Death Plague the interview

 

1.What is the name of your band and how did you come up with it? Death Plague, Dam Kel (founder) has always been a bit curious with the whole black plague and how it still to this day has never been fully contained or wiped out, so we thought at the start let’s go with “Death Plague” as we are not going away, we are still growing and we will plague this earth with our songs are try to sustain life as a solid, full on, strong, powerful band, that will never give up.
What is your name and what do you do for the band?Dam Kel (Damian Kelly) I’m a song writer/vocalist within Death Plague


2.Tell us where you are based and describe the scene. How do you think where you are located influences your sound. We are based at the Glasshouse Mountains of the Sunshine Coast in Australia 45 min drive from Brisbane. It’s a small town, no one really ventures out, the local pub closes at 8pm on a Saturday night!!!! So all you can really do is be creative or be boring. So we spend most of our time being influenced via bands we listen too or upcoming acts in Brisbane city, you can find influence anywhere if you seek it. Unfortunately the state government has these nasty lock out laws to try and limit so called bindge drinking which ultimately impacts live music so we do struggle but we get there.


3.Who influences your sound that would surprise people? That’s a tough question!! Wow… I like to think influence for Death Plagues music is another mix, I mean we have all the mainstream influence and a bit underground influence but a surprising one for us would probably be more a genre so early punk and early thrash metal. So slayer, sex pistols, stuff like that, we all have our own influences and it would be hard to just point to one in particular.
  

4.Are you endorsed by musical companies , if so who , and if not who would you like to be endorsed by? No endorsement yet!! I know the drummer would love a Sabian cymbals and DW endorsement, and guitars would probably be ltd, or Ormsby endorsement, also mesa.


5.When you started what was your ultimate goal? And how close to the goal are you now? When we started our ultimate goal at the time was to play shows which we have but now our ultimate goal is to push Death Plague as far as we can and we are nowhere close to how far that could be.. a lot of ground yet to be covered.


6.In today's digital environment it takes creative strategy to keep things moving. What creative ideas do you have to keep your band relevant over time?  Oh… we have ideas.. lots of them.. however we don’t want to be the spoiler, nobody likes the spoiler. One hint I can give though is definitely keep an eye out for little oddball shows and songs we do, it will always be something behind it that has a bigger outlook then what you see that will expand your mind in thinking.
  

7.We've all seen a terrible live band that is awesome on CD. Is that cool with you or do you lose respect for bands that cannot pull it off live? Personally, and this is a tough one. Although it does suck seeing a band live that can’t live up to their own expectations on stage  , get a grip, sometimes the live experience is better then the recording . People have grown to this whole new digital era where everything has to be so proportionally perfect and in place. A live show is ment to be fun. Put away your cell phones, move around, get drunk, get violent even, but Jesus aged Christ god forbid the Guitarist accidentally left out a harmonic bend that you wanted to hear. So as for not being fully perfect I have too say that some things are better natural, that’s why no one can mimic someone like Jimi Hendrix, it’s all natural and part of the experience.


8.Tell us your “core” are you Metal , Rock , Punk , Pop etc because people just have to categorize these days you know? Definitely metal, genres are so flat lined these days, I mean there really is a mix, and you need to look at how the band is as a whole.  Death Plague there are 5 members, each member is as important as the next, each member has a different feel and take on what they are writing, we feel as a collective that we definitely have a mainstream black metal feel with groove and thrash powering it, it’s can’t be just one genre, sorry folks.
 

9.This is a tough question but a very real reality, Is your band actually talented or just popular? Well… I think hard work comes to mind, if talent is that your band members actually actively show up to shows and jams then yes it is definitely a talented band. But I will share with you that truly I have a band backing me at every moment 1000 percent, they are the best musicians I’ve worked with and each of them are hardworking and they have really made this band what it is… that’s an understatement… people will see results due to our hardwork and that is the talent of it.
Many bands make it with a cliche or publicity stunts etc. Would you accept fame even if it was just because of being the “ in” thing or is it actually important to you that you gain favor with talent? Good question, I think you definitely do need to earn it to appreciate it and anything is good in they way of publicity, just don’t take it for granted. But in this world it’s dog eat dog, you have to strive and be prepared for hardwork.


10.Tell us what to expect from you live. Nothing is more boring than watching bands stare at the floor and bob their heads to music nobody but the band knows. What can your band offer in a live setting that people will remember? You know what!! I see this every single time we play a show. Bands standing there, no interaction, no ethic, you have too be entertaining. Off you can’t set a scene for your band and for what you stand for then I’m sorry, wrong industry. Death Plague although only fresh have evolved and we are now adapting and incorporating a live energy, we want to use props and theatrics and really drive home a quality show. We are interactive, the more violent it gets the better we sound!! We want people getting crazy with us, we have had a few issues of people being kicked out but they have had fun, we try to make sure nothing too full on happens but we need the crowds to join us and be a part of the magic that is a live show.




11. What releases have you put out , When will we see something new?
We released an Ep/Demo early 2019 called “Smear Your Blood”. We are currently in the middle of writing more songs which hopefully you should start seeing releases popping up every month but just depends on how the writing process goes.

12. If you have videos where can we see them?we have a music video which was just released in July for our song “parasitic homicide”, you can catch that on Facebook or YouTube, just search Death Plague Parasitic Homicide.


13.Everybody has Bandcamp , ReverbNation , Soundcloud , etc
Why do you think this is so important? Doesn't it seem like everyone is giving everything out for free?  It’s definitely important to reach out to fan base and it’s so easy to do so these days with all the tech and social behind it which can also be very hard for a small fanbase band to extend their reach and get more fan base.. but everything is worth doing and sometimes unfortunately you just take a loss with it. However it is what it is.. it is advertising and it should only be used for that. You can try to bypass it but you risk a lot of exposure but if you learn how to be creative with it you can certainly save yourself and promote with healthy levels so you are not loosing as much.. it’s a catch 22 I’m afraid..




14.Best moment of your career so far? Would have to be Definitely releasing a video clip!! We have been very lucky to have done this and it has really worked for us.. and look forward to the next one!!


15.Your message to the fans? We would not be here without you all!! We will continue to create music and grow as a band, we find you all as important as Death Plague. You make us strive and push further then anything!! Stay heavy and dark for us!! And when you see us next come have a drink and party!!


Bonus Question who do you bring back

Definitely Dine. Mate.. he is so full on with his riffs and smashes the mark every time!! Heavy as fuck riffs and sic harmonics!! The guy is definitely a legend and a big part of metal went with him.. RIP “ whooa it’s heavy”

Dime , Cliff , Dio , Lemmy , Randy

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