Being the frontman of a successful band isn’t all cocaine and sunshine, especially when it comes to auditioning band members.
As the only original member of Arcane Saints, Mike John is well aware of the perils of the audition process. “You have to have a sense of humour. One guy rocked up and he only had one arm, which was fine. But he was going for the lead guitarist position. He had his friend stand there and awkwardly hold the guitar for him while he played. I was thinking ‘how’s this going to work? Is his friend going to come to every gig and hold the guitar?’
“You get a lot of crazy people but, occasionally, you find a diamond in the rough and that’s what we got with all the members at the moment. We’re all chilled guys. We’ll party hard but we’re not too crazy. We learnt early on, when you’re doing five shows in a row, you can’t party every night. But if it’s your last show and you’ve got a few days off then it’s all on.”
Party or not, the band always makes an effort to catch-up with fans after a show. “We’re really appreciative of people taking the time to come to our shows and see us. There are so many distractions, so many other things on. So we always take the time to chat and say thank you.”
And fans clearly appreciate this openness. Through crowdfunding, Arcane Saints were able to raise over $5,000 to help with the production of their new EP, ‘In The Shade Of The Juniper’. The boys were surprised and touched by the generosity of their fans which extended beyond monetary donations. “One girl in Victoria had dolls made for us, so now I have a mini-me.”
With her quirky gift, the fan earned herself a gift from the band. And, as it turns out, received another important piece of their history in return. “We took a koala on tour with us in America just because: why not? If you squeezed his stomach he’d play 'Waltzing Matilda', so I’d put him up to the microphone before each show. Everyone would be like ‘what the fuck is this?’ and then we’d start playing hard rock.
“People got photos with him, we took him to strip bars. He had his nose bitten off by a stripper. And he got burnt. But we got him repaired when we got home and he’s still going strong. We put him up as part of our crowdfunding campaign and the girl who made the dolls scored him.”
While the boys have a great connection with their Australian fans and love playing shows at home, they reckon China has us beat on one count. “China was 100 times more raucous than Australia. I’ve never played to such crazy crowds.
“We had no idea if anyone would even come to our shows. But the population’s so massive and they got into rock later than the rest of the world, so it’s still rebellious and new. There’s a buzz in the air at every gig. They don’t do the stand-at-the-back-with-your-arms-crossed thing that’s popular in Australia. They just go for it.”
For Mike, this reception illuminated one of the main forces guiding Arcane Saints. “They were so appreciative that we’d taken the time to go over there. And that’s what being in a band is all about, for us anyway. Getting off the beaten track and doing crazy things.”
Arcane Saints Tour Dates
Sat 4 Jul - The Crown & Anchor (Adelaide)Sat 11 Jul - The Brisbane Hotel (Hobart)
Fri 24 Jul - New Globe Theatre (Brisbane)
Sat 25 Jul - Coolangatta Hotel (Gold Coast)
Sat 1 Aug - The Basement (Canberra)
