.

.

Interview with
Michael, Scott, Nik and Shaq
from
UNI/VS

(30th September, 2024)

Interview with Dave Bruce

.

.

Brisbane metalcore outfit UNI/VS offer up their latest single A Chosen Death and accompany the news with the announcement of their ‘A Chosen Death Australian Tour’ that will run across the East Coast through October and November. Tickets on sale now!

Their first release of the year, A Chosen Death is a ripping return from the quartet, moving through chugging moments, violent vocals and passionate cleans to balance. Produced, mixed and mastered by Garath Hargreaves (Wildheart, Young Lions), the latest single explores life post-pandemic, and analyses the increasingly unhinged and polarised views being fed to the public through traditional media.

“We wanted to pose the question ‘Can we really trust the narrative of our elected leaders or that of whomever is pulling their strings?” tells the band. “We hope to invite critical thought and observation as well as hope that if we all speak our truth things may get better.”

The four-piece will launch their new single live at five dates across Australia this October and November. Presented by Stronghold Booking and joined by special guests st.sinner, the tour will rip through The Valley Loft in Brisbane on October 4, The Burdekin Hotel in Sydney on October 12, La La La’s in Wollongong on October 13, Laundry Bar in Melbourne on November 2 and will wrap at Crown & Anchor in Adelaide on November 3.

UNI/VS is the the formidable force of Scott Willis (vocals), Michael Ryan (guitar/vocals), Nik Sudweeks (drums) and Shaw Schmidt (bass). Formed in the heart of Brisbane in 2017, UNI/VS quickly emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the Australian heavy music scene. With their relentless passion, uncompromising sound, and an unwavering commitment to their craft, the dynamic metalcore ensemble has earned their reputation as one of Brisbane’s most exciting and enduring musical acts. Their unique blend of melodic hooks, bone-crushing breakdowns, and introspective lyricism set them apart from the crowd, forging the path that led them to where they stand today.

Since their inception, they have racked up hundreds of thousands of digital streams and counting and have travelled around Australia sharing their pummelling blend of metalcore with listeners old and new. They have toured with the likes of Volumes (US), Gravemind, Patient Sixty-Seven, Crooked Royals (NZ) and more, and can’t wait to get back out on the road with new music to share.

Don’t miss UNI/VS playing at a show near you! ‘A Chosen Death’ is out now and streaming everywhere.

.

.

How did the band come together? Where did it all begin?
Uni/Vs started with Scott and Michael. Their previous band Saints Alight had parted ways, and they were looking to start a project that was in a heavier style to what they had previously been playing/writing. Nik joined on drums shortly after along with the original bassist Steven. Since then, Uni/vs has only experienced one lineup change with Steven departing and current bassist Shaq filling the spot in 2021.

Briefly describe your journey to date.
The journey of Uni/vs has seen us release 3 EP’s and several singles since our formation in 2017. Progress was quick early on with the first few years seeing us share the stage with a number of well renowned international acts and touring Australia in support of our EP ‘Smile’. Things were reaching a fever pitch in 2020, we had released our single Hellhound and were scheduled to start an Aus tour in support of the release, we had also been nominated to play High 5ive Summer Fest in Sweden which would have been our first time leaving Aus as a band. Sadly, COVID-19 had other plans, and it brought everything to a grinding halt for a few years. Since then, we’ve been working on evolving our sound, putting out new music and getting back to building some momentum.

How would you describe your sound? Why do you think fans resonate with your music?
Our sound definitely falls under the Metalcore sub-genre. Though we don’t let that label limit our choices when it comes to writing music, we like writing catchy choruses, breakdowns and the clean guitars and atmospheric synth/samples we frequently incorporate help to balance the heavy sections of the song, both musically and lyrically. We’d say our music resonates with fans as there’s a lot to relate to in the lyrics, though there’s also something there for everyone, whether you’re a fan of heavy music or are just there for the choruses.

Which artist’s music and/or performance, past or present, inspires you today? 
This answer may be different for each member of the band on a personal level. Mostly we all love seeing bands put on an incredible live show and will frequently attend shows together. Sleep Token is always an inspiring live performance, and we’ve been to all three of their Aus appearances, and recently some of our members caught the Gravemind, King 810, Paleface and In Hearts Wake show in Brisbane which was insanity. We also saw Bring Me the Horizon during their most recent tour which was a mind-blowing performance.

TOUR DATES

Friday 5th of October – The Valley Loft – Brisbane
Saturday 12th of October – The Burdekin Hotel – Sydney
Sunday 13th of October – La La La’s – Wollongong
Saturday 2nd of November – Laundry Bar – Melbourne
Sunday 3rd of November – Crown & Anchor – Adelaide

Your latest single ‘A Chosen Death’ has just been released! Describe its origin and evolution. 
A Chosen Death was brought to fruition through a deep look into our post pandemic world and the increasingly unhinged and polarised views being fed to the public through traditional media. It poses the question ‘Can we really trust the narrative of our elected leaders or that of whomever is pulling their strings?’. In its message, we hope to invite critical thought and observation as well as hope that if we all speak our truth things may get better. This concept formulated the content for the lyrics of the track and during writing we identified what the hook of the song was going to be, after establishing a chorus melody the instrumentals were written to follow. This is the reverse of the way we usually write which was an interesting difference for us in the production of ‘A Chosen Death’.

Is there an EP or Album on the drawing board?
Not at this stage, but never say never haha. ‘A Chosen Death’ was always intended to be a stand alone single and varies quite a bit from the style we showcased on our 2023 EP ‘Something More’. We have instrumentals for a few possible tracks up our sleeves that were written before ‘A Chosen Death’, though whether we use these or not will depend on the musical direction we choose to take for the next release. One thing we will say is just keep watching this space.

You have 5 date Headline Tour coming up next month. What are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
This tour will be the first time we’ve taken our EP ‘Something More’ around Aus, so it will be refreshing to play a whole new set including ‘A Chosen Death’ for fans that have never had the chance to see them live. Other than that, we’ve worked on dialing in our live performance and production so we hope this will be the best fans have ever seen us. Personally, we are all just keen to get back out on the road as it’s already coming up on a year since our 2023 tour with Volumes and Gravemind.

If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why?
This is another question that would likely be different for all of us haha. To rattle off a few that would be awesome to share a stage with, we’ll go: Sleep Token, Bring Me The Horizon, Currents, Dayseeker and Erra. Though there’d no doubt be a list a mile longer than that.

.

.

What are your long-term aspirations as a music artist and how are you progressing towards them?
Overall, as a band we are happy writing music and getting to tour the country sharing it with people, this ticks the major goals that almost any artist has. Though our biggest goal as a band would be to tour outside of Aus and widen that fan base. At the moment, building the Uni/vs brand in Aus and keeping our releases/tour schedule consistent is what we’re focussed on so that if the right opportunity presents itself, we are ready to jump on it.

With that in mind, what piece of advice would you give to an artist starting out?
Write music you love and not what you think other people will love. It is a lot of time, effort and money being an artist/band and if you aren’t loving what you’re writing, recording and performing it will not bring the same fulfilment.

What is the best thing about performing to a live audience? What’s been the career highlight so far?
Hearing people sing along to your lyrics has to be number 1 for sure. When you’re writing music it’s something you’re doing for yourself first and foremost, so when people like your music and resonate with the lyrics enough to sing them back to you it’s an unreal feeling. A career highlight was the 2023 tour with Volumes and Gravemind, overall, it was incredible to watch both bands every night and it was the first time any of us had played the Princess Theatre which was a very cool venue to play.  

.

.

Here are three general questions your fans will find interesting about you:
What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
Michael: I’ll answer this relatively PG haha, I’d say Skydiving was up there as a pretty wild thing to do.
Scott: Tried to backflip a motorbike unsuccessfully.
Nik: Bought a pair of white corduroy shorts and a baby shat on them while sitting on my lap shortly after the purchase.
Shaq: Deciding to have two white dogs while almost exclusively wearing black clothes is pretty crazy I think.

What is the one topic you can talk about for hours?
Michael: I could probably talk abut anything space for hours. Everything from space around our galaxy, Elon Musk to aliens, UFO’s and strange phenomena.
Scott: Aliens and UAP
Nik: Corruption in the government and health system, don’t even get me started.
Shaq: If you ask anyone that knows me, I’m pretty sure there is a shorter list of things I won’t talk about for hours haha.

What is the thing you like most about yourself?
Michael: I’d consider myself a pretty motivated and passionate person. Anything I have a passion for like music or business I try put a lot into. I genuinely enjoy being busy with both of those things.
Scott: I really like to just live/laugh/love.
Nik: Honesty and integrity, I guess.
Shaq: Can be both a blessing and a curse, but I don’t take things too seriously and always find a way to have a laugh in almost any situation.

.

.

Finally, just a few questions for some quick answers –

Michael
FAVOURITE:
Album – Waiting for morning to come – Being as an ocean        
Artist – Novo Amor
Movie – Achermen
Place to visit – Canada
Venue to play – The Triffid
Food – Bacon and eggs
Drink – Coffee
Person in History – Suddas
Tattoo – Matching planet tattoo with Tina

Scott
FAVOURITE:
Album – I-Empire – Angels and airwaves          
Artist – The 1975
Movie – Lord of The Rings Trilogy
Place to visit – Gym
Venue to play – The Triffid
Food – Steak
Drink – Pepsi Max
Person in History – Edison
Tattoo – Reaper on my back

Nik
FAVOURITE:
Album – Singularity – Northlane            
Artist – Bring me the horizon
Movie – Top gun 2
Place to visit – Gym
Venue to play – Crowbar
Food – Duck fat crispy potatoes
Drink – Kombucha
Person in History – Robert F Kennedy JR
Tattoo – Matching top gun homage tatty with my mate

Shaq
FAVOURITE:
Album – Look at Yourself – Emmure     
Artist – Slipknot
Movie – Limitless
Place to visit – Of the places I have visited NZ would be up there, though Japan is top of the places to visit.
Venue to play – Favourite venue we’ve played would be the princess theatre.
Food – Any smoked meats
Drink – Any craft beers haha
Person in History – Even though he’s still alive, I’m gonna say Jack Black.
Tattoo – Two headed vulture on my front.

.

.

Follow UNI/VS
Website – Instagram – Facebook – Tiktok

.

.

AMNPLIFY – DB