“Basically the whole premise of the album, [is] about what’s going on in the world,” says drummer Ben Cuthbert. “We’re not a political band, but the things we’re writing about, what we’re seeing and hearing about, we’re saying, ‘What the hell are governments doing? What food are we eating?’ We’re taking things from documentaries that we’ve seen, and we read books and look into all these sorts of things.”
The title actually springs from a fictional story the band themselves conceived, but one they feel may also shine a light on some of the more insidious things happening in our world. “The story and the film clip [is about] the collapse of governments and corporations,” Cuthbert says. “The wealthy people go underground, and your normal people like us are surviving above the ground.
“It’s basically a metaphor for the order of the owl; we become a tribe of people in order to survive when the whole banking system and capitalism collapses. It’s kind of like, ‘Where will you be when it all falls down?’ That type of thing.”
The album has been in the works for quite some time. The creation of the concept and the deep thinking behind the lyrics and imagery has contributed to the drawn out process, as well as the money and time constraints that virtually all independent bands face. But it is finally out there, and Cuthbert couldn’t be happier.
“As all musos know, when you put something out it’s a little bit scary at first. You wait for the critics to come in, but you’ve basically got to go, ‘It is what it is. It’s there, it’s live and out there in the world.’ However it’s received, it’s received and you just take it. If people like it, they like it. If they don’t, they don’t.”
Along with their thematic distinction, The Charge are interested in reviving a certain strain of guitar music. “We’re really riffy,” says Cuthbert. “We’ve kind of brought back the guitar riff. For a lot of Aussie bands, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of guitar riffs going on. [You’ll like us] if you’re into guitar riffs and that Sabbath-y sound, and Alice in Chains type of thing. So it’s not full on metal, our influences are everyone – Metallica, Slayer, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age. We’ve all listened to all types of music, but our favourite is the heavy stuff. Basically it’s just rock n roll.”
The band are currently carrying out a national tour in support of the new album, which includes their Melbourne launch next week. “We’ve already done Geelong, Canberra and Sydney. We do Adelaide then we’re back for our Melbourne launch on the Saturday October 17. The lineups we’ve put together to play with us are really cool.”
“We’ve got pretty much a month to five weeks of touring, which is pretty good for an independent band without a booker or anything. We deal with the venues and all that ourselves.”
BY ROD WHITFIELD
