Ahead of their nationwide tour, Auckland band Master Blaster run through the songs on their recently released Doomsday EP.
Photo: Supplied
This is part of a regular series called Verse Chorus Verse which sees local artists break down the stories behind their music. For more, click here.
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The Doomsdays EP was recorded live at The Lab in February 2016 by our bass player Tom Anderson, with vocals overdubbed in one of the Whammy Bar booths. Nine songs were recorded in one session. Four of the tracks are included on the Doomsdays EP, four are included on a split 7” with Melbourne fastcore band Hailgun and one song was released as a standalone digital single called Opinion Piece. Tim Shann from The Eversons, who has worked with us previously, mixed and mastered them all in London.
We wanted to keep these recordings raw and stripped back but still sound gritty and full so we used Obliterations’ Poison Everything record mixed by Kurt Ballou as a sonic reference. Doomsdays and No Masters use doubled vocals in places for effect, but otherwise the idea was to capture and present how we sound live.
Doomsdays
This track is about living with the very real and/or unreal threat of global destruction and how that effects a person’s psyche.
Isolation
Isolation is knowing that there's something very wrong with the world but being one insignificant person in billions and unable to do anything about it.
No Masters
"No gods, no masters” is an anarchist and labour slogan. Its English origin comes from a pamphlet handed out by the Industrial Workers of the World during the 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike. The phrase is derived from the French slogan "Ni dieu ni maître !" (literally 'Neither God nor master') coined by the socialist Louis Auguste Blanqui in 1880. I like the idea of this slogan because in four words it sums up much of what I believe in. It’s also good to yell!
Nowhere
Nowhere is being in stasis, scared of change and scared of not changing as the world grinds on without you.
Master Blaster begin their 10-date Doomsdays tour of the country this Friday at Whammy Bar. Head to their Facebook page for more tour dates.