With Soundwave Festival fast approaching this weekend, Of Mice & Men are ready to set foot on Australian soil and tear the stage with their electrifying metalcore tunes. With the recent release of their music video for “Broken Generation”, as well as their latest full length album Restoring Force, the band’s drummer Valentino Artegea talked to us about technology and how it has revolutionised communication, his relationship with the band and appreciation to how much they have grown in their music and as individuals.
After several hurdles faced by the band, it’s evident that they all share the same passions and goals to one another. What matters to them is creating music which positively influences thousands of other people on a global scale.
So I couldn’t help the fact that the band released a video for the song “Broken Generation” recently. How did the concept of the video come about?
Well, we initially stopped by Max Moore, the Director. We sent him our new material and we discussed different treatments for a couple of songs and we decided that this one was the strongest and what we felt could be the most relevant topic to what’s going on in society right now. Computers, security, you know, stuff like that. We felt like it was very relevant and that’s kinda what the song is about. It’s kind of a social commentary about the generation and generational risks.
Yeah absolutely. So what’s your opinion on young people using technology? Do you feel like they’ve lost touch with real life?
Not necessarily, but I feel like there definitely needs to be a balance between the two, you know. The song is not about technology; the video is just one depiction, one aspect. We didn’t really want to focus on it but we didn’t also want to get too broad with it. For the music video, we decided to take one topic and we let the director run with it. I mean, I think technology is great but I think that if you’re in a world controlled by super computers and you’re plugged in the back of your Mac, you should probably unplug that.
It’s just a hard piece; it’s not meant to be taken any further than making you feel a certain way and think about something. We’re not saying don’t use technology because at the moment you’re talking to me via Wi-Fi connection and I’m responding to an email and downloading photos on to my computer – my life is technology [chuckles]. We’re not saying don’t [use technology], just be a little more aware and that’s what the music video was to us.
Technology has revolutionised how we communicate with other people.
Yeah definitely. You and I are talking under a Wi-Fi connection which is via airwaves; we’re talking via data transfer. It’s not necessarily a reflection of how we think, like if technology is a negative by any means, it’s just a piece to make people think.
Yeah that’s true but I couldn’t help but think in the music video, there was an aspect where the guy came in and everyone was using their phones and ignoring him, that’s why I feel like people are out of touch. I try and do the phone stack whenever I’m having dinners with friends because I feel like if I’m using my phone, I’ll be seen as rude.
Yeah exactly. I mean we’re all guilty of that; by no means should we feel like we’re above the technology at all because we need it in our everyday lives, but it’s just a piece on thinking about it. If it made you think, “Oh shoot, am I on my phone too much?” – then the video did its job. It makes me think about it all the time too, and that’s kinda how we want our music to be.
When you hear it, it makes you feel a certain way and when you see our music videos, we want you to feel a certain way. We want you to think about something more so than, you know, just “oh wow, that sounds cool” or “that’s a cool image that I’m looking at right now.” We want you to engage your brain when you’re listening to our music and watching our videos. We feel really excited to have released new material and a new music video and showing what we’ve been working on musically.
Seeing as Soundwave is just around the corner, what do you enjoy most about festival shows?
Tons of friends in bands, tons of music; there’s music happening everywhere you turn. There’s a band playing or a radio station playing, people headbanging; it’s a good atmosphere and it’s an atmosphere you only get when everyone is an equal, you know. Everyone is out in the sun, everyone is baking in the heat waiting for their favourite band. I feel like people who love music enough to endure whatever climate it is to see a handful of their favourite bands is a great congregation, and hopefully they go into it with an open mind and find some new bands to enjoy as well from that experience. I just think it’s just great all around; the exposure of music and just performing it. It’s a whole different atmosphere compared to a club show or an arena show or anything like that.
I definitely agree with you. Also last year the band released the record, Restoring Force. What songs from the record do you enjoy playing live?
I love playing “Bones Exposed”. I really like playing a lot of our faster tunes because I’m more of an aggressive drummer and that’s something we’ve been doing more often. Our newer album brings a dynamic sound and it’s not necessarily going 110 miles an hour. “Another You” or “Identity Disorder” are songs which might not be as fast and as aggressive but those are the other two songs I enjoy playing live because it’s just something about performing songs with a good groove that the crowd can get into and it just feels good. As a drummer that is constantly trying to improve and better themselves musically, it’s cool that we have a lot of music that I can develop from.
Yeah, that’s true because I was listening to the band’s earlier albums and you guys have progressively changed your sound really well and I was impressed by how diverse the band’s sound is since Aaron came into the band with his clean vocals.
Definitely. Thank you very much. We got to a turning point because we were a four-piece for a while and we didn’t really know what we wanted to do musically but we wanted to diversify ourselves a little and try and branch out ourselves to write music that wasn’t, you know, real fast, real aggressive. We wanted to step outside the zone that we were obviously comfortable in. If you listen to our first record, there’s tons of crazy riffs and breakdowns and a lot of really aggressive things.
As we grew up and matured as individuals and musicians, those things changed too but it’s something we’d like to keep the same that when you hear it, it’s how we progress and I think that’s the staple of any great, timeless band. The band itself has an entity and sound and it doesn’t matter what type of song we’re creating because at the end of the day, we’re songwriters. We’re writing songs and putting that into an album and we can be diverse enough to not bore our listeners with the same thing over and over again, you know. So thank you, I appreciate that. We really love that record and I’m glad you’re enjoying it too.
Yeah. It’s good to know that bands change up their sound because normally if you do the same thing over and over again, bands can get pretty tired of it as well as the fans.
Yeah, and it gets stale and by no means are we abandoning the sound our band used to have – come to our live shows. We’re not totally writing it off, those songs still exist, we still play them but now when you come and see us live, you get a rollercoaster. A little bit from here, a little bit from there and that’s something I’m really stoked about with Soundwave. It’s been a while since we’ve been to Australia and we’ve released a new record but we know our fans still really like the old favourites. We’re listening to our fans and we love playing the old material and we love playing the new material. It’s gonna be a fun time for sure.
Following up on that, the band have had a fair few challenges along the way with band members coming and going. Being one of the original members of the lineup, what has made you so strong at this point in time?
Communication; being able to communicate with each other and just kind of being on the same page. In any healthy relationship, there has to be a sufficient amount of communication between the people who are involved from a business relationship to a personal relationship. I think that over the years, fortunately and unfortunately, Of Mice & Men kind of grew out of the spotlight from the beginning so we’re kind of experiencing the growth of any sort of relationship in the public eye. We still feel like we’re just catching on our fit as a band and we are all on the same page musically, based on what we want to create and the way we want to do it.
It just takes time, you know, and I feel like time and the communication has really helped bring our band to another level in friendships, business relationships and even the relationships between our fans. I feel like our band is a very honest band to our fans and how we are to each other. We may not have always been like that but you know, it takes time for people to grow and learn to become better individuals. I guess we’ve wanted to put that time in and I’ve always wanted to do that too and that’s what we’re gonna continue to do. We made a promise to ourselves and to our fans that we’re going to maintain that.
Would you say you’re an adaptable person to change?
Yeah, of course. I think anybody needs to be if they want to understand what’s going on around them, you know what I mean?
You guys have been through so much and despite it all, you’ve remained so strong. I’ve realised you all have a sense of closeness with one another which is great to see.
Yeah for sure. It takes time and it wasn’t always like that. Unfortunately like I said, we were the band out of the spotlight for a while and we’re reminded of that from time to time. The bond has grown so much over the years. We’ve been through a lot together, the band name, everything, you know. Like every part of it has been through hell and back and we’re on our way there again and we’ll come back. There’s ups and downs to any relationship and we all know that the most important thing is the music.
At the end of the day, the music that we’re writing, the mark that we’re leaving on the world is important to us and it’s taken us a long time to really come to terms with that, but we know that now, which is why our music is progressing and [how] we’re able to move forward. We’re content on how things are going, how we are together and how we’re all on the same page with everything, so it really helps. It wouldn’t have happened without the time or the dedication from everyone that’s still involved with the band. Because by no means was it easy.
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Of Mice & Men are playing Soundwave Festival, which kicks off on this weekend in Melbourne and Adelaide, before moving onto Sydney and Brisbane the following weekend. They’re also playing sidewaves, which are listed below. For tickets and more details on the two day festival head to: http://www.soundwavefestival.com/
MONDAY 23 FEBRUARY: MELBOURNE, THE CORNER – 18+
http://cornerhotel.com / www.oztix.com.au
WEDNESDAY 25 FEBRUARY: SYDNEY, THE FACTORY – Licensed All Ages
http://factorytheatre.com.au / www.ticketek.com.au
ATREYU and THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA will be playing alongside the band! Their latest record Restoring Force is available now.
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