Taberah and Rock n' Roll, Interview with drummer Tom Brockman

Hobart-based metallers Taberah are only a few days away from the release of their debut, full-length album, entitled The Light of Which I Dream. From their inception in 2004 Taberah really began making waves in 2006, particularly in their homeland of Tasmania, and having since shared stages with the likes of Motorhead, Paul Di'anno and Blessed by a Broken Heart, the Maiden and AC/DC influenced quartet will take to a national tour in support of the record from August 27th, coinciding with the release of the forthcoming album. 

I had a chance to catch up with founding member and drummer Tom Brockman, who describes Taberah as a "rock n’ roll band at heart", speaking with him about the impending tour, the years it has taken to finally get their debut out to the world, as well as working on the album with Psycroptic’s guitarist Joe Haley - and as it appears, the chosen one in producing their album.

Your debut album The Light of Which I dream is released later this month - how is the anticipation within the band?

Tom Brockman: I won’t lie; we are all pretty anxious haha. Knowing that this record that we have been slaving away on could be rocking up any day now is pretty exciting. As soon as we get our hands on it we will [be] pretty quick to try and get it to the world… or to anyone who wants to have a listen haha.

How long has this record been in the works?

Brockman: Technically you could say about 4 years. We have actually had a previous attempt at recording our debut full length, a long time ago when were young and naïve. We had no idea what we were doing and didn’t have the resources that we have now, so we ended up scrapping the whole project.  

What is now known as “The Light of Which I Dream” has been going on for a bit over a year I think. It’s been a while, put it that way haha. We sure as hell haven’t rushed it. I think it has paid off though. If we had put out what we WERE working on then there would be no chance of us being in the position we are now.

Your debut was produced by Joe Haley, why did you choose him to work on this album with you?

Brockman: In a way Joe was chosen for us. We went into Red Planet Studio to do a couple of drum tracks and Stu Long - who runs the place - gets Joe to do the metal bands as Psycroptic have done a lot of their stuff there. In fact, I think Dave [Haley, drums Psycroptic] still does his drum tracks there. Anyway, one thing lead to another and we were just really impressed and kept going with it.  

The whole process was just really comfortable and we got along pretty much straight away. It took him a few weeks to understand how ridiculous and “big” we wanted to make the album but when he came around it was awesome! We have already lined him up for the second release!

You’re seemingly a thrash driven outfit, how was working with a musician who is part of a tech. death outfit, did you find yourselves butting heads at any point?

Brockman: Thrash? Haha. I don’t actually own a single thrash record! Unless you count “Show No Mercy” as a thrash record. I would say we are rock n’ roll band at heart. We would definitely fit in playing before AC/DC than Slayer, but that’s just my opinion. But back to your question, there were no issues at all. Joe is an incredibly well rounded musician and in no way limits himself. He listens to a fair bit of the stuff we do and knows exactly what we are about. The dude is even working on a cover band that is doing stuff like “Jump” by Van Halen and other classic rock gems. There is definitely more to him than meets the eye. 

What niche would you throw yourself in regarding your sound?

Brockman: Well to be honest we try not to. We draw influence from bands like Queen to Iron Maiden, from AC/DC to Blind Guardian, from Chuck Berry to Dungeon and some Motorhead too. It’s all over the place really. When people ask we just say “Heavy Metal”. It seems to fit and is a hell of a lot less confusing than all the ridiculous subgenres that are almost identical anyway!

The release of your debut coincides with a national tour, do you have anything “up your sleeves” for the album launch, and what can we expect from your live shows in general?

Brockman: We’ll be playing a lot of tracks from the album which are now old favourites down in Tassie, plus a fair few new tunes in the mix too. We might even chuck in a sneaky cover if the mood is right.

There is definitely going to be a lot of fun and energy from our live show, plus our fair share of sleeveless shirts, solos and some badass choreographed moves haha. A lot of the time we don’t have set-lists either. We have a bit of a rough idea what we want to do but it is generally all over the place. You won’t see the same Taberah show twice which will be good when we visit some places more than once on the tour. 

You’ve previously shared stages with some big names - Motorhead, Paul Di'anno and Blessed by a Broken Heart – are there any international supports in the works?

Brockman: We are trying for a couple at the moment but we have nothing confirmed. Whenever there is a big name coming to the country that we think we would fit with then we jump on it straight away and try and get our music into the hands of the right people. The way we see it, you have to be in it to win it and if it doesn’t work out then we are no worse off than when started.

And apart from the forthcoming release and tour, do you have any tentative plans for the band?

Brockman: Can you keep a secret? Cause we have a lot of killer tunes written for a second release next year! I won’t say too much so it doesn’t take the focus off  “The Light of Which I Dream”, but we are constantly working on new material just to keep it fresh. Keep that to yourself though haha [and our readers]. Apart from that just working on making our stage show that little bit better and getting some new merch designs. There is definitely a lot going on!

Explain the decision behind your moniker Taberah?

Brockman: Well the story is not an incredibly interesting one. Back in the day when Jonathon B [guitars, vocals] and I were playing music in high school we just needed a name so he went in search for one in the bible of all places. He just rocked up at school one day and told me we were called Taberah and that it loosely translated into “fire of the lord” which explains a lot of our lyrical themes and imagery. Plus it only has 3 syllables and looks cool when it’s all done up in the logo. It works well I think haha.

What cities are you looking to visiting the most on this tour, and which ones have been the hardest to “break” or gain a positive reaction from?

Brockman: I’m looking forward to the whole thing! There is nothing better than playing to new ears and trying to convert the masses. When it comes to the reactions from crowds, we just go up and do our thing. There will be people who hate it and are there to see other bands on the bill and there will be others who LOVE it. It’s how it seems to be everywhere.

The only thing that really effects the reaction we have received is where we have been [placed] on the bills and how much time the crowd have had to consume alcohol. People might really enjoy your music but when they have a couple of drinks they make their feelings a lot more obvious haha. 

How much of a difference is there within the metal scene in your home town of Hobart as compared to anywhere else you’ve played in Australia? 

Brockman: It is all really similar where ever you go. People will come and have a good time. When we first started invading the mainland we all just assumed that the shows would be bigger purely based on the much larger population but that hasn’t been the case.

There are shitloads more people in places like Melbourne but there is also a whole lot more to do to which kind of cancels that out. All the people we have had the pleasure to meet are all the same though. Nice people who like a drink and fucking love their metal!

Do you think that being an Australian metal band; you are geographically undermined as compared to an outfit in Europe or even the US?

Brockman: Australia is pumping out some amazing bands, some of the best in the world in my opinion. One thing that holds us all back though is being on a huge island haha. It’s not like in Europe how you can jump in a van and drive around different countries that are all connected. You have to work that little bit harder which sucks I guess. Plus metal seems to be a little bit more in the mainstream over there.

That being said, I have never been overseas so I could be completely wrong haha. A lot of Australian bands are doing really well over there though after they have made the venture.

What have been some of the struggles with the writing, recording and even the touring process?

Brockman: There really haven’t been any major speed bumps during any of the processes. It has just been very time consuming.

When you work full time and have real life shit to deal with, it’s hard to find a few hours to hit the studio or sit on the computer checking out bands and venues and sending emails. It’s not amazingly glamorous but has to be done.

Taberah is touring nationally in support of their debut album, The Light of Which I Dream, from August 27th. For more information, follow this link.