Articles

Ruth, Roving reporter

FReeZA Presents: IEXPLODELIKE

[Listen to "The Angry Wolf" by IEXPLODELIKE - lyrics at the bottom of this article]

IEXPLODELIKE combine their screamo-hardcore tunes with melodic trance and house hooks to create a furiously energetic performance that can best be described as an onstage party.

Daniel Somers (bass and vocals) chats to Arts & music reporter Ruth about the journey thus far.

How did IEL form back in 2006, and how has the band evolved since then?

A few of the guys had been in a band for a long time when I came in, so I wasn’t there from the start. One of the guys, Brock, started off playing guitar and then moved on and now he’s doing all of our synth work. Our vocalist Jesse is managing us, so his main priority is IEXPLODELIKE and I feel as though we’ve taken a good direction. Getting things like a 3Oh!3 support this year was just crazy, and we have Push Over next year so I think we’ve really come a long way.

Has your music changed over that time?

Yeah, it was more screamo in the beginning because there were two screamers, and now we’ve got one and two singers. I feel like it’s becoming more commercial on some levels, since we’re implanting more harmonies and have better singing now. I think things like that are making it more commercial and on a bigger scale that’s why we’re getting those kinds of supports for bands like 3Oh!3.

What were your musical influences?

For me, I’ve had such a diverse background of music. I did musical theatre and have been classically trained as a singer. It’s kind of hard to bring my influences into it, but I’ve always loved dance. For me, I want to bring in that singing element and that dance element.

What has been the reaction of the audience to your hybrid style?

All the other hardcore bands sound so aggressive and stuff, but we just party and have a good time on stage. I think people really appreciate that. We played with The Red Shore and some other bands a few weeks ago and the kids go crazy for those bands, but people just dance and have a good time to IEXPLODELIKE. I think people are really taking us quite well and I’m loving it at the moment.

Can you describe what it was like to support 3Oh!3?

We did a Melbourne show with them at the Hi Fi Bar. I think the fact that they came and saw us and had a bit of a chat with us was just crazy. That was our first big support so having someone so experienced and big in the world coming to speak us was amazing. We were starstruck. It was definitely the best night.

How did you manage to score the gig as the support of 3Oh!3?

With Jesse managing us we’ve been able to get our name out there and more people are taking notice of us. A few companies like Triple J have labeled us as a "new up-and-coming (added hyphens) band", and being featured as FReeZA Artist of the Month is helping people get to know us. That’s why we’re getting on those shows. I think it’s absolutely great.

Have you faced any challenges in the music industry so far?

Not really - I guess because everything’s been so good for us so far. We’ve done the right things and we’ve abided by all the rules. If we play FReeZA shows we don’t drink or do things like that. I think companies and organisers have noticed that, so we’ve been pretty lucky and we’ve been given big shows. We haven’t really come across too many challenges. We try to do our best and everything’s just kind of coming to us at the moment, which is great.

There has been talk that IEXPLODELIKE has a CD coming out soon. What are you guys working on at the moment, and will it be a full-length album?

For the past three months we’ve been flat out every weekend playing shows. Now we’re writing and starting our CD for mid next year and that might come with a label, but we’ll just have to wait and see. It would be great to do a full length album, but for our first EP it would probably just have demos on it. I would personally like to go for a full length album but I’m not too sure at the moment.

Where does IEL want to be in the future?

I wouldn’t mind going to over America, but that’s just on my behalf because friends of mine have gone over to America and they’ve said it was crazy and the best thing ever. So I think that would be where I’d like IEXPLODELIKE to go and one day hopefully on the Warped tour. That would just be the best thing for us.

What are your next shows?

We’ve had a gig on New Years Eve at Next in Melbourne, but we've got a bit of a break for a while and then we’ve got Pushover on March 7, 2010. That will be our next big show. We list our up coming shows on our Myspace, which is www.myspace.com/iexplodelike (new window).

What do you explode like?

Wow, I actually have no idea.

BACK TO MORE ARTICLES