Project Description
Interview with
MAT WALE
from
THE ASCENDED
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The Ascended are a 4-piece metal outfit from Warrnambool / Melbourne, Victoria that was founded in 2014, Drawing influences from groove, thrash and melodic metal sub-genres, The Ascended strives to perform with a high level of energy, with riffs that stick in the listener’s head.
Through 2014-2017 The Ascended released 2 EP’s and a single and embarked on 3 Australian tours, taking their music across the country.
2018 saw The Ascended release their debut album ‘Awaken Within’, which came out on May 4th.
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How did you first get into music? How did your career first begin on the sunny shores of Warrnambool?
For me it all started with ACDC, watching Angus strut around on stage, I wanted that (Still do) From there I picked up the guitar and over the years built up my skills. Then when I was 18, as you do, i formed a band and that went well, a good 3 years which then gave me the experience to form The Ascended and here we are 4 years later still going strong.
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What kind of music did you grow up on? What artists influenced you?
As I mentioned before, it all started with ACDC, and then I progressed to Metallica and they really opened the gates to metal for me, and when I found bands like Trivium, Killswitch engage, as I lay dying, I knew id found the style for me. Trivium would be my biggest influence in music, and in particular Matt Heafy.
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How do you find the balance between your everyday life and your musical one?
It can be hard! Really hard. Balancing full time work, family and then add being on the road away from home most weekends, it gets tough. But everyone around us is so supportive of what we do so we are able to make it work. We also plan our touring in a way that we get a break in between shows or long stints away. It really helps with the longevity of what we’re doing.
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You’ve just released your debut album “Awaken Within” earlier this year. Always feels good to get the job completed, doesn’t it? Can you describe its origins and evolution? How has it been received?
Were so glad it’s done! Mainly because it’s now out there and people can listen to what we lived with for so long in the creative process. Once we decided we were going to do an album, we set out to writing and over the course of 6 months or so the songs developed and we had some solid demos that we could work with and fine tune and then we hit the studio. We did everything fairly quickly, in fact we had studio time booked in advance so we had a deadline to work to.
It’s been received really well, better than we could have ever hoped and for that we thank everyone. It feels great to know people are enjoying the record as much as we do!
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You’ve just released your debut album “Awaken Within” earlier this year. Always feels good to get the job completed, doesn’t it? Can you describe its origins and evolution? How has it been received?
Were so glad it’s done! Mainly because it’s now out there and people can listen to what we lived with for so long in the creative process. Once we decided we were going to do an album, we set out to writing and over the course of 6 months or so the songs developed and we had some solid demos that we could work with and fine tune and then we hit the studio. We did everything fairly quickly, in fact we had studio time booked in advance so we had a deadline to work to.
It’s been received really well, better than we could have ever hoped and for that we thank everyone. It feels great to know people are enjoying the record as much as we do!
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You’ve been together four years now, how do you see your sound progressing in the future? Where do you envision yourself to be in the next 3-5 years?
I hope that we can continue to hone our current sound to the best it can be, I feel we just discovered the core of our sound on this record and hope to really nail that going forward. In 3-5 years I hope to be doing this still, making records and playing shows. And if we are, I’d like to think we are doing it at a higher level, bigger shows, and bigger tours! But in the end, if we can still make music that people care about ill be happy.
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If someone had never listened to The Ascended before, what song of yours would you recommend them?
I’d say Drag me to Hell! It’s got everything the Ascended is in one song!
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You have another National Tour coming up. Looking forward to seeing new faces this time around? What can the fans expect? Any tours overseas on the drawing board atm?
Absolutely, seeing new faces and old ones as well, were just looking forward to getting out there and having some fun and putting on some great shows for people! High energy and an interactive show is what fans can expect, you will walk away feeling like you’ve been a part of the show and not just standing by and watching.
As for overseas, we are definitely setting our sights beyond our borders, were going to finish up this run and a do a couple of one offs to places we didn’t get to and then yeah, we’ve got a few places on the board overseas that we are looking at.
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If you could pick absolutely anyone to bring on tour with you, whom would you pick? (Dead or Alive)
I think this ones pretty obvious for me haha Trivium. To play with people that inspire me to do what we do would be a dream come true!
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Are there any venues or locations you aspire to play in the future? What are your major goals or milestones for the future?
The Corner Hotel in Melbourne is on our list of dream venues to play, location wise I’d love to get to the point where we can do some European festival stuff, that’s where it’s at really!
Major goals, I think to get overseas to the European and US markets is defiantly something we would love to see happen, but also to grow our following here at home, I’d be totally happy if we could do a sell-out tour in Australia one day!
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Finally, this is a paragraph dedicated to some quick discovery. May sound corny, but for the fans, can you tell me your favourite album, artist, movie, place, drink, meal and person (living or dead) and some brief reasons why? Answer some or all please?
Sure!
Album – Ascendancy (Trivium)– This record was the gateway to this style and to the Scream / Sing Combo
Artist – Trivium – Other than loving their music, I love their story, they really worked hard to get where they are and I can relate to that.
Movie – The Lord Of The Rings– Been a sword and sorcery fan all my life!
Place – Home– There’s no place like home!
Drink – Pepsi Max Vanilla– high taste, low calories!
Meal – Chicken Parma– Need I say more, meal of the gods!
Person – All my close friends and family– Too many to name but without their love and support I wouldn’t be able to do what I do.
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Follow THE ASCENDED
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AMNPLIFY – DB
My nickname is “The Amnplifier”. Why? Because around here my focus is on being a conduit for providing greater outcomes that people come here for. My day to day “work” is living in the moment, and I love helping others concentrate on finding their connection to themselves through their experiences.
Why start a music environment? The truth is I love music, I love writing, and I love life. I work with musicians every day, and I feel certain that I will be until they put me in the ground. I have been managing people in businesses of some sort for over thirty five years so along the way I have developed some “wisdom” from my regular and constant “observations”.
Amnplify your experience. That is what we want you to do here, and if you want to let me know why you do, or don’t, shoot me a message on Facebook.
Hope you enjoy yourself here and find something that hits you somewhere.
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