The Controllers are definitely an upcoming force to be reckoned with. Soon to be an unrelenting wind these guys dropped their new ep Animals March 20th and its certainly a jam and a half, there’s a raw punk aspect infused with elements of good old folk punk, a newish kind of sound which is certainly worth checking out, and as quite a coincidence, you can this weekend! Head on down to The Workers Club, Melbourne and show some love to these upbeat rockers, we caught up with the guys for a quick q and a after a solid week listening to Animals!
1. You bring a very rocky sound to your composition, who would you say is a major inspiration for you both lyrically and in an overall musical composition?
I’d say my main influence for writing music would be folk punks ‘Against Me!’ but I don’t think it really comes across at all in our music. The first two EP’s I wrote definitely have an alternative rock feel about them, rather than a punk feel. I’m always writing songs and I think recently a more punky vibe has been coming across both lyrically and musically. In terms of what I write songs about or where I draw my lyrical inspiration, it’s pretty much whatever mood I’m in or what’s surrounding me that I write about. I feel like I write better music when I’m in a bitter mood, so not too many of the songs have a particularly happy feeling.
2. What would you say is the most critically important part of creating your own sound?
I guess just so people can easily tell it’s you and not one of the other million rock bands in the world. You want people to hear your music and your lyrics and feel like they can relate without feeling like ‘has this already happened?’ or ‘where have I heard this before?’
3. What would you mark as the greatest achievements of your career thus far?
I’m not sure if you’d call a year and a half a ‘career’ but playing in a couple of big festivals and releasing two EPs to the world is pretty cool, I guess!
4. You’re a relatively new band, what are 3 things you’ve leant while establishing your presence?
From what I’ve learnt in the past year and a half:
1. Make friends with as many bands (especially interstate bands) as you can, without being a sycophant, because it makes touring so much easier.
2. Don’t play 365 gigs each year in your own city because you want to make the shows you do play count. A good reputation for bringing numbers to shows gets you better shows with bigger bands.
3. Be creative with everything including music, the way you come across and even your photo shoots. It gets people more interested in you. There’s enough photo’s out there of bands looking down at the camera with a serious face standing in a line in the middle of a forest. It’s lame. Do cool things.
5. Create your own dream show, including the venue and the acts you’d play alongside
Haha I wouldn’t care whether it was in a shitty little basement or a huge stadium, but if we could play with Against Me!, Refused and At The Drive In…. that’d be a dream.
MILLI RANSOM