The upcoming Full Stop Festival at the Bendigo Hotel on May 11 is more than just another charity gig promoting the harder edge of music.
It is a festival with a major organisation at its core – the Full Stop Foundation – whose main aim is to raise awareness and stop the increasingly prevalent occurrence of domestic violence and sexual assault. Rather than use music as a backdrop to the real issues at hand, the Full Stop Festival is utilising bands and musicians to spread awareness and hopefully resolution for a cause that has unfortunately been a long-standing blight on society.
“They are a foundation that supports the work of rape and domestic violence services in Australia”, affirmed Spyke Jagerkreig, vocalist for Melbourne Death Metal band Scaphis when pressed on the cause behind the movement. “Their tagline, I guess, is the time for discussion has passed and it’s time for action. Sexual assault and domestic violence are the most common crimes committed in Australia and they want it to stop”.
The use of heavier music to promote the foundation is a brave, yet necessary risk, with the unfortunate fact being that many people collate heavy music and violence as one and the same, but although Spyke admits there are elements of aggression in their music, she insists bands such as Scaphis are by no means purveyors of such actions.
“I think it’s a difficult line to define”, she measured. “The music itself is pretty violent and there’s usually a lot of violent themes but the people who make it are usually giant sweethearts and not violent at all. That’s a really good thing about this festival is you have music that sounds violent but it’s for a non-violent cause and it will show people how non-violent metalheads can be”.
In the full interview Spyke introduces us to the people behind the festival, explains what she hopes to get out of the day, personal experience with such behaviour at concerts, how to eradicate such instances, tells about the history of Scaphis and what to expect on the day, their guest drummer for the show, the diversity in bands on the bill and more.
