Hard-rockers team up to test their metal

By ADAM BENNETT

Across the largely homogenous suburbs of New Zealand and Australia, the cult of the hard-rocking, hard-drinking, black-clad young man who favours loud guitars and noisy cars is widespread.

But Melbourne-based precision metallers Frankenbok, now touring New Zealand with West Auckland rock brutalists 8 Foot Sativa, say New Zealand metal fans rock particularly hard compared with Aussies.

"The punters have been great, it's all rosy so far," Frankenbok guitarist Scott Lang says.

"We've been really amazed at how well 8 Foot Sativa have been looked after by the public.

"The turnout to their gigs is really strong. It seems that they are really loved for being a great band and also because they are the hometown boys. It's great to watch. I think the Aussies can learn a lot from that."

While Australia has a solid record of spawning a host of great hard-rock acts, Lang says home-grown acts face some indifference from fans there.

"This is the point of much discussion and frustration for us. As far as getting punters in and record sales, there's a bit of a glass ceiling.

"As soon as an international band comes out they'll pack a venue out, whereas an Aussie equivalent will struggle. It's not until you get recognised overseas that you get fully recognised back in Australia."

The band, which last year released its critically acclaimed second full-length album, Blood Oath, on the Dutch-based metal label Roadrunner, say their trip to New Zealand is partly to widen their horizons.

The band, which started up in 1997, have been touring the east coast of Australia for four years and have "sort of outgrown the place".

They are now one of Australia's top-selling metal acts and have accompanied big overseas names such as Machinehead and satanic metal legends Slayer on their Australian tours. Lang says the Slayer tour was "probably one of the best weeks of my life and I reckon the other guys would say the same thing. It was pretty intimidating and a steep learning curve mixing it with the big boys, but we held our own and had a ball. We were just running on adrenalin every day."

While Lang says Slayer were "cool", they didn't get a chance to get to know them very well. "They had a kind of aura - if they didn't want to talk, you knew about it."

Lang says Frankenbok enjoyed a much better rapport with 8 Foot Sativa when they toured Australia with them twice earlier this year.

When 8 Foot Sativa asked if Frankenbok wanted to come to New Zealand, the band jumped at the chance.

Frankenbok is no exception to metal's tendency to embrace a dark, testosterone-soaked violent image.

The inside cover art for their Blood Oath CD features a photo of the band looking either angry or deranged, pointing guns at the camera.

The genial Lang says the band has fielded a lot of questions about the photo.

"We're not extreme right-wing gun nuts or anything - I just think it's a cool picture."

The guns were a spur-of-the-moment decision. During the photo shoot they were wondering what to do rather than stand around and look tough. The answer was to "grab a shotgun and look tougher".

Lang admits the band does come across an attitude that because of their music and image they must be "ultra-violent, complete deviants and drug-taking lunatics".

But this is not correct, he insists. "Once people get to know us they see we're decent humans - we're just a rock band that goes a little bit harder."

- NZPA