MAMMOTH MAMMOTH Interview.

Interview Jackyboy.

It’s been a wild ride for Melbourne’s home grown rockers MAMMOTH MAMMOTH! From gigs that were so nuts they were banned from venues to European tours. The band are about to release their forth record and second album on Napalm Records (Germany). Jackyboy had a chat with the lads.

Jackyboy: Mammoth Mammoth’s fourth record is on its way. What was your experience like in the studio?

CUZ: We were really happy with the last album so we recorded the new one the same way. We recorded at Goatsound (Melbourne) again and Jason PC produced again. We wrote all the songs in about 4 weeks and then hit the studio. We have a pretty swift way of working. Usually Mikey turns up just in time to do his bits and Pete shows up late having not slept from the night before. Bones and I usually swing by a 7-Eleven and buy a shitload of BBQ Shapes and that’s basically how we do it. The only difference this time around was that we wrote and recorded about 16 songs and picked the best to go on the album.

MIKEY: We always have a lot of fun in the studio from what I’m told anyway. I’m usually too drunk to remember. We usually give ourselves a really strict deadline by filling the studio with as much beer as possible and once it’s all gone the album is finished, we are very hi-tech like that.

Jackyboy: Since 2008 you’ve been rocking Melbourne and abroad. What were the early years playing in Mammoth Mammoth like?

CUZ: Fun. There was a handful of bands we liked seeing. My favourites were bands like 6 Ft Hick, The Shine and Pornland. Bands that put on a show and hit the stage full tilt. Our plan was to just be the band that we’d like to see. It caused us to be banned from three venues. One was the Tote after Mikey launched himself through one of the windows between the band room and the courtyard.

MIKEY: The early days where always fucken fun and fucken loose, our plan was always and still is to give the audience a show to remember and that did involve getting banned from certain venues. Cuz came up with our live show motto in those early years, “If you ain’t bleedin’, you aint rockin’”.

Jackyboy: Last December you toured with Kyuss’ front man John Garcia and opened for Californian doom legends Sleep. Did you get star struck? Was there backstage shenanigans or was everyone on good behavior?

CUZ: There was a lot of sleeping going on backstage at the Sleep show.

MIKEY: I really enjoyed touring with John Garcia because Kyuss are a really big influence for me, he is a really humble awesome dude, I did’t really talk to Sleep at all because I was told they don’t really like people in the band room and like to stick to themselves so I just hung out at the bar.

Jackyboy: Images of naked women are a running theme on Mammoth Mammoth’s album covers and promotional material. Have you ever pissed anyone off as result of this content?

CUZ: No. I think our album covers have had the opposite effect. There are plenty of German dudes sitting in there loungerooms listening to our albums with big stiffy’s.

MIKEY: Mainly just my wife, she is always telling me we shouldn’t be using naked women to sell records and we are being degrading to women etc which can sometimes be really annoying if I’m reading a really interesting article in Playboy.

Jackyboy: I remember for years there was a gigantic Mammoth Mammoth poster several metres up a brick wall in Collingwood, covered in naked women. I always wondered how it got up there.

CUZ: In the early days we had a great street team that would help us with our posters. They’d compete to see who could get the best spot. That one you’re talking about was killer. The poster was there for fucking years.

Jackyboy: You guys have been signed to Napalm Records in Europe, word on the street was you were asked to sign ‘the old fashioned way’. Can you tell me a bit about that?

CUZ: We released our first 3 albums on our own label Golden Triangle. We’d be sending off about 20 CD’s or LP’s a week. Most of ‘em went to Europe. And most seemed to be going to Germany. One day Napalm Records contacted us. A few people at Napalm had all heard or got copies of our stuff and it went from there.

MIKEY: Yeah from what I heard our A& R guy at Napalm heard talk about us and went to run us by a good friend that he trusts with music and bands. He happened to have just bought a copy of our album on vinyl and told him he should sign us right away.

Jackyboy: How has getting signed changed things for you guys?

CUZ: It has meant we can get our music to more people. And we get to focus on what we do best, murdering unicorns with our tunes, and drinkin Melbourne Bitter. Its also meant that we get to tour Europe and tour properly. Big tour bus, tour manager, merch dude, etc.

Mammoth Mammoth: Site // Facebook // Twitter // Soundcloud // Youtube.
Napalm Records: Site // Facebook // Twitter // Soundcloud // Google+ // Youtube.

ALBUM LAUNCH:
Fri 24/04 – The Public Bar, North Melbourne – Facebook Event Link.
‘Volume IV’ Album Launch with Chainsaw Hookers (Perth – Launching their new album ‘We Want Your Blood’), Captives, The Hidden Venture.