Michael Crafter - Confession (23/11/2013)
Touring nationally on the Vans Warped Tour Australia, we chat with Michael Crafter, vocalist for Melbourne hardcore four piece, Confession, about Australia's hardcore scene, Warped, and touring with Parkway Drive.
Hi, so first up, would you prefer Mike or Crafter?
Yeah, Crafter’s probably better or I’ll feel like I’m in trouble or something.
*laughs* Alright then. Now, you’re playing Warped tour this year, it’s absolutely loaded with bands who are known to have a great presence on stage and Confession are no exception. How do you manage to get the crowd going at every show?
At big festivals and stuff it’s really easy because people are there to have fun and have a good time, so basically whatever you say, they’re gonna do. We’re playing early in the day, so people will still have endless amounts of energy by then, they won’t be too sunburnt or have heatstroke by that point.
Yeah hopefully they won’t be too drunk either
*laughs* Nah, it’s probably better when they’re too drunk cause then they just go way crazy and do whatever.
Alright, now I saw you recently on the 10 year tour with Parkway Drive and you told a story about the old days when the boys took laxatives on stage (as a dare before their set and had to rush to the toilets after the set and “sprayed the walls”), do you have any new ones from the recent tour to share with us?
Oh no, they’re so boring, they’re just so old! The most exciting thing to happen to them these days, they’re like, their day, like, this is what’s so fucking weird about them, they’ll go to bed at like 2am in the morning after finishing a show. None of them really party or anything, they’re up at fucking four or five in the morning so… yeah. Like, they’ll drive two hours or something to the surf, and get there, and it’ll be like, completely flat. And it took them two hours to get there! Then they’ll surf for a couple of hours, drive back and be back in time for soundcheck!
And that’s when you’ve just woken up?
*laughs* yeah I’ve slept through all that, I’m still asleep. Half of them in their crew are all the same as well, we all rock up fresh and they show up to the show all covered in sand cause they’ve been out in the surf all day.
*laughs* well I suppose after they’ve been doing it for so many years they’ve got the routine down.
Ah yeah, the surfer routine throughout the day, they’ve got it mastered over the years.
Now, I just watched a video of you in Japan and I especially like your shout to ‘Mr Miyagi’
*laughs*
Were the shows different to what you’ve come to expect in Australia?
The shows were actually really really good, there was a lot of people at like the festival shows we did, there was a lot of people singing along and stuff like that which was kinda crazy. But the smaller shows were kind of weird because they were in places, that weren’t like… they’re not cities you know? They don’t get a lot of fucking shows through there, but like Tokyo and stuff were real crazy. But in between songs they get like, real real quiet and awkward, I don’t know why. Like, we’ll finish playing a song and they’ll just stop and be like dead. And we’ll be like… why is everyone so quiet? Make some noise, or something! Like, talk! But they’re so polite, they’re just waiting for what you’re going to say. Even though they don’t understand anything. I don’t know, a quarter of the room probably understands bits of what I’m saying. But, in very broken English. Like, we had people that would communicate with other people for us, but even with the bands we were playing with, we were having to explain stuff. Real slowly for them to understand… well Australians talk fast and we’re pretty loud, we’re pretty obnoxious I reckon actually.
A bit different to what they’re used to.
Yeah, so we’re the loudest people everywhere when we were there. I think people were a bit taken aback by us a little bit.
I think that’s a bit different to the Australian crowds you play to where almost every show there’s someone who’s going to yell out “Fuck Crafter!"
Oh yeah, there’s always something being yelled out, that’s for sure. Like, someone’ll call me a boxhead or something, it’s pretty common over here. I think everytime I swore in Japan, everyone looked at me like I was committing an offence. So… maybe I was? Maybe it was actually chargeable? *laughs*.
Yeah, you had Doyle Perez with you in Japan, you had him at Soundwave, and you re-recorded the Long Way Home single, and This Is a War with him, what was your decision to bring him along for the ride?
I wanted someone, like obviously we had tours coming up and someone who could sing the singing parts already on the album. It was a good idea, because I wanted someone who could sing the stuff, and who could play guitar real well. Yeah it was good, until his D at Sea (Doyle’s solo project) stuff started getting so busy, that he couldn’t juggle two things anymore. It was like, he said to me, “I can’t juggle two things while I’m doing the D at Sea album.” While we were doing our album, he just said “I just don’t have it in me to do two albums at once” so I was like “Yeah that’s cool, we’ll just keep writing what we’re doing and you do what you’re doing, and yeah, we’ll go our separate ways.” Which isn’t too hard for the band, it’s not like he came in and did like, five fucking albums and we’re losing an integral member, like it’s not the be all and all, you know? It’s not like we’re The Amity Affliction and we’re losing Ahren or you know… something like one of those bands that are massive where there’s one person that people are obsessed with, and that’s going to lose their whole fan base. So, we’ll just write an album, well we’ve written the album, it’s all heavy so then we don’t need to have all these singing parts or have to have singing. Like, we have singing and stuff in the old songs when we play them but the main focus is the new album and yeah, we’re a real heavy band.
I was about to ask you about that, since you did say at the Melbourne Parkway show that the new album would be completely different to the Long Way Home with no clean singing, and straight up hardcore. What brought you to that decision?
Finding a singer that can sing is always good. But finding someone who can fit into the band is also better you know? I’d rather have a guitarist that can write, or a bassist that can write that and be there and have a heavy input in other ways and not worry about singing. Like, everyone has clean singing parts nowadays, so many bands come out with it. So we thought we’d try and go back to the way we started and have real real heavy parts and real real aggressive vocals and I dunno, big sing-alongs you know? Not focus on singing parts and that kind of style? We kind of want to get away from the style that everyone else seems to be doing.
Well you’d think that The Amity Affliction have probably got the monopoly on that at the moment.
Oh totally, like that band is one step ahead, like 10 steps ahead of everyone else you know? They’re so good at what they do, no-one comes close to it in Australia that’s for sure, and no-one will. I think, unless you have an Ahren or something that can unbelievably sing and have the catchiest hooks, you’re just putting something in place for the sake of putting it in place. I feel I could do screaming and heavy parts where the singing parts are, and do it better? Not like *mocking self important tone* “Oh it’s better blah blah blah”, but more like, for what we’re trying to do, it will fit those bits better for what we’re writing for the new album, rather than throwing a singing part in for the sake of having a singing part. Unless like, it’s catchy as, and you’ve got someone singing that part, I guess, I think it’s just a waste of time for us. So yeah, we’ll just do some real heavy parts and big breakdowns and fast parts and go back as a meat and potatoes kind of band. Real simple and straight up, and we’ll obviously have the elements of melodic metal kind of parts and stuff, and rock-y kind of parts and stuff. Because I think it’s always the phrasing over the top of the riffs that’s really gonna make a riff good or not.
Yeah true. Also, with The Amity Affliction they’re known to almost be in love with their fans, and you come out and talk to fans and stuff like that. That seems to be a pretty important part of the music industry nowadays.
Yeah, well I think if you don’t go chat with the fanbase and go see people, you know, I don’t look at people like they’re fans you know. I just think of people as people who come and see a show and that like a band, and if they come up and talk to me enough, I’ll know who they are. Because, I’m always selling merch, especially on the Parkway tour, where Jed (Gordon, older brother of drummer Ben) was selling merch for Parkway and me and him just talked shit all night. Like, that’s what’s good, I’m hanging with one of my mates, and yeah, that’s it. I think that’s just a massive thing, you can’t just go sit out the back. Unless you’re fucking Winston or something, unless you’re gonna walk out and basically get fingered by 50 billion fans *laughs*. Yeah obviously, he’s gotta stay out the back, he can’t come out and see everyone. But yeah, if he sees a kid in the street and they say “Hey man, how’s it going?” he’d be stoked to talk to them. But a person like that can’t really talk to them, because one person sees them, and then fucking four hundred people come running up. You’ve just gotta tell the difference like, where your bands at, and yeah if it’s dangerous *laughs*.
*laughs* Do you ever want to be at that level like Winston getting mobbed? Or you prefer to just have casual chats?
Oh well, years and years ago when I was in I Killed The Prom Queen, it was pretty crazy and stuff. But nowadays, I like stuff being casual, I don’t really mind how big the band gets because I’ve got family, and I’ve got a lot more going on than just music in my life. So, it depends, just a lucky thing I get to do now and again. But yeah, it’s taking it seriously, but at the same time having a real level head about it because music isn’t the be all and end all of life you know? It’s just a release, where, for me, I get something to say and get out on tour and see new places. Rather than striving to be the best band or the biggest band you know, I just want to relate some words I’ve got to say, and get to see some cool shit and have some fun.
Sounds great. Now quickly before you go, who do you want to see on the Warped lineup?
Millencolin.
Really?
Unbelievably good. Like, I’m obsessed. Absolutely obsessed with the band. Not as obsessed as I am with Blink-182, but nearly.
Did you catch them earlier on this year at Soundwave?
Yeah, I watched them everyday. Every show I watched them. I even went and watched them at the sideshows.
So you were one of those dedicated fans?
I’m like a fifteen year old girl with Blink. Like, they’d walk past me at Soundwave and I’d be like *in awe* “ohhh… fuck.”
*laughs*
I got too scared to ask them for a photo. I just got a photo with Chester from Linkin Park, which was massive. Like, a big event in my life. Me and Ahren got photos with him, we were walking away and we were like “Yes we just got a photo with the guy from Linkin Park!”. So, they were massive, that’s for sure.
Awesome. Well unfortunately, we’ve run out of time but thanks for chatting with The 59th Sound today.
That’s alright mate, thanks for chatting, I appreciate it.
Jonty Simmons
Hi, so first up, would you prefer Mike or Crafter?
Yeah, Crafter’s probably better or I’ll feel like I’m in trouble or something.
*laughs* Alright then. Now, you’re playing Warped tour this year, it’s absolutely loaded with bands who are known to have a great presence on stage and Confession are no exception. How do you manage to get the crowd going at every show?
At big festivals and stuff it’s really easy because people are there to have fun and have a good time, so basically whatever you say, they’re gonna do. We’re playing early in the day, so people will still have endless amounts of energy by then, they won’t be too sunburnt or have heatstroke by that point.
Yeah hopefully they won’t be too drunk either
*laughs* Nah, it’s probably better when they’re too drunk cause then they just go way crazy and do whatever.
Alright, now I saw you recently on the 10 year tour with Parkway Drive and you told a story about the old days when the boys took laxatives on stage (as a dare before their set and had to rush to the toilets after the set and “sprayed the walls”), do you have any new ones from the recent tour to share with us?
Oh no, they’re so boring, they’re just so old! The most exciting thing to happen to them these days, they’re like, their day, like, this is what’s so fucking weird about them, they’ll go to bed at like 2am in the morning after finishing a show. None of them really party or anything, they’re up at fucking four or five in the morning so… yeah. Like, they’ll drive two hours or something to the surf, and get there, and it’ll be like, completely flat. And it took them two hours to get there! Then they’ll surf for a couple of hours, drive back and be back in time for soundcheck!
And that’s when you’ve just woken up?
*laughs* yeah I’ve slept through all that, I’m still asleep. Half of them in their crew are all the same as well, we all rock up fresh and they show up to the show all covered in sand cause they’ve been out in the surf all day.
*laughs* well I suppose after they’ve been doing it for so many years they’ve got the routine down.
Ah yeah, the surfer routine throughout the day, they’ve got it mastered over the years.
Now, I just watched a video of you in Japan and I especially like your shout to ‘Mr Miyagi’
*laughs*
Were the shows different to what you’ve come to expect in Australia?
The shows were actually really really good, there was a lot of people at like the festival shows we did, there was a lot of people singing along and stuff like that which was kinda crazy. But the smaller shows were kind of weird because they were in places, that weren’t like… they’re not cities you know? They don’t get a lot of fucking shows through there, but like Tokyo and stuff were real crazy. But in between songs they get like, real real quiet and awkward, I don’t know why. Like, we’ll finish playing a song and they’ll just stop and be like dead. And we’ll be like… why is everyone so quiet? Make some noise, or something! Like, talk! But they’re so polite, they’re just waiting for what you’re going to say. Even though they don’t understand anything. I don’t know, a quarter of the room probably understands bits of what I’m saying. But, in very broken English. Like, we had people that would communicate with other people for us, but even with the bands we were playing with, we were having to explain stuff. Real slowly for them to understand… well Australians talk fast and we’re pretty loud, we’re pretty obnoxious I reckon actually.
A bit different to what they’re used to.
Yeah, so we’re the loudest people everywhere when we were there. I think people were a bit taken aback by us a little bit.
I think that’s a bit different to the Australian crowds you play to where almost every show there’s someone who’s going to yell out “Fuck Crafter!"
Oh yeah, there’s always something being yelled out, that’s for sure. Like, someone’ll call me a boxhead or something, it’s pretty common over here. I think everytime I swore in Japan, everyone looked at me like I was committing an offence. So… maybe I was? Maybe it was actually chargeable? *laughs*.
Yeah, you had Doyle Perez with you in Japan, you had him at Soundwave, and you re-recorded the Long Way Home single, and This Is a War with him, what was your decision to bring him along for the ride?
I wanted someone, like obviously we had tours coming up and someone who could sing the singing parts already on the album. It was a good idea, because I wanted someone who could sing the stuff, and who could play guitar real well. Yeah it was good, until his D at Sea (Doyle’s solo project) stuff started getting so busy, that he couldn’t juggle two things anymore. It was like, he said to me, “I can’t juggle two things while I’m doing the D at Sea album.” While we were doing our album, he just said “I just don’t have it in me to do two albums at once” so I was like “Yeah that’s cool, we’ll just keep writing what we’re doing and you do what you’re doing, and yeah, we’ll go our separate ways.” Which isn’t too hard for the band, it’s not like he came in and did like, five fucking albums and we’re losing an integral member, like it’s not the be all and all, you know? It’s not like we’re The Amity Affliction and we’re losing Ahren or you know… something like one of those bands that are massive where there’s one person that people are obsessed with, and that’s going to lose their whole fan base. So, we’ll just write an album, well we’ve written the album, it’s all heavy so then we don’t need to have all these singing parts or have to have singing. Like, we have singing and stuff in the old songs when we play them but the main focus is the new album and yeah, we’re a real heavy band.
I was about to ask you about that, since you did say at the Melbourne Parkway show that the new album would be completely different to the Long Way Home with no clean singing, and straight up hardcore. What brought you to that decision?
Finding a singer that can sing is always good. But finding someone who can fit into the band is also better you know? I’d rather have a guitarist that can write, or a bassist that can write that and be there and have a heavy input in other ways and not worry about singing. Like, everyone has clean singing parts nowadays, so many bands come out with it. So we thought we’d try and go back to the way we started and have real real heavy parts and real real aggressive vocals and I dunno, big sing-alongs you know? Not focus on singing parts and that kind of style? We kind of want to get away from the style that everyone else seems to be doing.
Well you’d think that The Amity Affliction have probably got the monopoly on that at the moment.
Oh totally, like that band is one step ahead, like 10 steps ahead of everyone else you know? They’re so good at what they do, no-one comes close to it in Australia that’s for sure, and no-one will. I think, unless you have an Ahren or something that can unbelievably sing and have the catchiest hooks, you’re just putting something in place for the sake of putting it in place. I feel I could do screaming and heavy parts where the singing parts are, and do it better? Not like *mocking self important tone* “Oh it’s better blah blah blah”, but more like, for what we’re trying to do, it will fit those bits better for what we’re writing for the new album, rather than throwing a singing part in for the sake of having a singing part. Unless like, it’s catchy as, and you’ve got someone singing that part, I guess, I think it’s just a waste of time for us. So yeah, we’ll just do some real heavy parts and big breakdowns and fast parts and go back as a meat and potatoes kind of band. Real simple and straight up, and we’ll obviously have the elements of melodic metal kind of parts and stuff, and rock-y kind of parts and stuff. Because I think it’s always the phrasing over the top of the riffs that’s really gonna make a riff good or not.
Yeah true. Also, with The Amity Affliction they’re known to almost be in love with their fans, and you come out and talk to fans and stuff like that. That seems to be a pretty important part of the music industry nowadays.
Yeah, well I think if you don’t go chat with the fanbase and go see people, you know, I don’t look at people like they’re fans you know. I just think of people as people who come and see a show and that like a band, and if they come up and talk to me enough, I’ll know who they are. Because, I’m always selling merch, especially on the Parkway tour, where Jed (Gordon, older brother of drummer Ben) was selling merch for Parkway and me and him just talked shit all night. Like, that’s what’s good, I’m hanging with one of my mates, and yeah, that’s it. I think that’s just a massive thing, you can’t just go sit out the back. Unless you’re fucking Winston or something, unless you’re gonna walk out and basically get fingered by 50 billion fans *laughs*. Yeah obviously, he’s gotta stay out the back, he can’t come out and see everyone. But yeah, if he sees a kid in the street and they say “Hey man, how’s it going?” he’d be stoked to talk to them. But a person like that can’t really talk to them, because one person sees them, and then fucking four hundred people come running up. You’ve just gotta tell the difference like, where your bands at, and yeah if it’s dangerous *laughs*.
*laughs* Do you ever want to be at that level like Winston getting mobbed? Or you prefer to just have casual chats?
Oh well, years and years ago when I was in I Killed The Prom Queen, it was pretty crazy and stuff. But nowadays, I like stuff being casual, I don’t really mind how big the band gets because I’ve got family, and I’ve got a lot more going on than just music in my life. So, it depends, just a lucky thing I get to do now and again. But yeah, it’s taking it seriously, but at the same time having a real level head about it because music isn’t the be all and end all of life you know? It’s just a release, where, for me, I get something to say and get out on tour and see new places. Rather than striving to be the best band or the biggest band you know, I just want to relate some words I’ve got to say, and get to see some cool shit and have some fun.
Sounds great. Now quickly before you go, who do you want to see on the Warped lineup?
Millencolin.
Really?
Unbelievably good. Like, I’m obsessed. Absolutely obsessed with the band. Not as obsessed as I am with Blink-182, but nearly.
Did you catch them earlier on this year at Soundwave?
Yeah, I watched them everyday. Every show I watched them. I even went and watched them at the sideshows.
So you were one of those dedicated fans?
I’m like a fifteen year old girl with Blink. Like, they’d walk past me at Soundwave and I’d be like *in awe* “ohhh… fuck.”
*laughs*
I got too scared to ask them for a photo. I just got a photo with Chester from Linkin Park, which was massive. Like, a big event in my life. Me and Ahren got photos with him, we were walking away and we were like “Yes we just got a photo with the guy from Linkin Park!”. So, they were massive, that’s for sure.
Awesome. Well unfortunately, we’ve run out of time but thanks for chatting with The 59th Sound today.
That’s alright mate, thanks for chatting, I appreciate it.
Jonty Simmons