Interview by Kris Peters
There is no substitute for youthful exuberance and commitment, especially in the music industry.
While some people tackle the perils of the music world from a young age with an air of arrogance and indifference at what the future may hold, it is the ones who approach music with an open mind and respectful heart that tend to be in it for the long haul.
Take Melbourne metalcore act Nth Rd for example. These guys started out playing music as schoolmates in their garage, belting out Metallica covers to get their musical fix.
From there the boys honed their craft and harnessed their skills so that by the time they were ready to unleash their debut EP Panic on the world they had already built a steady fan base and laid a solid platform from which to launch the future.
Panic dealt with the different stages of a panic attack, and they continue that theme of self growth and understanding on new single River.
River sets off on a journey to uncover where trauma stems from and how it can shape a person, dealing with topics considered taboo or too personal by many. But not so Nth Rd who not only write these songs to help with their own problems, but also commit them to verse in an attempt to guide and help others.
Jordan Kellaway (vocals), Lucas Banim (bass) and John Mihaloudakis (drums) sat down with HEAVY recently to talk through the song.
"It's been really, really good," Kellaway enthused of the early reception afforded River. "think it's the best received song we've ever had in terms of how our audience is engaging with it. People are telling us their own takes on what the meaning of the song is and people really seem to resonate with it. That emotional resonance as a songwriter is something you really strive for so it's really good to see that reception."
We ask the boys to dive into the musical nature of River.
"The interesting thing about the song is we probably started writing it well over a year and a half ago," Banim explained. "So it's gone through a lot of iterations, but I think coming out of the last EP... the first EP we did was Panic and then the single we released at the end of last year, Watch You Fade Away, we kind of just wanted to hone in on what our strengths were and just go 100% with it. So I think with this one we were trying to look at what worked in the past and how we can fine tune that to hone in on the best parts of our sound and push that as much as we could."
In the full interview the boys talk more about the meaning behind River, their decision to focus on real human problems and emotions, how writing songs of this nature has helped them deal with adversity, new music and what it will sound like, their early days jamming in the garage, how they are finding the music industry and more.