Australian Metal Party Band Gopher On New Album ‘Tunnel Buddies’

‘Maybe if someone sends it to that fucking orange peanut in the US and say, ‘Hey, go back. Take a break, take a breath, listen to this. Get this into you and just peace out with everyone, you know? Just have a drink, have a doobie and just get on with it and make things better.’

Ned Smelly is the good looking one in Australian metal party band Gopher. His brother, Ernie Bingo, the brains. The Duo, now reaching nearly two hundred and fifty years old, were kicked out Fanny Barks in the UK way back in 1790 and settled to a life of debaucherous mayhem, metal and mahjong ever since. With the lads finally sobering up long enough to drop their debut album, Tunnel Buddies, the eye catching and suave Ned Smelly is doing the promo rounds.

‘Maybe I’ve had some luck over the years with the ladies, I look shithouse nowadays and probably not much of a ladies’ man anymore. Most the ladies just roll away from me in wheelchairs just to get away as fast as they can. Ladies’ man, blokes’ man, I don’t care. I’m anybody’s man, to be honest. Come up, say hello. I’m not afraid to get out there, get amongst it.’

The album is eleven songs concocted with all kinds of metal. Party, death, grindcore, slam and synths. Lots of synths. Track names include Hot Mess Express, Keno Man and Does The Queen Queef?

‘We love all kinds of music, especially heavy metal, that’s our main thing. We like synths, like adding synths was pretty cool. Even bands like Electric Callboy, that’s where he really ripped it off from, to be honest. You know, bands that put fun stuff in there. The synths, it was just to sort of mask our out of tune voices really. It just seemed to work and we had fun with it. We love all kinds of metal, you know, we like death and slam and grind and rock and everything else in between.’

‘We just find a riff that likes us and we like it, and we just throw it in and we just smooth it out, try to make it work and just blend it all together. And if it sticks, it sticks. Just all in the name of fun and an album that you put on at a party in the background and people just want to drink piss to and dance and whatever. Sing along, just fucking have a great time with it.’
Recent single ‘Party In The Sky’ for example, does as it says on the tin.

‘It’s just about getting wasted on planes and passing out so that it’s not so boring. You sit in a bloody crap tube for six hours with nothing else to do. So, you might as well just get pissed and pass out. I like a good party. Party this, party that. Just get up and party, and go to bed and party, and party in your dreams, party in the sky, just party wherever you can, mate. That’s pretty much it. Just have a good time in life, forget about all the shit that’s going on and just chuck a few back and then just forget about it and have a good time.’

In a world more divided than ever by political agendas, rising oil prices and zealots online, this album could possibly be what the world rights now.

‘Yes, one hundred percent. If that’s what you think, yes!. Me too. I couldn’t agree more, for sure. We had a really fun time putting it together and making these cool, groovy, fun, grindy, dancey riffs and everything else in between. Singalong choruses that everyone can get into, put your arm around your buddy and bang your head and sing along. It is the album the world needs right now!’
At times you’re not sure if the answers are real or not in the madcap world of Gopher, so I must ask ‘Does The Queen Queef?”
‘It’s an important question, and there’s a few people asking it now. She’s not ours anymore, but she was human. Any queen, really, you know, I’m sure it happens. It’s only nature. You know, men fart and carry on in their sleep and when you get up. Things happen and you can just have a giggle about it. Your girlfriend might do it. Your mum probably did it. So why not the Queen, she probably has had her moments too, and other queens as well, I’m sure.’

Thank you for putting that thought of my own mother in there Ned. Let’s bring it back to the music. The brains is Ernie Bingo who is the musical mastermind behind Gopher.

‘He is the genius behind this. He’s one that likes all different styles of metal and just riffs that put ’em together in one big belching pot. When I first looked at the songs, I was like, ‘Holy cow, Ernie. What the hell’s this? This is amazing.’ It’s got all the different styles of metal I like. Really heavy and slammy bits, and there’s some good death metal bits. Lots of double kick and dynamics with the fun, just bop along beats. There’s some old school kind of drums in here. It’s just everything. He pastes it all together. he does all the work. He a little genius, that little smelly man. I’m just happy to be along for the ride and ride his coattails and just be the funny.’

Now for guys reaching two hundred and fifty years old throwing down slamming beats, will this be seen in the smelly old flesh?

‘If people really dig it. The response has been good, and the more I play the riffs, the more I’m having fun with it. We should do this live, get our nearly rotting, bubbling bodies on the stage somehow and make it work. We might need extra oxygen and couple of medics on stage just to help us get through it possibly. Extra towels and a maybe a high-pressure hose might be handy too. I’d like to think we could put something together and start playing some shows and bring the party from the album to the stage.’
Taking all this into account, the track ‘Five Bucks A Day’ does head off into a surreal world that Ned admits you can only get half a cup of coffee for that these days. So maybe the guys should get an Only Fans account to make more money perhaps?

‘That’s a big call that one. I don’t know who’s gonna pay to see us doing certain things. Maybe we could show our blisters or something. I don’t know. That’s a horrible thought. You got me back there, didn’t you? After I made a reference to your mum, you made me think of myself fully naked and that’s just awful. But who knows? It’s a crazy wild world out there and, and stranger things have happened. Everyone’s got a thing they dig.’

The album, Tunnel Buddies, came out on May 1 this year and we will let Ned finish with how you get your grubby hands on the album

‘Go on our Bandcamp. We got some CDs. Get on Spotify if you wanna listen, YouTubes, all the usual things you can check out people’s music. We’ve got some really cool shirts to go with it, very colourful ones. They look fantastic. Best print I’ve ever seen, I reckon. So, get yourselves some cool wares for the winter and summer. Check us out and have a giggle.’

Interview By Iain McCallum

Tunnel Buddies is out now, purchase from Bandcamp…