Interview with

MIKEL SALVADOR

of

CROCODYLUS

By Chelsea King

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CROCODYLUS

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When reading back through this interview, I questioned whether I should omit the number of times Crocodylus drummer Mikel said the word ‘stoked’, but decided that it perfectly encapsulated the Aussie garage rock band. Following their very first headline tour, the three boys are just about to tour regional Australia with mates Skegss and Totty. They’ve literally only just hopped off the plane from Sydney and into their tour van when I receive a call from Mikel. A perfect depiction of how hectic life on tour can be.

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The first stop of the tour is Warrnambool and then on to Geelong, a town which seems to be inundated with, for lack of a better words, boys who love noisy garage rock.

We’ve honestly never played shows in any of these places really except for like Byron and Goldie maybe. That’s it. I’m super stoked. It’s all regional Australia so it’s going to be a summer holiday type vibe it should be fun.

When I ask what show Mikel most looking forward to, he says “probably Geelong”, evidently well informed on the music scene outside of his coastal NSW bubble. 

A lot of cool Aussie bands coming out from there at the moment. I want to play a show out there and see what the crowds are like. See what the vibes out down there because I’ve never been.

Commenting in retrospect, the gig sold out and members of the crowd were literally hanging from the ceiling. A typical rowdy rock show at the Barwon Club. Earlier this year Crocodylus supported ORB, a band which coincidentally, hails from Geelong.

Yeah, that was really sweet. We’re huge fans of them so when we got asked we obviously jumped at the chance. It was great. Especially at the Landsdowne, it’s like the best venue for them. The sound was insane. It was a super fun night.

Alongside ORB, Crocodylus have been playing with a bunch of incredible bands, such as Hockey Dad, Hideous Sun Demon and even international act The Lemon Twigs. Last month, however, the band got to hit the stage on their inaugural headline tour.

We sold out a couple of those so that was cool. And some were just really fun. Some crowds were like minimal but we still had a blast it was really cool actually doing a headline one for once. Yeah Nah, it was a vibe. We had a really good time.

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CROCODYLUS

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The shows were to promote their second EP Christian Syrups. Each track off this record is short and punchy with lyrics which are, as you can imagine, transparent, yet amusing. Songs like Failure and Sweaty Already demand to be heard.

We’ve been sitting on these for a little bit so it was cool to get them out and listen to them because we’ve been playing them live for a while. Some of them since I joined the band almost two years ago. Cool to get them out and we’re really stoked with how it turned out.

When I asked Mikel about having the album mastered by Mikey Young (TERRY, Dick Diver, The Goon Sax) I’m sure you can guess how his response was worded.

We kind of wanted to do it because we knew that Owen gets a lot of his stuff mastered by Mikey and he was like yeah no worries. Mikey was sweet with it. He did the first Orb record and Total Control so yeah we were stoked.

As a testament to the band’s quality, Crocodylus is well and truly saturated in the punk scene. In fact, it was a member of fellow NSW playful garage band The Ruminaters who created the band’s latest album artwork. Another thing that Mikel was stoked about.

Crocodylus is not only embraced by congruent bands but also passionate fans. I can assure that their following will inevitably grow; and fast. The boys seem to be touring non-stop for while and you’d be foolish not to catch this fun-loving band while you get the chance.

Thursday 18th January – Great Northern – Byron Bay

Friday 19th January – The V Room – Sunshine Coast

Saturday 20th January – Shark Bar – Gold Coast

Saturday 27th January – Panthers – Port Macquarie

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AMNplify – BD

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