Steely focus fuels success for 8 Foot Sativa

By MIKE HOULAHAN

When 8 Foot Sativa released their second album last month, there soon came proof of just how loyal the West Auckland band's fan base was. Season for Assault stormed into the top 10, debuting at number six, an independent album muscling in on the territory normally cosily divided up between the major record companies.

The good chart position is testament to three years of hard work by 8 Foot Sativa. Constant touring has built up a fan base which turned out in droves.

"Metal fans have a real passion for their music," 8 Foot Sativa drummer Sam Sheppard says. "They rush out and buy all the records, get the T-shirts, put the posters on their wall, see the gigs. They live for the music."

So do 8 Foot Sativa. Sheppard, guitarist Gary Smith, bass player Brent Fox and singer Justin Niessen chucked in their day jobs years ago in the belief that nothing but dedication to their music would reap rewards.

"We're all committed to this," Smith says. "We don't have anything else, like jobs, to distract us. We decided we were going to give this a real go and that was all we were going to do.

"I don't think you can do two things at once and pretend that everything is going to work out for you - you have to be fully into it.

"What I reckon stops most bands is people aren't committed to them. They leave, they don't work at it. We're all 100 per cent working on this. If you lose a bass player, say, it takes you five months to recover."

That's something 8 Foot Sativa know only too well, disposing of their first drummer before the release of debut album Hate Made Me because of a perceived lack of commitment.

"The real line-up is this line-up here. We consider this our first album," Smith says.

Sheppard was recruited from a band which had previously played support for 8 Foot Sativa, joining in time to tour Hate Made Me and help to write several of the songs on Season For Assault.

As you might expect from their album titles, 8 Foot Sativa aren't writing any anthems to peace, love and harmony. However, their musical bluster can disguise some well-crafted observations about depression and negativity.

There is even a well-thought-out song commenting on sensible drug use - somewhat surprising for a band named after a giant marijuana plant.

"We write about what we think is cool, we sing about what we believe in," Sheppard says.

"There's no gimmicks. We're fans of metal, just like the people who buy the records. We're not big rockstars or anything like that.

"Some people try and do it to become rock stars rather than doing what you have to do - make good music. Some people are in it for image or money, not music."

One thing 8 Foot Sativa are not is rich. Non-stop touring chews up the dollars, and the rest has been sunk into videos, promotion, equipment and recording studios.

That hasn't quenched their determination to have their music heard as widely as possible, and last year 8 Foot Sativa travelled to the South By Southwest festival in Texas, before playing several more dates in the United States. They also visited Canada, London and Hong Kong before popping into Australia on the way home. They're now in the middle of a two-month New Zealand tour.

"It's not what people think it is," Smith says with a wry grin."People think you're loaded because you're on telly, but they're probably making more than I do, and they're working at Foodtown."

Sheppard adds: "At the end of tour we played in Sydney and we only had just enough to get from the hotel to the airport to come home."

Despite such travails, 8 Foot Sativa can't wait to get themselves back overseas.

They view their new album as a calling card to gain themselves invitations to play in Europe, the biggest metal scene in the world.

Performance

* Who: 8 Foot Sativa

* Where and When: Altitude Hamilton tonight; Brewers Bar, Mt Maunganui, Saturday and Sunday

- NZPA