Chaotic hardcore/emo-violence collective Gil Cerrone will perform live for the first time on the Sunshine Coast to celebrate the release of their new record CONSUMER. Joining them are Steel City’s screamo superstars Daisy Chain (Newcastle), Meanjin blackened emo-gaze Dream Inertia, Northern Rivers skramz/noise trio Skin and the mathcore/sludge madness of Meanjin's Ashokas Hell.

Here is a conversation between Gil Cerrone guitarist Darcy Barrow and Daisy Chain’s Dane Loomes, which shares a glimpse into the lives of two musicians keeping the DIY touring dream alive.

Dane Loomes: Hey Darcy. Firstly, thanks so much for having us join you on these QLD dates. We’ve consumed, and continue to consume, the new album in great proportions, and are really excited to see it live and be involved in these shows.

Darcy Barrow: Helloooo, likewise in terms of excitement in regards to these upcoming shows, Dane! We’re super happy to have y’all and appreciate y’all jumping on! Thanks for listening to the album, too : )

DL: To kick things off, something I’ve noticed with this tour is you have spread it out quite a lot. Breaking it down into a few stages of tour, I guess you could say.

Things started off in your home state of Victoria. You’ve just finished up Tasmania. And today I guess we are talking more about the Meanjin and Nambour gigs, but will that round out the Consumer tour or can we expect more destination announcements to come?

DB: True that the shows have been spread out, mostly by necessity but it’s actually been a really nice way to do it. These upcoming Meanjin shows will be the last (or possibly second-last) of this Consumer tour.

For Adelaide and Canberra, we should have something that may be announced soon which would be separate to our album tour and coming up reasonably quickly. We may have one more official Consumer tour stop left but it’s a little TBC, perhaps early next year…

DL: So with two states done and dusted, What’s been the best or most memorable gig so far?


DB: There have been a few! The hometown launch show was incredible for me personally, namely as it sold out and the crowd were really participatory and energetic. The lineup we were able to put together for it was so great too – it was fairly mixed and flowed really well through the night – constant intensity. Always very reassuring to look out into the crowd and see some fists in the air and people moving around.

DL: Yeah, I agree. Crowd participation gives you a real boost on stage. Love a home crowd for that. Moving forward now to QLD (the other home crowd), I’ve noticed that for two out of the three upcoming shows you’ve managed to secure inclusive all ages venues, being Season 3 in Fortitude Valley and Black Box in Nambour.

Were these venues chosen out of demand from younger audiences? Or what was the influence if otherwise?

DB: That was a great outcome but wasn’t entirely deliberate! Locally for us there aren’t too many venues that can operate as all ages and we do get some feedback that we should play more. Singing Bird in Frankston is the largest all ages type thing near us and people really show up there – we had a great show recently with Diploid, Tongue Dissolver and more on the lineup.

In Tasmania a lot of kids turned up at the house show we played – including one of the bands, who had members as young as 16. As someone whose formative experiences began at house shows as a teenager, I know how important they are. We love to play anything AA where possible!

DL: What can fans expect from Gil's performance on these shows? Are you aiming to deliver the same live experience per show? Or mixing things up with different set lists or surprises for each venue?

DB: Not a spoiler, but we’ll always avoid playing the same set if we're playing back to back shows. We did play the album from start to finish at our local launch show, but I think we’ll be keeping these sets a little more spontaneous – the album is quite long for us in terms of overall set length and super demanding on the stamina (we like to keep our sets around 20 to 25 minutes max).

Lately we’ve also been incorporating some sample snippet type things for in-between songs, just to condense everything and remove the silent gaps where you can hear someone in the crowd crack a can open. Apart from that, it’s just us playing our songs.

DL: Aside from online, is there anywhere else that listeners in Meanjin or Nambour can get the consumer LP prior to the upcoming shows?

DB: We’ve been a little insular in terms of the LP, honestly. There are no local record stores that stock them yet. We’ve been posting out a steady stream from Gil HQ (my house) though. We managed to get a little batch into one record store, which is 3LA in Tokyo – so if you live in Tokyo, definitely head there... But short answer – you can wait to grab one from us at one of the shows!

DL: While we are talking sales, stocks and big screamo money – I’ve always loved your merch designs, with the most recent drop being no exception. Will you be adequately re supplied for tour or would readers be better off hitting the Bandcamp merch tab to get in quick ?


DB: Very kind words! Screamo money is like monopoly money in that it’s not possible to use it to pay the bills. However, I love making the designs and I love that people still care enough to buy them. I’m imminently organising a re-up with some new colours perhaps, but you’ll have to wait to find out what they are… (also still deciding…). There’ll be a few new stickers and some hats floating around too.

OK, now it's my turn to ask some questions. Big general opener – give me an update, what is going on Daisy Chain at the moment?

DL: Things are good! We’ve actually only just got back from a gig on the weekend in Sydney, which was unreal. It was a mini fest put together by Doris, which included Freezer, Hanoi Traffic, mycriesfallondeafears, The World at a Glance and ourselves.

Tickets sold out and all the bands were super impressive, so we are still on a bit of a high from that. Let the good times roll, I guess. The Consumer QLD gigs are our next big one, which we’ve all been equally as excited about since being invited to play.

So yeah, things are great and we are collectively pumped on the band and where it is going at the moment.

DB: That show looked amazing from the snippets I saw, really great lineup to boot. I noticed you performed several unrecorded songs at the shows here in Naarm/Melb earlier this year - does DC have any plans to record these in the near future? What could that look like?


DL: Yes, we do have a bunch more songs that are just about ready for the world to hear.

We’ve again chosen to record these songs here in Newcastle with our good friend Joe at Woodriver studios after he did such a great job for us last time.

Listeners can expect a couple of longer tracks on this second EP, as well as a hint more hardcore influence. At the moment, we expect to get them out digitally early next year, as well as a physical release through an Australian label with a big and ongoing presence in heavy music that we are super happy to be onboard with. More to come on this announcement 😉

DB: That’s super exciting! Big things coming… Speaking a bit more on the two Naarm shows earlier this year, would you mind sharing a little on how that went for you as a band? I feel like the crowd was super receptive to your sets!

DL: Haha yes “big things coming”. Love that saying… But yeah, the gigs we did down your way in May were with Dream, Inertia, who asked us if we would like to accompany them.

For us it was an easy decision knowing the calibre of music down there, and also the credibility that Dream, Inertia already had having seen them live myself once or twice before.

The weekend basically kicked off with a slightly mixed bill (emo, shoegaze, screamo) show at cafe Gummo, and was followed the night after by a full screamo 6 band lineup at The Old bar in Fitzroy, which you guys headlined as the main event.

It really did go so well. We had the best time and felt so welcomed by the crowd, venues and all people involved.

Sorry to pinch your phrase but I think it’s our new second home haha.

DB: No need to apologise, and happy to have you! Going backwards quickly, I have to bring up that you were in noteable skramz band James Dean in the late 2000’s. For those who don’t know, JD shone bright for a couple of years and left a highly respectable legacy. Would you mind speaking on whether JD has an influence or imprint in how you approach Daisy Chain? Are there any big similarities or differences?

DL: Haha yes, all of the Daisy Chain members were involved in various Newy bands prior to this one which I back pretty hard, but for me it is maybe going back the furthest as James Dean in about 2007 if my (cooked) memory serves me right.

So I guess while essentially both bands come from the same kind of roots genre wise, If you haven’t heard one or either, I’d put James Dean down as a cleaner, more jazzy emo styling than what Daisychain is.

DC is a bit more modern screamo influenced, being gainier and I guess more abrasive sounding.

The other most noticeable difference would be production wise. JD being a fairly DIY based band with low fi means and knowledge to record, comparing to Daisy chain which we chose a more professional approach of studio gear and recording engineer.

These two bands have ran course in what seems like two completely different lifetimes apart for me. There might be some unintentional similarities here or there, but I like to think Daisy chain has been its own thing that came about and moves along in its own natural way and speed, if that makes sense.

DB: Makes total sense! Speaking more about Newy, what is it like living in the Steel City? Does everyone in Daisy Chain live in Newcastle? From our perspective it seems you live quite the lifestyle i.e. beach… surf… van… relax… unlike here which can be at times moody, grey, dark, ‘urban’. Is this assumption true?


DL: Newy rules! Not all of us actually live there though anymore. Ben now resides in Melbourne full time shooting back briefly for friend or family visits and the odd Daisy Chain event. And I live a bit further up in an area called Port Stephens, which could be giving the surfer van life vibes you mention. Newcastle does still carry that feel a bit compared to the other major cities though.

It’s a mix of old school charm with modern development. Throw in the coastal lifestyle/ surf culture and the very evident industrial working history, and you have this one of a kind place we call home.

What’s great about Newcastle is that it’s big enough to always have stuff going on, but small enough to still feel connected to the people and place that it is.

DB: Damn, that sounds idyllic, honestly. Onto other cities, what are some future plans in terms of touring? We’ve seen and heard some chatter…

DL: Like I said earlier, we have had an incredible time playing away this year, so hopefully we can play to a few more interstate audiences next year as well. The two fest type gigs I mentioned earlier were really good to showcase the Aus screamo scene in one big evening’s worth, so we would love to do more events like those in the future.

It feels like with all the great local talent, that more regular, genre-specific mini festivals could be achievable more now than ever.



DB: Hell yeah! Anything we’ve missed?

DL: Gil Cerrone never misses! But parting words, once again thanks for having us aboard, thanks to Team Glasses for your involvement in these shows and advocacy for us always, thanks Bad Habit Records and all the insane bands we are going to play with soon!

The mic is yours for anything else worth adding. Shout outs, additional info, thank yous.

DB: Nothing much left to say! Just a large thank you to Season Three, Bearded Lady and Black Box for having us to perform these shows, thanks to everyone on the who we’ll be playing with (we think these are some of the wildest lineups yet) and thanks to Adam from Team Glasses who helped us book and lock in the Friday and Sunday shows 🙂

DL: November can’t come fast enough! Thanks guys for the chat. Very excited to rock with you all soon!

DB: Likewise, thanks Dane! See you up there soon!

Gil Cerrone perform live with guests Daisy Chain, Dream Inertia, Skin & Ashokas Hell on Sunday 17 NOVEMBER at the Black Box Theatre in Nambour (Old Ambulance Station), 80 Howard St, Nambour.

Time: 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Tix: $20 pre / $25 door

ALL AGES
Click here to book your ticket

Daisy Chain, by Valentine Needham (@fruitbat_foto)

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