4ARM The Voltage Media Interview

Releasing their second full length album 'The Empires Of Death' earlier this year, Melbourne’s 4ARM has been progressively building a budding fan base, with a strong reputation behind them. The thrash metallers recently landed their hometown’s support slot for the upcoming Testament tour this August, and with potential plans to take the band on a national tour in the near future, the 'groove-core' quartet is overtly not slowing down!

I had the chance to catch up with front man Danny Tomb and drummer Michael Vafiotis to discuss their new record, the preparation for the show and their plans for an upcoming tour later this year.

To start, how happy are you with the reaction generated toward your latest release?

Mick; Yeah, so far the response has been great from both old and new fans.

How is 'The Empires of Death' different to your 2005 debut '13 Scars'?

Danny; The songs are definitely more mature both musically and lyrically, yet the songs themselves still maintain a raw aggressive sound like '13 Scars'. Production on this album has stepped up; our ability in playing our instruments has improved so the sound is a lot tighter. 13 Scars being our first album has its flaws so we tried to improve on those with this album and I think we did.

How was the writing and recording process this time around?

Mick; They were written a little different to the first album. Most of the tracks were written with the drum parts first, which sort of goes against the normal writing process of most bands. A lot of the lead work on '13 Scars' was improvised so we took the time to structure leads on this album - which is apparent in the end result.

The key is to prepare well before you enter the studio so we made sure that would happen this time. I think Dan tracked all rhythm guitars in like a day and a half which is insane. Both albums were recorded by Ren Parese at Melbourne Records. Working with Ren is great as we are all on the same page with most things and he is the type of engineer/producer that gets the best out of you every time.

What is 'The Empires of Death' about?

Danny; 'The Empires of Death' has got to do with a lot of different issues, and personal reflection... in a nut shell, it addresses the things of today being more or less mirror images of our history - we may use different terminology, but everything is pretty much the same. We are just as efficient at killing, lying, cheating and blasphemy as we have ever been. Our willingness to accept anything at face value without even bothering to look into it for ourselves, our theories and philosophies are useless unless they are based on fact, they say you can't have good without evil, I say there can't be a lie if there was no truth to begin with.

We have heard ancient times be referred to as Biblical times or the Biblical Era, times of Christ, I believe we are still in those times, and there WILL be a judgment and we will all have to account t for our blasphemies. Free will can be used for good or evil, we decide whether it is a gift or a curse, take responsibility of our actions and decisions whether they were the right or wrong ones.

How would you describe your sound to someone who has yet to listen to your music?

Mick; Our music is a hyper-charged brand of thrash, amalgamating from the deranged volatility of Slipknot, frenetic twisted-ness of Slayer and the sledge-hammering brutality of Machine Head. To keep it simple Pure Thrash Metal!!!!!

You've recently announced that you will be supporting Testament this August, how did you land the Melbourne slot for this tour?

Danny; We managed to be at the right place at the right time I guess. We did a show a few months back and by chance happened to be in the presence of the promoter for the tour, who enjoyed the show.

Are you all huge Testament fans, and what are looking forward to the most with the tour?

Mick; Definitely, being huge "bay area" fans, growing up we would listen to bands including Testament and of course still do. Personally I am a huge admirer of Paul Bostaph and all the work he has done with bands such as Slayer and Exodus - so looking forward to catching up and having a chat with him.

What can we expect from a 4ARM show?

Danny; Well we're a band who give 100% at each show so there will be plenty of energy released at our shows. We are a "No gimmick" kind of band so you won’t find any props; make up, blood and guts. All we expect from our fans though are to drink up, get up close and have a killer time.

Do you have any other upcoming support slots that you've yet to mention publicly?

Mick; No, not at this stage.

Dream bill to play on?

Mick; The big four, wait make that the big Five. Haha!

You are currently organising a national tour – and possibly some international dates - can you give away any details or is still in the initial stages?

Mick; We are at early stages but we are organising another National tour in October/November. Our plans are to jet over to Europe and do some summer festivals in 2011.

What have been your biggest influences; be it music, literature, history?

Danny; Metallica, Machine Head, Slayer, Testament would be up there.

Care to share something about the band that your fans would be surprised about?

Mick; None of the band are into drugs, having said that three of us are borderline alcoholics haha.

How much arse has been tapped because you play rock 'n' roll?

Mick; Not enough, that’s for sure.

Best and worst live experience?

Mick; Johnny [Glovasa] ending one of his solos and getting a little carried away falling over the drum kit that was well worst or funniest, maybe both.

Future plans for 4ARM?

Danny; Yeah, definitely getting overseas and gaining exposure through major festivals, also we are planning on recording our third album end of next year in the states.

Last words?

Mick; See you all at Testament \m/

Check out the official 4ARM website for all upcoming news, tour dates, bios and purchase information for their latest release 'The Empires of Death'!