We had a chance to spend a few brief moments with The Naddiks.
The 21CB EP is your latest release. What does it contribute to the band’s story?
21CB is about the band changing direction, more to the point, evolving from a group of individuals who simply wanted to play loud and fast music to a group of professional musicians who wanted to put more meaning and thought into our music and convey real meaning with the songs.
What artists possess the greatest influence on your music?
For this album it would have been The Living End, however, overall the greatest influence which helped give the album it’s tone was Craig Nichols from the vines. In the past Nirvana, ACDC, Iggy Pop, The Rolling Stones and Syd Barrett shaped a lot of our compositions. We even did a cover of Iggy & The Stooges’ ‘I want to be your dog’ which a local radio station picked up and played it every Friday afternoon for nearly an entire year, but don’t tell Iggy that…
How has your style evolved and changed over the time since you first started playing as a band?
Originally we were a heavy crazy grunge band moving onto the Sex Pistols/ and The Saints sound , then moved on, with a lot less screaming and decibels to a more refined sound. The lyrics, the singing, everything simply evolved over time and after so many gigs one year we told our manager Richard to stop booking us shows! We actually got to a point where we simply changed because we simply didn’t want to do what we were doing anymore, we wanted a real purpose. You know, lives change and with it, the music.
Which tracks off of the 21CB EP are your favorites?
All of them, we originally had 10 to 12 songs to choose from, however, in order to tell my story we picked these 6. They literally replicate the earliest years of when I first picked up a guitar, partying with friends, writing myself off and going through several life changing experiences which included a bleeding stomach ulcer before I reached 20, being bashed one night by 2 thugs for no reason except that they were out on the town looking for trouble. Putting my life back on the straight and narrow after seeing several people I knew die. The songs all mean something very deep and represent a crucial stage or event.
Can you describe your creative process and your recording set up for us?
Initially I write all the songs at home in my own makeshift studio, then bring them along to our weekly band get together at the main studio underneath the manager’s house and show the boys – if they like a song we then build it acoustically, then move it through our engine room (simply vox, bass & drums), sort of a pre-production process we learned from a label, then create a would-be scratch track. Analyse it, fill in gaps, change sonic levels so nothing is drowning something else out, try and create a mood-set for each song and then, when perfectly happy with the song, take it into the recording studio and change everything lol!
We recorded these songs at a studio in the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach. After the initially scratch tracks were down, we almost killed our drummer with a 12 hour stint on day one getting the beats down, next day adding bass, then guitar, then vocals. If you can get these element clean and perfect (we had a master engineer – Nick Mainsbridge), then it’s playtime with mixing and mastering – something we want to really get into with our new recording studio.
How can interested readers listen to your music?
Our music is available through all the usual avenues, we distributed through Green Distribution practically world wide at;
http://www.waterfrontrecords.com/product/83917 (physical CD)
or through CD Baby http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thenaddiks14
What has been your most memorable experience together?
Recording this album really turned us around about the music industry and changed how we perceived ourselves. It was intense, it was fun, it was hard and it was sobering.
Playing at Canberra’s The AIS Arena at a National Roller Derby Grand Final was a lot of fun. Hearing our songs for the first time on radio is always a buzz, and playing several festivals last year really created some incredible memories for us.
What goals do you still have left to accomplish in 2015 and over your career?
A tour overseas would be great, after touring Australia with our new material which we are recording now.
Thank you for your time. Do you have anything else that you would like to say to our readers?
Thanks for having a listen to our music, if you like it then pls share it. You can always talk to us through facebook or twitter and we love feedback, good or bad. We are preparing a new theme for this year which will start with a song called ‘Stop.Listen.Love’, but don’t tell anyone as it top secret Z:]
A big thank you and shout out to you James!