Axxonn : Interview
Last Updated on Thursday, 20 August 2009 18:10 Written by Sam Kerr Wednesday, 01 July 2009 09:41
EUROPEAN BOUND
Brisbane duo AxxOnn have only been around for 12 months, playing together for the first time only six months ago, but that isn’t stopping them from taking their brand of ambient industrial noise to Europe on a 25-date tour.
Tom Hall, one half of the group, managed to find time between working on new AxxOnn and solo material, to chat about how the band have managed to make such an impact, so quickly.
“It’s been a little bit overwhelming how much it’s taken off and how many people have jumped on board. This (European trip) will actually be our first tour. We haven’t toured yet, we’ve only played in Brisbane and we’ve ended up with 25 dates across Europe or something and it’s still rolling in.”
AxxOnn’s fertile music production won’t surprise fans of Brisbane’s experimental scene. Tom has played solo, and with Secret Birds, whilst fellow AxxOnnite Ian Rogers was in No Anchor and Iron On.
“I’ve done a truckload of tours the last few years and Ian has as well. The nature of the band is that it’s made up of two guys who have done a lot of stuff the last few years, so we’ve short-cutted a few areas where bands have to learn what to do and how to do it and we’re just straight into the kill. Because of that, there’s no mucking around and no bullshit since both of us know what we want and what we’re doing.”
Belying their speedy rise in popularity, AxxOnn started randomly after Tom booked Ian’s band, No Anchor, for an experimental show, purely on recommendation.
“At the beginning of last year I was feeling quite unenthused with the experimental scene and I was hosting an experimental event and I decided to throw No Anchor in there for a bit of a cat amongst the pigeons, not having heard them, and they blew me away. Then No Anchor and I were supposed to collaborate but their drummer was never available so Ian and I just had a jam, and now we’re still jamming.”
It’s from this jamming that most of AxxOnn’s material is produced, which Tom says helps make sure the band stays fresh. It’s also meant the band’s sound changes, depending on what the two are interested in at that moment.
“Our songs really can vary. In just one track alone we’ll have everything from harsh doom tones to nice pop melodies and highs. It even confuses me sometimes and I’m the one playing it. It’s tricky when people ask ‘what do you sound like?’ and there’s no kind of short answer for it.”
However it’s probably because of this contrast in sound that the band has managed to attract so much attention in such a short time.
“I feel the advantage to not cornering ourselves is that there are elements there for a variety of people, so if there are aspects of the set that some of the audience don’t like hopefully there’s something else they can enjoy.”
This adaptability follows the band on stage, with Tom estimating they’ve never played two identical shows.
“There are similarities between each individual show, but there is a kind of exploratory aspect to AxxOnn. They tend to differ a lot sonically; some can be aggressive while others are a bit more melodic.”
A lot of this has to do with the band’s experience of playing live. “The advantage of Ian and I having played a lot is that we can adapt to the venue. If we’re playing a little house show we can tone it down and make it a bit more blissed out, but if we’re playing to a rowdy bunch of punters at Ric’s, we can turn it up and rock out.”
Their upcoming show at the Step Inn will be their last in Australia before heading over to Europe, and the band want to be sure that it’s a suitable send off.
“We really want to pull a big crowd into that space. We like the D.I.Y. grunge vibe, even though we’re two guys with laptops, we like to play like a house-party band. We’ve got to fly out the next morning so we’re hoping that the show is so good we’ll just ride the high all the way to the UK, otherwise it’s going to hurt badly.”
AxxOnn play the Step Inn Friday July 10. Their ‘Masters Of The Epic Day’ tour EP will be available on the night.
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