DECADE OF DESTRUCTION. Three bands celebrating ten years of metal! Featuring; SE BON KI RA, Octanic, ARCADIA
There must have been a little something extra in that delightful Adelaide tap water in 2007. This is when SE BON KI RA, OCTANIC and ARCADIA all started their separate journeys, performing for the first time and each kick starting their own decade of destruction.
It only took two years before the three bands first found themselves on the same bill together for the Adelaide’s infamous Against The Grain Festival, thanks to Truth Inc. This was ATG5 in 2009 at which 21 bands tore up 2 stages at Fowlers Live. It was certainly a time to remember, although the best memories are often hazy…
Decade of Destruction is an event to celebrate the blood, sweat, tears and heavy metal happiness that each of these three bands have shared with each other and audiences over the ten years since their first shows. The intensity of the emotional journey is likely to be magnified on the night by wild delusions of grandeur, severely embellished stories and total #$%^-slinging by grossly over-inflated egos. For this there will be no apologies and everyone is invited to get amongst the fun carnage created!
With thanks to event sponsors Australian Rock and Metal Institute (ARMI) and Derringers Music, Decade of Destruction takes place on Friday November 24th at the Ed Castle Hotel, 233 Currie St, Adelaide. Entry is $15 and tickets purchased prior to the event come with the chance to win a monster merch pack contributed to by all three bands. Drink specials will assist the party atmosphere and for this reason the event is 18+ only. Doors are at 8.30pm but come down early and enjoy a reasonably priced meal to get your evening started.
Tickets here: www.sebonkira.com/store
To enter the draw for the merch pack just grab yourself a ticket before the show from the link above or direct from one of the bands. Major prize drawn Thurs 23rd Nov and matched to your size preference (t-shirts etc) ready for pick up at the show. Good luck and see you in the mosh pit!
Until then, here’s a brief run down of what the three bands have spent their decade getting up to.
SE BON KI RA
In November 2007 SE BON KI RA first took to the stage at Enigma Bar along with Adelaide favourites Double Dragon and Melbourne’s Black Like Vengeance. Since then the band has shared the stage with some true Australian legends including Truth Corroded, Dreadnaught, Lord, Alchemist and Mortal Sin. Playing at the Big Day out in 2010 and nestling in between Mastodon and Devil Driver at Soundwave in 2014 are music festival highlights in what has been a roller coaster ride of metal, mates and good times for the groove metal five piece.
East coast and regional shows and even a couple of jaunts across to Tasmania have seen SE BON KI RA share their music outside of their hometown, but their biggest exposure has come from international support spots with Static X at Fowlers Live, Soilwork at the Gov and, more recently, Lamb of God at HQ Complex. These highlights have held the band together as they enjoy the brotherhood team sport of playing metal. Ten years since their first show and it is still the same five members that comprise SE BON KI RA today.
Leading the attack on the microphone is front man Chad Cosgrove who has often been likened to Rob Flynn of Machine Head fame in both stature and vocal style. Cosgrove’s casual approach to chatting and joking with the crowd between songs is not carried through into the music, where his guttural vehemence is palpable. Striking the balance between being a formidable character on-stage and an affable character off-stage, Cosgrove is a good choice for the band, vocally moving between light and shade and delivering both elements with energy and passion.
In 2009 SE BON KI RA recorded and released their debut EP One Thousand Ways To Be and launched it at a killer show at Adelaide Uni Bar, again with Adelaide legends of the time Double Dragon. The band’s full length album In The Wake of Change was recorded in 2013 in local well known studios, but under guidance from the UK by Scott Atkins (Sylosis, Cradle of Filth). The 13 tracks on the album cover a wide sonic spectrum from thrashy to melodic and demonstrate a band definitely having fun with the songwriting and studio recording process. SE BON KI RA is currently in the throes of writing new material with hopes for a release sometime in 2018.
Check out more SE BON KI RA action at: www.sebonkira.com orwww.facebook.com/sebonkira
And click here for a live vid of their song Nailed Into Place from their support show with Lamb of God in 2016:
OCTANIC
It was May 2007 and OCTANIC burst out of the blocks with their first show at Lizard Lounge (aka Le Rox, Breakers, Live on Light Square). Headlining that night was Adelaide’s Deafening Silence, but also on the line-up was a band by the name of Obdurate Seduction, which featured the now SE BON KI RA bass player on guitar. OCTANIC didn’t waste any time with their live performances and moved up to the main support spot for their second show. They were headlining by their third and, although only two members from the band’s shows in 2007 are still in OCTANIC ten years later, it’s been a consistently strong decade for them, rising to all of the challenges they’ve been confronted with.
Since their beginnings as a five piece the band has added to their number by one, now having two guitars in the artillery. Since the start OCTANIC has carved a difference for themselves musically from many of their local contemporaries by including keyboards in their soundscape. The decision has paid off through some impressive international support spots including their first with electronica/industrial metal act Hanzel und Gretyl. Other International supports have included Combichrist at Higher Ground, Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens at Fowlers Live, Paul Di Anno and Blaze Bayley also at Fowlers and Korpiklanni at The Gov. The highlight for the band however was their trip to the UK in 2016 for the Rock on Green Festival at the O2 Forum in London in support of Tarja and Amaranthe. This is an opportunity that many only dream of.
He may be just one of six, but front man Jay Sheperdson has no trouble standing out. He is a consummate performer, bringing a noticeable sense of professionalism to his stage work, yet being very humble in his dealings. Vocally Sheperdson is no slouch with a melodic take on the genre that is ably delivered. One of the strengths of the band is the ability to draw an audience into their world for 45 minutes, largely through their front man’s generous yet foreboding invitation – enter if you dare. This enigmatic presence has served OCTANIC well in developing a strong fan base of metal lovers who are confident that the band will smash out a solid performance each and every time.
In 2008, just one year after starting out, OCTANIC released their debut EP entitled Industry. A self-titled full length release followed this in 2012 and then in 2015 a further full length, The Mask of Hypocrisy, was released internationally through Into Records. With these solid offerings firmly under their belt the band is aiming to get cracking on something new by early 2018.
See what else OCTANIC have been up to at: www.facebook.com/octanic
Check out the iconic film clip for their song Deadworld at:
And here’s a fun live vid of their song King for a Day from their London trip in 2016:
ARCADIA
Playing their first ever show in July 2007 at the Crown and Anchor Hotel, ARCADIA started out mixing it on the stage with rock bands. They quickly started turning this around to more of a metal aspect however by organising for their second and third shows to be a back-to-back Friday and Saturday night stint in Mount Gambier. In the years since these illustrious beginnings ARCADIA have gone on to play multiple festivals and events, performing alongside some of Australia’s best metal acts.
Front man Tim Giddings is also on guitar in the four piece band and is well known for his stage showmanship and lighthearted approach to playing what are really are some blistering tunes and that totally defy the ease and even hilarity with which they are delivered. Giddings can often be seen with his foot up on the foldback in true rock god style while leering at the crowd, clearly enjoying his stage time and scarcely bothering to even glance at his guitar. It might have been this engaging attitude that has seen ARCADIA land some impressive international support spots over the decade including their first one at Enigma Bar opening up for Sybreed along with another well known Adelaide name Universum. Other international supports have included Demon Hunter at Fowlers Live and Emmure in an exclusive show at Black Market when that was running on Light Square.
In 2009 ARCADIA released their first recording, an EP titled From Ashes We Rise and launched it at Adelaide’s Against the Grain Festival. The follow up to this was the Worlds Collide split EP in 2012 with Melbourne’s Bury The Fallen, which the band launched with a series of shows up the east coast. Deciding it was now time to hit the market with a full length recording, ARCADIA again entered the studio to record In Ruins in 2013. More recently the band has released an online single entitled Condemned in August this year and hope to get back in the studio in the first half of 2018 to start work on a new release.
Catch up with the latest from ARCADIA via Facebook at:www.facebook.com/
Pick yourself up some sweet merch at: www.arcadia.bigcartel.com
And check out the lyric vid to their new single Condemned here:
