When it comes to the power of thousands of people responding positively to your music, These Four Walls' guitarist Gray Vickers can't get enough of the adrenaline rush.
“There is nothing quite like the sound of 14,000 people clapping; having that hit you is quite phenomenal,” Gray says.
From humble beginnings in New Zealand to supporting the likes of Disturbed and Nickelback, the Gold Coast-based hard rockers are ready to get back in the game.
“We've had a bit of a hiatus, creatively. We hadn't put out any music for a few years and we had to make the decision; if we're gonna keep doing this, we gotta get shows. To get shows, you gotta put out singles,” Gray says.
The band managed to explode back onto the scene with singles ’Bravery' and 'Over & Over' scoring over 250,000 streams collectively. “Not a lot of people had heard of us before then, so the fact we got picked up by the Spotify playlist absolutely amplified the amount of streams we had.
“That was huge and from that directly, we got some local supports and we started to get bigger and bigger shows. That's been the platform for us to be able to do our own headlining shows, so the success of that is awesome.”
The secret to their success is no secret at all. “As with all things in the music industry, it's just perseverance. The right people turned up to the right show and we got an offer to go on tour with some international names like Nickelback and Disturbed.
"Just before the Disturbed show we opened for Karnivool. So we can really weave in and out of heavy music, alternative rock, radio rock, and we've always had good success doing so.
“It's all fun. If it wasn't fun, we wouldn't do it. Alright, there is a little bit of business. We take it very seriously, but we always have to be able to have fun. Elliot [Burton, bass player] and I for instance like to attack each other on stage. I don't buy into the whole 'be super serious on stage and stand there grimacing while you're playing music' thing.”
When it comes to the band's sound, Gray says it's a mix of genres. “I'm more of a metal guy. From a guitarist's perspective that's where I've always come from.
"Brad [Vickers], the drummer is a grunge guy. Elliot is an absolute punk head. Steve [Gibb, singer-guitarist] is the new metal guy. [Overall] I think it gives us that diversity to make it sound different as opposed to the standard, generic thing that we all could pump out.”
These Four Walls have a couple of local shows upcoming, before they return to the studio to finish off their next album. “We've been in the studio for the last six months, on and off, doing bits and pieces as we go. We've finished the first half of the record and those songs will be in the current tour.
“In terms of direction, we haven't guided [the new album] in any direction. There is a lot more variation in the six tracks we have recorded. It happened organically through this kind of democracy we've created.
"Previously, it was myself doing the music and Steve doing the lyrics. We've blurred the lines a lot more with everyone creating ideas, lyrics and concepts.”
In the next few weeks, These Four Walls will be making the stage their home at The Wallaby Hotel and Woolly Mammoth. “We saw a sign for Wallapalooza,” begins Gray.
“We thought it was the most ridiculous thing we'd heard of. And we're like 'dude we've gotta get on this show'. I think we've done three Wallies now. The Woolly Mammoth, we did our last headlining show in Brisbane there. Really cool crew; it's a good room.”
