Rabbit Interview with Kerry from Sensaii ahead of Dead Of Winter Festival

Brisbane band Sensaii have just dropped their brand new single Bipolar Bears along with a film-clip, as well as securing themselves a spot on the Dead of Winter festival line-up. Sensaii’s bass player Kerry Rowe took some time out to have a chat with Tayla Sudall about the recording of the new film clip and what we can expect from the band throughout the rest of the year! 
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Catch the interview below!

​RR: Hi Kerry, how’re you going? 
 
KR: Hi Tayla, I’m good, I’m good, how are you? 
 
RR: I’m good thank you. So, I just wanted to talk to you today about you guys, you’ve just dropped your latest single Bipolar Bears along with a film clip, so what can you tell me about the latest single? 
 
KR: Well, I guess it’s a bit of a teaser as to what the next record’s gonna be like, we’re I guess, not re-inventing the wheel but sort of just growing with our style and what we’re gonna incorporate into the newer tracks um, yeah, it’s just a bit of a rock’n’roll banger y’know 
 
RR: And the lyrics are a bit deep though like, it’s a really fun song but the lyrics are quite deep and the vocals are quite a nice mix of like, heavy screaming and then clean vocals and I guess the lyrics kind of go back and forth from like, wanting to fight for something to wanting to give up on it, which fits with the song name, so what can you tell us about the lyrics and the inspiration behind the song? 
 
KR: The song was written by our guitarist primarily and it’s sort of… content that he’s been sitting on for a while, a bit of a message that he’s wanted to get out there for quite some time I guess, I mean, we’ve always had a mix of the clean sort of melodic vocals and the rougher, raspier stuff and I guess of all the songs to be able to sort of showcase that diversity, it’s definitely a good one given the y’know, the dark and light of the content of the actual subject itself 
 
RR: Yeah, yeah I think it’s important obviously, I think it’s something that a lot of people struggle with these days so it’s good, I like it a lot 
 
KR: Oh cool thank you
 
RR: And you guys released a behind the scenes video for your new clip as well which is pretty fun to watch and there’s some pretty good footage of Rowan brushing your gloriously long hair –laughs- 
 
KR: -laughs- yeah
 
RR: Is that something that ever gets annoying for you? Does it ever get in the way? 
 
KR: -laugs- yeah, all the time! It’s a bit of a running joke that half the time we play live I’ll end up nearly throwing up on stage ‘cause I’ll breathe in and get this mouthful of hair down my throat, so, gotta do like, tactical sort of side of stage spits and stuff to try and get hairballs out 
 
RR: -laughs- yuck! 
 
KR: Yeah it’s pretty gross, but, them’s the brakes I guess –laughs-
 
RR: -laughs- yep, you gotta do what you gotta do! Have you ever thought about cutting it off? 
 
KR: I have, but yeah, look, nah, I’m too ugly to have short hair, I gotta have hair and a beard to hide the face you know
 
RR: Awww that’s not nice, I’m sure you’re fine –laughs- So how was the day when you filmed the film clip, I mean, judging from behind the scenes you guys were just having heaps of fun but was there any stressful moments?
 
KR: Um, yeah I was late but that was okay 
 
RR: I kind of picked up on that actually, at the start I saw everyone setting up the gear but you weren’t there –laughs- 
 
KR: -laughs- yeah, good spot! I was late um but I mean, obviously setting up for a video like that, it takes a bit of time just to get everything right and make sure it’s all gonna look okay so ah, it was all pretty straight forward and cruisy which was nice, I mean um, it’s always pretty happy-go-lucky with those dudes, that’s part of the reason why we wanted to do the behind the scenes shoot as well because obviously its… yeah, with the track itself it’s pretty, not down because we do try and keep that positivity, the polarity of the whole situation, but we really wanted to showcase the fact that we have as much fun as everyone else but we just like to touch on some stuff that we think will resonate with people and of course resonates with us as a group as well
 
RR: Mm, totally! Um, and so I understand the film clip was directed by Ryan Burt who is the ex-drummer from The Amity Affliction so what was it like working with him? 
 
KR: Yeah it was cool as, like, Ryan’s always hangin’ out at practises and stuff like that, like he’s done um, he’s taken some of the promo photos that we’ve used in the past and stuff, he’s nearly the unofficial sixth member of the band –laughs- yeah, really, really good and I mean obviously with his background and his experience having been in so many videos over the last like what? Decade or something that he was in Amity for? I mean, he just knew what would look good, what angles work and how to go about it, but um yeah, it was a really good experience and shooting with Quick Fox was interesting as well because they primarily don’t shoot music videos, they’re more sort of like, upper end cars and fashion and stuff like that, super crisp, really yeah professional things so having a group of professionals leading us dickheads around was definitely beneficial to getting shit done 
 
RR: -laughs- that’s good, that’s good to hear, the end result is great so props to you 
 
KR: Thank you! 
 
RR: And so you guys are on the line up for the Dead of Winter festival and um, that’s exciting! How are you guys feeling about it? 
 
KR: Oh we’re stoked as! We’re so keen on it, I saw the applications go online so I got onto it straight away with y’know, no idea of what other bands they were gonna have on the bill or anything but I mean, I think the last couple of years with my other band I’ve applied for Dead of Winter but we haven’t had any luck and stuff like that so we were like nup, this year we’re doing it, we’re on a bit of a roll, we’d had a few really good support shows at the start of the year to kick off 2018 so we’re like nup, let’s keep firing, keep it going, and um yeah, so we just, I dropped ‘em a line and said hello and ah yeah, it was actually a bit of a funny story, a friend of ours is involved in some of the shooting and I think he’s doing some of the video stuff for Dead of Winter as well, and he’d had a meeting the day that we were playing a gig and then he came out and met us and we were having some drinks or whatever, and so I asked him if we were on the line up or not and he broke the news to us that he had asked at the meeting if we were playing and the organiser had said no, so we were all a bit upset, a little bit disappointed, but you know them’s the brakes. Then the next day, woke up and checked the emails and we had an email saying hey do you want to play with Ocean Grove and Polaris for Dead of Winterand we were like hawhh 
 
RR: Whaaaaat! He kind of punked you –laughs- 
 
KR: Yeah! So I still don’t know if it was Dan himself that was telling us porky pies or ah, if they were just keeping it on the down low for that extra day, no idea, but it was a rollercoaster of emotions –laughs- 
 
RR: Yeah that’s awesome, that’s so exciting! And you guys have already toured around with some really amazing artists like you said before, you guys have toured with Trophy Eyes, Amity, Oceangrove as well um, is there any artists on the Dead of Winter festival that you’re super keen to work alongside and see perform? 
 
KR: Oh, 100% Polarisagain, I have seen them like three times this year already and I will take any opportunity to see those dudes tear it up, they are just ridiculous, they are going to be the next Parkway Drive easily, I don’t think anyone will argue with me on that one. Um, Oceangrove of course, they are just so much fun and um, the Brissy boys Dead Lights – my other band was just playing a show with them on the weekend and they’re just going from strength to strength, so that’s probably my highlight reel, hopefully actually get to catch all of them and not get caught doing behind the scenes stuff or anything
 
RR: Yeah, hopefully you’ll get to meet the dudes from Polaris as well, that’d be sick 
 
KR: I’ve met them a few times they’re really nice guys, so it’s just catching up with them again. Last time I bumped into them was at Bang or something in Melbourne, we were having some drinks and yeah 
 
RR: That’s cool, it seems like the music industries kinda just one big family, everyone seems to know each other and get along and it’s cool
 
KR: Yeah, it’s definitely starting to go back that way, there was a few years where everyone was just so… us versus them and no one was y’know, bro’ing down but um, it’s good to see that shift back to being a bit more of a community and everyone just getting stoked to see their mates doing well and I mean, at the moment Australian heavy music is just killing it again, we’re getting back to the haydays so it’s a really good time to be involved in the whole thing! 
 
RR: Yeah that’s good, um, and you guys released a six-track EP late last year, it was titled Dig Deep and now you guys are saying that your new album will be out this year, so can you tell us when we might be seeing that album? Have you guys been recording a lot? 
 
KR: Look, ahh, we planned for it to be out this year, we were hoping it would be out this year, we’re not sure if it’ll actually be released this year or not, because we have a tendency to write songs and then scrap ‘em, send ‘em to the graveyard and re-write them more and I dunno, I reckon we’ve probably already written about a dozen songs of which none have gone through any sort of recording process yet –laughs- it’s all over the shop, it’s one of those things that we’ll spend you know a good solid month just ripping stuff out, deciding what we think sounds cool and what sort of stuff we wanna do on the next record and um, then it’s sort of knuckle down and we actually just smash it out hard, and yeah, our guitarist Chris, he’s an absolute wizard on the ol’ 6-string so he gets in the studio and within a day he’s got the majority of a record tracked so um –laughs- it makes it fun like that it’s just the actual you know, process of deciding what we want to do, how we want it to sound, what we want to change and what elements we want to keep the same so it’s still Sensaii at the end of the day
 
RR: Yep, nah that’s cool, so we can expect a very perfected album? –laughs- 
 
KR: Aww, now you’re building up way too much hype and we won’t be able to live up to the expectation –laughs- 
 
RR: -laughs- I’m sorry, the pressures on, sorry, I take it back, I take it back –laughs-
 
KR: Good, good –laughs- Nah it’ll definitely come out being more refined I think than Dig Deep just ah, I mean that was the first release that had myself and James Hart our drummer on it, so I guess we were all sort of still figuring out where we all fell into place in the overall, I guess, unit that is the band so I feel like this time around we’ve got a bit more of an idea, especially having done Bipolar Bears we sort of all really found the direction that we sort of universally want to be heading towards, so yeah, it should come out being quite good fingers crossed, but I would be very surprised if there’s not new music in some way, shape or form released within the next several months, be it a single or something like that, I think we will have some new content quite soon because sleep is for the weak and we’ll just keep pluggin’ away
 
RR: Yeahh, awesome! That’s the spirit –laughs- so Dig Deep debuted at #3 on the iTunes Metal Chart and it reached #7 on the Triple J Unearthed Chart, and as well as some of the singles from the EP reaching pretty high spots on the Triple J Unearthed Chart as well, so has this kind of put pressure on for your guys with making new music? Or are you feeling pretty sweet? 
 
KR: I think there’s always pressure on when it comes to releasing new stuff, you know, you always want to do better than the last one, not just, I mean, at the end of the day charting and stuff like that, it’s cool, it’s fun, it’s a good bragging point but that’s not really what matters to us, I mean, what we wanna do is just make music that people like. The biggest thing for us is having people singing it back to us while we’re up there on stage and we’re dancing around and we can all enjoy it together, that’s more important to us than you know, getting number three, whatever, and yeah as I said, that stuffs really cool, it’s a good feather in the cap but yeah, at the end of the day I’d much rather just have a fan base that enjoys what we’re doing and connects with it
 
RR: Yeah totally, and I guess the results you got on those charts kind of reflect the fan base as well though. And so do you guys think, I know you said that your new album, when you do record it that you think it’ll be a bit more refined, but do you think you’re going in a different direction at all with any of the new stuff you’re making? 
 
KR: I don’t think we’re going in a different direction, I think it’s just, I know it’s cliché, it’s corny, it’s tacky, but I think it’s just the growth of the band 
 
RR: Yeah nah, that’s not corny at all, it’s so true, it’s so true! 
 
KR: Cool! It just seems to be one of those throw away lines that you hear everyone always saying whenever they release a new C.D its “ahh it’s evolution, it’s growth” 
 
RR: -laughs-
 
KR: But um –laughs- I mean, I genuinely think that’s actually what it is, a great example of it is comparing Rowan our singers voice from Bipolar Bears way back to before I even was in the band with the um, the Reprising EP, he’s just grown and changed so much as a performer and as a singer that it’s impossible not to reflect that in the new music and I mean, there’s only so long you can write the same sort of riffs and things like that before you start to branch out a little bit more and just try to keep it fresh not only just for the people listening to it but for yourself, I mean, we get up there and play the same songs sort of for 6 months in a row or whatever, and then eventually you wanna like, branch out from that, make something a little bit different and a little bit more interesting for everyone 
 
RR: Yep!
 
KR: So, I don’t think it’s changing, it’s just sort of shifting a little bit
 
RR: Yeah that’s awesome, well, thank you so much for the chat and I wish you guys the best of luck with writing and recording and everything when that stage comes, and I can’t wait to hear what else you’ve got in store for us this year
 
KR: Thank you very much, thanks for taking the time to have a chat with me
 
RR: No worries! Good luck at Dead of Winter, I’ll talk to you again soon! 
 
KR: Thanks Tayla