Voyager North American Tour Update
Touring in support of their fifth studio album, Australia’s power prog band Voyager is making a name for themselves. The name of record is V, and I recommend it to anyone who isn’t afraid of a little metal in their musical diet. The album features some great songwriting, top notch production, and of course, some very heavy riffs on the guitars. The band members are Daniel Estrin – Vocals, Keys. Simone Dow – Guitars. Alex Canion – Bass, Backing Vocals. Scott Kay – Guitars, Ashley Doodkorte – Drums. With the assistance of their management, I was able to get a few questions to Scott while they were on tour in the USA. You can check out Voyager at http://voyager-australia.com.
CL: I was in Perth a few years ago, and I’ve got two questions for you right off the bat. 1. Did any of you know Bon Scott personally? 2. Why the fuck are taxi cabs so expensive in Perth?
Scott Kay: 1. He was my dad’s room-mate’s dog’s breeder’s son. We were tight.
2. Because fuck you. Honestly though, everything in Perth is pretty expensive, so prepare for wallet destruction if anyone else is preparing to make their way here. It’s beautiful though; I have a lot of love for Perth.
I’ve listened ‘V’ many times. What a great album! If you had to categorize what you guys do, what would you call it?
Thank you! This is always a hard one for us. I guess if I were to be specific, I’d say it’s progressive metal, with song-writing sensibility akin to pop music. We focus on the catchy choruses and hooks, but those hooks are within the context of a progressive sound. Calling what we do ‘pop/progressive metal’ doesn’t really explain it well enough in my opinion.
Who is the female vocalist on “A Beautiful Mistake’? She has some serious range. Every time I hear her hit that fucking high note at the end of the track it gets me.
Žemyna Kuliukas
Zemyna Kuliukas is her name, and we heard her sing in her band at the time, Dead Set Radio, when they supported us in Perth. She has a killer voice! I remember hearing the end result of the vocal session her and Danny did for “A Beautiful Mistake”, and I got chills. I hope she gets more opportunities to utilise her voice in the future. It deserves to be heard.
Seasons Of Age is probably my favorite track on the record, can you guys describe how that came about?
It’s mine too actually! From recollection, Danny had the opening chords and chorus for the song when we all first heard it, and I was immediately drawn to the interesting harmonic movement in the chords; it was really different to what we’ve done in the past. Upon our first few jams on that tune in rehearsal, we knew it was going to be one of our favourite songs on the album.
This is your second tour of the States, welcome back. Did you have any problems getting through customs?
Thank you! This is actually our third time back, but I guess it’s the second time we’ve done a series of shows around the country. They took Alex’s collection of priceless wooden antiques and a lock of Danny’s hair. But really, we did alright, and we were pleasantly surprised.
What are the differences on this tour from the first go around?
There are a lot more people who are coming to shows who know who we are, which is awesome. It’s cool to see our fan base growing every time we come back to the States. ProgPower also has a different vibe for us. We were the band that suprised everybody back in 2011, but this time we have a reputation to uphold. There’s something quite rewarding about successfully maintaining our status as a high energy band, and satiating our fans.
I recently saw a video with two blonde twins playing Metallica’s epic One on a single harp. A part of me kinda felt like, OMFG is this what ‘…And Justice For All’ has come too? It crossed the line for me. I don’t think we need anymore crossover groups like this. I guess the point that I’m trying to make is metal doesn’t seem to be very ‘metal’ anymore. You know what I mean? Staying with Metallica for a moment, when I heard ‘Kill em all’ this first time you could tell these guys didn’t give a flying fuck what people thought about them. They were there to set the world on fire and didn’t care who got in the way. Any thoughts on the current state of metal?
We joke about this all the time; vocalists to heavy bands would shout stuff like ‘Let’s fucking destroy this place!’ and then later say ‘We should love each other and treat each other with respect.’ and it’s this weird juxtaposition. However, being someone who thinks that the ‘rockstar’ mentality of being a selfish douche is really, really shit, I endorse the ‘softening’ of attitudes in the metal community. I endorse people going nuts at shows; I especially endorse bands going out there and entertaining, rather than just standing and delivering their music like statues. I want to see some energy from both parties involved. What I don’t support is people disrespecting each other in the process; bands and fans alike. I also feel that metal doesn’t need to come with an image that’s one-dimensional. Metal is not one-dimensional as a style, so why should the attitude be that way? I say, express yourself however you like. The music you play or listen to doesn’t determine the kind of person you are.
Copyright © 2015. C. Lougeay and S. Kay.
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