#brisbanepunk

If it’s not exciting enough that the blokes from Last Chaos are finally home from their debut USA tour, how about the fact that their guitar player Leo Speedwagon agreed to fill Unreal in on all the goss from the road (along with various other locations)? In case you aren’t familiar - Last Chaos is made up of 4 friendly faces who love a bit of 80s Scandinavian HC, can’t say no to a cute cat & aren’t afraid to abuse each other in front of a whole gig, if needed. Big thanks to Leo for quickly burning through these Qs even though he was not feeling too gorge after eating something interesting in Mexico!

Describe last chaos in 1 word? Punxie

How did Last Chaos get together and did you love it from the first jam?

If I remember right, Will, Murdoch and Mikel got together to play some Discharge covers with Levi's dad singing at some show, and then decided they liked having a bit of a play together. They got me and Declan in and I guess we must have liked it cause we're still doing it.

Can you tell the readers about your first show?

It was sometime in late 2010 with Nuclear Death Terror at Burst City (RIP). I can't remember who else played. I could look it up but, you know. There's video of it on YouTube that old mate Sick Rick put up. Pretty raw thing to upload IMO... its pretty shithouse. We play this funny intro song that I have absolutely no recollection of either writing or learning but there it is. What did the audience reckon?

I remember someone from NDT saying "you should play more than five songs." Jury's still out on that I reckon.

How was the big USA trip? Mate I'm sitting in LAX right now waiting to fly back to Brisbane and I'm absolutely fkn rooted so it must have been alright. We did the west coast with a bunch of legends from Portland called Dead Hunt. They're fucking awesome, people in Australia would go berko for em I reckon. Really solid hardcore punk PI-leaning backbone with a bunch of killer twin guitar harmonies spicing it up. People who were into what Teargas were doing but thought they could use some more Motörhead in the foldback would be all over it.

Was it the band’s maiden voyage overseas? Nah we did Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia in 2012 which was full boonta.

Did you get a driver / tour manager or was it more of a, shall we say, ‘DIY’ scenario? We did the west coast dates from LA to Seattle with Dead Hunt driving us in the Blackwater van. From Seattle we flew to Chicago and met up with a lovely Floridian man named Spinach who drove us all around the North East. The whole thing was DIY, the 'tour manager' was Will getting fkn punished by the rest of us.

Fave USA cities + why? My favourite shows were - Eureka in California, which is a coast town between San Francisco and Portland where lots of punks work in weed harvesting season. We played a VFW hall on a Monday night and people still came out and raged, which was pretty amazing. The place had a bar attached to it being tended by a grizzly bloke who was very interested in getting everyone very hammered. The next morning we went to some food co-op and Robbie from Dead Hunt sold a Last Chaos tape to a cashier. Detroit also ruled. The show was in some kind of abandoned store that had been turned into a killer space. Declan got latched onto and fed hash by some sexy Detroit vampire Lestat motherfucker, there was Bundy rum getting around, someone yelled out "NINE HUNDRED DOLLARYDOS"...what's not to like? New Orleans also ruled, for all the reasons you would imagine New Orleans to rule.

What are your collective fave bands to listen to on a long drive? Do you know the song Yakety Sax? The Benny Hill theme music. That copped an absolute flogging. Other than that, AC/DC.

Do you keep the van pretty clean or are you ferals? Feral mate. It was a tip of socks, cans and avant garde snacks.

Fave snack in America was? Without competition, Snyder's Hot Buffalo Wing Pretzel Pieces. They're a bit confronting to begin with, but by the second handful you're seeing god.

Your wedding pics are stunning – run us through the big day? Cheers. We did the legal signing of papers etc at the registry office the day before, then had Big Doug Susman perform the ceremony even though he has no legal power whatsoever, just because it would be more fun. He was freaking the fuck out btw, I've never seen him sweat so much or be so nervous. I was stressed but he was next level. He nailed it though. I don't remember a lot of the day cause of stress and booze, but the whole thing came together beautifully.

Did you have a best man? If Y – who was it & was anyone shitted off that it wasn’t them? Lol It was my mate Mike who I've known since we were ten. I don't think anyone would have given a shit. I felt a bit bad not asking my brother but I knew he would have absolutely hated doing it cause he's a peaceful stoner who hates attention and crowds, so I did him a favour by not asking him.

What prezzies did you buy the Mrs while on tour? Found this cool creepy statue of Saint Catherine (patron saint of educators - Alice is a teacher) in New Orleans. Just that and some Santa Muerte candles - bit goth.

Can you tellus about you guys’ cat? He just rocked up one day hey? Not sure which cat you're referring to? Alice and I got Percy from a shelter, he was whelped into a gutter on the mean streets of Logan but now he's a pampered ginger prince. You might be thinking of the late great Fatty (R.I.P.) who Will inherited from a girl who was too concerned with wearing four hats or whatever to take care of him properly.

Do you & the fellas love living in Queensland? Too right. I love XXXX and Brisbane punk and I get a masochistic thrill out of being a human bayou for six months of the year.

Your perfect day on the Gold Coast would involve? Tallebudgera beach is dope, the rest of it can get to fuck TBH.

Has Last Chaos ever had a band blue? If Y – who started it? Etc

Never a physical fight, the odd screaming match though. Me and Will had a bad one at Total Attack 2013 that was totally my fault, we played a pretty average set and I was all stressed out and being an arsehole. There was definitely yelling at each other and rude gestures being made on stage. I was very sheepish afterwards and had to do a lot of apologising. Still a bit embarrassed about that actually.

Can you please run us through your album & its recording process? (The high highs and the low lows if you are comfortable with sharing)

It's eight tracks, we recorded it with Chris Brownbill over two days at the old Sun Distortion studio in Albion, which no longer exists. Pretty simple setup, we recorded all the basic tracks live, then overdubbed vocals and solos. The morning of the second day a fucking ibis flew into a power transformer and knocked the power out to the entire block. We lost everything we'd recorded on the first day. We called Energex, they came and put the fried bird into a bio waste bag and stapled it to a telephone pole. We had to re-record everything, but I reckon it might have been a blessing in disguise cause the record came out great, I'm very proud of it. It's a well balanced album, you've got your ragers, your stompers, your finger wagglers...

Will also plays guitar. Who do you reckon is better at guitar out of you & him? Will. He can actually play, I'm just a cave bloke trying to make the bastard thing do what I want it to do.

What’s your fave song to play on guitar?

I almost never learn other people's songs on guitar in their entirety, I've mostly just got riffs that I like playing over and over again that I'm sure drive everyone else mental. "Rock Bottom" by UFO, "Too Late Too Late" by Motorhead. The AC/DC version of "Baby Please Don't Go". "Rock Forever" by Judas Priest, "The Boys Are Back in Town". You know, highbrow stuff.

When’s Murdoch gonna bleach his hair again? GREAT and important Q, to which I do not have the answer, but his hair was an important part of the band dynamic and we've felt the pinch of its absence since the day it was cruelly cut down.

You recently mentioned that you reckon classic Australian rock bands such as Dragon and the Angels are shit. WTF? "Take a Long Line" by the Angels is sick cause it sounds like tough Devo but all that shimmery guitar shit like "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again" and "Rain" can go fuck itself. Heard a story from a reliable source recently about Doc Neeson and some bikie cronies bashing the guy from Grinspoon for wearing lipstick and nail polish when they supported them in the mid 90s too, so fuck those old dicks.

Who are the best bands in Brisbane currently? Frown. Sick People but they never fucking play. Could just be me being old and lazy but feels like a bit of a lull at the moment. Too many people have moved away. The youngs need to step up with some killer bands and kick all us olds out of punk.

Have you or any of the other fellas from the band ever been arrested? Yeah sure, my funniest one was me and Neil and some other friends getting locked up for breaking into and climbing the Stefan Tower in West End on Neil's 30th birthday. When we were in court the judge said "What do you think Stefan would say if he was here?!" which was a great Q. Neil also opened our defense with "we were on a bit of a crawl, Your Honour", which probably wasn't the best.

What is your fave Last Chaos song and what’s it about? "Only Fit For Ghosts", the last song on the new record, cause I got to use a Shahi Baaja on it and it's a real fist pumper if I do say so myself. It's about death and destruction, of course.

Would Last Chaos ever sign to a major label given the opportunity? Nah.

What’s on for Last Chaos for the rest of the year? Too much actually, I'm fucking exhausted. We're playing with Long Knife in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast on the weekend of November 21-22, then with Little Desert from Melbourne, Death Church from Sydney, Occults and Pleasure Symbols on November 28th. Playing the Rival Mob show on December 9th, then a casual little gig you might have heard of on New Years Eve at the Tote in Melbourne. Some might say it's gonna be a scorcher.

Do you have a new year’s resolution? Write a song better than "Bad Boy Boogie". Seems realistic.

Would you guys ever move to Melbourne?

Nope.

And finally, if you could give one piece of advice to your teenage self, what would it be?

FFS stop wrenching so many cones every fucking day cause you will have no short term memory whatsoever in ten years. Also Ecko and Fubu jackets aren't the best, fashion wise. ~END~

Live photos by Carlos Garcia – check out his blog here 

Candid tour snaps by Last Chaos – check them out on FB here and on bandcamp here

Catch Last Chaos ripping through a summer set alongside exciting acts such as Hobbs Angel of Death @ The Tote this NEW YEARS EVE in Melbourne. Click here for more info.