“We’ve been really lucky with the support we have in New Zealand,” he states. “The local press ask us, ‘Isn’t it weird that you have a fanbase here?’ And I have to agree with them. I think what we’re doing was never meant to have any appeal outside the four of us in the band. To have people want to come see us and buy our records, it surprises me every day.”
Fronting an arsenal of brutish riffs and monstrous and tar-drenched rhythms, vocalist Matt Hyde commands the stage with a fiery, bellowed growl. Nato recalls when their musical bond first formed.
“It was years and years ago while he was singing for another band, The Larry Normans. He was unrecognisable from now, back then with slicked back hair and without the beard. But he still had this amazing stage presence. I was just standing there in awe of this amazing frontman. I never thought I’d play in a band with him, just thinking he was this crazy guy.
“Then after the gig we ended up at this 24 hour bar, that’s how I met him. He was up there on the pool table doing Spanish style dancing, wearing cowboy boots, and I was thinking, ‘This guy is fuckin’ cool’. Then we didn’t see each other for something like seven years, then we hit it off,” he says on Beastwars’ origin.
In 2012, Blood Becomes Fire followed up Beastwars’ standout self-titled debut. Even on the second time around, capturing the immensity of their live set on record proving to be a gruelling challenge.
“I think time was a big factor for us in a lot of ways for the second album. The first one we recorded in four and a half days, and that was intense, stressful – just not a very fun experience. It wasn’t exactly working 24 hours a day, but we were there sleeping on the floor of the studio. We were living and breathing it. So for the second album we wanted twice as much time, just to relax and think about things more. But it was just as intense, these full-on ten days. That’s what happens when you make an album, you get stuck in and forget about the outside world and concentrate on this thing you’re trying to create.”
Last month saw the announcement of New Zealand’s Taite Music Prize winner, with Beastwars amongst the ten finalists – this year with a looming sense of inevitability courtesy of Lorde.
“We were stoked to be nominated, it was our second time. I think the first time we were nominated we were a bit more optimistic,” Nato states. “Unknown Mortal Orchestra won that year, and that was fair enough, the album was blowing up overseas, getting write-ups in hip blogs. This time we were nominated, we wrote ourselves off from the beginning as soon as Lorde was announced alongside us.
“It was a one-horse race. We were pretty open about that, that’s just the way the industry is. We can’t compete with a Grammy-winner, and we don’t want to. We always made music for ourselves, and if we happen to get nominated for a $10,000 cash prize, we’re not going to turn down the nomination, but at the same time, we have to be realistic. We didn’t bother going up to the awards, we were at band practice that night. We heard that Lorde won, and we knew that was going to happen, then we heard that she said in her speech that she was going to split the money between the other finalists. It came to $1,666, which I thought was a great number. We’ll use that money to make more songs, to help along with the journey.”
This month marks a year since Beastwars’ rapturous Melbourne debut, going on to shake the foundations at a myriad of our venues since. “The first time we went over, we didn’t know what to expect. We knew we were selling albums in Melbourne. We were pretty blown away when we rocked up at The Bendigo Hotel, it was pretty packed, with crowdsurfing. It felt like a Wellington show, and I think there were plenty of Aussies there, not just ex-pat Kiwis showing their faces. I couldn’t believe it, we were on such a high after that show. It was a really cool introduction to Melbourne. When we come back, I think it will be something like our eighth Melbourne show in a year. I think that’s pretty good going for a bunch of old dudes from New Zealand,” he laughs.
BY LACHLAN KANONIUK
