Mammal

OK Adelaide listen up! Mammal start their “Community Tour” at Fowlers Live this Friday so let’s lift the bar high and sell this one out. The momentum continues to build for this much loved band after announcing reunion shows last year proving to be the most intense and emotionally charged shows in the band’s short but action packed history. To top it off there’s new music with Community which is an absolute banger. Guitarist Pete Williamson is pumped about playing in Adelaide this Friday and answers some questions for Hi Fi Way: The Pop Chronicles.

How exciting has the build been to the “Community” tour?
Pretty huge, we can’t wait to hit the road and go back to cities like Adelaide where we haven’t played in eight years. It is going to be such a great time with Osaka Punch and Fresh Violet supporting.

Does that feeling change knowing it will be the last tour for a while (hopefully not to long)?
Yeah for sure, when you don’t tour as much it makes it more special and you have to savour every moment. Definitely will be going hard!

Mammal have always had a great response in Adelaide are you looking forward to the show at Fowlers?
We specifically said to our agent to book us at Fowlers, we love the venues vibe and they always treat us really well. Adelaide fans are some of the best, so we know it is going to be a rowdy show.

Is this tour leaning more towards the new songs or a bit of everything from the back catalogue?
The tour will be like a best of the back catalogue with probably two or maybe three new tracks in the set. We used to only play for one hour but as we are enjoying it so much at the moment we will be playing for an hour and a half. The longer set means we can road test tunes and also not miss any fan favourites in the set.

Have you been stoked with how the new songs are coming along?
The new songs are coming together so smoothly. We really have been embracing technology by working remotely on ideas in all our home studios and then compiling the best of the best. Nick our bass player has so many killer riffs sitting around that it is actually hard to pick which track to work on next, a good problem to have!

Were you surprised with how The Majority came together at last minute?
Songs like The Majority needed the band jamming it to get the actually power of the track right, we didn’t have a bridge section and Zane actually sung that riff and pretended to air guitar it. It was pretty funny, but once I played it with some octave on it sounded massive and we were all like, yeahhhh!!!

Is there a story behind this one?
Guitar wise for the current single I had to record it up in the country at my farm as my wife due to give birth to our second child and I had to be close to home. I really loved not being on the clock in a studio and having the time to experiment with our engineer Tyson Fish helping out. We hadn’t actually played ‘Community’ together as a band until our first show in Castlemaine, we were all stoked with how it came together in the live realm. Definitely a dance floor growing tune

Do you think the Mammal sound has changed much with the new songs?
We are still evolving our sound, currently we are getting a fresh single mixed by the nightly Forrester Savell (Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus, Cog etc). He always pulls such massive mixes and we think the new song will be a big progression forward, so watch this space. Adelaide might get a sneaky peak of the new tune.

Is the album likely to be released this year?
Our goal for a new album will be sometime early next year, but don’t be surprised if we keep testing the waters with new singles leading up to the album.

Where to next for Mammal?
It would be night to be the first band to play a rock concert on the moon…seriously though after this tour we head to the UK for a massive London show and then hit the studio the keep recording.

Interview by Rob Lyon

Catch Mammal on the following dates…