Humans out of Control On the Making Of “The Majick”
Can you share any interesting or unique stories or perspectives in "The Majick?"
Mark Rem: “Well this song was written waaaay back when we were first a band 15 years ago, and our lives were pretty hedonistic.”
Mark Hung: “Our singer Nick wrote the lyrics and it’s fairly obvious what it’s about.”
Nick: “It’s about drugs mate.”
Mark Hung: “Yeah we know!… so on the surface it’s not that deep (sorry!) but I also crafted the music to become more intense as it cycles through and to me it also leans into the struggle we all have from time to time, how instant gratification and constant stimulation can lead you do more and more crazy shit. That escalation of indulgence is also represented in the video, with the magicians having to resort to increasing levels of shock to get a reaction from the crowds.”
Mark Rem: “Watch the video, and you’ll see what we mean… it’s not for the faint hearted.”
How do you feel "The Majick" represents your Bands identity?
We’re not the youngest boy band on the block, you might get that from the video (streaming now, thank you very much), and what you’ll get from both the horror show that is the video, the songs content, and the performance is its entertaining, but there’s some pretty dark stuff going on in there too. We’ve lived through some things, we’ve survived some, and all that is there; it’s dark, but it’s also delivered with an element of fun, we don’t take ourselves seriously.
And that’s probably our identity, we have the collective wisdom of people that have screwed a bunch of stuff up, but somehow came out the other side laughing and smelling of roses. That and we don’t mind saying we’re a pretty decent rock band.
What do you like the best about this track?
Ken Johnson: “We wrote it, it’s HooC from start to finish. We all met by chance. And it’s by chance that we produced this together.”
Mark Rem: “There’s no chance about it mate, I think you’ll find we produced the song and video off the back of you constantly nagging everyone to get off their lazy asses and get some stuff actually recorded and released!. Every band needs a drummer to put a collective rocket up the bands backside.”
What do you enjoy most about performing live and connecting with your audience?
Probably the bit where you get to play the songs live and connect with the audience, hah ha! Seriously, yes there can be a euphoric high of performing on stage, doing that as a collective force, with our mates. Which then bleeds out to our audience; hey sometimes we do actually bleed on the audience, but we’re working to improve our health and safety at work policy.
Basically all you’ll ever get from this band is 110%
What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced as a musician, and how did you overcome them?
Ken J: “Its tough out there isn’t it? Think of how many bands there haven’t been, think of how May venues close every year, and I’m not just talking about since the pandemic. Think how many good (and bad) songs we have been denied because the scene isn’t what it once was.”
We all have other projects and that’s fine, we all play in (some pretty great) cover bands, we play sessions, and we do other things for money. But making new songs is probably the most meaningful thing you’ll do, and at the same time it’s the hardest thing to crack in terms of getting an audience to tune in and come on a journey with you. But hey we’re here, we’re still doing it, and that’s gotta be worth something.