{"id":30250,"date":"2016-08-26T07:30:05","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T21:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=30250"},"modified":"2016-08-25T16:13:16","modified_gmt":"2016-08-25T06:13:16","slug":"stevic-mackay-twelve-foot-ninja","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2016\/08\/stevic-mackay-twelve-foot-ninja\/","title":{"rendered":"Stevic Mackay of Twelve Foot Ninja"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TFN<\/a>
\n\u201c\u2026you torture yourself because you don\u2019t want to let anything go through to the wicket keeper, like every note is scrutinized and there\u2019s no choice to not do it like that. For a band like Twelve Foot Ninja it\u2019s sort of part and parcel with the sound, you know everything is really laboured over to try and create a feeling of effortlessness; it\u2019s quite a paradox in itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

From release: First up, who the f–k\u00a0are\u00a0Twelve Foot Ninja? As far as questions go, it\u2019s a valid one. Hit up Wikipedia and it\u2019ll assert they\u2019re a \u201cfusion metal band from Melbourne, Australia\u201d. But then, that\u2019s akin to describing Rage Against The Machine as a \u201crap rock quartet\u201d. Neither label does either band any justice. What you might not know is that Twelve Foot Ninja\u2019s 2012 debut record SILENT MACHINE\u00a0saw them clock up over 5,000,000 YouTube views, win America\u2019s prestigious 2014 Golden Gods Award for \u2018Best New Talent\u2019, break the world record for crowdfunding a video clip, tour with some of the biggest bands in the world, and get billed on major US festivals. And all without the push of a major label. Now with new album OUTLIER, who knows what will happen next…<\/p>\n

At home we gave Stevic a call to talk about the band\u2019s new album \u2018Outlier\u2019, creating a second album, touring, drunk children (not really) and much more\u2026<\/p>\n

So in the three years since \u2018Silent Machine\u2019 what helped shape what would become \u2018Outlier\u2019?<\/strong>
\nLet me think, look I think just the experience of touring \u2018Silent Machine\u2019 which inevitably lead to us kind of knowing who we are a bit more as a band and what kind of songs we want to write I think. We wrote sixty songs for \u2018Outlier\u2019 and whittled it down to ten; we wrote thirteen songs for \u2018Silent Machine\u2019 and whittled it down to twelve. So it was a big process of experimentation and just chipping at the stone until David appeared as the saying goes\u2026 not to compare ourselves to Michelangelo that\u2019s definitely not what I want to do but it\u2019s an apt saying, it kind of feels like a twenty thousand piece jigsaw puzzle that you just chuck on the floor and attack bit by bit. So I think time and experience with \u2018Silent Machine\u2019 helped shape \u2018Outlier\u2019 if I was going to try and narrow it down.<\/p>\n

Being your second album \u2018Outlier\u2019, what were you able to do different this time around other than write more songs?<\/strong>
\nDifferent I suppose with process we sort of tried to refine processes and I think we managed to do that. We recorded in a very anti-social fashion in that everyone was responsible for their own part and we did them in isolation and then delivered them basically. So it really was quite a bizarre way to record an album but it kind of worked out well, then I put it all together and produced it, prepared the session and get it off to Forrester and he mixed it.<\/p>\n

As the producer, is it hard to change between the performer and producer hat sometimes?<\/strong>
\nYeah, I think so but it\u2019s more related to gigging and writing and producing that\u2019s the difference of the job thing, kind of that on off switch. In terms of what we did with the album I didn\u2019t find difficult to switch between the two, if anything it made it harder on Ro as he was tracking parts and I was drilling him as a producer and a guitarist, so he\u2019s sort of getting it from two people at once.<\/p>\n

With the experience of the debut under your belt, was it somewhat easier or more comfortable making this album?<\/strong>
\nComfortable\u2026 I think so, it\u2019s impossible to answer because making albums from my perspective is kind of like getting your teeth pulled out in slow motion; it\u2019s kind of a tedious process. I would say I enjoy it, it\u2019s kind of something you are compelled to do. I imagine it\u2019s a little bit like getting drunk and having kids in separate occasions\u2026 you know how people who drink say I\u2019m never gonna drink again when they get violently ill but then they find themselves drinking again the following weekend. Or when people say having kids was the most painful experience ever then you see them having another kid. I think for me, making an album is in the category of those things, you do it and go \u2018why the fuck do I do this?\u2019 and then it comes out and you go \u2018oh yeah that was great, wasn\u2019t that good!\u2019 and you sort of forget all the pain and when you get to experience it through other people\u2019s perspectives like when they listen to it and they really like the songs that\u2019s the rewarding part. The process\u2026 it\u2019s yeah\u2026 just sort of difficult to explain, it\u2019s kind of like you torture yourself because you don\u2019t want to let anything go through to the wicket keeper, like every note is scrutinized and there\u2019s no choice to not do it like that. For a band like Twelve Foot Ninja it\u2019s sort of part and parcel with the sound, you know everything is really laboured over to try and create a feeling of effortlessness; it\u2019s quite a paradox in itself. Yeah I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m making much sense but the summary is recording albums, it\u2019s a relief to have it done, I\u2019m glad it\u2019s turned out how it has, and I\u2019m looking forward to the next phase which is playing these songs live and experiencing them in more of an actualised kind of way as opposed to conceptual.<\/p>\n

OK, I\u2019ll just put down it\u2019s like having drunk children I think that\u2019s what you said\u2026<\/strong>
\n*laughs* Perfect *laughs*<\/p>\n

What I dig about you guys is your who knows how to describe it style, what is the creative process in the band like to come up with such great arrangements that bounce between genres at any time?<\/strong>
\nLike I said, sometimes it happens very fast and other times, well more often than not we\u2019ve got eight to ten versions of every song and it\u2019s the process of exploring every avenue to decide what works best. So it\u2019s great that it\u2019s free, you can run wild with things and say how would it sound if it went like this and imagine if it went here\u2026 and often I\u2019ll talk to the guys conceptually first and here\u2019s where I\u2019m imagining this song, I want to take it where it was, like \u2018Dig For Bones\u2019 for example I\u2019m like \u201cinstead of that section there I want it to go into a Commodore 64 8-bit video game like the whole thing is transported into this section and when we come out I want it to have someone dying\u201d and they\u2019re like yeah that\u2019s cool and then we do it. So it\u2019s many times you come up with these crazy ideas and it turns out a bit deformed and weird and it\u2019s all about that and there\u2019s a lot of songs that we went through that exploration and decided no this isn\u2019t gonna work. Like I don\u2019t know what sci-fi film it is but you know when they genetically engineer some sort of alien and there\u2019s this weird lab where they\u2019re all just floating in glass tanks, yeah that\u2019s kind of like that, we\u2019ve got a lot that didn\u2019t make it kind of just floating in glass tanks that are mutations that will never see the light of day.<\/p>\n

You mentioned playing these songs like and you\u2019re of course also heading out on tour with Disturbed in Australia, how did this pairing come about?<\/strong>
\nI believe that they requested that we played with them, that\u2019s my understanding of the story and who knows how it actually happened, but we got the call and they said \u2018Do you want to play with Disturbed?\u2019 and we said \u2018Yes, that would be great\u2019 so that\u2019s how it\u2019s happening I understand. So we\u2019re playing three or four shows in Australia and then we head over to The States and we\u2019re doing a four week tour doing a bunch of shows with Sevendust and doing some festivals with Korn, Deftones, The Cure I think is actually going to be on a couple of shows. Then we come back and do Disturbed and then it\u2019s Christmas.<\/p>\n

What a shit rest of year for you then\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah, it\u2019s gonna be quite an interesting next few months, quite a contrast from sitting behind a computer working on songs and production. That\u2019s what I mean, it\u2019s quite different, it\u2019s like you actually get to do the thing that you\u2019ve been building, you get to use the machine that you\u2019ve built.<\/p>\n

For anyone who hasn\u2019t seen you before, using only three words describe a typical Twelve Foot Ninja show\u2026<\/strong>
\nHmm\u2026 is that a word?<\/p>\n

No\u2026<\/strong>
\nOK, *laughs* I\u2019d say energetic, well-executed and entertaining.<\/p>\n

In the eight years you guys have been together what for you has been the most notable evolution within the band?<\/strong>
\nJesus that\u2019s a good question, I think when we wrote the track \u2018Clarion\u2019 on the \u2018Smokebomb\u2019 EP, that was a drastic shift in our approach with the heavier stuff, that song sort of marks a change in how we looked at things because prior to that it was a bit more like Helmet or something, we didn\u2019t really go super heavy. That track and probably \u2018Portrait\u2019 on \u2018New Dawn\u2019 those songs are pretty close together in melding those different bits and pieces. I think it\u2019s kind of weird, it\u2019s like cooking, you might muck around with the different variations of things you can put on toast and that may inform to something that leads to bruschetta in the future, it\u2019s all just training for things you don\u2019t expect. I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a massive evolution one way or another but I remember when I put the band together I made the band rehearse for like a year before we played a gig because I didn\u2019t want to have my anticipation to play live and my excitement to play live overshadow the ability to pull it off and impress an audience, so we\u2019ve always been quite vigilant with the detail so there\u2019s never been one massive like \u2018oh shit we didn\u2019t see that coming\u2019 it\u2019s just been a gradual improvement with everything, we\u2019re constantly trying to improve and that\u2019s kind of part of the bands m o I guess\u2026<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the dream? Is there one thing you want to do as a band that you haven\u2019t yet had the chance to?<\/strong>
\nThere\u2019s many things\u2026 it would be great to play on a Tonight Show in The States, I would love to play on any of the Tonight Shows, that would be an awesome experience. I\u2019d love to write some music for a game or a film, that would be awesome. Obviously getting recognised with some sort of award would be excellent, like what we did with Golden Gods but something a little closer to home. All of those things, I think the same things that everyone would love to happen, but yeah in the short term I think all we can do is be the best that we can and see what happens. I sound like AFL footy player\u2026 run your own race mate, get out there, give it a good go\u2026<\/p>\n

Lastly with 2016 on the downhill let’s see if we can predict it… Finish this sentence for me by the end of 2016 the one thing Twelve Foot Ninja wants to do is…<\/strong>
\nSurvive\u2026 I think that\u2019s the main thing, we\u2019re heading into an uncertain time of going to America and everything that\u2019s going on, it would be nice to come back in one piece, and survive in every sense of the word like with our objectives in tact would be good, but I hate predicting hypotheticals because I\u2019m much more of a doer than a talker in terms of what\u2019s going to happen, but if we can stay together and keep things as good as they are now then to me that\u2019s the best achievement. Not very exciting to write, maybe I could say levitation or telekinetic powers to increase to the level where I can actually pull a beer out of the fridge with my mind but it\u2019s probably not going to happen\u2026<\/p>\n

You never know though\u2026<\/strong>
\nYou never know, that\u2019s true\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Catch Twelve Foot Ninja on tour with Disturbed at the following dates:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wed 09 Nov
\nHBF Stadium (All Ages)
\nPerth, WA
\nticketmaster.com.au<\/a>
\n136 100<\/p>\n

Sat 12 Nov
\nMargaret Court Arena (All Ages)
\nMelbourne, VIC
\nticketek.com.au<\/a>
\n132 849<\/p>\n

Sun 13 Nov
\nHordern Pavilion (All Ages)
\nSydney, NSW
\nticketek.com.au<\/a>
\n132 849<\/p>\n

Tue 15 Nov
\nEntertainment Centre (All Ages)
\nBrisbane, QLD
\nticketek.com.au<\/a>
\n132 849<\/p>\n

Fri 18 Nov
\nVector Arena (All Ages)
\nAuckland, NZ
\nticketmaster.co.nz<\/a>
\n0800 111 999<\/p>\n

\nEssential Information<\/span><\/h2>\n

From:\u00a0<\/strong>Melbourne, Australia
\nBand Members:\u00a0<\/strong>Damon – Bass, Kin – Vocals, Russ – Drums, Stevic – Guitar, Rohan – Guitar\/Vox
\nWebsite:<\/strong>\u00a0http:\/\/www.twelvefootninja.com<\/a>
\nLatest Release:\u00a0<\/strong>\u2018Outlier\u2019 (Out Now)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n