Speaking from the studios of local public radio station PBS in Collingwood, he is also very happy that the festival features a broad range of heavy music, from their own, completely over the top power metal to the brutal tech death metal of their co-headliners Psycroptic – and all manner of heavy sounds in between.
“Yeah it’s extremely different, but I think that’s a great thing that they mix it up like they do,” he opines, “because that’s just healthy for all branches of heavy music. I’ve really noticed that. I went over to Germany a few years ago, I went to Wacken and the biggest thing I noticed was the complete blend. Everything from the glammiest glam, through to the most corpse painted, Scandinavian church-burning types, all drinking beer and getting into each other’s stuff. There was no tall poppy syndrome. I reckon it’s a great way run something like this. Mix it up.”
Over the last several years, the band have become very well known for their live show, which can only be described as bombastic and over the top, by local heavy music standards anyway. It can feature fire, flashpots, smoke and all manner of ‘stadium rock’ style visuals. And Yuri says this show should be no different. In fact, they are constantly trying to up the ante in this regard.
“I think we’ve almost upped it,” he says, “We’re really working on just delivering a really good stage show these days. Not that we didn’t before, but it’s really been on the radar of late…it’s going to be maximum-Barbarion.”
Do you guys feel the pressure to keep bringing a bigger and better stage show all the time? “Well, we’re just so fuckin’ unfit, if we stop, it would probably die,” he laughs. “So we just gotta keep moving. We just love to eat and drink and do what we do, and I think if we actually stopped doing it, it’s like when people retire at age 65, if they stop doing what they’re doing, the chances are they’ll be dead by age 67, by sheer shock of boredom.
“So, it’s not an overly conscious decision, it’s just the nature of the band,” he explains. “We just do what we do. People might mistake it to be overly contrived, but it definitely just comes out of our nature as gluttonous beasts. We couldn’t imagine life without it, put it that way.”
However, offsetting the stunning visuals is the rather rough appearance of the band members themselves. “No matter how many members Barbarion has, it’ll always be more that 700 kilos of band.” he says.
The rest of 2014 looks like seeing the band take their notorious live show to uncharted territory, as far as Barbarion is concerned.
“We’re currently in the process of trying to organise a bunch of regional dates,” he discloses. “Largely in Victoria, but also New South Wales and Adelaide. It’s all up in the air at the moment, but the plan is to have a run to announce in the next couple of weeks, at least half a dozen shows. Playing places that maybe people don’t get to.
“We went to Leeton a few months ago and had an absolute corker of a time,” he recalls, “so we really want to get back there because it was just a classic gig. We just want to get out there and do some rural shows. The crowds appreciate us getting our arses out there. So that’s what’s on the immediate radar, and there’s other things ticking along in the background, so watch this space!”
BY ROD WHITFIELD
