Bad Habit Logo Hornet

Bad Habit Records

Verminate Bad Habit Records

VERMINATE

As a kid, I was obsessed with finding music that was more intense, faster, more extreme. I’d read about Napalm Death in Hot Metal magazine before I’d even heard them, but they were already my favourite band. The way they were described made me just go ‘yes, this is it, this is what I need’. Then moving into ordering grindcore and hardcore and metal stuff online, chasing that more extreme hit. As I got older, I started to wonder how the older guys with Iron Maiden jackets and Buzzcocks shirts thought about these newjack teenagers bastardising and mangling what they’d pioneered and making some otherworldly distorted gross version.

Thirty years later, when I listen to Verminate and others like them, I realise perhaps I’ve finally become like those dusty old traditional rockers. Verminate is modern grindcore with samples, digital recording and pitch shifter style vocals – enough to inspire a lengthy old man rant about the perils of eroded attention spans and endless options of extremity to pick from. Compared to listening to Black Sabbath on vinyl, it is indeed an otherworldly and overwhelming experience.

Verminate play in Nambour this Sunday with Diploid (Naarm/Melb), AGLO (Naarm/Melb) and Street Suffer (Meanjin/Bris). I asked them some questions. They answered them.

BAD HABIT: Hello Verminate. I wanted to start with asking about you as people vs the style you play. You guys are both such lovely people and it’s always a joy when you visit the shop, yet you play this real dirty style of music that traditionally has been characterised by gross/violent sexism and real bottom-of-the-barrel mouth-breather vibes. I feel like you are actively subverting those connotations but also embracing the goofiness of it all, nearly to the point of parody. I just wanted to ask if there's been discussion amongst yourselves on the ethics of da slam scene, and any thoughts on squaring some of those contradictions.

Verminate: It's always a joy to visit the shop! The prevalence of sexism in the slam and brutal death metal scene is definitely something we're aware of and doing everything we can to avoid. It seems to be a go-to for many as an easy way to shock. Shock value isn't something that we've gone for, aside from some album art, but even that is tongue in cheek. There’s a quote from the band Torture in a recent interview that we really like, "You could talk about murdering women or an exploding head or something, but that’s just not as scary to me as genocide”. While we're definitely guilty of talking about exploding heads and the like, we definitely agree with that sentiment.

BH: Listening to Verminate from the perspective of an older person, it sounds like some malfunctioning glitched out tik tok feed filtered through horror movies and modern hardcore. This could be the soundtrack to being young in the modern world? Idk? I wanted to ask about the human condition and growing into adulthood in this era. How does the world affect your generation specifically, compared to older generations? And how does that drive you to create music and participate underground culture?

V: With how accessible making music is now, it’s become our outlet for creativity and expressing personal interests, whether it’s media that we like or things we just found funny. Excessive samples and influences from just about any genre being accepted parts of slam, almost an essential part of modern slam, lets us get away with throwing in things we love.

This modern wave of the genre is really led by young people, with the aforementioned current accessibility of making music leading to so many young people starting their own projects and bands that can act as a voice for the generation. We've seen many of these younger bands use their music to discuss LGBT+ issues and to show their support for the people of Palestine and so on, and it always seems to be done in a very genuine and tasteful way.

The prevalence of samples taken from social media could also be indicative of a struggle so far unique to our generation, with social media having become a big part of our lives, and a controlling part of many people’s lives. This previously unseen level of connectivity that so many are exposed to from such a young age has brought so much with it, both positive and negative. Both the struggles and culture of our generation really seem to be channelled into a lot of the music, ours included.

Verminate Bad Habit Records 1

BH: Let’s ditch the heavy questions for a second, it hurt my brain just trying to articulate the last two questions. There's a bit of an all ages hardcore renaissance happening in Brisbane and to a lesser extent Nambour. What roles are the members of Verminate playing in this movement? What can people do to be part of it? What can we all do to help it thrive?

V: We've been going to local shows for a while but mostly in the kinda indie punk scene where everyone seems to start, gig goers and bands alike. It's where we've made a lot of friends and really gotten to be ourselves. From there, it's been awesome going to more hardcore shows as they're starting to happen a lot more frequently. Local gigs had previously been mostly about the community and showing support for local acts, and while we did certainly enjoy the music, it's great to now be involved in a scene with bands whose music we genuinely love.

Just by attending a show, people are bound to make friends and it's so good to feel like part of a community. Starting a band is also super achievable. We managed to do it without a drummer haha. It seems really daunting but starting/joining a band with friends and getting involved in the scene that way isn't out of reach for anyone. Just showing up to shows does so much to help the scene thrive. Also creating; whether it's a zine, art or music, just adding something to the scene, no matter how small, can go a long way.

BH: What are some local and non-local bands people should investigate? What direction is your listening heading towards? Any new stuff that’s blown your mind?  

V: As for local bands, there's the obvious hardcore giants at the moment like Wetwork and Struckdown, as well as some up-and-coming bands like Street Suffer. The single that Flail just put out is great, really looking forward to more from them. Expulsed is a Brisbane brutal death metal band that I don’t think are active anymore but their album is ridiculously good. For non-local, Piss Leech and Rotten Terror are both our good friends and are definitely worth checking out, they've been putting out some great stuff. A band that we recently found is Girl of Glass, been listening to their EP a lot and we've been really wanting to channel a bit of their sound.

BH: Any last words? When’s a Verminate tape out? What can we expect for the Namba Show??

V: Tapes won’t be far off at all! Excited to start making some more physical media. The upcoming show is the first we've played alongside other bands in hardcore and metal, and at a bucket list venue, so we're very excited. We're gonna make sure we give it our all. Really appreciate the opportunity for the interview, can’t wait for the show.

Sunday 14 July
Black Box Theatre Namba
DIPLOID (Narrm/Melb)
AGLO (Narrm/Melb)
STREET SUFFER (Meanjin/Bris)
VERMINATE (Meanjin/Bris)
2pm to 8pm - ALL AGES
Tickets $20 or $25 on the door - BOOK HERE

Bad Habit would like to thank Anti-VisionNo No Records and Gutter Prince Cabal for the help and support for this gig!

Read more Bad Habit interviews

Visit the online shop

Sell us your Stuff

Free appraisal service - record collections, figurines, band merch.
Click here

Related Articles

Hacker

Hacker are one of the best Australian hardcore bands right now. With a demo, LP and 7" under their belt, they are finally making it to Nambour and Brisbane, joining Italian punx Golpe for part of their Australian tour. Check them out on Sunday 19 Jan at the Black Box in Nambour from 6pm. This […]

Continue reading
ANTENNA

I'll get straight to the point. The Antenna shows this weekend will probably be your best chance to see them in smaller rooms before they become a much bigger band. You can feel the hype building around them, people who can influence tastes are on to them. And the songs are the best sort of […]

Continue reading
GOOD FOOD

There’s nothing quite like a serious injury to stop you in your tracks and force you to take a long hard look at your life. Liam Matsen knows the story all too well, after YOLO-ing his way to a broken spine and two cracked ribs a couple years back. To his credit, Liam has since […]

Continue reading

Shop

View More

Instagram

7"s up on webstore now. Go check it out or swing by the shop today til 5.30. ...

11 0 instagram icon

We now have a sock section. As a teenager one of the greatest places to go was the oddball t-shirt shop in the old half empty mall. 15 different Iron Maiden designs, those shirts with every classic UK punk band printed all other the front, velcro wallets with a weed leaf and rasta colours. Anything your young heart desired. In an effort to replicate that vibe, here`s some Misfits, Slipknot, Mayhem and Cannibal Corpse socks. Instore and on the webstore. ...

26 0 instagram icon

Gig announcement. Hear ye, Hear ye. Medieval peace punkers are touring on their new record Confere, released on Relapse Records.

Joining them will be @slowcutband @workquestionmark (launching their 1st tape) and @flail.sludge

Get your tickets via the link tree in the bio.

cheers @antivision.aus @hardcore_victim @relapserecords
...

328 8 instagram icon