A QUICK CHAT WITH MECHA MECHA
Mecha Mecha, the rockers hailing from Meanjin/Brisbane, have recently released their single 'My Hero The Homewrecker' and accompanying music video. Showcasing the perfected essence of Mecha Mecha's unique sound, they blur the lines of dark indie rock and neo-classical metal, featuring electric violin, bass, and drums, creating an enrapturing and electric sound. With a flair for the dramatic and theatrical, the accompanying music video is a spectacle sure to draw attention, adding to their impressive list of achievements. We had a yarn with brothers, Angelo and Walter, but the conversation ended up between themselves… as you may expect from brothers (you’ll see what we mean).
Can you tell us what this track means to you and what you want people to take away from it?
W: It's hardly profound, just very personal. A good, but mercurial relationship that helped me to grow up a bit. She helped me a lot, and was very patient with me. Without sounding too bleak, I suppose it serves as a reminder that we all go through this stuff, not to diminish someone's pain but to remind them that suffering is a fairly normal part of life, and that it all passes.
A: Walter writes the lyrics so, he determines the meaning.
Who are some of your influences and why?
A: We grew up on some really historical, raw, world music. Like, Hungarian folk music, Chantes Tziganes de Hongrie by Ando Drom, which our Dad seemed to play around us a lot, along with Buena Vista Social Club, The Gypsy Kings,
W: Lucky Dube
A: Manu Chao
W: There's the obvious ones too. I spent a lot of energy avoiding the M-word (Muse), but I'm actually finding it to be quite beneficial just openly saying I was extremely influenced by their sound, even mid career, The 2nd Law, came out when I was finishing school, but Origin of Symmetry and Absolution will forever have a huge impact on me.
A: But yeah like;Tool, Deftones, Radiohead, Nirvana, Primus, Rage Against the Machine, Jeff Buckley, Alice in Chains, Avenged Sevenfold, and Nine Inch Nails.
W: I think the only rock/metal drums that Ange actually really takes on influentially is the drumming from Deftones.
A: I love Igorrr though too.
W: Yeah but you can't play that.
A: I'm more influenced by EDM and hip hop than rock I'll admit. Our violinist Isaac really likes The Strokes, aaaaaaaaand.....Coldplay, I don't know how much he likes Ween, but he's been talking a lot about Ween.
W: I'd say Thornhill had a huge influence on me, with allowing the production to get as heavy as we did when we were producing My Hero the Homewrecker. I was listening to Casanova LITERALLY 12 hours a day when it came out. I mean literally, I didn't stop playing it.
What's the creative process for you, from writing through to recording?
W: I usually come up with one musical idea, often a bass line, convert it into a chord progression on to the piano, then sing melodies over it, and then make up lyrics that don't mean anything on to it. The lyrics are usually tweaked when I work out what I want the song to be about.
I think most bands fall somewhere on the line graph between, for want of a better term, Dictatorships versus Democracy bands, the former being where one musician usually writes everything and the others are just expected to learn what they're given, the latter being an even musical contribution between all members. I think most bands like to think they're a democracy, though we're definitely closer to the other end of the spectrum.
A: I'll sometimes help Walter with cleaning up his lyrics, as he never writes anything down ever so it sometimes gets a bit vague. Isaac and I will add our violin and drums parts after the core of the song has been brought to us.
What do you think makes a great song?
A: I think that's...subjective. I like what hasn't been done before.
W: I like when something has been done before and people don't notice. I think there's a skill in writing a song with as little changes as possible. I don't think it's that phenomenal when a prog or metal band just shoves seemingly random, or often deliberately random, drop tuned riffs next to each other, without any songwriting rules, there's no limitations for the songwriter, meaning you're not forced to play with any of the combinations within the confines of the progression you're writing over.
I think the reason our first single was so well, or at least relatively well received is that the song was so familiar, almost like a folk song. Josh Terry, an influencer on Instagram just posted about this topic last week, saying; "The four chord song structure creates an infinite set of expressions because the mind is able to grasp it when the limit is set".
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
A: Lil B.
W: He's not actually being sarcastic. I errrr....definitely Laure Le Prunenec, one of the singers previously in the French Baroque-Grindcore cum dubstep act Igorrr, the band of which Angelo and I feel has been manufactured for our personal listening.
A: It's like all those influences we mentioned earlier were training for us to enjoy Igorrr, the culmination of all those influences at once.
W: It's the best music ever written as far as I'm concerned. Calling Laurie a phenomenal vocalist is an understatement, she has to be one of the most technically skilled singers in the world at the moment. I'd love to work with her.
She has her own project too, and her manager actually reached out to us via instagram during the release of our heaviest single Caught in a Cage, to congratulate us on the release.
Actually, I'd love to do a trap or drum and bass track with Tim Henson from Polyphia, that'd be the dream. I can't believe the dude is in his 30s too.
When not working on music, what other creative outlet/s do you have?
W: Ange is a gamer, and goes to festivals and doofs.
A: I mean we're both going to Earthfreq this weekend.
W: I'm literally working. Isaac does all sorts of things, takes small acting gigs, and runs comedy shows, but as is the experience for most violinists, he's constantly sought after for studio time and folk gigs. Somehow he manages to work out every single day too.
A: Walter doesn't really do anything else but work two jobs and play music, he's in a deathcore band and a pop-singer songwriter electronic outfit.
W: Yeah I'm pretty busy at the moment.
Who are some local bands we should check out?
Both: Zanna Black, she's a creative singer songwriter who's basically just starting out.
Winter or summer and why?
A: Summer all the way.
W: yuck shut up it's only cold for like 6 months of the decade in Brisbane, and you can put layers on.
A: Yeah but it physically hurts. We're going to freeze this weekend.
What else do you have planned for 2023?
W: We're moving away from Music videos. We've been sort of living up to the standard created, basically accidentally by our first one, Dealbreaker, we've got a bunch of singles basically already recorded that just need mixing and we're going to start pumping them out. We'll probably use CHATGPT to generate album artwork and to find us a visualiser to accompany the songs, boom boom.
Follow Mecha Mecha
Spotify | Apple Music | Facebook | Soundcloud