DAYSEND
You
can do one of two things: listen to what the critics
have to say about Daysend's début album 'Severance',
or do what most sensible people do – take the
CD out of its jewel case, put it in your stereo, crank
it up to a volume that rattles your neighbour's windows
and make up your own mind. Either way you'll come
to the same conclusion: Daysend are a band capable
of competing with the best the metal world has to
offer.
Just
ask British metal bible 'Kerrang!': "Daysend
know exactly when to be brutal and when to switch
on the silken melodies and heart rending dynamics,"
it gushed, while bestowing an impressive 4Ks on the
album.
Even
'Rolling Stone', a magazine not known renowned for
its appreciation of the heavier things in life, awarded
Severance four stars, saying, "There are still
some bands finding brutal, blistering ways to deliver
a classic metal feel . . . all we loved about hard
rock pre-Korn."
Of
course, none of these reviews would come as a surprise
to anyone who's actually heard 'Severance'. Proof
of just how vital and exciting modern heavy metal
can be, it blends the harshness of thrash metal with
the swooning melodies of the Swedish sound while adding
a unique twist; a product of the fact that Daysend
live thousands of miles away from the glut of bands
in Europe and America trading on the same sound. The
tyranny of distance? Sometimes it's a blessing in
disguise.
The
Daysend story begins in Sydney, Australia, midway
through 2002, with the split of Oz metal leading lights
Psi.Kore. Unhappy and disillusioned with the direction
of the band, bassist Meredith Webster and guitarist
Aaron Bilbija decided to sacrifice the years of hard
work to start again; to do things the way they wanted
to do them; to make a noise they believed in; to be
in a band they wanted to be in.
"It
was better for ourselves and the music," says
Bilbija. "In the end you've gotta do what's best
for yourself. The music you write is who you are,
it's so important."
They
approached the people they wanted to work with - friends
in the scene, past band mates - and those people said,
Yes. And so Aaron Bilbija and Meredith Webster were
joined by guitarist Michael Kordek and drummer Wayne
Morris, and the nucleus of Daysend was in place. A
singer came, but he decided to leave just days before
the start of Daysend's first Australian tour. Solution?
Do it anyway, and play each set as an instrumental
combo, despite the fact that these were their first
ever gigs. Balls of steel? And
then some.
"That
was really nervewracking," says Bilbija. "Cos
it wasn't focused on the frontman, we were all just
there, wondering what people were going to think of
it. But people seemed to like it."
With
that baptism of fire out of the way, Simon Calabrese
was recruited as frontman, and Daysend's line-up was,
finally, complete. Tours with the likes of Skinlab,
Entombed, Strapping Young Lad, In Flames and The Haunted
followed, and by the middle of 2003, the band were
ready to record the 11 songs that make up 'Severance'.
And that's when things really started happening .
. .
Triple
J, Australia's leading national youth radio station,
added the track 'Countdown' to their playlist, an
unheard of accolade for a local metal band; listeners
of the country's premier metal show, 'Full Metal Racket',
voted 'Severance' the best Australian album of 2003;
street press around the country proclaimed 'Severance'
the album of the week; and 'Severance' sat at the
top of leading metal retailer Utopia Records' Top
Sellers' list for weeks. In a country notorious for
supporting overseas bands more than it does its own,
Daysend have been embraced by the local metal scene
in a way they couldn't have imagined.
"When
you think about how everything's fallen into place
it's pretty amazing," says Bilbija. "We
had no idea when we started this band that people
would embrace it as much as they have. I guess it's
just proof that if you really believe in yourselves
and the music you're writing, good things can happen."
Rod
Yates (Editor Kerrang! Australia)
