Diploid has been making waves since their high school days back in 2011. With their unique blend of grindcore, chaotic hardcore and noisy screamo influences they’ve built a loyal following and are now known not just in Australia, but also in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and New Zealand. 2020 was meant to be the year Diploid finally made their way to Europe. However, like so many other bands, their plans were put on hold due to the pandemic. Now, three years later, Diploid is ready to hit the road and pick up where they left off. This will be their first time in Europe, and they’re excited to bring their vicious sound to new audiences.
With four LPs, a few EPs, and splits under their belt, Diploid is a band that shows no signs of slowing down. They’ve got an EP ready to record and another album in the works, and they’re already setting their sights on a tour of the USA in 2024.
Diploid’s latest album ‘I Am Yours. And I Am Here Again.’ is an opus of aural intensity, where the essence of grindcore, noise, black metal, hardcore punk, screamo and avant-garde experimentalism is fused together into a tempestuous symphony. Their staggeringly extreme vocals delve into lyrical themes of genocide and radicalization, elevating the music to a frenzied crescendo. This album is a true masterpiece of musical prowess and sonic insanity.
To celebrate their upcoming European trek (see the full itinerary below) we have teamed up with bassist and vocalist Reece Prain to get some more details about the tour and learn more about his background and local punk and hardcore scene in Australia.
What was your introduction to punk and hardcore?
Reece: I think the first punk band I really got into was the Misfits when I was probably around the age of 12. Through them, I came across the American 80s Hardcore scene, which got me into bands like Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, MDC and Jerrys Kids.
I was also getting into Grindcore, Powerviolence and Screamo by the time I was about 15 years old.
I grew up in a town/suburb a little over an hour from Melbourne’s CBD. Live music out my way was far and few between and most of the time, it was not really what I was into.
But as I got older and was allowed to make the train trip into Melbourne, I came across Missing Link, which was a record store that sold a lot of local Punk, Hardcore, Noise, Grind cassette tapes and 7″ records. This was also during the rise of MySpace, which opened the door to finding out about shows and more bands. I was able to find a band with a few guys from Melbourne who were around the same age as me. This got me involved in Melbourne’s DIY scene and meant I was able to play with a lot of bands I really liked.
Have you been in other bands before?
Reece: I have been in a few local bands here in Melbourne since I was about 16 years old.
A lot of those bands are defunt now, and the music is pretty old and maybe not my best work haha
Bands that I’ve been involved in that are still active are The World At A Glance and Persecutor.
Currently I’m in three projects, Diploid, Infinite Pig Harvest and my noise/performance art/whatever project Muddy Lawrence.
How was your local hardcore scene back then? How do you remember the energy and vibe of your local punk scene around 2010?
Reece: I turned 18 in 2010, so that year specifically meant I could finally attend shows at pubs and could drive, as I was still living about an hour from Melbourne.
Maybe I’ve got rose coloured glasses on, but I remember a lot of different genres playing together very regularly, basically all being brought together under the DIY banner.
This was still in the growing pains of social media and digital distribution, so people were still relying on physical releases a bit more. A lot of bands were also just recording themselves or getting friends to do it for them in rehearsal rooms. They’d dub those tapes on an old tape player and release it. Everything felt really handmade. Which was something I really loved about the scene.
That’s not to say music and releases aren’t still made like this, it’s just very different now, with the internet and streaming services being a very prioritised aspect of being a band and releasing music.
Can you tell us more about the booking process? How did you approach this process and how are the logistics going to be handled?
Reece: We were very lucky, but back in 2019 after our album Glorify came out, Rope or Guillotine from The Netherlands reached out about getting us onto Fluff Fest 2020 and doing a European tour in support of our new album.
Well, 2020 Fluff Fest didn’t go ahead, along with a lot of other things.
So once the dust cleared a bit with the covid situation, and three years later, I reached back out to Rope Or Guillotine and we got the ball rolling again. We were lucky enough to get onto the Fluff Fest 2023 line-up and Obscene Extreme 2023 line-up as well. We have then booked a tour through many countries in Europe and across into England as well.
It’s pretty expensive and hard to get over to Europe from all the way down here on the planet, but things seem to be all coming together.
It’s also interesting to see how different touring in Europe is to Australia. Mainly just the amount of places you can play and the shorter travel times.
Lyrics wise, is there a common thread to the new songs? You do you go about embedding your message into your craft, be it social, political, or personal?
Reece: I haven’t really been the lyrics writer for our new EP, I needed to take a step back for a bit, as I wrote a lot of the lyrics for our two previous releases and I needed a break from the doom and gloom haha
Mariam: “Control and social/emotional isolation. The last 18 months have been rough. A lot changed, and it was all beyond my control. I developed a lot of unhealthy coping mechanisms and would repeat lines to myself to keep myself accountable for my actions. This release is unintentionally personal, but a lot of the lyrics are things I would tell myself to keep me going day after day. I know I’m not the only person to have fallen into this thought pattern, but I’m hoping it will resonate in a cathartic way for people who have fallen into the same trap I have.”
Reece confirmed that Australia has a crazy active and diverse scene. Some of his favorite releases came out in 2021, 2022, but there are still worth a check this year.
Here are his top picks:
Too Birds – Melbourne 2
Null Hypothesis – Party Music For Popular People
Shove – Shove 2
Tumour – EP
Alloxylon – Flammeum II
These are all releases that I really enjoy!
Catch DIPLOID live in Europe at the following stops:
06/07 – CZECH REPUBLIC – TRUTNOV – OBSCENE EXTREME FESTIVAL
07/07 – SLOVAKIA – BRATISLAVA – GARÁŽACH – *
08/07 – SLOVENIA – POSTOJNA – TRNJE FEST – *
09/07 – CROATIA – ZAGREB – AKC ATTACK – *
10/07 – HUNGARY – BUDAPEST – KRIPTA – *
11/07 – AUSTRIA – VIENNA – VENSTER 99 – *
12/07 – GERMANY – MUNICH – CAFE MARAT – *
13/07 – GERMANY – FRANKFURT – EXZESS – *
14/07 – GERMANY – COLOGNE – CLUB SCHEISSE – *
15/07 – NETHERLANDS – AMSTERDAM – OCCII – *
17/07 – ENGLAND – BRISTOL – CROFTERS RIGHTS – **
18/07 – ENGLAND – BRIGHTON – THE PIPELINE – **
19/07 – ENGLAND – LONDON – NEW RIVER STUDIOS – **
20/07 – ENGLAND – LEEDS – LS 12 – **
21/07 – ENGLAND – SHEFFIELD – COORPORATION – **
22/07 – ENGLAND – LONDON – **
23/07 – NETHERLANDS – LEIDEN – RESISTOR
25/07 – GERMANY – HAMBURG – TBC GET IN TOUCH | [email protected]
26/07 – GERMANY – BERLIN – TBC – *
27/07 – GERMANY – LEIPZIG – TBC – * GET IN TOUCH | [email protected]
28/07 – CZECH REPUBLIC – ROKYCANY – FLUFF FEST – *
* – WITH SON OF SETH
** – WITH CASING
