MusicJournoDraft Dodger
October 9th 2006 08:13
This an interview I did with Neil Bramley a little while back, when he was doing vocals in Draft Dodger. Neil has also been in Brisbane hardcore bands such as Bjelke-Peterson Youth and B.A.Barracus, and is currently in Omission from God (though they might've changed their name at the time of writing)
You’ve done zines and bands for a while now, when and how did you get involved with that sort of thing?
Yeah, that was Healthy Body, Sick Mind. I did 3 issues of that and then a split with Shaft’s Big Score – which is an old Sydney zine.
And the band you were in then was BxAxBarrucus?
Yep, Yep, Yep.
How long did that go for?
Went for maybe two and a half years I think.
Do you think it could’ve gone longer?
It could’ve, it probably could’ve gone on forever. I’m still pretty good friends with nearly all the band members and stuff. The drummer was more of a metal guy.
Do you think it might’ve been easier to get a new drummer rather than form a whole new band?
Well we kind of… I guess we just kind of – it run it’s course. It was a style we didn’t want to play anymore, like sort of heavy and fast metallic hardcore. Metallic youth-crew I guess you would call it. It got to a point where pretty much all of us in the band realized the kind of fucking idiots that were our biggest influences and we got pretty tired of that particular style and in the last few years we’ve all seen how lame and redundant it’s gotten.
So what happened after that?
Me and some friends started a band called Bjelke-Peterson Youth and we played a couple of shows under the name ‘Punching Everybody in the Face’ kind of like because it was the most ridiculous name ever – pretty much it was the least commercial name we could think of and then after that we went in a little bit more of a political direction. Bjelke-Peterson was the Premier of Queensland from the late 60s to the mid-to-late 80s. The reason it was called ‘Bjelke-Peterson Youth’ was that it was a play on the band name ‘Reagan Youth’. It had very little to do with Ronald Reagan or Bjelke-Peterson but it was just like saying or comparing Bjelke-Peterson to Hitler.
So how did Draft Dodger come about, how does it compare to Bjelke-Peterson Youth?
It’s just totally different bands… different styles. Bjelke-Peterson Youth was around for 2 years and then a lot of people in the band… we all wanted to do different things. Whatever. I dunno, I just wanted to continue doing faster hardcore and just started a band. The difference in styles is basically (in Bjelke-Peterson Youth) we just argued all the time. I’m still friends and everyone in the band gets on fine, but not in a creative sense.
So Draft Dodger are all on the same page?
Ah, I dunno, we’re just all tapped into the right level of stupidity. There is no voice of reason or whatever and it seems to be getting less predictable every day.
You’ve been down to Melbourne now and plan to come to Sydney soon, have you been to Melbourne before this?
Yeah we came down three months ago and played some shows with Dick Nasty and all the bands you’ve seen here (referring to the Pink Palace farewell show). And yeah we’re hanging out to come to Sydney.
Where else would you like to go?
Well, as a general goal - if I was ever to have one – would be to definitely go to South-East Asia. I’ve always wanted to tour South-East Asia because I’ve gotten a lot of emails and letters and done trades over the years with people from that part of the world and I’d heaps like to go over there cause it just seems heaps enthusiastic – particularly after talking to My Disco! – it just sounds really exciting and sounds really good.
Do you think the East Coast and maybe Adelaide is all there’s worth doing in Australia? Would you want to go anywhere else?
Well, I guess it depends on how daring you want to be. I dunno, if you’re real brave you could tour north Queensland and stuff and I’m sure you’d have the time of your life. But yeah it’s a pretty spread out country like as far as major cities go, so it’s pretty difficult.
Your songs – or your lyrics – they seem to have a social message a lot of the time, like being run down by the system of employment or that sort of thing. Do you think it’s important to have something to say?
Yeah, I think it was that band Shank – they said, y’know, “We’re not gonna sit here and scream our guts out and waste resources pressing records and printing up an insert if we haven’t got anything to say”. The point being that being in a shitty punk band you’re totally limited to a certain genre or certain audience or whatever – I don’t think I’m changing the world or anything by being in a shitty punk band with that limited appeal.
Do you feel that you could be preaching to the converted if that’s the case?
Yeah, I totally know that we are, but lately we’ve been trying to play varied shows – like we played a kind of art-space with some sort of noise bands, like sometimes we play with punks and we try to play with young bands and that sort of thing but the point is – it’s definitely cathartic to be screaming about things that you actually care about.
I dunno, sometimes – to me. But, it’s the music and the message that’s important, as important as each other. Originally it wasn’t politics or whatever that got me into punk – not really, not by a lot shot. At the time I just wanted something interesting, didn’t want a lecture. It’s just a start then you find the motivation to make kick-arse punk rock, it’s basically the message – the reason it exists. Does that answer your question? I don’t remember what it was (laughs).
How’d you think the Pink Palace show went last night?
Yeah, it was wicked. It went down really well and I got to see some of my favourite bands ever – current and ever. It’s heaps of fun.
What happened to your head? (He has a recently-made red mark on his forehead)
I was trying to smash a beer bottle while we were playing. I had a beer bottle and started hitting the top of it on my head. Then I thought ‘hang on, that’s fine, I want to break it’ – I’ve seen people like crush cans, I wanted to break the bottle. But they’re pretty tough. Maybe I’m not tough.
Were you pissed?
Nah.
Or was it just that intense that you wanted to…?
Yeah sometimes I just want… I want to lose it to music, y’know what I mean? It’s good – a certain combination of sound and rhythm or something lame that’ll just make you lose it. It’s probably not an intelligent thing to start hitting yourself in the head but who knows what you’re gonna do.
And there’s a split in the works is there?
Yeah, we’ve got a split coming out with Straight-Jacket – who are a super, super good Melbourne band. The split 7” is gonna come out I’m guessing soon. We’ve recorded and they’re gonna record real soon. And in a few months it should be out on Endless Blockades, a Brisbane label.
What do you think the idea of doing a split is?
I dunno, I guess it’s just – more than anything – a match up of people with similar ideals, it proves the idea of a community; co-operation.
Does it feel like a community, even though you’re so far away from Melbourne?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I’ve been here for the whole week and in Melbourne I’d say some of my best friends live here, my life-time friends live here in Melbourne as they do in Brisbane, it’s totally a community.
Is there another In Till Stumps (Neil’s current zine) on it’s way?
Basically when I get back I’ve got a whole week off and I’m just gonna do zine stuff. It’ll probably be controversial but I’m not going out of my way to be controversial. It’s trying to be honest, if that makes any sense.
What’s so controversial?
Nah, I’m just trying to say exactly what I think and sort of articulate it a bit better than I have in the past. It’s the idea of shaking things up a little – I guess in the last few years the world of zines and punk rock and everything has become so tame and just a strap-on ideal for the weekend and you can sort of just go about your day-to-day business. I just wanna do an inspired zine.
Anything else you wanna say before the tape runs out?
He rips, he skates, and he never hesitates.
Draft Dodger - click link to hear some songs.
| 103 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Chantal
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
this is one of the few interviews I've done recently(ish) that were person-to-person though, these days I'm too lazy and generally conduct them via email.
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior