At first, you think there's some kind of mistake. scenestr has been scheduled to speak with Mammal frontman Ezekiel Ox – and yet, when the Zoom commences, a bespectacled bloke named Alan Davies joins the conference.
Has Mr. Davies rocked up to the wrong meeting? Here's the twist: They're the same guy. By day, Alan Davies studies law at the University of Newcastle; by night, however, the glasses come off and Ezekiel Ox comes out to play Mammal's belligerent take on groove-driven alternative metal.It's suggested that Alan Davies is the Clark Kent to Ezekiel Ox's Superman, to which Ox (sorry, Mr. Davies) laughs. "It's because of the glasses, isn't it?" he quips, adjusting his frames.
"After about three or four months of studying here, everyone started becoming friends on Facebook. That was when they noticed I wasn't using my real name, and that I was – in their words – 'some kind of a rockstar'.
"Some people were surprised when I announced I was going into this line of work, but the work I want to be doing is very closely linked to my history in punk rock. All punk is political, and my hopes are to keep Aboriginal people out of jail, to keep Aboriginal kids in community and to keep pushing back against state power.
"People that know Mammal know that I've always been an advocate – I can't stand seeing vulnerable people kicked while they're down, and I hate seeing power go unchecked. That's all built into what I intend to do as a legal advocate – the same as I have been as a musical advocate."
Ahead of his graduation next year, Davies has some Ezekiel Ox business to attend to. This month, Mammal will complete work on their second studio album – six years on from their initial reformation, and almost exactly fifteen years on from their 2008 debut 'The Majority'.
The latter tidbit isn't apparent to the frontman until he remembers the specific date of its release: "08/08/08!" he recalls, grinning. "There was also a track on it called 'Zero Infinity', which was our dumb bogan AC/DC version of Tool's Fibonacci Sequence stuff."
When asked to compare and contrast between the creation of 'The Majority' and Mammal's as-yet-untitled sophomore, Ox notes that each album came at completely different times in the band's collective and individual lives.
"Put it this way: When we made that first album, I wasn't a father yet – and now, my son is 13 years old," he says.
"This time around, there's less at stake because we're in a different spot. It was still a very different process, though, because Nick [Adams, former bassist] was always the instigator – he'd come in with basslines and beats, and we'd build from there.
"We had to find a completely different process this time around – and all the altercations that we used to have in the studio weren't really there anymore."
In Adams' place is Kade Turner, who Ox proudly describes as "such an asset" to the new-look version of the band. "He brings so many of the same attributes that Nick did," he says.
"As a player, we couldn't be more stoked with how he's come in and found himself within the dynamic of the band. He's completely virtuosic on his instrument, which is something he developed long before he joined Mammal – and the way we see it, if it's good for you as a person then it's good for the band."
Once the album is officially in the can, the band's first major show will be as one of the headline acts of next month's Thrashville festival, taking place out in the Lower Belford region of the Hunter Valley.
It's with this that Alan Davies fully transforms into Ezekiel Ox as he flies into his promotional spiel. "We will take the Pepsi Challenge with any live band in the world, and I mean that," he says.
"If you like it loud, if you love rock music, if you love punk with an edge, if you love bands with no frills and no click-track – and, most importantly, if you've never seen us live – this is your show. If you do not have a great time, I will guarantee you your money back."
Mammal play Thrashville 2023 at the Dashville festival site in the Hunter Valley 8-9 September.
Thrashville 2023 Line-Up
CogMammal
Civic
Shady Nasty
Crocodylus
Downgirl
Dust
Dane Blacklock And The Preacher’s Daughter
Wildheart
Fifth Dawn
Bloody Hell
Boudicca
Where’s Timmy?
Private Wives
Fungas
Telurian
Doris
Operation IBIS
Deadshowws
Wayward Kings
Miruthan
