“Oh man, I’ve said it many times publicly before and I’m not playing favourites just because I’m talking to Australian press, but it’s probably my favourite place to tour just because we get treated so well out there by our record label, by our fans, by everybody really,” Holcomb says. “Plus it’s just a breeze to tour because there’s something about the way we’re treated by our fans at the shows. They’re always intense shows but they’re not so crazy that people are beating each other up. They’re just really adoring fans. It’s my favourite place to tour in the world – I just wish it didn’t take 25 damn hours to fly out there! Oh dude, it makes you wanna die.”
Last time Periphery toured they smashed The Espy to pieces at a Soundwave sideshow with Japanese electro-metallers Crossfaith, an odd pairing but one that somehow worked. “It was funny to watch the online reaction when those sideshows were announced,” Holcomb laughs. “Wow, what a pairing. And truth be told, I was not familiar with Crossfaith’s music, but after those shows and watching them live I was hooked. They’re amazing.”
This time around though Periphery will be playing with a much more like-minded band in the form of Animals As Leaders. After all, Periphery founder Misha Mansoor has a heavy songwriting and production stake in Animals As Leaders (whose new album is in the works now), and both bands are seen by some as leaders of the ‘djent’ movement, a spellcheck-defying variety of progressive metal with a heavy emphasis on low-tuned riffage and odd time signatures.
“For a long time we’ve been wanting to come back down to Australia with a really, really cool tour package that made sense, much like when we toured with TesseracT two years ago,” Holcomb says. “I think Animals and Periphery makes even more sense along that wavelength.”
By the time Periphery makes it to Australia there’s a good chance we’ll have some new music to hear, too. Holcomb confirms that the band has been recording a very special project recently which is likely to see the light of day in the next few months. “I can’t really say much more than that, except that it’s a very experimental concept that’s not our next full-length. It’s not our next album but we slaved away on it for months. We put a lot of work into it and you’ll see. I don’t want to spoil it for you…”
Periphery essentially started life as demos recorded at home by Mansoor, and the band has steadily developed into its own entity over the years, going through various lineup changes before settling on the current configuration. Holcomb says that in terms of having actual people dictating different elements of the music and business decisions it’s really done “a complete 180 from how it started, y’know, bedroom music – and not like sexytime bedroom music but bedroom metal, y’know – but it’s become its own beast now.
“You have six people and all of us write our own music and all of us contribute now creatively, be it on the engineering side – Nolly is an amazing producer and engineer and a fantastic guitar player as well as of course a fantastic bassist. And we all write our music. It’s just such a blessing to have that, but at the same time you also have to know how to get along and how not to get your feelings stepped on with so many other cooks in the kitchen, if you know what I mean.”
Holcomb found his way into Periphery via Haunted Shores, a heavy, melodic project and yet another that involves Mansoor. “It’s something I still write for, definitely,” he says. “But I find that the bulk of material now that I find myself writing I just think of as being destined for Periphery. I think the Haunted Shores style, even though the project has been semi-dormant for the last year and a half, I think the sound is now just slowly seeping its way into Periphery’s sound. And I think it’s evident from the second record that some of the songs that I did not even have a hand in writing, like The Gods Must Be Crazy, I didn’t have a hand in writing that song but that is a Haunted Shores song to me! Jake (Bowen, guitar) and Misha wrote that song. So I think the sound is creeping its way into the music, and I don’t know why or how but I like it. I like that a little tiny project like that is having a bigger impact, y’know?”
But for now the band is focused on the new mystery project (which rumour has it involves tracks written by…aw you’ll see), the Australian tour, and their next full-length album, if the monster popularity of last year’s Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal ever lets them get off the road long enough to finish the damn thing.
BY PETER HODGSON
