Southeast Desert Metal of Alice Springs slayed the stage at the Brewtality Festival in Sydney and Melbourne last month, where they attracted the most intense crowd of the night with a series of fiery performances.
Hailing from the remote Aboriginal community of Santa Teresa, in Eastern Arrernte, Central Australia, the isolated rock band have quickly built a reputation for killer live shows and great songs with tons of groove. The band comprises of Chris Wallace (vocals and shredding guitar), Gavin Ross (guitar), Cedric Ross (vocals), Derek Hayes (bass) and David Wallace on drums.
Though Southeast Desert Metal live in one of Australia’s most secluded areas, they have cemented a deep connection with the global world of heavy metal and introduced Dreamtime stories to the rock and roll lexicon.
Watch on YouTube: Southeast Desert Metal interview
Host Christina Rowatt caught up with the family band backstage at the Brewtality Festival for a special YouTube interview to talk about the storied cultures that have been handed down from generation to generation, growing up in Alice Springs, the threat to their land from mining, greed, activism and what is next for the band. You can watch the chat above, or alternatively watch on YouTube. A few moments from the chat are transcribed below.
Christina: What are the most meaningful stories to you guys [from your debut 2015 record]?
Chris Wallace (vocals/guitar): Some of them are based on our Dreamtime stories … like “Eagle”, that’s my grandmother’s story. “Disturbing the Spirits” is about people that are mining and its [about] greed between Aboriginal and European people … it’s just greed, about money and wrecking our land. That’s the reason why we’re trying to send that strong message out – so our people can hear it and European people can hear it – what we’re crying out for.
Christina: We have a really ugly history, as white people. We did some really horrible things for literally hundreds of years and it really bothers me we had a Holocaust that we never talk about.
Christina: You’ve got a bit of that Judas Priest thing going on … How did you guys get together?
Chris: We’re a family actually. They’re my nephews and these are my other two nephews and that is my cousin … I always taught these young fellas how to play. I used to be in a band before Southeast ever started – a community band. I heard these young fellas here always listening to metal. I am a metal fan myself, Acca Dacca … Bon Scott is one of my idols.
Robert Wallace (drums): Chris grew me up … I was living in the same house as him. Ever since he started playing heavy metal music in the house, I got brainwashed and started getting into metal.
Christina: It’s cool to bring that storytelling vibe because it’s a part of ancient Australian culture. The real culture. We’re just a bunch of blow-ins. I’m a criminal, I came over here on a boat. That’s my history. It’s really cool to see one of the oldest cultures of the world come through heavy metal.
Christina: You guys were the band of Melbourne [Brewtality Festival] and that was the most intense crowd here too … what’s next for you guys, are you making new music ?
Chris: We have a lot of new songs coming up.
Christina: What’s the story of them?
Chris: [One of the songs] is about a nuclear waste dump they’re trying to put next to Alice Springs, next to our place … about fifty kilometres out. So we just don’t want that dump there. It’s just wrecking our country and we don’t want it there.
Christina: It’s cool to be activist in your music … if you look back to Midnight Oil, they were saying stuff about the land …. we still live in a place where there’s still a ruling class and the rest of us. And it’s been messed up for a really long time.
Chris: The problem is that [area] is our hunting ground. Our generation is going to be going there, hunting. We hunt for food there, like kangaroos or bush tucker. Our culture is still strong, I can even speak it myself … there are different tribes [and languages] … I sing cultural music as well, leading young men all painted up.
Cedric Ross: What Chris is saying is that it’s really good to share the culture with the younger ones as well, they are the food chain.
Chris: Our culture is strong in Alice Springs and all around. So its passed down from generation to generation. It still goes today. Even forty thousand years [of culture], the music is still passed down, the stories.
+More:
Southeast Desert Metal on Facebook
Southeast Desert Metal’s record label Black Wreath
Southeast Desert Metal on iTunes
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