Interview with Bailey Palmer from Gravel Pit

Please introduce yourself, and tell us what bands you have been a part of?

I’m Bailey, I currently play in Gravel Pit, used to play in Still Nothing and a couple of shitty high school bands that never made it out of the shed.

Tell us about your experience working with film/tv, does it have any advantages being in a Band, will we see future Gravelpit videos?

I think being creative at work all day, and having that constant outpour of ideas has a flow-on effect to music stuff. Editing Film and TV is mostly about being in control of time, speeding it up, slowing it down, setting a rhythm and pace within that, telling a story using tone. It’s not very different to songwriting.

There will be a GP music video one day! Half of the band work in film, and one of us was even a semi-famous child actor, you’d think we’d be on top of this, eh.

Wellington has an amazing punk scene and always has, can you tell us some of the current punk, HC, metal bands that we should be looking out for and why they stand out so much?

We do, don’t we? We are lucky as fuck. Current fave is Bodysiege (seriously see this band if you can - especially if Woodsy is on the desk!). I also love to see POPOD, Ayn Randy, and former Pōneke punx Unsanitary Napkin live whenever I can, these guys really are everything that is so good about Wellington punk. DAHTM are also super worth checking out, a very, very talented group of people making the sickest tunes. In terms of Metal, how can I not say Stälker… I love those bois and their work ethic is so inspirational. I am very lucky to edit most of their videos.

There’s also some exciting stuff happening in Welly hardcore again, the guys from Severed Beliefs and Happy Valley are putting in the work and getting shows on and making good music. I’d love to see the scene back to the way it was in the early 2000s, I have absolute faith that these younger people are the key to a healthy HC scene in the ‘20s.

We love seeing the strong female representation in the Wellington punk scene, can you talk on this and is there anything we can improve on in other cities?

It’s hard to really imagine the music community any other way after being involved in this one. I got into this music I guess how people in the late 90s usually did, skate videos and off the back off discovering Nirvana and Everclear and stuff. All those bands were playing music that resonated so hard with me, but it was all very masculine. I remember going to a show when I was quite young, and seeing Kathy in Hung Jury just going off, and thinking, oh so it’s actually like this! And that was it.

It’s hard to speak on the state of other cities without having the lived experience, but my feeling is the female representation is there, there will be women at shows and in bands, or keen to be in bands. Possibly the reason the representation here seems so equal is because gender has always been a non issue. People don’t think of anyone as female fronted, or a female band, they are just bands.

Favourite Nz show you attended,or played at,can you tell us why it stood out from others?

Ah this is so hard! Seeing Dillinger Escape Plan at Valhalla was a pretty amazing experience. Full light setup and Ben Weinman playing while walking on top of the crowd was insane. It was packed pretty hard and they put on a hell of a show.

Sick of it All at San Fran probably around 15(?) years ago was another one I won’t forget. That was when the pit used to be proper violent round here… what is it that is so liberating about running and smashing into your mates? Dunno. Loved it tho.

I think favourite to play was probably Waitangi Wastefest last year, at Valhalla. It was an amazing crowd full of many friends. The car park was pumping, the sound was mean and the bands were all on top form.

Can you talk about Gravelpit, The members, how the band formed, the members previous bands and future plans for the band?

GP probably formed out of the ashes of Uranium Breath, which had our current members Dave Hampton and Jason Gascoigne. Around 2016 Jason and Dave were fiddling with some new stuff and asked me to sing, I hadn’t been in any bands for probably 10 years by then, I’d wandered away from it to compete in Muay Thai and get my career going. Shows were always there still tho, and I missed it! I jumped in straight away. We got Matt Mason in 2017 who was singing in Caans Toll to play bass, and we’ve been having the best time since! I’m really lucky to play with these guys, the combined experience of Dave, Jase and Matt is out of control, it’s great for me though, I have to constantly up my game to feel worthy!

Top 5 bands or albums that influenced you the most over the years and why?

L7 - Smell the Magic

I mean… it’s punk, it’s metal, it’s angry and it’s all women! This album and band really has stayed with me since I was a teenager, riot grrl was a lovely little safe place when I was a teen. At Hutt Valley High in 1999 it wasn’t cool to be a feminist, I remember getting teased for aligning with feminist viewpoints. Maybe it was cool to “be one of the guys” then, or maybe it was the focus on Girl Power rather than the same ol’ Fuck The Patriarchy, yknow? Anyways L7 came into my life and I didn’t give a fuck about what anyone thought after that, these women sure as hell don’t.

Live Through This - Hole

This album is essential to surviving being a teenage girl. Everything I was looking for in Nirvana , I found in Hole. I think I will forever be wishing I was Courtney Love.

Against All Odds - Shutdown

Around the year 2000 all we had in terms of buying music was Real Groovy and Wonderland records, which did have some good stuff, but not everything. So in between phone calls to and from the family landline, Me and my sister would download songs off of limewire. Don’t Look Back took hours but it was worth it. I think this was the first time I had really heard hardcore and it was pretty glorious. I ended up with the CD somehow and it was always on high rotation.

Minor Threat - first two 7”

Bernie Grushaw ran these onto tape for me when we were about 16 and it blew my mind. Total gateway to 80s hardcore punk, it took me to Black Flag, DFL, Bad Brains and all the rest.

Propagandi - Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes

When this came out, we all shat our pants. Remember when this band were Pop Punk and used to sing about faded stickers on skateboards? Suddenly they were playing thrash! This band have true progression. I still get excited when a Propaghandi album drops.

Bands that influence me, especially recently, are Punch, Integrity, Turnstile, Closet Witch, Cerce, Bad Religion, Fugazi, Wrong Answer, FAIM, Initiate, the Hirs Collective, Babes in Toyland.

Any words or advice for the up and coming bands in New Zealand?

Keep making the music you want to listen to, with the people you love making music with. Play as many shows as you can, even if you have to put them on. It’s a small scene and we need you guys!

Favourite NZ venue you have played at so far and why?

Valhalla. It’s been home for 20ish years now, since Greg and Andy were running it as Valve. Ben does an amazing job at carrying on the same vibe, even the toilets haven’t changed x

Would you like to give some final shout outs to end the interview?

Yeah! Shout out my mum who used to come to shows at gross bars that we played when underage, who used to pick me and my sister up at real groovy late at night after bands so we didn’t have to catch the after midnight back to the Hutt, and who has always supported all of us in our artistic pursuits.

Shout out to my Dad for all the mixtapes and VHS’ full of 80s music video bangers. Seeing him dancing to Rock Lobster is a favourite early memory.

To the band, my favourite men in a shed.

To Luke who thinks I’m cool and always tells me I am. His musicianship and bands are so good and I’m inspired constantly. I’m so lucky to be able to share music and shows and a life with you.

Shout out to the JVille crew, the best, most supportive gang of pals ever. Always at our shows and always showing us so much aroha. Love you guys!

Gemmy who was my HVHS riot grrl, Hayden who shared pop-punk with me, Phoebe who still thrashes Propagandhi in vans in Lagos.

Shout out to my mates from the Hutt who still come to my shows! You’s are the best x

Lastly, a big shout out to the punk scene of Te Whanganui-a-Tara! You helped me grow up and out an