INTERVIEW: WALLOWING - FIVE YEARS OF PLANET LOSS

With our favourite void-faring noise-wielders WALLOWING celebrating the fifth anniversary of debut album Planet Loss’ with a one-off special immersive show here in a few weeks, we thought it appropriate that we exchange some transmissions and publish our findings for you all to get some deeper insight into their impending visit… READ ON AND BE THERE! (Photos: @fvckcops)

5 years of Planet Loss!!! Congrats!!! How would you say the band has evolved in the five years since PL’s original release?

Cheers that means a lot - and thanks for being up for celebrating with us. The big idea behind the project was always pushing forward, and blindly, into the unknown and with that the band has evolved tenfold since the release of PL, but by building directly off of the musical foundations our debut record laid for us. PL essentially set the scene and tone for everything that followed.

What made you want to go the extra step and make a whole immersive evening of it? Manyyyyy bands are more than happy to turn up, play a record front to back, and call it job done… not you guys. What is it about Planet Loss that made you want to go the extra mile for its anniversary?

We have always strived for that "cut above" in all aspects of WALLOWING; from the music to the artwork, the live shows to the merchandise, so this came very naturally to us. We admittedly haven't tackled something as unique as this though and there are considerably more moving parts, so it's a nice challenge, great learning experience and huge inspiration for the bands live show in future. The record itself is of course where it all began for us and we are very thankful for the support it received on release and continues to get, the opportunities it brought our way and the friends we have made through it. If that isn't worth celebrating on style I don't know what is.

Can you reveal any of the immersive aspects of the show, or is this being kept under wraps to surprise everyone on the night?

You can expect all the usual WALLOWING oddities and curiosities - from a smog cannon to the face to obscure exclusive merch and more. We will be drip feeding various elements of the evening via our socials in the lead up to the event, so keep an eye on that to be the first in the know, but expect the unexpected, there will be a surprise or two...

After FINALLY getting you here last year for that killer show with Wren and Warren Schoenbright, we can’t get enough of you! But what made you want to come back to The Black Heart specifically to do this show?

We have always loved The Black Heart, from watching our favourite bands in the live room to the class choice of drinks in the bar and our first aspirations to play in the venue. Both ourselves and Matt (venue manager) have been back and forth for years - first we couldn't make proposed dates, then COVID hit and cancelled the dates we COULD make, so it's been a lengthy process that we have thankfully corrected since last year - we managed to also play this year’s Incineration Festival stage at BH so have definitely been making up for lost time in our favourite Camden venue.

In the years since PL’s original release your profile has rightfully grown and grown - Would you say that this show is more for those ‘Day One’ fans to relive the experience, or to bring your new disciples on their first voyage to Planet Loss?

Oh totally a bit of both! There will be enough to please any *hardcore* fan of PLANET LOSS that's for sure, you could say that this event would be the definitive way to experience it live. We also felt that given the platform we are lucky to have with Church Road Records, releasing last year's 'EARTH REAPER' (a sequel to PL) with the label, it was worth going all out on this half a decade anniversary of the debut as we have this rad new audience we can hopefully tap into, who may not have even heard the debut before! 

From your own perspective, what’s it like being the band that have now gone where you went on Earth Reaper and are going where you’re going with Restless Dusk and going back to revisit Planet Loss? Are there things that you guys now bring to that material that you didn’t before? Has there been anything learned/realised when going back to this material? 

Diving into the unknown is a hell of a lot of fun but it does have its risks, trials and tribulations. Our music has a heavy experimental element and we always try every idea brought to the table. Some things work in context or don't, somethings work outside of the context but not in the grander scheme of the music, we always try to feel this out as best as we can before we get to recording, but we are all big kids and like to have a play in the studio also - some times you don't really know if something does/doesn't work until you bash out a version in the studio and play it back. Each time we enter the studio we always have a new toy to play with, likely some batshit noise element too, which is another can of worms. This freedom yields some real awesome results and definitely opens our eyes to possibilities moving forwards. Then there's the times it simply doesn't work and you have to scrap the idea altogether! This is totally necessary though, as if we didn't allow ourselves the freedom to express ourselves exactly how feel at that exact moment, our music would get very boring very quickly and we wouldn't be any closer to honing into the sound we want.

The grander overview is that when you listen to our music chronologically you get a real feel of the expanding growth and scope of it all - a keen ear may hear ideas on PL that we liked and expanded upon in ER and our split record with Slabdragger, but also ideas that we thought "let's not do that again" and totally steered clear of on latter records!

We’ve been dying to ask someone this, and you lot might be better placed to answer than anyone else we know… What does outer space smell like?

Unfortunately - stale weed and sweat, or that could just be the space suits.

A QUICK CATCH UP WITH MANNEQUIN DEATH SQUAD - PLAYING HERE THIS FRIDAY!!!

As you lot should all be well aware by now, we’ve got the brilliant MANNEQUIN DEATH SQUAD coming to town THIS FRIDAY NIGHT! (With A Void and Toxic Barbecue in support) 

This Aussie duo play high-octane hyper-grunge that we fell for as soon as we heard it, and we knew we had to get ‘em here to see it live when the chance came up. With the show almost upon us, we figured we’d catch up with MDS and get to know ‘em a little better. 

So, have a quick read (and a listen if you haven’t already!) and then make sure you’re in Camden Town to see ‘em here on Friday night!

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You’ve hit the UK loads over last few years - what is it that keeps you coming back to our grim little island?

Yeah! This will be our fifth tour of UK! It's always just been so good to us. It feels like we have been appreciated and loved more here for quite a few years before people catching on back home. You have a very vibrant music scene and the fans seem more loyal and passionate about bands here.

The track with DZ Deathrays from earlier this year rules - Australia has so many sick bands right now!

Yeah, DZ are great! We've always loved their stuff so it was great to get Shane on that track. There are so many good bands kicking around Australia, and plenty more that don’t make it over here at all. If you ever make it over to Melbourne, definitely worth going down to The Tote (hotel) any night of the week and you just may strike gold. 

That’s a few singles out now, we’re pumped for a new album…

Yeah.. ‘Monsters’, ‘Everybody's Movin’ and ‘Safe and Warm’ will all be on it! So excited to drop this album, we have road tested quite a few songs from it throughout UK and Europe so it will be very special to get it out. You’ll definitely get a good taste of things to come at the show.

What would you tell people who aren’t as clued up on MDS yet to expect when they come to see you on Friday?

Expect high energy and catchy heavy songs with a good measure of mosh pits and harmonies. And maybe a bit of instrument swapping. Just good times all round, defs worth coming down, checking it out and saying gday!! We are coming a long way so would be great to meet as many of you legends as possible. X

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Well, you heard ‘em. Make sure you’ve got a ticket! Doors open at 7:30, but we’ll be open and pouring pints from 3. See you there!

SAVE THE DATE: LD'S KITCHEN SUPPER CLUB - AUGUST 6th

We might be jumping the gun juuuuust a little here, but it’s something we’re super excited about and we can’t wait to tell you all about it. On August 6th, we’ll be opening our doors (and mouths) for something a little different than usual!

LD’S SUPPER CLUB - Featuring unique dishes for each iteration

We’re going to have loads of little touches and surprises to add to these as we go, but the real thing to start thinking about is all that mouth-watering vegan deliciousness that’s going to be served up during these.

August 6th is the first one. We’ll tell you more about it reeeeeaaaaal soon (over on our mailing list first, of course - sign up below if you’re keen).

Be excited, arrive hungry.