NOTHING SACRED – Interview

Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)

PD:  How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?

Karl : We formed in the early ‘80s and at the time I guess we were just ‘metal’.  Now, with so many genres flying around, I guess we are “old school/speed metal” if you need a quick label.  Hard to avoid being ‘old school’ when we are, in fact, from the old school!  But we feel we are not just in a loop repeating the old days, we try to be who we currently are and write/play new material as well.  It’s not a cover band of who we were.

PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.

Karl :  My journey starts in the ‘70s, first with classic heavy metal like Purple and Sabbath, then a detour into the punk days, then into NWOBHM.  Just great music and I so wanted to be a part of it all.  A move from a country town to the city led to joining bands and teaming up with Sham the Sacred drummer.  We’ve played together for 40 years now.

PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?

Karl : Inspiration just comes from playing really.  There are days when ideas flow, and there are days when nothing feels good or interesting.  I don’t think I can pinpoint what makes it work sometimes and not others.  Musically it’s just great to crunch out a riff.  Lyrically I don’t get involved in that anymore.  In the earliest days, I wrote lyrics for a few songs, they were pretty much all inspired by sci-fi or fantasy books I was reading at the time.  It was the early 80s!  I’m happy to leave all that to the vocalist nowadays.

PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?

Karl : To not suck, basically.  We just want to write and play music we like, play it well, not be rubbish.  Anything beyond that is a bonus at this stage.  Play with good people, share the stage with bands we enjoy, make music that others enjoy.  Perhaps it’s a low bar we set now, but it works for us.

PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?

Karl : Winning last year’s Grammy award for “Best Not-New Metal Act”.  Oh wait, that didn’t happen.  Ah, well, in that case, I guess there’s a bit of pride in seeing how well our music has held up over the years.  We get a fair bit of good feedback on what we did in ‘phase one’, back in the 80s.  Hopefully, the new music will hold up as well in 2060!

PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?

Karl : Yes, it’s true, creating music is easier than it used to be, but promoting it is harder.  We are solid believers in the idea that musicians should focus on the music, so we are happy to partner with people and companies like RockShots Records and Rue Morgue Records to handle the main promotional activities.  We work with them to give them the songs and videos they can use to push the band.

PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?

Karl : COVID and another lineup change with singers put a big stop to gigging for the past few years.  Hopefully, we can look at returning to that in the near future.  Sham worked as a part of the two-man team to put on the 2017 “Metal for Melbourne” gig, featuring 11 Melbourne bands over 2 stages so he’s worked hard at live promotion when it’s needed.  That was a great day, with a lot of old bands returning for the first time in decades, and a sold-out venue.

PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?

Karl : I don’t think there’s much debate that services like Spotify are great for music listeners and terrible for bands. I don’t know the answer to that, but it isn’t right at the moment. Middlemen get all the rewards for very little risk.

Personally,  I bought (a lot of) vinyl in the 80s, and I really miss the cover art experience now with downloading.

PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?

Karl : Nice question!  Obviously, there are just so many great metal songs written over the years.  Plenty of songs I enjoy playing.  Whatever song I picked here, 10 minutes later I’d think of 5 other songs I should have listed instead.  So I think I’ll just say that metal has been going strong for 50 years now, and great songs are still being written.  I’m hoping for another 50 years more at least.

PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?

Karl : Yes, the imbalance in the money flow in the industry.  The top 1% get 99% of the money, everyone else just fights over the leftovers.  I don’t know the answer, but it would be so much better if the relationship between ‘talent’ and ‘money’ was stronger. 

PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?

Karl : The new EP “Leviathan” kicks off in 2023 and we have some other new tracks we are working on at the moment as well. Perhaps a second EP in later 2023 or early 2024.  With COVID settling down we can hopefully look at a return to Japan at some stage.  Perhaps even further abroad, but we will see.

PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?

https://nothingsacredau.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/NothingSacredMetal

https://shop.rockshots.eu/en/cd/6322-nothing-sacred-leviathan.html

Nothing Sacred links:
Band/Artist location – Melbourne, Australia
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