Windwaker On Forthcoming Album ‘Hyperviolence’
‘I’m all frazzled cause I’m not set up! You know why!’ Liam Guinane, singer of Melbourne genre bending metalcore band Windwaker exclaims as he settles in. The reason for this is no more than five minutes before, his band – through Australian radio station Triple J – premiered a brand new single Get Out which features Phonk, a sub genre of EDM. The left turn typical of Windwaker.
Get Out is the sixth and last single to be dropped before new album Hyperviolence greets the world on July 12 and the left turns are already in force.
‘We’ve revealed three corners of a square and there’s still a lot in the middle and the last corner that will have a lot surprises. You can still expect the evolution of the sound you may have found on ‘Love Language’. This time it’s kind of showcased, it’s a lot more focussed and mature since. You can still expect the genre bending, there are the heavies, the hip hop, there’s the pop influences, all sorts like post hardcore, emo. It’s our most realised work to date.’
Lyrically, the tracks that have already appeared focus on the turmoil of influences of introversion against fronting a band, all while staying to true to yourself as shown in previous song Break The Rules as well as Get Out.
‘They are personal for me but I have to find ways of creating a narrative that allows listeners to create a narrative for themselves cause that’s what I look for. In particular those two songs relate to the whole album, that introvert/extrovert on ‘Break The Rules’ can apply to the whole album ‘Hyperviolence’. It’s almost a time capsule of when I entered the band in terms of my identity versus what’s placed on me entering as a frontman filling the shoes of someone who is beloved. The new experience of fronting a musical project in a heavy metal capacity, finding my feet that way. Also navigating life personally and in a musical sense, how to manage all those things and how you behave based on that. That’s what I’m talking about on the album and that introvert/extrovert character you could attribute to the person I am now as opposed to the inner child who is more playful. But you’ve also got the two personas, the at home persona vs the on stage persona, fuck you kinda persona, it’s centre, flashy and driven by ego in a number of ways. That’s what I’m exploring as concept.’
The ‘characters’ reference is an interesting concept, for a band that has so many strong musical styles, and band members with strong contrasting images, it begs the question do they seem themselves the same way.
‘I think so, that’s how I sort of looked at it. Five guys who are very passionate about music. You are right in the way we have strengths in regards to styles and genres. The history that comes with that. Chris Lalic is a drummer and producer who loves his KPop and Top 40 pop music and production as well as the heavy stuff we all like. Connor Robins, who loves his experimental stuff like Flume, Skrillex and all these producers, as well as the rock and Bring Me The Horizon. I love hip hop, punk, RnB and I cover that ground, Jesse Crofts who loves his extreme black metal. We’ve all got our things that we do.’
A couple of warm up shows precede the album release before venturing stateside for the first time with fellow Aussies Northlane and Thornhill, as well as Invent Animate for an insane thirty-odd date tour in forty days. Something so gruelling while rewarding, will also test the singer vocally and physically.
‘Indey Salvestro and I have a pact that we are gonna half the meals we get so we can try and avoid the inevitable weight gain visiting USA. We’ve got a RV we are travelling in, so I’m gonna try and utilise as much time to rest and sleep. Pick the brains of Marcus Bridge (Northlane), Jacob Charlton (Thornhill) and Marcis Vik (Invent Animate). Pick the brains of everyone on tour of what has helped them. Everyone else are very well seasoned vocalists. I’m excited but it’s marathon not a sprint.’
As for his own precautions for each show, Liam is a little sheepish given his recent inclination to literally throw himself into his performance.
‘That’s a hard question to answer as historically since rejoining Windwaker I have sustained many injuries to my body. The first tour I broke my hand punching the ground, so I would say a lot of lessons have been learned in terms of not doing that again! In terms of precautions is the typical answer of warm ups, keeping the voice active in the lead up and resting when not using the voice. I also have to remind myself on stage that sometimes less is more, we have this microphone and when I sometimes feel myself losing myself to the music and the aggression, I have to remind myself that less is a lot more controllable. It’s going to render a much better outcome for the performance. I have to remind myself to not overdo it with the voice. Just to keep the consistency going as fans have spent their hard earned dollar.’
Interview By Iain McCallum
Windwaker release Hyperviolence on Friday 12 July via Cooking Vinyl Australia & Fearless Records
Pre-Order HERE
