By Will Oakeshott
One of the best characteristics which an article of art represents, is passion. Whether an individual or a group collective piece, its creation and therefore representation through the consuming devotion and heartfelt ardour is what captivates the admirers and enhances the artists’ journey and their endeavours. If there is one principle which governs Massachusetts melodic hardcore punk outfit A Wilhelm Scream, it is without doubt ‘passion.’ Just bearing witness to the quintet’s live performance for barely a minute, and the onlooker will observe five crazed musical maniacs visibly having the time of their united lives and infecting all that surrounds them. So when this scribe (a self-professed aficionado of the band) enthusiastically enquires guitarist Mike Supina about the five-piece’s intense adoration for live performance and if it is their most thrilling motive, his response was refreshingly humble and even delighted:
“Definitely! And thank you for liking the band so much and enjoying what we do. But you hit the nail on the head, we do adore playing live. There isn’t necessarily a spoken theme between any of us, but we just all happen to have that motif which I think works really well with us as a band. We know that at any minute, anything could happen; something could literally occur that will prevent us from being in a position where we cannot do what we do and therefore we should never take it for granted. Especially when we play to people who want to see us, it doesn’t matter if it is five people, 500 people or 5,000; they are to see us so we have to play to our best ability and have a great time doing it. We do this for the fans and we always enjoy doing it.”
As quoted in author Dorothy L. Sayers’ novel Gaudy Night: “The worst sin – perhaps the only sin – passion can commit, is to be joyless”; this extract could quite literally be A Wilhelm Scream’s next live album title. This troupe of jubilant punks consistently deliver night after night the best fun live performance visibly known in the genre, perhaps further. But these five gentlemen are still human and as with every person in existence, an emotional fluctuation is felt faster than what time could possibly decipher. So how does A Wilhelm Scream continually and authentically appear to be floating on cloud nine once they hit the stage?
“You know it’s funny, I could be kind of silly and somewhat honest and just say ‘beer’; it’s really not that though, it helps that’s for sure (laughs) But there have been times where I have done long overnight drives, which I actually thoroughly enjoy, as a matter of fact there was one show in Vancouver where we had to drive for like fifteen hours or more overnight. Anyways I ended up doing the majority of that trip as the driver and ended up becoming rather ill.”
Was there a quick fix antidote to help this rather horrific situation?
“Honestly, backstage just before we were set to go on I looked like a zombie. HOWEVER, the second we hit the stage I completely forgot about it and had the time of my life. It’s really hard to explain it but once that first chord is hit, it’s instant happiness and nothing else matters for however long we are onstage for. It isn’t an obligation by any means, it genuinely and naturally happens which is simply awesome.”
As has been repeatedly reported in this article, the quintet dominates in a live scenario and fortunately their recorded output is equally as impressive. Their most recent and sixth studio album Partycrasher released in 2013 impossibly captures the band’s live intensity and unbelievable precision; a fantastic addition to their discography. Somewhat surprisingly though, upon listening to the eleven metallic-fused-punk party anthems, one would determine that the five-piece must have been meticulously prepared before entering the studio. But Supina insists that this was not actually the case:
“It’s funny, because some of the songs were not entirely finished when we recorded Partycrasher. So some of it was done on the spot, myself included, as some of the songs I had written in particular were quite incomplete. Truthfully, (Trevor Reilly, Guitar and backing vocals) also had some unfinished songs too when we began recording.”
Mike continues: “We remodelled the studio that we recorded the full-length in and we were learning the whole time how everything worked, there were countless days just where we were sitting in a haze of wonderment trying to teach ourselves. With the ‘Pro-Tools’ program we kept encountering ‘DAE errors’ and also ‘AAE errors’ where we were literally clueless, we would just stare at each other and say ‘What the f*ck man?’; so I went onto a website called ‘Gearslutz’ and researched why it was happening. It literally stopped us recording for a long drawn out period of time, it really kicked my ass both mentally and physically.”
Smooth sailing and diligent preparation was apparently not the case, but upon one listen of Partycrasher this is strictly impossible to believe. There are three facts that should be mentioned at this point however: Firstly, this was in fact Mike Supina’s first full-length recorded as a member of A Wilhelm Scream. Secondly, the prodigy contributed both guitar and lyrics to the record. Then finally, he also undertook the responsibility of an engineering role during the album’s production. Quite possibly a fair bit of responsibility to shoulder for his first Wilhelm rodeo?
“It wasn’t just me and really the experience was rather amazing. I was so lucky to have Trevor also being a part of the engineering team for the record because if I was too exhausted or stressed by whatever, he could just step in and really help out also. We could just change it up too, like switch to doing vocals or overdubs instead of just following a formula or doing drums or even laying down our own guitar parts. It was refreshing to have breaks and mix it up than overdo one specific part or trying to fix some problem. We certainly became very self-sufficient.”
And writing lyrics?
“There were a couple of songs that I contributed lyrically to. I brought one song to the band Wild Turkey, I wrote a couple of the lines to that song but Nuno (Pereire, Vocals) did write most of that song. Whatever I came up with though, at the time I was like ‘Well this is f*ckin’ shit, Nuno does a way better job [laughs]’ There were a couple of other songs though: Ice Man Left A Trail and Hairy Scarecrow, those two were my first stab at writing lyrics for songs that made the album. It was a lot of fun doing that, I had Trevor coach me to a degree. He would ask me what I meant with the lyrics I had written; whether it was to try something different or ask me where I was coming from with other words I had written. It was really supportive and helped the ideas develop, it was great learning experience and I am just stoked that they were stoked with me doing that.”
The readers of this fine publication are probably at this point wondering if A Wilhelm Scream really are that sensational live if they have not been privy to their performance prior. Luckily for the fine nation of Australia, we will be hosting the five-piece in a matter of weeks and Mr. Supina and co. could not be more enraptured.
“Absolutely! We actually even have a day off in Melbourne, which is probably my favourite city in the world and conveniently it is around my birthday, clearly I am super stoked. But just being back in Australia in general is incredible; especially since we are returning so soon, from memory we were there just last year. Usually it is every two years or sometimes more, so we are obviously ecstatic.”
Here it would seem almost obligatory to say that track number two on Partycrasher entitled The Last Laugh is exactly what this tour will entail.
Partycrasher is out now through No Idea Records.
A Wilhelm Scream: Tour Dates 2016
19 May – Rosemount Hotel, Perth (18)+ – Tickets here
With The Decline, Alex The Kid and Dead End Brawler
20 May – Crowbar, Brisbane (18+) – Tickets here
With The Decline, The Gifthorse and Greyface
21 May – Factory Floor, Sydney (18+) – Tickets here *SELLING FAST!*
With The Decline, Dividers and Nerdlinger
22 May – Rad Bar, Wollongong (AA) – Tickets here *SELLING FAST!*
With The Decline and The Great Awake
25 May – The Basement, Canberra (18+) – Tickets here
With The Decline, Nerdlinger and The Revellers
26 May – The Reverence, Melbourne (18+) – Tickets here *SELLING FAST!*
With The Decline, Anchors and Tigers
27 May – Uni Bar, Adelaide (AA) – Tickets here
With The Decline and Hightime
28 May – Brisbane Hotel, Hobart (18+) – Tickets here
With The Decline, Achors and Knife Hands
