COGCog play the Koala Tavern on Thursday, the Ballina RSL on Friday, Quad Park in Kawana on Saturday and the Troccadero, Surfers Paradise on Sunday.
Bondi based metal trio Cog are spending their Easter up here in Brisbane. Damn nice of them, I must say. And definitely a bonus for anyone who’s ear has been turned to the brooding, atmospheric and at times overwhelming sounds the band produce on their five track debut, Just Visiting Part 1, which gets it’s official Queensland kick off this weekend.
“Brisbane’s always been good to us,” explains bassist Luke Gower. “Last time we were there we had an awesome crowd. I think the last time was the Butterfly Effect’s CD Launch.”
Only fair then, that the Butterfly Effect returns the compliment, playing with the Cog in the Southern states.
“They did a bit of a tour with us after that. We went down to Melbourne and they came down to Sydney to do our EP launch at Bar Broadway. We get along really well with those guys.”
Good to see a local act making headway down south, but what does it say about the health of the Sydney scene?
“I wouldn’t say it’s too healthy, compared with maybe Melbourne where a lot more people seem to get out and see live bands, rather than going to clubs. I think Sydney is more club oriented at the moment/ It’s really hard to get gigs down here at the moment. A lot of venues won’t give you a gig unless you have a demo CD done, and even then it’s hard. It’s not good for bands staring out.”
For Cog, the first live break was a regular gig at a suburban Sydney pub.
“We were doing mostly instrumentals then,” he continues. “Flynn wasn’t singing. I joined the band at that time, and they were still looking for a vocalist. We had a guy who was good for a while, but things weren’t working out. We just weren’t having any luck, so it was a might as well do it ourselves kind of thing. I don’t know if we just didn’t put the right ad in or what, but we couldn’t find anyone we wanted.”
The CD sounds pretty huge, would an extra person help out live to fill in the sound?
“The live show’s definitely been the thing we’ve had. We haven’t had the CD done or anything other than the live show to go with, so we’ve worked pretty hard. It’s been non-stop kind of gigging, so we’re got it down to a degree, but there’s always room to make the show better. Maybe use a sampler, do some sequencing. There’s always another pedal you can buy. It’s a vicious cycle.”
