Interview With Matt Livingston From Antagonist A.D
Can you please introduce yourself and tell us what bands you have been a part of?
My name is Matt Livingstone, I'm originally from Napier but I've lived in Melbourne for the last 7 years, and I spent 7 years in Auckland before that. I've played guitar in a bunch of bands over the years so I'll go for a bit of a walk down memory lane.
Himinus (2001 - 2002) - This was my first band, and it involved almost every single regrettable decision you could imagine. I was 17, we played a P.O.D. cover at a christian version of Rockquest where we all wore yellow hoodies and I had temporary blue hair dye. Somehow none of us noticed the weird sexual innuendo in the very religious name. We also butchered Rage Against The Machine and Limp Bizkit covers, and managed to write and record a 5 song demo that we sold to a few mates from church. It was a weird time.
Fat Camp (2002) - We had a handful of punk songs, a ska song and at least one nu metal song. I honestly don't remember much about this band except the ridiculous name.
The Dumphreys (2002 - 2004) - I guess we were kind of a pop punk band - musically we fell somewhere between Saves The Day and Stretch Arm Strong. I think we covered songs by both. This was my first experience playing shows out of town and I loved it. Our first 'away' gig was at a youth venue in New Plymouth and I couldn't believe it when they gave us the entire door take of $160 (it was a gold coin donation). We opened for Foamy Ed once at a Napier venue called State Of It, but I had just had my wisdom teeth extracted so I missed the show. According to punkas we also played a birthday party in Auckland with One Must Fall and The Batstorm Murders, which I had completely forgotten about. I'm not sure if this actually happened. We recorded a few songs on a 4-track, I didn't have anything to do with the engineering process but it must have sparked an interest in audio because three of us from the band ended up moving to Auckland to study Audio Engineering at SAE. Years later we ended up running a live sound company together and ran the PA for a bunch of hardcore shows.
Upheld (2005 - 2007) - After studying in Auckland I moved back to Napier and was surprised to find a few young heavy bands around. I ended up joining Upheld and recording their first bunch of songs with them. We were all into bands like Norma Jean, As I Lay Dying, Parkway Drive and August Burns Red at the time, and I think that ended up showing through in some of the songs we wrote. We released an EP, a split with Saving Grace where we covered one of each other's songs, and a full length album. We played a bunch of shows in Napier and Gisborne, and a handful around the country in Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North and Wellington. It was a fun band to do, and we built up a bit of a community around us in Napier. I started booking shows at our local church and invited bands from around the North Island to come and play. We had Saving Grace, Brick vs Face, The Chase, Antagonist, In Dread Response, Strangers, and I think Missing Teeth even played once. Things grew and it got to the point where we'd reliably have 100 - 200 people turn up for shows, and promoters started including Napier as a regular touring spot for international bands like Wish For Wings, Carpathian, Comeback Kid, Parkway Drive, and Bleeding Through. It was really cool to see a scene grow like that, and it really just came down to booking regular shows, having a good support network of mates that were willing to get stuck in and make things happen, and being lucky enough that out of town bands and promoters were willing to take a punt on a small town. I was quite openly religious at the time, and I feel like I've sort of lived in the shadow of that for years since haha (I've been an atheist since around the time this band finished up).
The Burial (2008 - 2011) - Damaged had finished up when Wadzy moved back to Auckland, and he had a few half-written songs he was keen to put to good use. Boozy knew me through Antag, so we all got together and jammed a Hatebreed song, then started piecing together some riffs. We wanted to do a band that was heavy, but fast and aggressive. I remember we tried to make everything sound as frantic and energetic as possible. Our first show was at a small rehearsal space in Ellerslie, called Clockwork Studio I think, and I remember being stoked on the vibe of our set straight off the bat - the crowd response was awesome. We dropped a demo EP in 2008, followed by the 'Existence' full length in 2010, and the 'Armageddon' EP just before we broke up in 2011. We played shows all over the North Island - mostly Auckland, Wellington and Hamilton, but we played a lot of smaller places too, like Whitianga, Rotorua, Palmerston North and Napier. I remember we played a bunch of house shows which were always heaps of fun. We also got to open for some legendary international bands that had inspired us from the start like Terror, Ringworm and Merauder. We kept things pretty DIY as a band, and I'm still really proud of everything we did.
Die Alone (2009 - 2011) - I remember having a bunch of fun with this band. I can't remember exactly what we were trying to sound like, but I know at the time I was really into Blacklisted, Terror, Comeback Kid and No Warning. We did a Shere Khan cover, so there was a bit of influence from them too. We released a demo in 2009 and The Lighthouse EP in 2010. We loved the show Lost, so Little Dan snuck a bunch of references in the lyrics and artwork that probably went largely unnoticed. We played a bunch of shows in Auckland, Hamilton and Palmy, I remember doing a few sketchy road-trips down a very snowy Desert Road. Big Nick even managed to prang my wagon one time.
Clout (2019?) - Probably the slowest project to ever come together, we wanted to do a band that captured that mid 2000s pissed off hardcore sound - No Warning, Terror, Madball etc. We still haven't played any shows, but we put out a 4 track EP online late last year.
Antagonist A.D. (2010 - present) I filled in for the band a few times before actually joining - I think the first show I played was 'Total Fkn Mayhem' that Gareth Craze put on in 2008, at The Kings Arms in Auckland. The headliners were Cephalic Carnage and The Black Dahlia Murder, and there was a pretty decent turnout. I also got to do an Australian tour in 2009, it was with The Red Shore, As Blood Runs Black and Before The Throne - I remember the first show was at Manning Bar in Sydney and there was something like 700 payers - I was shitting myself haha. I couldn't believe how big the shows in Australia were, it was wild to see so many people getting into heavy music. I joined the band properly in 2010, it's crazy to think that it's been 10 years now. I feel very grateful that we've been able to do this for so long, and to have so many wild experiences along the way. A big highlight for me was touring the USA and Europe in 2013 - it was the first time I'd travelled outside of NZ/Australia and it was an amazing way to see the world.
Tell us about your introduction to hardcore and what bands were around at that time?
Growing up I was mostly into mainstream heavy music and a bit of punk, but it wasn't until I moved to Auckland in 2004 that I encountered hardcore properly for the first time. Some mates took me along to a few mixed bill shows, mostly at The Kings Arms and Papa Jacks, and it was here that I got my first taste of NZHC. Local shows were really thriving at the time, and I was stoked to discover bands like Evil Priest, Kill Me Quickly, One Must Fall, The Warpath, Twenty-One Guns, Brick vs Face and Guest Stabs Host.
One of the shows that sticks out in my memory was seeing Evil Priest at Kings Arms with Day of Contempt, One Must Fall and Kill Me Quickly. The energy in the room was wild, and I couldn't believe how nuts people were going for the local bands. I remember being amazed at people piling on top of each other to get mic grabs, and with Evil Priest having two vocalists, this kept happening on both sides of the stage at once. It was like nothing I'd seen before, and I was hooked.
The Bleeders were playing a bunch of shows around that time too, and they were doing really well - Thursday night shows were always packed and rowdy. People would try to do headwalks from the stage at Kings Arms all the way back to the bar. There was a healthy All Ages scene too, with regular shows at Ellen Melville, Grey Lynn Community Centre, Grey Lynn Library Hall in Auckland and Youthzone in Hamilton. It was obvious that there was a strong, tight-knit community built around the local scenes and I think that is part of what made it so interesting.
A bunch of international bands managed to get over to NZ back in those days (thanks largely to Dave McDermott and Sam Crocker I think), so I was stoked to catch some quality bands like Most Precious Blood, Hatebreed, Terror, Madball and Agnostic Front. Looking back, it was pretty cool to be able to see bands of that calibre playing shows in such small venues. I might just be looking back with rose-tinted glasses, but I think we all knew we were lucky to have these bands visit our shores, and it always felt like there was a bit of a special vibe in the air at the shows.
You have put in some serious work for NZHC, can you tell us about the bands you have recorded?
I love making records, and for a while there I got to work with a bunch of awesome NZ bands - Xile, Cry Wolf, Too Late, Ricky Bobby, Shitripper, Bad, Every Man For Himself, Hammer Time, The Voyage, Declaration AD and a few others. A lot of the time we were working on a budget with a pretty basic mobile recording rig set up in someone's house. I'm stoked that I could be a small part of making NZHC history and I still get to work on a few mix projects here and there.
Tell us about Antagonist A.D's latest release 'Through Fire' and what keeps the fire burning to write new music?
Through Fire is the first EP in a three part series that we recorded last year at GodCity Studio in Salem, MA with Kurt Ballou from Converge. We had planned to release all three parts by now, but with the COVID restrictions and lockdowns we've had to change up our plans. Releasing the three EP's separately allows us to align the releases with our touring schedule, as well as give the songs on each EP more focus and attention. All three parts will combine to form a full length, with artwork that is thematically linked. We're hoping to release part two sometime early in 2021, when we can hopefully get some shows happening again.
Musically, each of the new EP's are a bit of a return to our roots. We noticed a lot of newer bands were taking inspiration from the bands that originally inspired us. Bands from the mid 90's and early 00's like Disembodied, Arkangel and Martyr A.D. I think some of that new wave of metalcore/heavy-hardcore reignited the flame for us a bit.
Lyrically, we have always had a strong message in our music, which is something I'm really proud of, and we've never shied away from political topics. I don't personally write any lyrics for the band, it's all Sam, but I think with all of the divisive events of the last few years, there is more fuel for inspiration than ever.
Recording at GodCity with Kurt was pretty wild - so many classic records have been made in that studio. It's filled with so much awesome gear too. Obviously he has produced most of the Converge records, but he also worked with so many bands that have been influential to me - Modern Life Is War, Blacklisted, Carry On, American Nightmare, Paint It Black, Code Orange and tons more.
Describe the Melbourne hardcore scene pre-covid, how different are Aussie shows compared to New Zealand?
With the size of the hardcore scene over here I've noticed that it seems to be split into a few different factions. Some nights there would be multiple shows on at once - it feels weird to have to try and choose which show to go to. In New Zealand, it's pretty common to have heavy bands of any type play the same show, whereas in Melbourne everyone seems to stay in their own lane a little bit. I guess it's a natural thing that happens due to the size of the population. Of course Australia gets far more international bands visiting, which is great. You have to follow things a little more closely too, in NZ you sort of automatically find out whenever any heavy band is touring, but I actually missed a few shows early on in Melbourne because I had no idea they were even happening.
If there was one New Zealand or Aussie band you wish you could have seen live, who would it have been?
Promise of Bloodshed - I never actually got to see them as they finished up before I started going to shows and for some reason I couldn't make it to the reunion show. I would have loved to see Balance and DSM too.
Top 5 albums that influence you musically?
Top 5 albums overall is way too hard to decide, but if we are talking top 5 influential hardcore records, I would have to go with:
Hatebreed - Perseverance
Terror - Lowest of the Low
Madball - Hold It Down
No Warning - Ill Blood
Blacklisted - Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God
Tell us about Clout, and will we see any future releases ?
We actually had our first gig lined up in Melbourne but that was cancelled when all the COVID restrictions kicked in. I think we have some half written songs kicking about but I don't imagine we'll release anything more unless we can actually play some shows. Who knows when or if that'll happen!
Any shout outs, last words, or advice for up and coming youth doing bands in NZ?
Shout out to anyone who supports bands by buying merch and coming out to shows. And shout out to you guys for what you're doing with documenting NZHC, it's great to see.
To any young up and coming bands - take every opportunity that you can and stick with it. It's amazing what you can achieve when you surround yourself with like-minded people.