The Number One Thing: Remember To Take The Piss Out Of Yourself

It's been several months since Twelve Foot Ninja issued second record Outlier and The Music's previous conversation with Melbourne's genre-hopping heavy rockers. However, to reference their own PR machine, they've been busy. Busier than a cat burying shit in concrete. It's not empty rhetoric.

For one, as our interview occurs, axeman Steve "Stevic" MacKay is preparing a presentation for the National Association of Music Merchants trade show in California to launch his new custom signature guitar. He designed the axe, a collaboration with Line 6 and Yamaha. "It's surreal actually, to be going to NAMM to launch a custom signature guitar and have people actually care what band I come from and take interest in the instrument, and what's different about it."

"I grew up listening to Pantera, so meeting Vinnie Paul and hanging out on his tour bus and stuff was pretty awesome."

The ensuing album cycle even incorporated opening for heavyweights Disturbed in enormodomes during their Australian run. "It was pretty surreal playing with Disturbed, just in an arena setting," MacKay enthuses. They've also returned to the US, playing festivals and shows with the likes of Sevendust, Nothing More and Hellyeah. "I grew up listening to Pantera, so meeting Vinnie Paul and hanging out on his tour bus and stuff was pretty awesome.

"He's actually a big fan of the band, which is crazy to have Vinnie Paul ask us to take a picture with him," MacKay chuckles. "That shit's mind-blowing, it's like stepping into another dimension or something. [Sevendust's] Morgan [Rose, drums] is an absolute legend, and some of the stories he's got about hanging out with Tommy Lee and filling in for Motley Crue are just next level."

The band have seemingly made a concerted effort not to forget their humble roots though, despite the perpetual momentum following Outlier's arrival. "Certain things happen, we find ourselves in conversations and situations and we're just like, 'how did we get here?' Especially Russ [Shane Russell, drums] and I, we go back a long way. Early starts, being nervous before playing at The Tote and the Evelyn, first gigs when we were younger. Then we're doing this shit. It's trippy, that's probably the only way I can explain it. We definitely don't take it for granted that's for sure."

The humorous, Stranger Things-influenced video for Sick is also an international hit. The nine-minute clip contains gore, torture and (naturally) cross-dressing. "I guess the number one thing is not being afraid to take the piss out of yourself. It's just having a laugh, and not being too concerned that a film clip has to depict band members as demigods above everyone else. That's just a load of shit, a fallacy and no one believes it, and it often looks terrible when bands try and play that uber-serious, 'we're brooding artists' thing. I think the guys are actually pretty talented, they're getting much better with acting. We seem to be able to pull it off somehow."

Could Hollywood await then? "I really want to be an extra on Game Of Thrones or something, to be like a fucking wildling or something would be awesome. Mastodon, one of those dudes got to do that. Now that would be rad."