interview with xtroydestroyx
september 2001

when and how did you guys get started?
Well, .theory.of.flight. sort of started when Kilcoy broke up. Kilcoy started early to mid 2000, and originally featured me on bass, crispy on guitar, gareth on drums and jordan on vocals. luke ghetto came in on bass to replace me not long after, and that was kilcoy. They broke up in eary january, and then I joined gareth and crispy and we got anthony on vocals. we played a few parties with this line up, and then we got owen in on second guitar and that's pretty much how it's been.

how did you yourself get started playing in a band?
Well, my first band was the recorder band in primary school, i had a tenor recorder, it was big and wooden! Anyway, I started playing bass in january 1997, and was just mucking around with a few kids playing shitty indy pop stuff, but i was more interested in playing fast, and they were slack anyway, so that didn't take off. i heard crispy playing guitar in a unit one day when i was visiting a mate who lived in the same block, so i eventually asked him if he had a band, and if he did did he need a bass player. turned out that he was, and they did, so it was here that i joined the almighty, and short lived, bombs away! Anyway, that band didn't last too long, we played two parties and two shows at the railway, then we broke up, but by this time b.a. baracus had started up, so we were really concentrating on that anyway. You pretty much know the rest from there I gather.

how did you find hardcore, is it the same old phase most kids go through?
I can't really speak for other kids, but the way I got into hardcore was by having an enthusiasm for australian music, and undergournd music in particular. I was into general punk stuff, and then found one inch punch and toe to toe, and pretty much that was how i started to find out about hardcore punk as a style of music. It wasn't until I met Neil O'Steel and Arron In League Wit' Satan that I was really introduced to hardcore as a community idea, and from here was introduced into the world of zines and such stuff.

could 3 words describe the music theory of flight play? would you want three words to describe your music?
no, not really. I don't know actually how to describe it, it's got so many influences in it coming from all directions. I'll leave the descriptions up to the music journalists!

i've seen you guys three times or something and it's a little hard to clearly hear the vocals. what the hell is ant singing about? anything important?
What is Ant singing about? Well, i don't really know, maybe it's about the time that he was announced as overlord of the gnome village under his house. Actually, Ant's lyrics deal with many personal issues, as well as issues in general, and yes, they have meaning and are awesome. You should hit him up after a show and hasle him about it. Look out for lyrics coming to the website when Owen finishes it.

does everyone in the band contribute to songwriting equally. who does the most work? actually how do you guys put together a song?
Well, it's kinda shared between crispy and owen, like one of them will write something, then the other might add a bit, or whatever, and i might add a bit here and there. crispy wrote all the early stuff, and owen has been writing stuff now that he's in the band. i even wrote one the other day! but yeah, you know, ant writes his lyrics, gareth comes up with his drum bits and sometimes has good ideas for tempo or something as well, and i might write a bridge or some shit like that, so everyone is as involved as each other in the song writing process.

any particular bands that influence you guys?
I dunno, i can't really speak for everyone, but there's influences all over the place from metal, punk, harcore, indy, whatever really. someone said a mix between slayer and saves the day, but eh, i reckon iron maiden is in there as well!

are theory of flight animal lovers?
What are you suggesting here matt, and you better not have kept those pictures!
Seriously though, Owen and myself are vegan, Ant has just become vegetarian, and Crispy and Gareth love eating dead shit. Crispy loves cats though, like, not eating them, like he loves cats, like he's got these huge fat cats man, crazy shit!!!

your a big supporter of ipswich city hardcore, i know by looking at your site. hows it all going down there? many people get out to shows?
Well, it's kinda slack right now, I think the buzz from the City View last year has finally worn off. I don't know, ICHC pride is still as strong as ever, but we're really getting the shits with the town and a lot of people here. I think that both the venues are shutting down, so look for house shows and shows in the pit (ichc rehearsal room).

bands that you guys love playing with? Dude, enough with this sexual inuendo!!!
I don't know, any band that is passionate about what they are doing, and are also not big headed jerks. We've played heaps of shows with usversus them from lismore, and those kids are awesome! Godnose helped us out with a few early shows as well, um, i don't know mate, anyone really, as long as they aren't arseholes i guess!

you been on any road trips yet? whos got the most annoying habits in the band?
Yeah dude, we played Lismore and Byron Bay earlier this year. Was way rad! It was us, bjelke-petersen youth, the new mutants and new settlement rogue. we played with special patrol group in lismore and pretty much crammed way too many kids into this little hotel room, rad fun!!! went to byron and played with some band i can't remember, they were poppy punk stuff, and think straight from byron, go bbhc!!! Irrelevant headlined that show and were great guys to!

Most annoying habit of the band? Hmmm, I dunno dude, we're all pretty good i think. (cop out!)

are you guys planning to record anything in the near future? or have you already recorded something?
We NEED to record VERY soon, we just need to organise our shit! Keep hassling us!

ant always calls for people to come down the front and throw a few windmills and stuff haha. is that something you really want to see while you guys are on stage? spose every band loves a crazy crowd. shit i just answered your question. ah well.
Nah man, I don't want to see that shit, dancing sucks! HA! Actually, I just want to see people get into it anyway they want, be it doing cartwheels, busting out the nyhc moves, bopping away, making love in the pit, i don't care mate, whatever's good, as long as we're evoking some kind of response!

did the kids at the lions den all ages get into theory of flight? was that your first all ages?
i think so, we had a HUGE crowd, which was cool, and yeah, i dunno if they were getting into it, or were just trying to work out what was going on. We were betting how long it would take to clear the room, but the kids stayed, so i dunno.

haha. i was actually talking to someone who went to the show and cause you guys said you were a black metal (something along those lines) band he left the room. just though i'd tell ya. i thought it was funny.
DUDE! he left because we said we were black metal, man, what a posuer! i bet all the bands he likes are even more into black metal than we are! actually, that is pretty funny, i think i'll make sure to say that we're a black metal band ALL the time!

does it dissapoint you that kids would rather just go see big international bands at livid for a bucketload of cash than go see just as equally good andimpressive local bands?
Does it dissapoint me? Not really, it's quite understandable, i mean, i was doing it 'til '97 myself, so you know, it's always gonna be there. I just hope that there are enough kids interested in getting involved in the hardcore community as well you know. I mean, sure, if I had my way, kids would always come out to local shows and have way more fun there getting involved than going to LiViD and just being entertained, but whatever you know. Kids will do what kids want to do, and unitl they find out if they want to be involved or entertained, they'll just keep drifting 'til they work it out.

whats happening in the future with the band? any shows/tours you'd like to plug? final words?
Yeah mate, there's a few shows coming up here in Brisbane.

Brisbane City Beatdown All Ages Hardcore show Lions Den Cafe Saturday October 6 $6 entry Doors 4pm
Think Straight, Bjelke Petersen Youth, Godnose, New Settlement Rogue, Theory of Flight.

AND

26th: Irrelevant,Think Straight, New Settlement Rogue @ Byron Bay, Ewingsdale Hall All Ages

27th: Irrelevant,Theory of Flight, New Settlement Rogue, Nob and Bjelke-Petersen Youth. @ Lions Den Cafe, Brisbane. All Ages

27th Irrelevant, Theory Of Flight, Community Cervix, Six Foot Hick, plus more @ Gabba Hotel

We don't have any tours planned yet, but are way keen to play all over this wide, brown land!

Final words? Thanks for the opportunity to spread the word mate. hope all the kids come out and have fun. check out the page for further info. http://theoryofflight.live.com.au

well that's it. thanks for your time and keep kicking arse with the band.
Thanks mate, keep it real!