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Interview with
CLINT BOGE
from
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

(29th August 2022)

Interview with Paul Tadday

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Photo credit – Kane Hibberd

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I recently caught up with the incredible Clint Boge, frontman for the legendary Queensland quartet The Butterfly Effect. The band is about to release its long-awaited fourth studio album in September, coincidentally titled “IV”. It was a great opportunity to chat about how the band dealt with life during the pandemic and what it has in store post-Covid.

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PAUL – “Zoom”, it’s a wonderful thing! Where would we be over the last three years if we didn’t have it?
CLINT – Ah, man. Yeah, you’re right. Companies and corporations work would have ground to a halt for a lot of people. So that’s very interesting, didn’t help musicians as much. We couldn’t fire in gigs and performances via Zoom, although some people did, which was really cool.

PAUL – So there was there were quite a lot of bands who had virtual concerts where they’d set up and put a fair bit of money into production, and even all the camera gear and all of the recording equipment, and do live streaming concerts that turned out quite well.
CLINT – Yeah, it’s pretty cool. A mate of mine was doing some live streaming on Facebook until they shut it down for copyright issues because he was throwing in a few covers. And I thought that it was like, oh, man, you just can’t win. That’s like, you know what I mean?

PAUL – So how have you been keeping?
CLINT – Yeah, good. I’ve I’ve been up and down. I had the nasty “Rona” around April. My daughter came over from WA and I sent her back with it. And I tested and I come back negative so we thought we’re all right. But then I’ve just been battling this seasonal flu so now it’s like gone from you know, everyone’s like freaking out about Corona to now we’ve relaxed it. No masks, people aren’t sanitizing their hands anymore. We’re all in close proximity again. And now I’ve got this seasonal flu. I’m just getting over it. I’ll tell you what, it knocked me for six, like bloody hell that was worse than Rona.

PAUL – I guess because we haven’t been exposed to stuff over the last few years it sort of has made it a lot more nasty when we’ve had it. I shot Northlane a couple of months ago and it was the first gig that I’d shot since COVID. And wouldn’t you know it, I picked it up. And yeah, it’s knocked me around a little bit but yeah, it’s good now to be back out shooting again and, and enjoy live music for a change.
CLINT – Man, I went to the Northlane gig with Sleep Token and that was it for me. I love Sleep Token! It was a religious experience for me, man. When they walked out to “Alkaline” which is one of my favourite songs. I was having those moments that I had forgotten about as a punter when you go and see a band for the first time. I was getting goosebumps and chills and I just couldn’t control the emotions. That was a great!

PAUL – So speaking of which, The Butterfly Effect is back! It’s been such a long time coming. And I know, it’s probably been frustrating for you guys as well not to be able to get the music out there and get touring again, especially on the back of the momentum that you started to get, I suppose between 2017 and 2019, with some tours a couple of single releases. You must be rapt to finally get the new album, “IV” out in September?
CLINT – Yeah, mate. Yeah, it’s been amazing. The journey was pretty wild. Because when I floated that email back in 2017, and said, you know, maybe we’ll put the original lineup back together, so to speak. It was interesting, because Kurt was kind of a bit tentative about doing new music. So after the tour, though, that reformation tour in 2018, the success that we had off the back of that he was more open to the idea of doing new music.
So then we just started scouring the demo, banks. All the hard drives that we had from way back and we come up with some new tunes, started writing, got a good head of steam and then decided to record it. We did it in little chunks here and they were different producers different studios, which was pretty cool.

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PAUL – It’s interesting that you say you went back through old demos, because there’s definitely some material on there that harks back to the initial EP as well. So there’s little bits and pieces that I can hear from “Final Conversation Of Kings” here and there, “Imago”… a lot of different bits and pieces of previous music. Were there a lot of those ideas that you drew from? Or was there a lot of new material that you’ve sort of been sitting on for quite a while as well?
CLINT – Yes, so what we did, I don’t know if we did it like consciously, whether it was sitting in the front of our minds, but there’s like two songs that represent each release from the EP. I really think “So Tired” and “Nil By Mouth” would have sat on the EP if we had written them back then, you know what I mean? Whereas like, “Visiting Hours” would have sat right beside “Worlds On Fire” on “Final Conversation Of Kings”. But some people are getting “Imago” vibes. “So Tired” and “Nil By Mouth” were actually written brand new.
There was no demo material for them. But “Visiting Hours” was written straight off the back of “Final Conversation Of Kings”. So we were fresh in that you know what I mean? And I remember having to fight to get “Worlds On Fire” on the album, because the guys didn’t really like it. It was a bit too twisty, too turney, took too long to build. And I still remember having to say to the guys, if “Worlds On Fire” doesn’t go on the album, I’m quitting man, I’m out of here. Because if we can’t see eye to eye on that particular song, and it’s, you know, it’s such a song, it’s got this grandiosity about it, you know, and it builds and it turns. And to me, that was where I could see the band really finding a pocket and building into.
And it’s funny, because me and Ben had a conversation just the other day where I was saying, I think the success of “Visiting Hours” and the fact that it had such a reaction is where we should be, that’s what we should be playing to, that’s our particular strength. So it’s the “Worlds On Fire”, “Reach”, “Visiting Hours”… Where it’s a little more proggy, it’s a little more thoughtful, it’s a little darker and it’s got more depth, rather than being this ‘bash out’ out sort of music.

PAUL – To me it’s definitely more emotive as well. I definitely get those vibes from listening to “Visiting Hours”. And you talk about “Worlds On Fire”. That’s the sort of stuff, you talk about Sleep Token giving you chills, that’s the sort of music I hear from The Butterfly Effect that gives me chills. And I see it as being a more mature progression from some of the earlier stuff.
CLINT – 100% man. You’re spot on! So yeah, we’ve got two songs that sort of represent each release, if you like, and the other songs that are coming off the back of this. I listened to it the other day in the kitchen and I had a moment. You know when you have those moments, when you’re listening to an album, you know what it’s like, or when you look at one of your pics from a gig and you go, “wow, I really captured something”. You know what I mean?
And I listen to them like, I would like this album even if I wasn’t singing on it. And I’ve always said The Butterfly Effect is one of those bands, even if I wasn’t in it I would have gravitated towards anyway. And I guess that has always been a thing. We make music that we love, do you know what I mean? And if we’re not loving it, how can we present it to you guys and say, “well, we half-arsed this one”.

PAUL – It comes across live really well too, because you’ve got a lot of light and shade. So rather than just being as balls out all the way through, you’ve got a lot of dynamic moments in there. You’ve got hard hitting stuff, but then you’ve got a lot of mood and melody as well. And it just makes for a really interesting gig. You can play around with it, with lighting and effects and that sort of stuff.
CLINT – Absolutely, yeah. I guess coming back to the original question from the demo. Yeah, we did draw a fair bit from those older demos. But um, yeah, there were a few brand new ones on there as well.

PAUL – So, what was the catalyst for you and the band to reform when you did?
CLINT – Well, man, it’s interesting, I think, like maturing, just letting go of certain things that had hurt me personally in the past. And seeing Kurt that night at the Dead Letter Circus, their acoustic gig in Brisbane in 2017. And we just had a great chat, and he was telling me about his kids and, you know, how he’d been working. And, you know, I said to him, I hope you’re doing well, I don’t hold anything against anyone anymore. We kind of let that go in in that moment. I just thought to myself, is there a chance for us to sort of build a bridge, let go of some crap and move forward? I thought, you know what, I’m just gonna throw out the email and just see how we go.
Plus I wasn’t doing anything. I was playing covers in pubs around Brisbane sitting in the corner being slobbered on by drunks, you know. People asking for “Horses” and bloody “Khe Sanh” every five minutes. And I just thought there’s got to be a better way. And if I can put the band back together and relive the glory days for five more minutes, do you know what I mean? It’s almost that moment, if you could sit down and talk with someone that you loved or someone that you’ve lost for five more minutes, what would you say? What would you do? In that moment I thought, I’m just gonna throw it out there.

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PAUL – From a fan perspective it’s like you’ve picked up where you left off, and you’re just running with it again. I think when “Final Conversation Of Kings” came out the band was on that upward trajectory. You were getting a lot of interest overseas, there was a fan base here that was massive. And all of a sudden the rug was pulled out. Were you worried about whether or not the fan base was still going to be there and come on board for the reformation?
CLINT – 100% man, we actually had really grave doubts. Kurt was probably more vocal about it than any of us. I was trying to put on the brave facade and say, you know, it’s gonna be fine, that people will be there. But we had thought that we would have lost at least 50 to 75% of the crowd base. And when we launched that tour, and we announced it, the Brisbane show sold out in under 10 minutes. There were messages flying backwards and forwards between us. I was in bed, I’d had like a big night the night before, and I was asleep. And next minute, my phone is going off. And I just woke up to these text messages saying congrats, boys. That’s awesome. Do we put on another show and people saying, you know, like, Fuck yeah, let’s! And then the second show sold out in a couple of hours. And then we put on a third show at “The Triff”. And, and the rest of the tour sold out. You know, like within days. And we were months out! So that was huge. And I think in that moment, everyone breathed a great sigh of relief. And we all thought, wow, there’s still a great fan base. It’s still there.
But not only that, when we got out on the road, people were saying it was like a time capsule for them, like a time machine. They got transported back to that, you know, that amazing summer of their graduating life. When they finished year 12. When they turned 18, they go see all these bands and it was amazing. We had a guy that brought his son along, which was mind blowing to me, because I was like, holy crap! He said, “Man, I came to see you in 2000. I was right there the first time you played in Melbourne or second time, whatever. This is my son, he just turned 18 and now I’m bringing him”. And it was in that moment we felt very old, I must say. But the generational gap had been breached between like the old and the new and now we’re getting younger people coming and saying, “I just heard about your band and I love it” and it’s amazing.

PAUL – There’s definitely a new generation of Butterfly Effect fans. And I’m not surprised, because it’s timeless music that the band plays, and I don’t think you can necessarily put a decade to it.
CLINT – Yeah, I agree man. I feel pretty good . We’ve got about five or six songs in the bank that are coming behind this one that are already written. I said to the guys, we have to make sure that we’ve got enough in the bank behind this album so that if we need to write and and release really quickly we can. We’ve talked about an EP, so there is that option. Other than that we can keep pushing further. There’s definitely another release coming in behind this one. So there will be more new music and I’m really excited about some of the other tracks because they’ve come from the demo sessions from the same batch as “Visiting Hours”, so watch out for those ones.

PAUL – I’ve gotta say the album is extraordinary. I think it’s really what The Butterfly Effect fans would be expecting and would be wanting to hear. Listening to “Nil By Mouth” I get some real heavy Marilyn Manson vibes.
CLINT – Yeah, right it’s interesting. I went for a real Refused sort of vibe on that one because I can hear that, you know, that new ‘noise’ sort of vibe. That’s what I was picking up. But also with “Nil By Mouth”, I was watching my teenage son sort of navigate the pitfalls, if you like, of modern communication via social media platforms. And I was just sitting there marvelling at it because, you know, I’m a pretty private sort of person. And I just watched and it just felt like the decaying of how we communicate. And I thought I have to write about that.
“So Tired” came straight out of the frustration of being locked down. In Queensland we were nowhere near what was happening in Victoria, but watching my fellow countrymen and women look at each other on socials and on the street… and people, like if you coughed or sneezed in public, looking at you like you’re a leper, it fucking blew my mind, man. Wow, and the toilet paper wars. I thought, if this is what happens when there’s a fear of a germ what’s going to happen if a major fucking societal problem arises, we’re fucked! Because people will kill each other in the streets. So they’re two social commentaries, “So Tired” and “Nil By Mouth”. Whereas, the rest of the album sort of turns into more of just, you know, introspective. And I get to have a look at myself and start breaking some stuff apart. And yeah… there’s definitely some good stuff coming.

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT new album “IV” out on September 2nd.

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THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
IV 2022 TOUR:

with guests Thornhill & Caligula’s Horse

Tickets available from: HERE

FRI 30 SEPT | TANKS ARTS CENTRE, CAIRNS, QLD | 18+
SAT 1 OCT | MANSFIELD HOTEL, TOWNSVILLE, QLD | 18+
SUN 2 OCT | HARRUP PARK, MACKAY, QLD | 18+
THUR 6 OCT | BLANK SPACE, TOOWOOMBA, QLD | 18+
FRI 7 OCT | EATONS HILL HOTEL, BRISBANE, QLD | 18+
SAT 8 OCT | UNSW ROUNDHOUSE, SYDNEY, NSW | 18+
SUN 9 OCT | HOBART UNI BAR, HOBART, TAS | 18+
THUR 13 OCT | NORTHCOTE THEATRE, MELBOURNE, VIC | 18+ *NEW SHOW*
FRI 14 OCT | NORTHCOTE THEATRE, MELBOURNE, VIC | 18+ *SOLD OUT*
SUN 15 OCT | HINDLEY ST MUSIC HALL, ADELAIDE, SA | 18+
SUN 16 OCT | METROPOLIS, FREMANTLE, WA | 18+

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THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
IV – Tracklisting

IV
Dark Light
So Tired
The Other Side
Wave of Tides
Unbroken
Nil By Mouth
Great Heights
Start Again
Visiting Hours

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Follow THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
YouTube– Facebook – Spotify– Instagram

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Press Release 15th July 2022 (below) HERE

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
share new single
VISITING HOURS

+ Announce release date
for new album
IV
for September 2

SELL OUT MELBOURNE
+ ADD SECOND MELBOURNE SHOW TO NATIONAL TOUR

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AMNPLIFY – DB