Introducing... Bandicoot

AGE:

The project has been around for little over a year.

MEMBERS:

Pearl - Vocals, Synths
Daniel - Drums
Reuben - Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Anything within arm's reach

LOCATION:

Auckland

KEY RELEASES:

Happy Talking EP (2009)
Jurassic Warfare EP (2010)

ACHIEVEMENTS:

Played with Deerhoof and HEALTH. Played at Big Day Out and CALH.

GENRE:

Noise-pop, lo-fi, garage-rock

SOUNDS LIKE:

Be Your Own Pet, Sonic Youth, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Kills, Deerhoof

WEBSITE:

www.myspace.com/bandicootbandicoot

Bandicoot started (as so many bands do) as a project for 3 like-minded teens to play music. Beginning with a few local gigs, Bandicoot's fan base quickly grew and the adolescents developed an almost cult-like following. Bandicoot has now racked up an impressive list of achievements including playing at this year's Big Day Out, opening for Deerhoof and topping the NZ Alternative Radio charts. Bandicoot has released two critically acclaimed EP's and is now hard at work on a full-length record.

File under noise. No, file under rock. No, file under pop. Actually, don't file this under anything. Forget about filing altogether. Unless of course you are the sort of person who likes filing, then I would advise you to refrain from listening to this album in fear that you may implode from its utter lack of file-ability. Bandicoot defies conventional labeling and are best described by the band's own words as "Hardcore-Noise-Spazz-Pop" With explosive melodies, gritty and raucous vocals, and sound effects that are of biblical proportion, Bandicoot's latest release, Jurassic Warfare, is not for the faint hearted. Their loud, distorted and abrasive beats tend to you leave you devoid of any feeling at all - you're simply numbed by the sonic blow. One has to be impressed at the passion and energy these teens have injected into the record. Despite clocking in at less than 20 minutes, Jurassic Warfare is dense and intense, and gets the job done and the message across: Bandicoot is here to stay!

Standout tracks:

"Bessie"
"Silence Is Golden"

Q: Please state your name(s) for the record.
Reuben
Pearl
Daniel

Q: How do you tackle the songwriting process?
Reuben: I write a riff, Daniel make drums that sound like the ones I tell him to make, then Pearl writes lyrics in 5 seconds... and then we're done.
Pearl: Not in five seconds. But I write fast. We all do. There's never any revision of songs; we just do and leave it at that.
Daniel: Reuben is the riffs man. He either tells me what kinda beat he wants and I jam with that, or we just jam and I come up with something. Then we pressure Pearl for lyrics.

Q: Who do you consider to be your musical heroes and/or greatest influences?
Reuben: Fuck. There's too many. Everything I listen to inspires me in some way.
Pearl: Same.
Daniel: Pretty much everything. I love Miles Davis, but that has very little to do with my drumming in Bandicoot. Greg Saunier, Zach Hill, Brian Chippendale are my drumming inspirations for Bandicoot.

Q: 5 favourite albums of all time?
Reuben:
Slint - Spiderland
Sonic Youth - Experimental, Jet Set, Trash and No Star
OutKast - Big Boi and Dre Present...
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
Megaheroes - S/t
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

Q: Best gig you've ever attended?
R: King Brothers @ Descarga Cubana in 2007, Deerhoof ruled too.
P: There have been so many good ones.
D: Deerhoof at Kings Arms this year.

Q: Most overrated artist of today?
R: I don't like No Age that much aye. Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective is pretty lame too. I love their other stuff though.
P: Lady Gaga. She's pretty amazing, but artist she is not.
D: Goddamn Justin Bieber - just go away!

Q: If you could change places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional. Who would it be and why?
R: Probably Syd Barret or Jimi Hendrix, circa 1967/8
P: Bill Murray
D: Cannonball Adderley in the 50s. Jamming on my saxophone with those masters would've been amazing.

Q: If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would you like to see play the lead role as you?
R: David Duchovny
P: Beyonce
D: An under-privileged minority, who would use the money from the film to become an American Basket Foot Player... Don't ask.

Q: If you weren't a musician, what would you be doing with your life?
R: Fox Mulder
P: Handing in homework on time.
D: Being utterly depressed all the time.

Q: What is your idea of a good time on a Friday night?
R: X Files. And doing stupid shit with our friends is always fun.
D: Going out with friends to do whatever, jammin' late into the night, or watching The Sopranos... Oh my god The Sopranos.

Q: If you could share the stage with anyone, who would it be and why?
R: A super group of Justin Beiber, Black Sabbath and Mark Snow (X Files soundtrack)
P: The cast of Happy Days.
D: An ensemble made up of every musician behind Kind of Blue and The Love Supreme. And Zach Condon.

Q: If you could play anywhere in the world, venue wise, where would you play?
P: We like playing in people's houses. The more expensive the house, the better, that way there are more things we can break.
R: Agreed
D: What Pearl said. If the walls were lined with instruments, and in payment we could take as much as we could carry.

Q: What would you like inscribed on your gravestone?
R: GOOD CUNT

Q: Musical goals as a band? Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?
R: I dunno, just to have heaps of fucking fun. Pearls going to party in the USA next year, so we might become an Internet band like Ernstige Zaken. Becoming washed-up has-beens at 20 would rule.
P: The guy who wrote Party In The USA, Lukasz Gottwald just won pop songwriter of the year by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Ernstige Zaken suck. We might do an album next year. I might not even be leaving.
D: Maybe existing, maybe not. If not, I plan to be a music hermit.

Q: Anyone you want to thank?
R: 2Pac and Biggie
P: Reuben's mom, Iona.
D: Benji. You are the man. And thank you for keeping Tyler on a leash.

Q: Any final words before you go?
R: I'm a balla fo' real.
D: He's a balla fo' real.

Music Video for "Bessie" from Bandicoot's Jurassic Warfare EP