark for some reason and who is not the the band?? (lol), Dan (guitar), Kieran (bass) & Sean (guitar).
Who is Facecutter and why should we listen to them?
Ryan: We are an angry deathmetal band from Canberra and if you hate people, you will like our music.
If your band was a movie, what would it be?
Sean: Terrifier.
Ryan: Yeah we would be Terrifier.
Who would you most like to perform with?
Dan: Frozen Soul, that would be fucking crazy.
Ryan: Full of Hell, again.
Andrew: (laughs) Again!
Alright, who’s coming to the blunt rotation?
Sean: James Perryman.
Ryan: Wait, come back to me.
Dan: Okay but so many members of this band are straight edge, it would be this band.
Andrew: James Hetfield.
Kieran: My friends.
Ryan: Steve Hill from Skyhooks.
Dan: I just saw you Google that (laughs).
What artist or song would surprise people is on your playlist?
Kieran: Lewis Capaldi.
Dan: ‘Wait a Minute!’ by WILLOW. I don’t know why! It’s very catchy.
Sean: ‘Just How You Like It’ by K.A.D and Kak Hatt.
Ryan: ‘MegaMan’ by Lil Wayne.
Andrew: Louis Armstrong.
My favourite Facecutter track because I too probably need one of these:
Stream Facecutter on Spotify or Apple Music and you can follow them on Instagram @facecutter_
L.O.W
L to R: Brian (drums), Brad (guitar), Dave (vocals), Tom (guitar) & Luca (bass).
Who is L.O.W and why should we listen to them?
Dave: L.O.W is a hardcore band from Wollongong. We like to play shows and we want to ensure that the music that was accessible to us when we were teenagers is carried forward and that teenagers in this area that don't fit into all the other mainstream niche hobbies, interests, etc, have the same outlet we had.
If your band was a movie, what would it be?
Tom: Trainspotting.
Luca: What’s the pub crawl movie where it’s the end of the world?
Tom: I think it’s literally called The End of The World.*
Who would you most like to perform with?
Dave: Personally, I would love to play with Tera, they’re my band, they’re my guys. They’ve been my hardcore band since I was 15.
Brad: I think we’ve played with a lot of bands we love already, which is great.
Dave: Generally, I play with any hardcore band that I believe that they mean what they say. So it doesn't have to even be a band that I personally like their style wise, musically. [What matters is] their ethos, the way they carry themselves and hold themselves, the way they perform, if they're a good band and they have the same values as us.
What's a song that you wish you had made yourself?
Luca: ‘Reminiscing’ by Little River Band.
Brian: All of ours, I just play drums! (Laughs)
From the EP, what was the most difficult and what was the easiest song to come together?
Dave: Easiest song, I think was ‘Ruination’ or ‘Chain’.
Luca: ‘Chain’ came together pretty quickly.
Dave: ‘Chain’ was the easiest.
Luca: ‘Rites’ was pretty hard.
Dave: Yeah, ‘Rites’ was a hard song.
Why’s that?
Luca: Silly timings in it.
Dave: Silly timings in it. It's a bit different to our other songs and lyrically, it's quite introspective and personal. It's not always a song that I like performing because it's very, very exposing.
Is there a song that you're most proud of?
Dave: ‘Ruination’.
Luca: Yeah, ‘Ruination’ rips.
My favourite L.O.W track because they’re right it does rip:
Stream L.O.W on Spotify or Apple Music and you can follow them on Instagram @l.o.w_hc
* The movie was actually called The World’s End
Livid
L: Jake Michaud (drums & vocals) &
R: Jake Smith (guitar & vocals)
Who is Livid and why should we listen to them?
Jake M: Livid to me is an outlet of anger and shit that pisses me off in the world, the wrongs in the world, and all the bad shit. There’s a lot of bad shit out there and it's just the outlet for that. And yeah, I don't know if you like blasphemy you’ll like us.
If your band was a movie, what would it be?
Jake S: The Thing.
Who would you like to most perform with?
Jake M: Okay, are we talking impossible?
Sure!
Jake M: It makes no sense, but it would be Alice in Chains and with Layne Staley - the OG, just because that's our mutual favourite band ever.
Jake S: We do have a show coming up with this band, Weekend Nachos. They’re a pretty big influence on us, they’re our friends.
You’re on your world tour. How's Australia treating you?
Jake M: Australia's been fucking awesome. I fucking love Australia. It's got some similarities to the US but in every way it's better.
Are you convinced to move over?
Jake M: If it wasn't so expensive to do the move. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't considering it. Straight up - the nature, people have been super nice, the food's fucking awesome. I've literally loved everything. There’s not a single thing that I haven't liked about here, other than maybe driving on the wrong side.
Yeah, a little bit of a surreal experience. Do you feel like you're gonna crash?
Jake S: No, not really because I know we're both good drivers regardless.
Jake M: I feel it's more weird for me being in the passenger. That trips me out because I feel like I’m way too forward just because I'm not behind the wheel. It’s bizarre.
What's a song by Livid that the new time listener should get onto first?
Jake M: I would say probably ‘True Colors’.
Jake S: Yeah, ‘True Colours’.
Jake M: It’s got a little bit of everything. It doesn't have a dumb, crazy breakdown but I feel like it encompasses a lot of our sound.
What’s a deep cut in your discography that you think should get a little bit more love?
Jake M: I mean, I don't give it enough love but I revisit it and we do play a song from it, but the split we did with Mutilatrid, that band's insane, but our side of the split, I'm super stoked on. I know when I look back and listen to those songs again, I'm proud of them. We’ve been messing around with some new stuff and taking inspiration from our own stuff, from that period of time before the pandemic in 2019.
What has been the best gig you've ever performed and why?
Jake M: Here’s the thing, we have done like 400 shows.
Jake S: I think we’ve played closer to 500.
Is there one that’s particularly memorable or one where shit went really fucking crazy?
Jake M: That one LA warehouse show was nuts. Okay, I'll just rattle off some real quick. LA with SCALP and World Peace. One at the Cactus House in the middle of nowhere in Odessa, Texas. Oklahoma City, anytime, I love OKC. I’m trying to think of what other ones are just fucking nuts.
Jake S: I mean, playing with Crowbar was really sick.
Jake M: We're from Kenosha, Wisconsin and I think the last home show we played, we sold like $600 worth of merch and that's a lot of fucking merch. We were just a supporting act!
My favourite Livid track because life has me feeling like a:
Stream Livid on Spotify or Apple Music and you can follow them on Instagram @livid262
