Interview by Kris Peters
Despite their relative youth, New Zealand alternate rock outfit Voodoo Bloo are no amateurs when it comes to music. Don't let their baby faces or innocent looks fool you. When it comes to making the tough decisions that could ultimately make or break your career, these lads will invariably make the right one.
Be it youthful exuberance, diligent studying or just plain luck, Voodoo Bloo have always ended up on the right side of the equation since their formation in 2020, constantly releasing new music and content for their growing fan base.
After starting out with more than a dash of punk-fueled teenage angst, the former school friends gradually found themselves veering into rock territory, the trappings of youth giving way to a more mature outlook on life that ultimately flowed back into their music.
Over two previous albums - Jacobus and The Blessed Ghost - the band has gradually adopted a safer approach to music without shunning their heritage completely.
With their recent single Hot Garbage being revealed as the first song of a new album cycle, Voodoo Bloo have tapped back into their punk sensibilities to a degree, with vocalist/guitarist Rory McDonald saying in earlier interviews and press releases that the new EP will definitely be a trip down memory lane in many respects.
HEAVY sat down with McDonald to find out more.
"The reception has been great," he enthused of the new single. "I think one thing that we have gotten pretty often with this single is that it's quite reminiscent of the stuff we were originally doing about four years ago, but it's just a level above what we were doing. From the people I have spoken to they say it shows a bit more maturity in what we're doing, even though I'd like to say the things we're talking about are probably a lot less mature (laughs)."
In the full interview, Rory talks more about Hot Garbage and the shift in musical direction, whether the band set out to write a song with old-school leanings or it just happened, producing the track themselves and the pros and cons of keeping it in-house, the release plan for the next two singles and what they will sound like, the EP coming out in June and what it will be called, the musical direction it will take, the decision to revisit the band's old sound, Voodoo Bloo's musical journey over the last four years and more.