Musicadium Blog

What’s the name of your band? What’s the origin of that name? Who came up with it?
Our band name is Epidemic…over.  Unfortunately there isn’t a really cool explanation as to why it’s our name but I suppose it came from reading a lot of newspapers and seeing the news the word epidemic was being used quite frequently and it just kind evolved from there - you know, wouldn’t it be nice if all the epidemics were just over .  Ben (guitarist) just said it one day and it just stuck.

We see you and fellow Musicadium artists, This Collision, are doing a run of shows together in May and June.  How did that come about?  Do you love touring?
We absolutely love touring!  We have been mates with This Collision for a while - actually we were fans first.  We travelled round just to see them play and got to know them and then just started playing shows with them.  This will be our second tour together and after having so much fun last time we really can’t wait to hit the road with them again.

What can you tell me about your instruments? (i.e., are you subject to brand loyalty or will you play with whatever’s available? What made you choose the instruments you have now? Was it cost or was it a style/model/brand/color preference?
Matt plays a Sonor SQ2 kit
Scott plays Warwick and fender basses and Gallien Kruger Amps / Cabs
Ben plays PRS and Schechter guitars, Hughes & Kettner amps and Orange cabs
Nathan uses Shure wireless microphones

The instruments we use aren’t just because we like them, but because of the quality and the particular sound they each give - it’s what makes epidemic…over what it is.

We are definitely loyal to the brand we like. You won’t see us rock up to a show and use a generic backline. I don’t know how anyone can do that - you would sound like a totally different band every night. There just wouldn’t be any continuity of sound.

You are from Central Queensland - what’s the scene like there?  Does it give you opportunities that you wouldn’t have got elsewhere?

The scene is growing and evolving.  Central Qld is a tough sort of area to get noticed, particularly when a lot of the people in the area are only fond of one genre etc, but one of the benefits is that with more bands on the road they are coming north and we have been getting some fantastic supports and tours.  I think it would be much harder in the capital cities - you’d just be a small fish in an even bigger pond.

This (Promise) is your second release, how does this one differ from the first self-titled release?  Where did you record it?  Are you 100% happy with it?

We recorded Promise at Mud hut studios on the gold coast with James Balderston (Amity Affliction / A Secret Death) in the producer’s seat, which was a great experience.  I suppose promise differs from the first EP in that our song writing (and playing) ability has greatly improved, we were more comfortable in the studio environment and we have a clearer indication of what type of band we want to be. With the first record we were sort of lost in the middle somewhere.

What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?

We try to rehearse for 2hours 2-3times a week.  We can’t go too much longer than that, because we don’t want to annoy the nieghbours too much. The rehearsals aren’t always spontaneous but sometime you’re just over playing the set and just want to jam, which is when we write our best stuff

What inspires you? What makes you wake up and think “wow that really matters?” What makes you want to write songs that make people sit down and think?

Musically, it’s a song that makes me feel any sort of emotion or actively makes you think about the message - or when you hear it, you just go “wow…I wish I wrote that” hahaha!

We don’t actively write songs that have messages.  None of us have overly strong political views or views on society. Obviously everybody has opinions.  The lyrics aren’t a conscious decision. I don’t have a theme of the day or anything that I want to write about. The guys start jamming and as they are writing it’s the vibe of the song that determines my emotion and the words just flow from there. I don’t normally have an emotional attachment until after I have wrote down what’s come out and actually thought about it

How do you promote your music that you have for sale in the digital outlets?

Obviously social networking sites are a major part, but digital sales are your bread and butter these days so it’s making sure you let people know through all your media (old school and digital) that “Hey!  You don’t have to buy an actual CD if you don’t want to - just jump on ITunes”.

Also being a feature artist on certain sites or offering special incentives like bonus tracks to those who buy your product digitally is a HUGE help.

You recently played at the Coconet Classic Festival alongside The Living End and The Butterfly Effect.  Was it humbling or scary playing with such legendary artists?

I’ve never felt so inadequate in my life…hahaha!  Just being on the bill was amazing, but looking over to the side of the stage and seeing some of our heroes, like Kim from Dead Letter Circus, watching and tapping their feet was massive encouragement.

I don’t think the guys were too nervous - they just approached like any other show…but I (Nathan) was really nervous… I think the only thing that saved me was the awesome crowd response when we walked on stage.

Epidemic…Over’s New EP Promise will be available online from May 15th, but their Self-Titled release is available now on .

They can be found on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and their Website!

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 5:43 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.