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Now playing: DecemptionClick to purchase now...
"Its hard to believe it all started with a guy jumping out of a bus dressed in a tiger suit" laughs bassist Ant as he recalls his first encounter with his future vocalist Gene, whom he met at the Big Day Out in 1999. A month later the two met for a jam in the garage of fellow school mate Flynns place, along with drummer Eliott. "It was so bad" says Flynn of the first meeting. "We didnt know any full song between the four of us, but what we did have was a sense of the excitement at the potential fun a band could bring."
What followed was a once a week jam in Flynns lounge room with the shittest gear you could think of. "Im talking 20 watt guitar amps here and me singing through a 10 watt guitar amp!" offers vocalist Gene. "While we didnt have much to show at the start, by the years end we had a new drum kit, guitars, amps and our own P.A, all payed for by ourselves. An achievement we were very proud of!" grins drummer Eliott.
This cumulated with the bands very first gig at an end of year party in Nov 99 at a house in Gold St, Toowoomba. "Im not sure we were even called Decemption back then, we may have still been going under the name Kathada but anyway here we were, 4 little 16year olds on a makeshift stage with hired strobe lights busting out 15 or so covers the best we could" laughs Ant. "As far as first gig experiences go, we had a pretty good one, with the crowd loving us until the police came and shut us down due to a noise complaint."
This experience had given the band a taste of what fun being in a band could bring and in 2000 while studying year 12, the band entered and won the Rock Eisteddfod competition for their area. "We were going by the name Decemption by this time and played at the Empire Theatre and seriously, it was so fucking nerve racking being up on a stage that big and staring out into the black of night, not knowing how badly we were dieing on stage" says Eliott, "but at least I wasnt Gene, he had to try to sing to that type of audience." The band also played and won their battle of bands comp that year and had their first ever stage diving experiences after the gig, with Ants now infamous stage dive caught on videotape for all time.
Whilst graduating school, Decemption began writing their songs that would go onto makeup their first demo EP Bring Him Out. They saved up 2 ½ grand and went to Brisbane in April 2001 to record 5 tracks at a then relatively unknown Modern Music studios. "It was the most exciting thing we had done as a band and as a group of mates to that date enthuses Gene. I was very proud of what, us, as 17years olds, produced for our very first time in a studio." The session produced their most popular song at that time, a tune called Neuroticism. The CD was only ever manufactured by the band themselves locally in their hometown and sold at their popular gigs at a place called the National Hotel in 2001-02.
"In this time we played various festivals in Brisbane and made it to the semi finals of the QLD rock awards, all the while myself and Gene moved to Brisbane for work and study" says Eliott. After supporting bands such as Ochre and Melodyssey the members of Decemption decided at the start of 2003 that they would not play live until they had written and recorded all new material for a new CD.
Many months followed spending every Tuesday and Thursday nights driving the 240km round trip between Toowoomba and Brisbane, practising for their new CD. In late October 2003 the band entered the by now famous Modern Music studios once again to record their debut EP. The Colour Of Nothing. With the assistance of Stu Niven (Parkway Drive, King Mungi) the band recorded 7 tracks clocking in at over 30mins. By the time mixing, mastering and artwork was completed, the cd was released by the band on March 16, 2004.
"People who had previously heard us were shocked to hear the final result. We had incorporated samples and effects into our heavy song structures in a way that people werent expecting, and fuck we even managed to pull of a girl speaking in a haunting voice, juxtaposed against Genes guttural roar in the song Katealice, and it worked!" muses Ant.
Response to the CD was overwhelmingly positive with the band scoring support slots with Japunga and Devolved because of it. 2004 was to be a hectic year for the band with them playing the most shows they ever had as a group, but it payed off with The Colour Of Nothing selling over 500 copies without any advertising. Not a bad effort by any means. The groups first merchandise and interstate touring was to follow with shirts becoming available in early 2005 along with a northern NSW tour.
Chuck in a performance at the Woodstock Festival in front of 1000 people where they were the heaviest band of the weekend and Decemption were ready to begin work on the follow up record. "We wanted songs that would crush the listener on a live level but maintained clarity on disc" states Flynn. This process began to take shape at the Conservatorium of Music at Griffith University and Bloodstock Studios on the Gold Coast with producer/friend Dan Sugars throughout 2005.
"Dan was fantastic and through many late nights and chops and changes to songs, we feel we have come up with a batch of songs that meet that criteria" says Gene. "I think as an overall effort, it is much more consistent, with the band evolving to its heaviest form yet." "And quite confidently, it will rip you a new arsehole several times" over laughs Eliott.
With the band now based in Brisbane and the record The Imminent Betrayal Of Innocence recently mastered in Sydney at Turtle Rock Studios just over 2 weeks ago, the band are keen to release this beast upon the public as soon as possible. "Only a handful of people outside the band have heard any completed tracks and we cant wait to carve it up on stage once again as its been so long that we promise to make up for lost time!"
Decemption 2006.
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