Adelaide five-piece, heavy-rock band Japam have released their first EP, 'How's My EP?', today, and are thrilled to be embarking on their very first tour together.
"We're calling it a mini tour because it's only the three legs of Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, but this will be the first time we've hit the road as a band, so we're all pretty excited," vocalist Ryan Lucivero says.
The cleverly titled release is the work of the band's founder, lead guitarist and writer Seb Hudson, who desperately wanted to break into the live-music scene. After a stint of solo, online releases, Seb decided to team with Ryan. The pair are now joined by mates: bassist Ben Whitehorn and drummer Jack Thomson and most recently, Andreas Murphy for some extra oomph on guitar.
The lads have recently given fans a taste of what's to come, with the release of 'DK Facepunch', the first single and the second track off the EP. Though Ryan says the song choice was an easy one. "The song, as a whole, encapsulates all of Japam's music in one song quite well. Not only that, it's pretty catchy and it's got the big bang chorus, but it's probably the most fun song out of all of them and that is what we wanted from a single."
Japam (yes, you read that correctly) is a drunken mispronunciation come band name. "It was either that or Afghanistam," Ryan laughs. However, the band's influences and inspirations for 'How's My EP?' are not so easy to define, with the end result a record filled with a diverse mix of tracks.
"It's only a four-track EP, but every song has got its own sort of vibe. Some songs are skewed more towards the hard rock side and some are more straight out gnarly metal. Then there's some songs on there that have a pop nature as well.
"[Our influences] spread pretty wide… I think that plays a big part in who we are. As far as specific bands go it's hard to say, but as far as genres go our music is kind of groove metal based with a heavy '90s, pop-rock influence, especially in the hooks."
Ryan says that having a good time is at the core of Japam's ethos. "It's one thing that we aim for and pride ourselves on, the fact that we try to bring as much energy as we can through our stage presence, constantly trying to engage with the crowd as best as we can."
The three gigs the band have planned for May will be special ones, especially the EP's launch night in their hometown. "We're expecting the biggest turn out for [the Adelaide show], and that will be great because there will be a lot of familiar faces and a lot of friends. It will probably be one of the better crowd reactions I'll say, because a lot of those people will already be familiar with our songs.
"We're definitely looking forward to it. It's going to be one of the most fun and rewarding parts of this whole process."
'How's My EP?' is released today, 13 May.
Japam Tour Dates
Sat 14 May - Enigma Bar (Adelaide)Sat 21 May - Brunswick Hotel (Melbourne)
Sat 28 May - Oxford Art Factory (Sydney)
