Music / Premieres
Premiere:
MEAT - Who You Are
MEAT - Who You Are
After a quiet few months, Melbourne garage crew MEAT have finally reemerged with ‘Who You Are’, a blast of thunderous proto-punk and a thrilling first taste of the live band on record.
Despite having a huge 2018, which saw them quickly become pegged as one of Melbourne’s most exciting (and loudest) bands, the first half of 2019 found MEAT fall uncharacteristically quiet. However, the drought has finally been broken and they’re back in a big way with ‘Who You Are’, the first cut from their forthcoming EP An Acquired Taste, out through Pissfart Records.
The track immediately explodes open into a wall of fiery guitars and propulsive bass while a pounding backbeat gives everything an insatiable drive, and beneath the chaos we can just make out frontman Mitch Cassin yelping, his voice barely cutting through the sprawl. As it turns out, Mitch is far more comfortable wielding a guitar than his vocals, and after just a few cries, ‘Who You Are’ shifts - from here on out, guitar driven mayhem takes the lead and the band pick up a volatile groove. Instantly bringing to mind the heyday of 70’s hard rock, the track careens on, each frenzied riffs and adrenaline fuelled guitar solo turning up the heat more and more, until the pressure hits its max and the fury is forced to subside.
It’s a bold return that can only suggest big things are coming, so we got in touch with Mitch to find out what’s been happening.
The track immediately explodes open into a wall of fiery guitars and propulsive bass while a pounding backbeat gives everything an insatiable drive, and beneath the chaos we can just make out frontman Mitch Cassin yelping, his voice barely cutting through the sprawl. As it turns out, Mitch is far more comfortable wielding a guitar than his vocals, and after just a few cries, ‘Who You Are’ shifts - from here on out, guitar driven mayhem takes the lead and the band pick up a volatile groove. Instantly bringing to mind the heyday of 70’s hard rock, the track careens on, each frenzied riffs and adrenaline fuelled guitar solo turning up the heat more and more, until the pressure hits its max and the fury is forced to subside.
It’s a bold return that can only suggest big things are coming, so we got in touch with Mitch to find out what’s been happening.
TJ: Hey Mitch, how’s it going? Want to tell us a bit about how MEAT came to be?
M: Whaddup son. MEAT started while I was working as a delivery driver, driving around eating people's nuggets and listening to some very sketchy demos on Bandcamp. Thought I'd try make a heavier EP than I was used to and ask some friends if they wanted to join up.
We’ve just had the pleasure of premiering ‘Who You Are’ and it sounds huge - what’s the story behind the track?
Like literally no story. Words have no meaning behind them and I forget them at almost every show. Kinda started with listening to too much 70's prog and ended with a ‘how many layers can i throw in a song before it sounds shit' kinda thing.
It’s also the first taste of the first MEAT release with a full band, what can you tell us about the new EP?
Yeah I lucked out hard getting Scout, Matt and Steve in the band. They're all super accomplished musicians in too many bands to count (Sadults, Bughunt, Slush, Mesa Cosa to name a few). The EP is just us finally getting our shit together and getting most of the songs we have actually recorded properly. Think I just got too tired of people asking us if we were on spotty and just decided to make something.
Despite releasing no music officially, last year was pretty busy for MEAT, and I reckon you might’ve become most of Melbourne’s favourite new band for a hot second there. This year has been a fair bit quieter - what have you been up to?
Yeah we could have ridden that out a bit better ahahah. Everyone got pretty busy with work and and other bands, Scout put out an amazing release with Slush, Steve toured America as the drummer for Drunk Mums and Matt did a whole heap of cool shit. Full EP is recorded with Adam from Pissfart Records so we're back very soon.
What's planned for the rest of the year for MEAT?
We got our first proper EP with the full band out in a sec An Acquired Taste on Pissfart Records, presales up soon. Also announcing a tour very soon up to Sydney and Wollongong. Plenty more shows after that we hope x
M: Whaddup son. MEAT started while I was working as a delivery driver, driving around eating people's nuggets and listening to some very sketchy demos on Bandcamp. Thought I'd try make a heavier EP than I was used to and ask some friends if they wanted to join up.
We’ve just had the pleasure of premiering ‘Who You Are’ and it sounds huge - what’s the story behind the track?
Like literally no story. Words have no meaning behind them and I forget them at almost every show. Kinda started with listening to too much 70's prog and ended with a ‘how many layers can i throw in a song before it sounds shit' kinda thing.
It’s also the first taste of the first MEAT release with a full band, what can you tell us about the new EP?
Yeah I lucked out hard getting Scout, Matt and Steve in the band. They're all super accomplished musicians in too many bands to count (Sadults, Bughunt, Slush, Mesa Cosa to name a few). The EP is just us finally getting our shit together and getting most of the songs we have actually recorded properly. Think I just got too tired of people asking us if we were on spotty and just decided to make something.
Despite releasing no music officially, last year was pretty busy for MEAT, and I reckon you might’ve become most of Melbourne’s favourite new band for a hot second there. This year has been a fair bit quieter - what have you been up to?
Yeah we could have ridden that out a bit better ahahah. Everyone got pretty busy with work and and other bands, Scout put out an amazing release with Slush, Steve toured America as the drummer for Drunk Mums and Matt did a whole heap of cool shit. Full EP is recorded with Adam from Pissfart Records so we're back very soon.
What's planned for the rest of the year for MEAT?
We got our first proper EP with the full band out in a sec An Acquired Taste on Pissfart Records, presales up soon. Also announcing a tour very soon up to Sydney and Wollongong. Plenty more shows after that we hope x
Check out 'Who You Are', and catch MEAT launching the single at Bar Open on Friday, October 11, with CLAMM, Bug Hunt and Floodlights.
